Cromer Pier normally echoes to the sights and sounds of seaside entertainers and laughing crowds. But the end-of-the-pier theatre stage is also home to some rather spookier goings-on. So who did they call? The ghosthunters . . .

Could Cromer Pier possibly be haunted?

Paranormal experts went to Cromer Pier to check out chilling stories of medieval men in rags, unhappy lifeboatmen and a jaunty former theatre boss continuing to visit the jetty after their deaths.

The team visited a Yarmouth pub on Saturday 6 September, 2003, but all they saw was another pack of ghosthunters looking for the same ghosts.

Ghostly goings-on along Cromer seafront stretch back centuries, but pier bosses called in the experts before planned alterations to the Pavilion Theatre.

Manager Richard Lawson said stars and staff had reported “atmospheres, appearances, and weird and wonderful things” at the venue.

They include tales of performers seeing the late Irish impresario Dick Condon on stage next to them.

Lifeboatmen who used to haunt the old lifeboat shed had moved to the theatre and pier since the new station was built, and seemed to look longingly back at where their former home used to be, he said.

“A lot of staff said that during a Jack the Ripper show there were some very unpleasant presences – the ‘residents’ did not like it at all.”

Any ghosts were the theatre’s guests, too, and managers wanted to delve into exactly what was going on before a planned winter rebuild of part of the foyer and auditorium.

David Wharmby, a full-time investigator for 20 years, said: “We have had reports of ghostly activity going back to 1300 in the pier area, which is close to the lost town of Shipden, now under the sea.

“There are tales of figures walking along the pier in raggy clothing and sackcloth.”

He said only “one or two” of the team’s visits failed to produce results, and it had been featured on television’s Most Haunted series – where it found the sounds of moaning voices, shuffling feet and an appearance by a second world war US soldier at Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire.

“We have been attacked by unseen forces – getting struck and scratched – and items, including tables, have been thrown at us. But we soldier on. The more activity there is, the better it is for us,” said Mr Wharmby.

Mr Lawson urged people not to be frightened, and hoped the ghosthunting visit would help increase understanding.

On Friday 12 September, 2003, the ghosthunting team from Nottinghamshire made a fact-finding visit to check out the area.

Dick Condon loved the theatre all his life – and some think he has stayed around the Cromer Pier Pavilion as a ghost.

Dick Condon was an affable Irishman with the gift of the Blarney – but ghosthunters are warning that the impresario may be stirred from the grave by plans to rip his bar out of a seaside theatre.

Tales already abound that the popular late theatre boss is among the spooks haunting Cromer Pier Pavilion where he launched the modern Seaside Special summer show more than two decades ago.

A band of ghosthunters checking out the venue identified five “presences” on and around the stage.

And there was a chilling prediction that whisky and gin may not be the only spirits disturbed when the Richard Condon bar is knocked down and rebuilt.

Ghost team leader David Wharmby said: “He might not be happy about the bar being pulled down. When there are major alterations like this, spirits get disturbed and become more active.

“We are not sure if it is out of grievance or just curiosity.

“The workmen might feel and see some activity around them, but we’ve never found anyone who has come to physical harm,” he added.

The team of ghosthunters has been called in by the pier managers specifically because of the upcoming alterations to the auditorium, backstage and foyer areas, which are part of a multi-million pound seafront regeneration.

Their preliminary visit on Friday, September 12, 2003 was sufficiently successful to warrant a return trip in mid-November with a full 10-strong team and specialist recording equipment.

Mr Wharmby said his mediumship skills picked up the “impressions” of a Victorian chorus girl in her 20s wearing a long flowing dress, a circus midget, a man in the backstage passage and a man and woman in the auditorium.

An electro-magnetic field detector also showed unusual fluctuations around the stage and dressing rooms, and a video camera’s battery inexplicably drained.

Asked if the spirits were friendly or angry, he said there was “something I did not feel comfortable with” – but more detail would come following the full overnight visit.

Pier manager Richard Lawson, who accompanied the ghost ‘recce’ team, said it resulted in a stronger response than he had expected.

“They described the singer – who takes the male lines in songs – which is something other people have described but which the ghost people could not have known about. It really knocked me back.”

Despite the warnings, the rebuilding of the Dick Condon bar would go ahead during this winter’s improvements, which will begin when the curtain comes down on the season on October 12, 2003.

“It will be pulled down and rebuilt – but will live on in name. We just hope he likes it.”

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