Ghostly spirits in Herne Bay club

IT WOULD appear Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are not the only spirits behind the bar at the May Lodge Club in Herne Bay. Staff members have reported strange goings on at the seafront pub in recent months. Smashed lightbulbs, rolling beer barrels and a ghostly white woman sitting on a settee are among the eerie tales.

Club manager Michelle Eldridge, 41, was first to see a ghostly companion. She said: "I had locked the pub up and was walking out the door when I looked round and saw a figure. "I was taken aback but convinced myself it was my mind playing tricks on me and shrugged it off. "But since then I've heard footsteps when I'm in the office, and light bulbs have just fallen to the ground – even when there's no one else around. "The worst experience was when I went to my son Sam's flat upstairs and saw a woman sitting on the settee. She was really white and looked quite posh, with a bun in her hair. "It really freaked me out but, again, I just told myself I had imagined it."

Michelle's son, assistant manager Sam Marshall, has lived upstairs for five years. He said: "I lie awake at two or three in the morning and can hear bangs and noises. "The club is such a big building which makes it really freaky, especially when the lights are out. "A light bulb just suddenly smashed once. I was so freaked out I just left the glass on the floor and ran upstairs."

Sam's sister, barmaid Gemma Marshall, 19, was in the bottle room when a beer barrel tipped over and rolled across the floor. She said: "I just ran out of the room and locked the door. The barrel was actually full so there was no way it just fell over by itself. "I picked up a butter knife and went back inside but there was no one about."

Club chairman Dick Eldridge tried his best to explain the ghostly apparitions. He said: "We think the woman upstairs is May, the lady we named the club after. "She was the first owner of the building and lived and died upstairs sometime in the 19th century. "We have our suspicions that the ghost downstairs is a man called John, who died in the club about six years ago. "He would always come in and play the fruit machine and have two half lagers. "He never really won much but the day he hit the jackpot he had a heart attack and died."

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/hernebay/Ghostly-spirits-Herne-Bay-club/article-1084556-detail/article.html