Man claimes he was '˜punched' by a ghost in Skegness

Stephen Briggs has recounted spooky events from his childhood growing up in the town - and some truly bizarre accounts from Horncastle, where he now lives.

He says his experiences include poltergeist activity in his family home, shadowy figures at Spilsby - and being confronted by a 3ft horned ‘man’ in Horncastle.

“I have had paranormal experiences all my life,” said Stephen, 38. “My late father said my first experience of the supernatural was at age five when I saw ‘a lady in the corner’ and proceeded to describe his mother, unaware she had died in the same room 10 years before.”

From the more mild accounts of hearing ghostly footsteps - to claims of being physically attacked by a poltergeist, Stephen says he has had around 300 supernatural experiences.

So extraordinary are his claims, that Stephen says he has been the subject of ridicule in the past with people dismissing his accounts. But he insists he is telling the truth. “For people to suggest I must have been on drugs, is just offensive,” he said. “People can either choose to believe me or not. But there are over 100 incidents where others have been with me to either witness these things, or have at seen my reaction to them.”

The most terrifying experiences come from his childhood home in Skegness - which he says ended up having to be ‘exorcised’ by a member of the church.

Speaking about a paranormal encounter aged eight, he said: “I could not move, I was frozen rigid and electricity was shooting down my spine. The sanctury of my bedroom had been shattered, and leaning over me was a woman, who for some reason, had space from head to toe as if she was in two pieces down the middle.”

Other terrifying things he says he experienced include having his legs pulled by an invisible presence while in bed one night, seeing a picture of Winston Churchill flung across the room by a poltergeist, and being ‘punched’ in the stomach by an unseen force.

He also ‘saw’ the spectre of man in a tuxedo at the house which he says two older generations of his family also claimed to have seen. One particular sighting of a ghost ‘without a face’ caused Stephen to scream in terror. “He clearly didn’t have a head. Or rather, there was empty space where his face should be,” he said. “I have never screamed so loud in my life.”

His experiences were said to have culminated in the family home being blessed by a member of the church.

“Nearly all of my early experiances were in my childhood home whereas most of my adult experiences have been elsewhere,” he explained. “From age 14 to 19, I barely experienced anything. It was as if my ability had switched itself off.”

However, one experience, left him feeling physically ill after he claims he was punched in the chest by an unseen force at his home. “I was 15 at the time and it felt like I was having aheart attack,” he said.

Stephen said the paranormal activity increased when he hung the image of Winston Churchill in his bedroom, having had a keen interest in wartime history during his childhood.

“All Hell broke loose,” he said, claiming the poltergeist also broke some of his toy figures of British soldiers.

“Churchill flew three metres across the room towards the window and a steel Sea Harrier model had its tail cut clean off as if by a welding torch,” Stephen said.

He dubbed the poltergeist the ‘Nazi ghost’ and said the family called upon a reverend to expel the spirit from their home, an effort he claims was successful. “I recall a noise in my ears like an explosion, then a feeling of peace,” he said.

Some of the other Skegness area experiences he claims to have had, include:

l Seeing three ghosts at Church Farm Museum, which he claims is ‘so haunted, it’s surreal’.

l In 1997 Stephen says he saw a B25 plane flying over Skegness: “The owners of the only B25 in the country confirmed that theirs was in bits in the hangar and not flying at 7.30am over Skegness.”

l A man in a black robe at Spilsby Theatre gave Stephen the creeps when he ‘walked right through a table’ and vanished.

l One of the most bizarre, was at the RAF site at East Kirkby, where Stephen claims to have experienced something sinister in the toilets. “I have heard footsteps in the corridors, but nothing as surreal as a man who sounded like the late Kenneth Williams bickering in the toilets. The voice vanished, and I then found the toilets were empty.”

l In 1990 Stephen says he witnessed the ghost of a train gliding over water at Gibraltar Point.

l At the ruins of Bolingbroke Castle Stephen says he saw ‘the figure of a woman in a long-flowing dress floating in the sky’.

l At Snipe Dales nature reserve, near Horncastle, Stephen claims to have felt nauseus when he ventured into one particular area he called ‘the hollow’. “I didn’t see anything, but I felt physically sick,” he said. “When I got home I researched the area and found that particular spot was where a hundred soldiers were supposedly executed during the civil war.”

Stephen concluded: “I have made lots of notes over the years about my sightings, and I think it would make a very ineteresting book.”