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The Farmers Arms on the outskirts of Manchester looks an unlikely setting for a haunting. The red brick walls and uncomplicated interior are typically found in countless hundreds of such inns throughout the North of England. Yet this particular publiv house held a dark secret, a man hung himself there in the late 1950's and his unquiet spirit was creating concern and distress to the current landlord. It was his wife who contacted a medium asking for help. She contacted Manchester based Spiritualist Gary Dakin requesting advice as the haunting was disrupting the lives of all who lived in The Farmers Arms as well as a few of the regular customers.

Having listened to what the lady had to say Mr Dakin agreed to attempt the rescue of the spirit haunting the pub and a date was set for four weeks later. The evening arrived and Gary drove over to the pub where he met the landlady and her very worried husband. It was he who had actually seen the ghost which, he said, was walking through the walls in the beer cellar. After a glass of bitter shandy he took Mr Dakin down the steep stone stairs leading into the deep cool cellar. It was quite the ideal place to store beer. As Gary walked forward, deeper into the dark corners of that cold place, he heard a voice whispering, it gave the surname of Collins. The name was heard distinctly, though it was softly spoken, as though mouthed by someone fearful of awakening a child. As Gary listened he could feel himself being drawn towards a certain spot that was icy cold. Standing in that dark little recess, just a small room off from the main cellar, he knew he had located the very centre of the haunting.

Looking across the room the landlord, his voice shaking with fear said 'That's where I saw it. It walked right through the wall'. There was a large enamel wash bowl standing in one corner that was of recent origin, the landlord explained that it had been fitted just a couple of years ago, about the time the haunting began , it was needed to give them a place to wash the equipment and generally clean the store area. It was here, or very close to this spot, that the spirit had located itself. Perhaps this particular place held a special meaning for it. Placing himself in a calm and relaxed mood was, for the medium, no simple matter in that weird atmosphere. Btreathing deeply and slowly, Mr Dakin gradually slipped into a near trance state. Drifting on the very threshold on consciousness he became aware of a spirit standing close toleft of the landlord. Just out of the corner his eye Gary could see the image of the ghostly figure forming into the shape of a man. Suddenly the sound of feet slapping hard on stone echoed around the cellar, it was the landlord beating a hasty retreat back up the stairs.

Now the medium was alone with the phantom, and his spirit guides. Watching carefully now, more aware now that he had been disturbed by the sound of the landlords escape, Gary saw the spirit, which seemed quite solid, walk towards the corner where the sink stood. The ghost wore a long greenish gabardine coat, and its hair was dishevelled. Mr Dakin clearly saw the crumpled trousers and filthy boots; the whole appearance was, he said, one of utter neglect. However, in the gloom Gary could not see the spirits face. It seemed, he told me, to be acting out a scene, as though it had done this many times before. Then he saw a rope, hanging from a beam that supported the floor of the bar above. A sense of acute terror ran through the medium as he realised that he was witnessing the suicide of this lost soul who was trapped helplessly in this place. The spirit was doomed to repeat that last final act of desperation, perhaps forevermore. As he watched the medium spoke slowly mind asking his guides to intervene. Then he saw the spirit turn towards the right, as though it had heard a call. Suddenly it moved more quickly away from that awful rope. Then there was a light, a bright light, intense, yet it did not hurt the eyes. It seemed to be shining into infinity.

Mr Dakin does not know if he fell asleep, but felt a shudder run through his body and was at once wide awake. The light, the rope and the ghostly figure had gone. Strangely the place had lost its chill, that odd sense of coldness had gone and a sense of peace flooded the room where moments before that awful scene had been seen.

Back upstairs in the bar Mr Dakin explained to the landlord and landlady exactly what he had seen. The landlord, who had seen the spirit himself, agreed that his description, the long coat, scruffy appearance etc. fitted the ghost he saw. The two keepers of that haunted inn seemed quite relieved when the medium told them that his guides had intervened to lead away the lost soul into the light of God's love.

Many people ask why ghosts, or spirits, continue to act out the tragedies of their earthly lives. Mediums and Spiritualists believe there are a number of reasons, (a) the spirit is itself haunted by the past and unable to escape and follow the pathway of light that leads to God. In a form of desperation the ghost repeats and repeats the deeds that have condemned it to the purgatorial state which exists between this material world and the spiritual world. (b) Seeking to escape the spirit is trying to understand where it went wrong, the dark deeds which torment it are relived time and again as the ghost repeats its mistake. (c) Some believe that such sightings are not of spirits at all, but of a form of recording that plays back to those who are sensitive, like a video-recorder that can only be seen by sensitive people or psychics. (d) Others subscribe to the belief that ghosts are simply products of the mind, forms of hallucination brought on by suggestion and too many spooky stories.

The truth behind many, so called haunted houses is often based in the imagination of those who imagine that they are being visited by spirits. Some think it great fun to tell their friends that they live in a haunted house. To these people here is a word of warning, be very, very careful what you wish for, some passing spirit might just decide to pop in and play a little joke on you and, as much as you may think living in a haunted house might be fun, experience proves that when it happens most folk shout for help. The Farmers Arms has no ghost now, that poor soul has at last gone on to his appointed place helped by the spirit guides of the medium Mr Dakin. You can perhaps imagine what it must have been like for him, trapped in that hell he himself had created, unable to make the transition, probably full of fear at what awaited a sinner like him. Spiritualists believe that no matter how wicked we think ourselves to be the only punishment inflicted upon our souls is by our own will. We have freedom of choice, but the only way to God is by spiritual progression, we alone can chose to walk into the light, or, like that lost spirit remain imprisoned in the evil of our physical life. It was the great German writer and philosopher Goethe who said 'All guilt is punished on earth', that is, perhaps, the absolute karmic truth. We design our earthly lives, we live them and we die them and when the time comes for us to move forward into the spirit world each one of us will face the only judge that can ever truly punish us, ourselves. The kingdom of God lies within us all, accept that and be true to yourself and, as someone once said, it follows as night follows day, that you can then be false to no man.