Pub Owner Takes Out Insurance Against Ghosts

Terry and Shirley Meggs, who run the Royal Falcon Hotel, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, have purchased an insurance policy against their resident poltergeist. The Hotel sits next to an unused graveyard and was once the site of a girls' school. It is haunted by a monk who took his own life after being caught having an affair with either a student or another teacher. Mr. Meggs says, "I never believed in ghosts before... I saw glasses move across the bar and be picked up one night, and thought, what happens if it does something to hurt somebody." He has purchased insurance from a company called Ultraviolet, which charges 500 pounds per year for a policy that pays out 1 million pounds if staff or customers are killed or permanently injured by paranormal activity. Last year, Ultraviolet paid 100,000 pounds to the family of a woman who held their Spooksafe policy. Its investigators determined that a ghost had been responsible for her death, after she was thrown over the banister in her home and killed. (Ananova)