A hotel dubbed the UK’s most haunted terrified workmen tasked with its demolition as they were locked in rooms by unseen spirits and eerie lifts moved on their own accord.
The former Birkdale Palace Hotel was once the talk of the town in Southport, attracting the likes of A-listers such as Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers.
The Hungarian Football Team, one of the best sides around at the time, called it home during the 1966 World Cup before losing in the quarter finals to the USSR.
Known for its luxurious reputation, the 1,000 room hotel had a dark history, Liverpool Echo reported.
Its architect was said to have taken his own life when it was built in the 1880s facing inland, rather than having its grand facade facing out to sea.
In 1961 night porter Alan Wills was found guilty of murder of six-year-old Amanda Graham, whose body was found under a bed in room 13.
When it was ordered to be demolished, crews heard lifts moving on their own when power was out and were later locked inside rooms by spirits.
They also reported hearing arguments and the sound of stilettos running through its foyer.
Speaking in May 1969 Joseph Smith, the head of the demolition crew, told the Daily Post: “My men are scared out of their wits with this lift. We cannot explain what’s going on.
“Now that the power is cut off, the only way to move the lift is by winding it from the top. But on several occasions that the men have seen the lift move, no one has been near the handle.
“Without anyone doing anything, the lift doors close suddenly and it shoots up the lift shaft. “Doors open of their own accord and the lights on the lift control panel flash on and off.
“It’s all the more frightening as the hotel is reputed to have been built back to front and the architect who designed it committed suicide by jumping from the top landing. He landed, so it is said, on the very spot where the lift now stands.”
TV crews, journalists and ghost-busters arrived in droves to investigate the psychic phenomena at the time.
The hotel had an item on BBC TV’s then flagship daily current affairs programme, 24 Hours, devoted to it.
After opening in 1866, the hotel failed and was relaunched as a hydro hotel in 1881, offering hydropathic (water-based) health treatments.
It was then taken over by the American Red Cross in 1942 and used as a rest home for US Army airmen until 1945. It was one of the largest rehabilitation centres in the country for US Air Force personnel, more than 15,000 recuperated from active flying service there. It was the only Red Cross station to take entire bomber crews as one unit.
More than 300 English girls served as volunteers at the centre and many romances that started with the servicemen resulted in marriage. The going was tough in the 1950s with the Palace running out of cash, until its owner, Heddon Hotels was wound up in 1967.
