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31st October 2019

The World's Most Haunted Businesses

7
minute read

With Halloween around the corner, waiting to pounce, you’ve probably noticed a lot of businesses putting the pumpkins in the window and getting into the spooky swing of things.

Yet some businesses don’t even need the paranormal present; they’ve got their own ghostly presences hovering around the premises. From palatial playhouses to suburban supermarkets, here are 10 of the world’s most haunted businesses.

  1. Co-op, Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire

You might not expect your trusty old local Co-op to play host to a shadowy entity from beyond the grave, but the good people of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire have to brave such eldritch mysteries every time they want to pop in for a Twix.

Staff report strange goings on in the dead of night, with a poltergeist or some other troublesome spirit chucking stock off the aisles, rattling doors and getting up to some generally sinister behaviour.

They’re so spooked by their spectral resident that they even uploaded some CCTV of the spirit at work.

  1. Fortnum & Mason, London

London’s most venerable department store has been operating since 1707, so perhaps it’s only (super)natural that its accumulated a few customers who’ve rather overstayed their welcome.

Fortnum and Mason boasts several ghosts lurking among its picnic hampers, but the most notorious of them all is the ‘The Stove-Hatted Gent’, rumoured to be the perpetrator of a nearby murder in the 18th Century. Let’s hope you don’t run into him next time you’re out for afternoon tea.

  1. El Adobe de Capistrano, California

This Mexican eatery in sunny Southern California was once a favoured haunt of Richard Nixon. Yet when your restaurant is built on top of a former jail, you might have to expect some even darker presences for dinner.

Diners have found themselves disturbed by a woman looking for her locked-up son, a headless monk and a playful spirit with a small dog. Talk about kitchen nightmares...

  1. Grand Hyatt Taipei, Taiwan

Allegedly built on a WWII prison camp, this luxury hotel used to boast two large paintings at its entrance that guests commonly believed to have been put there to ward off spirits.

Though the hotel strenuously maintains that tales of disembodied snores and relentlessly flushing toilets are nothing more than over-excited bunkum, other travellers warn guests to check behind the paintings in their room. If there’s a talisman there, you might want to request a speedy change of room or else spend a night besieged by some sleepy spectre.

  1. Treasure Holt Garden Centre, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex

You might get a bit more than you bargained for with your bougainvillea at this Essex garden centre. Once reputedly a hide-out for smugglers and killers, Treasure Holt even featured in an episode of ghost hunter TV series ‘Most Haunted’!

Horror-stricken horticulture fans have spoken of a levitating monk wandering around, a highwayman and even a Civil War cavalier swishing through the grounds. Who said local history was boring?

  1. Palais Garnier, Paris

The setting for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s immortal phantom, the Palais Garnier opera house surprisingly does not boast any ghosts within its luxurious auditorium. However, the streets outside are said to be stalked by an older woman from the 19th Century, still questing for the lover that jilted her. Romantique, très romantique.

  1. La Popular Store, Chihuahua, Mexico

This one’s a real Halloween screamer. This modest wedding boutique in Mexico has a window mannequin you might see in many bridal stores around the world: a bride in a flowing white wedding dress. However, not is all as it seems.

Legend has it that the mannequin is actually the embalmed corpse of a bride who perished of a scorpion bite on the eve of her wedding. She’s known to come alive and start walking of her own accord at night. Dios mio!

  1. Toftaholm Herrgard, Sweden

This 5-star hotel occupies what was once a stately manor, where a young man took his life after being prevented from marrying the landowner’s daughter. He roams the hotel to this day.

If you don’t want to meet the poor fellow, then make sure not to stay in Room 324 - the scene of his sad passing!

  1. KMart, Coeur D’Alene, Idaho

Things going bump in the night in an old hotel? Well, that stands to reason. A ghostly hippodrome? We’ve all heard that one before. But a haunted cash register? Now that’s an eerie thought!

The till on check-out two in this department store in small-town Idaho is believed to be possessed by a naughty poltergeist. According to staff, it frequently ‘loses its mind’ and goes haywire. Yet whenever repair people come and take a look, it operates as smoothly as can be.

Something tells us there might be a more rational explanation though…

  1. Bristol Old Vic Theatre

A jewel in the West Country’s crown, the Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continuously operating theatre in the English speaking world.

Quite fittingly for such a treasured institution, the theatre is haunted by a custodial spirit - the ghost of Sarah Macready, who managed the theatre in the 19th Century. You can tell when Sarah’s around from the scent of her lavender perfume.

Your business may not have its own resident ghost to draw in intrepid thrill-seekers (though if it does, get that on some flyers ASAP). Whatever your business’s own unique features and selling points, we can turn them into the focal points of a terrifyingly effective marketing campaign that will keep customers coming back (though perhaps not from beyond the grave). Click here to get in touch.

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