EERIE faces appeared in the smoke as one of Britain’s spookiest boozers burned to the ground.
The Leopard pub in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent – reportedly haunted by a murderer – went up in flames last weekend.
Onlookers claimed they saw demonic faces in the billowing smoke as about 40 firefighters battled to quell the blaze at the derelict former inn.
And medium Helen Lawson – who claims to have encountered terrifying spirits at the pub – believes the ghosts haven’t left the wreckage and will forever haunt whatever is built in its place.
She said: “In the aftermath my phone did not stop because people kept sending me photographs of contorted faces in the smoke.
“And people were saying: ‘Are the spirits of the Leopard being set free?’
“My feeling is that the spirits were angry the building was burning and will still choose to stay there, whatever happens and whatever is built on top, the land will always be haunted.”
The historic site is allegedly possessed by Molly Leigh, known as the Burslem Witch.
Helen claims to have seen the sorceress and a killer named Richard’s ghost while carrying out paranormal investigations at the site.
She also believes a tunnel beneath the pub was formerly used as a makeshift morgue.
Most read in The US Sun
Describing the strange happenings she claims to have witnessed, Helen said: “Personally I would see apparitions there, strange lights, dark shadows.
“People have reported being attacked, scratched, having unseen hands around their throats, doors opening and closing.
“Bricks have been thrown at people, glasses have fallen off shelves. It was extremely haunted.
“I have been to hundreds of haunted venues to do paranormal investigations and this will always be the most haunted I have ever been to or will ever know.”
She added: “I personally have encountered a murderer called Richard, a doctor and his wife, lots of children giggling and running around.
“You will hear voices all the time, doors slamming, disembodied voices, it was the norm but everybody loved it because of that.”
The pub is a beloved historical landmark where Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley met to discuss building the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765.
It closed and subsequently fell derelict, but it remained one of the most spooked buildings in the UK, some claim, with its ghostly goings on appearing on TV shows like Most Haunted.
Four men from Stoke-on-Trent, aged 23, 30, 33 and 51, are understood to have been arrested at the scene on suspicion of arson and burglary.
