Record 227 paranormal events spooked Britain last year

LONDON - A report revealed that Britain has been witness to a record number of 227 spooky events last year.

The Fringe Weird Report compiled by the Rev Lionel Fanthorpe, a Cardiff-based Anglican priest, found that ghosts, UFOs, strange sounds and road phantoms were the most common spooks experienced.

“It has to be considered that news spreads faster in our technological days with mobile phones and the Internet. However, it’s beginning to look as if 2010 will produce a higher-than-average number of reports,” the Sun quoted Fanthorpe as saying.

Some of the paranormal hotspots around the country:

Prestwick: The most recent event - a man on Saturday reported seeing a ball-shaped red object in the sky close to this Scottish town that changed colour, flew and was joined by other similar shapes.

Truro: Passers-by reported in February hearing the rattling of chains at Comprigney Field, where criminals’ bodies were exhibited in an iron cage known as a gibbet.

Ipswich: A woman was seen in February looking from a window in the Crown Hotel when the room was thought to be unoccupied.

Trowbridge: Unexplained orbs of light, a strange phantom figure and examples of poltergeist activity were reported in March at the Wiltshire town’s Rose and Crown pub.

Exeter: St Thomas station is apparently haunted by a person wearing heels who likes to pat dogs. The animals respond affectionately even though no one can be seen. The latest report was in August.

York: A girl carrying a child is reported on misty evenings on the A64 Malton Road where a highwayman supposedly murdered her. She was spotted in April.

Culcreach Castle: A phantom harpist plays and in June was heard by boatmen on Loch Lomond.

The Fringe Weird Report was commissioned to mark the release on DVD and Blu-ray of season two of sci-fi TV series Fringe. (ANI)