Halloween Haunting: Leamington Spa Train Station Calls in Ghostbusters

A UK railway station has recruited a ghost hunter to patrol its platforms and waiting rooms.

Leamington Spa's station is reputedly one of the most haunted places in Britain, with commuters claiming to have seen ghostly apparitions.

Many staff at Leamington Spa station have also reported supernatural incidents over the years.

Now Rees has been hired to deal with the infestation: "I get on with people and I can make anyone smile. I suppose that's why I can go about my duties as a supernatural liaison officer. I respect them and they respect me," he told The Metro.

"One of the haunted areas is a disused basement on platform three which has a partially blocked off staircase that seemingly leads to nowhere.

"The other area is the upstairs office building where staff regularly see and hear things including doors slamming and electrical equipment turning on and off."

Built in the 1880s, the top floor offices are said to be the most haunted area.

One worker said: "When we first moved into the top floor offices the people who had been there previously had obviously left in a hurry.

"I regularly have paperwork thrown about, drawers left open and hear footsteps.

"I find it is often a quick way to end a meeting having a door slam for no logical reason. I've now learned to live in harmony with the ghosts."

Stephen Herbert, a nighttime security officer at the station added: "Leamington Spa station is one of the most haunted places I have been to and I've been to many.

"I often see and hear ghosts on both platforms but from what I have seen they are nice ghosts and have good energy."

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Addiscombe railway station also has a reputation for paranormal sightings. A train driver was killed on the line in the early 1900s and his shadowy, grey figure has been seen walking among the sheds, particularly around Siding No 4 where a water boiler had in the past exploded, killing workers.

The most commonly claimed ghost train sightings in Scotland, are alleged to take place on the Tay Rail Bridge, near Dundee. On 28 December 1873, a passenger train was crossing the Tay Bridge when it collapsed. The bridge and train plummeted into the Firth of Tay river below and none of the 75 people aboard survived, with only 60 bodies were ever recovered.

Many witnesses have since reported seeing a brightly lit phantom train speeding along the Tay Bridge, on the anniversary of the disaster.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman, of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, believes there are alternative explanations for perceived paranormal activity. In his article The Haunted Brain, he recognises that approximately 15% of people believe they have experienced an encounter with a ghost.

However, he reports that only 1% report seeing a full-fledged ghost while the rest report strange sensory stimuli, such as seeing fleeting shadows or wisps of smoke, or the sensation of hearing footsteps or feeling a presence.

Wiseman believes that rather than experiencing paranormal phenomena, it is activity within our own brains that creates these strange sensations.