Shropshire Star

Mystery of Shropshire's World Cup 'ghost' remains unsolved

It looks like any other ordinary party picture taken of a group of friends celebrating; however, look closer and things may not be as they seem.

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In the foreground, the group are all smiles, but some have claimed they can see a ghost and her baby standing in the window of the house directly behind them, watching the group.

The house in question, in Wem, is uninhabited and surrounded with scaffolding - raising the question as to just whom or what could be lurking within.

The unusual photographs were posted on Facebook by Natasha Oliver, a mum-of-one from Wem.

They were taken five years ago after a World Cup game but Natasha said the mystery still remains unsolved.

The picture has now gone viral and has been picked up by news organisations across the world.

She said: "It was taken in 2010 during the World Cup.

"We had all been to the pub and then went to the Millennium Green in Wem.

"We were just messing around as a group and taking pictures like normal teenagers.

"When we found these pictures we were all a bit freaked out and a couple of the boys went to investigate the building but there was no floorboards so they couldn't enter. They just balanced on the scaffolding.

"It couldn't have been building equipment and it clearly doesn't look like any of us. And it was an empty building that was not finished so no one was living there.

"As you can see an odd shape is in the window - I believe it's a woman holding a baby.

"There are also orbs on the photo and other people have mentioned seeing more faces in the picture on the grass."

It is not the first time Wem has been the focus of ghostly sightings.

Wem has a history of spooky stories - most notably when the image of a young girl was captured amid the flames as Wem Town Hall burned to the ground in 1995.

The picture featured on the front page of the Shropshire Star under the headline Ghost Town and sparked international headlines.

The 'Wem Ghost'

The figure, dubbed the Wem Ghost, sparked rumours that the apparition was 14-year-old Jane Churm, who accidentally started the great fire of Wem in 1677.

The ghostly image divided experts with some saying the picture was genuine and others saying it was a fake.

The famous picture was hotly debated until 2010 when the mystery was apparently solved by a Shropshire Star reader who spotted a similarity between the girl in the photograph and the image of a girl printed on a postcard that appeared on one our nostalgia pages.

The girl in the postcard, which dates from 1922, so closely resembled the Wem Town Hall ghost that the mystery now appears to have been solved, although nobody could ever put the claims to Mr Tony O'Rahilly who took the picture of the fire and died before the new information emerged.

But Natasha is sure this ghost of Wem is genuine.

She added: "I would love someone to investigate it. I truly believe there is something there.

"Quite often it comes up and random people in the pub question me about it but I can't explain it although I wish I could."

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