The Haunted Pub

I haven't written a story in a while but I have a corker for you! This story goes back to when I was 18; I had my 18th birthday a few days before. Anyway, I used to be a painter and decorator and I used to work for my dad. I usually painted houses, private work but on the odd occasion, we would get work in factories, pubs, blocks of flats, that type of thing. When we did pub jobs, we would start at 11 PM, the pub would empty and we could crack on.

One afternoon whilst me and my dad where having a lunch break my dad said that he would like to get his head down (sleep) for half an hour or so. He asked that I wake him when we start decorating again. So, as my dad drifted off to sleep, I walked around the pub, looking at all the memorabilia. This pub is in a place called Raby, in the middle of nowhere. Not far from too far from where I live actually. I was looking around at the pictures of the famous people who had been there and was taking pictures to show friends. On a lot of the walls of the pub, there are or where mirrors and logos of alcohol would be stuck on the glass to promote their beer or spirits. Anyway, I got bored of looking and I sat down next to my dad. Now, on the wall opposite me was a mirror like on most walls and for some reason, I got the urge to take a photo. Back then, I had the Nokia 7650 which was one of the first camera phones that Nokia had brought out. So I did what my brain told me and took a quick snap. The mirror I took a photo of reflected to a different mirror and then reflected to the bar. So, as I took a photograph, I actually took a picture of the bar.

"Hey dad, time to crack on" I said as I put my phone back into my pocket, dad rubbing his eyes "what time is it lad" and me being cheeky, "time to start work" I could tell he wasn't impressed with my smart comment but we did what had to be done and we worked on for 4 or so hours and had another break, finishing off our cheese and onion sandwiches. As I'm sitting down, I was telling my dad about the people who had been in over the years, famous people and footballers. My dad is a MASSIVE football fan. So I took out my phone and started to show these pictures to my dad. We got to the last photo we were shocked. Completely unaware of what I had caught on camera, there was a female figure standing by the bar in grey. This will sound silly but she had red eyes! Anyway, we spoke about it; it could be a camera problem or something, trying to think of a logical reason for this female to be in the picture. Anyway, we cracked on once more until it was time to go home. When it was time, we packed up and went home.

The next day, we started work at the same time but we spoke to the manager of the pub and we spoke about what we potentially had caught on camera, even showing him the picture. He was shocked too and he immediately showed me a plaque on the wall, information of a woman called Charlotte who was burned and killed in a fire before the pub was a pub. According to this plaque, a woman was killed in a freak fire and her soul or spirit resides at the bar.

I hope you like my story. Thanks for reading