WITH Halloween approaching many of us are turning our thoughts to the spooky and supernatural.

With events taking place to celebrate all things ghostly and ghoulish, there is certainly no shortage in Wrexham of old buildings with murky histories and rumours of dubious goings-on to keep our imaginations whirring. Andrea Ellis, a founder member of the North Wales Paranormal Group said given Wrexham's changing face in the past centuries, many buildings are occupied by spirits confused by their new surroundings. She said: "There's always a historical part to anything we do - and while a lot of the sites date back a long time, they could have become a different premise, so the spirits tend to think it's what it was when they were there." Older buildings investigated by the group include the Wynnstay Arms in Ruabon - a former coaching house dating back to the 18th century. With its history as a coaching house – during which time mail coach drivers would have stopped for refreshment, rest and fresh horses – the Wynnstay Arms fits neatly in to the great British tradition of the haunted pub. As well as a number of rooms and old stables which would have provided an overnight stay for weary horses on the old mail route, the hotel also has an old ballroom and a sprawling cellar. Elen Bride, a bar supervisor at the Wynnstay Arms, has worked there for nearly 20 years. She described a number of incidents where strange goings-on had been detected at the pub. Some staff refuse to go down to the pub’s basement where a ‘white mist’ has been seen moving from wall to wall. Employees have also heard unexpected footsteps in its rooms. She said: “In the cellar, there’s quite a long corridor to what used to be the wine cellar. I went down there one night and heard footsteps and when I turned round, no one was there. “There’s no way anybody could have been sneaking about because of the creaky floorboards.” The group has also visited sites in Llangollen. The group once braved a wet and windy night at the Britannia Inn, at the foot of the Horseshoe Pass, which formerly housed monks, after claims there was the ghost of one walking the halls in the dead of night. Mike Griffiths, a member of the group said: “The Britannia is well known for its hauntings but the night we spent there revealed more than we had imagined.” Mr Griffiths felt fingers grip his throat while speaking to an old landlord from the 1800s, a lady who had worked at the inn called Margaret Jones who he described as a “lovely spirit” and two Cistercian monks were spotted near a fireplace. A recent investigation saw the group visit the Royal Oak on Wrexham's High Street, where they regained contact with a familiar spirit. Ms Ellis said: "We keep going there and the same spirits keep coming to us - one of them is a little girl with Down's Syndrome. She comes through to us all the time and always gives us information." But surprisingly, investigations in the past few years have seen it look in to hauntings at more modern places - including the Liquid and Envy nightclub in the town centre. "There's lots of places we like to do, and it's become quite an expensive hobby. And house clearances is part of our work now as well. "We don't charge for our services - we just want to help people to understand what's going on. It can be unnerving and we just like to make people feel at ease."