The Ghost Is Back, But It's Not On The Ö÷²¥´óÐã Payroll
I don't know how much was spent on the refurbishment of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã building in Inverness, but it's becoming clear that someone skimped on the cost of an exorcism. Yes, that pesky ghost has returned.
I wrote about the ghost of 7 Culduthel Road two years ago and if you care to trawl through the archive of this blog you will discover a photograph of me actually hunting for the spook. I'm pictured on the now-demolished back staircase and I look like a man who is failing the audition for a part in the X-Files.
The Scully part.
The ghost, it was said, used to haunt that staircase. Over the years respectable and sober Ö÷²¥´óÐã staff members reported eerie sightings of a strange figure. It was the usual stuff. Let's face it, no one ever reports sightings of a non-eerie ghost or a spirit who stands about cracking jokes and gossiping about last night's edition of The Apprentice.
So last week, two radio producers were working late in the ground floor of the old building. It's a former Victorian mansion but the interior has been remodelled to accommodate the open-plan office. It's where I sit and also my new PA Michelle. She had gone for the night but apparently the sound of keyboard typing could be heard from her unoccupied desk. Well you know the way these stories go: the producers checked and could find no rational explanation for the sounds and so it was obviously a ghost. A ghost using an old-fashioned typewriter, it was suggested.
"Did you hear the sound of a bell, "I asked, "or the carriage return?"
"Well, no."
That prompted me to investigate and suggest an alternative theory. The "haunted" desk sits next to a back wall where a window has been boarded over and painted to look as if it was never there. The spooky sounds were heard on a fine sunny evening. Outside I walked a few yards from the building and saw that our neighbours had recently trimmed their hedges. A typewriter with no bell or the sound of a hedge clipper? A sound that could easily penetrate a fake wall.
On the other hand, if it is a ghost, it might be working on some programme ideas. Let's hope it doesn't ask for a development fee.
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