A Liverpool granddad attempting to bring Liverpool's history to life with spine-chilling ghost walks has shared his most haunting run-in with the ECHO.
Keith Braithwaite, 61, worked in security for almost four decades and started his paranormal group in 2002 after he was asked by a friend to help his daughter with a school project. The group - "The History of Ghosts Myths & Legends of Merseyside & Beyond" - now has almost 9,000 followers on Facebook and carries out ghost walks, covering the likes of Rodney Street, St James Gardens and the abandoned tunnels and vaults under Castle Street .
Keith told the ECHO: "They're not really scary, it's more historical. We want to teach people what's gone on in the city." He shared his most uncanny experience with the ECHO, when he was called out to Rodney Street. The Georgian houses there are the setting of a number of famous local ghost stories.
READ MORE: See the long-forgotten public toilets buried deep under Brunswick dock
Keith said: "I got called to a building a few years back, it was being used as a beauty parlour at the time. The owner told me a lot was going on in there. I always like to visit and have a look outside before I go in and when I arrived I stood and looked up. There was a lady in Victorian dress looking out of one of the top windows."
Keith went back after a week to do a "full investigation" using spirit boards and other equipment, much of which he builds himself. He said: "Throughout the house there were scratches on the heavy oak doors and there was a room that no one would go in. The girl gave me the keys and left me to it. I went in and the cold and smell hit me.
"The space was used as servants' quarters and was also used to store food because it was below ground level. It was pitch black. I put the infra-red camera on and someone tapped me on the shoulder."
Elsewhere in the house Keith claimed he heard knocking on doors and microwaves pinging while kettles started boiling of their own accord. He also said he spotted a small child playing with a dog, as well as a man in a cloak who walked through a wall.
Despite this chilling tale, Keith thinks Liverpool's most haunted place is St James Gardens, in the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral . He said: "We've had loads of activities in there, including 13th century soldiers."
While Halloween is a busy time for anyone with an interest in anything ghostly, Keith's group is now attracting international audiences. He said: "We've had lot of activity in the last few weeks, we've even got a group of six coming from Canada for a tour. We've also had people from the US. I think the interest lies in Liverpool being involved with the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
"Liverpool has lots of history with a lot of countries. I like to tell the history of things as well as ghost stories. I feel like history is important in your own city."
Send us your pictures of Merseyside in the autumn
READ NEXT:
Liverpool builders did not have password for account with £226k of match day car park cash
Dad who was 'life and soul' of the party found dead in the middle of the night
'Hardworking' lad went out for 21st birthday and never came home
Paedophile battered his girlfriend three days after being released from prison
