IN all the years I worked at the Guildhall, I never remember encountering a ghost. Had I done so I would probably have dismissed it as some freak in fancy dress; in those days I was pre-occupied with reducing rent arrears and placating pompous politicians.

But do I scoff at recent reports of supernatural activity ? Not in the least.

I am mindful that I frequently watch vintage film starring long deceased actors or listen to music recorded in the long distant past.

Vibrations stored and recalled are possible as a result of human ingenuity so why should they not occur in nature?

And why should there not be human beings more receptive than others to those vibrations ? My favourite ghost story concerns a house near the Diglis Hotel used as a staff annexe.

Following staff reports of supernatural sightings a medium from Birmingham was engaged who identified and named the spectres as former occupants, an old lady and her lodger who died more than a century earlier.

The late Harold Bradley, headmaster of St Paul's School did some research but could find no such names in old directories.

However, he did come across those names in the identically numbered house in an adjacent street.

Further research revealed that when nameplates were erected in Worcester, a mistake occurred and two streets were wrongly labelled.

What had hitherto been named Mill Street became Portland Street while Portland Street became Mill Street.

None of this could possibly have been known to the Birmingham medium.

JOHN HINTON,

Worcester.