Ghost storey: Couple spend £3,000 on hotels after poltergeists force them from their dream flat t

/Home/Ghosts and spirits/Ghost stories

Ghost storey: Couple spend £3,000 on hotels after poltergeists force them from their dream flat
February 28, 2011
Mail Online

A couple have spent £3,000 of their life savings on hotel rooms after catching poltergeists on tape haunting their rented dream home.

French musician Jean Marc Mariole and his former model wife Charlotte have been tormented by the spectres ever since moving into their home in Frodsham, Cheshire.

Bumps in the night, ghostly orbs and spine-tingling spooks caught on CCTV have left the couple so scared to spend a night in their beds that they have even resorted to begging an exorcist to ward off the evil spirits.
A couple have spent £3,000 of their life savings on hotel rooms after catching freaky phantoms on tape haunting their rented dream home

But the house, which is close to the scene of two suicides, remains haunted.

The pair says the eerie goings-on started just four weeks after moving into their flat last April and include stamping noises, flying blobs and even levitating bed sheets.

The case bears a startling resemblance to the recent Hollywood horror film Paranormal Activity, in which a couple use a home video camera to record supernatural occurrences in their home.
French musician Jean Marc Mariole and his former model wife Charlotte have been tormented by poltergeists ever since moving into their home in Frodsham, Cheshire.
French musician Jean Marc Mariole and his former model wife Charlotte have been tormented by poltergeists ever since moving into their home in Frodsham, Cheshire.

Scaredy flat: French musician Jean Marc Mariole and his former model wife Charlotte have been tormented by poltergeists ever since moving into their flat (right) in Frodsham, Cheshire - above a butcher's shop

The constant thumping through the night means the couple have not had a decent night's sleep in months - snatching what rest they can at nearby hotels.

On several occasions, they have been forced to flee their home in the middle of the night, desperately checking into the local Holiday Inn in the early hours.

But after spending £18,000 on decorating the luxury flat, the couple are fast running out of cash to spend on hotel rooms.

Charlotte, 53, originally from Bordeaux, said the peak of the paranormal pranks came when she was suddenly locked in her bathroom while washing her face.
'The door just slammed behind me and the window was not even open, so it couldn't have been a breeze'

She said: 'It was really frightening - the door just slammed behind me and the window was not even open, so it couldn't have been a breeze.

'The shower curtain started sliding back and forth along the rail. It was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me.

'I tried to soap up the lock, but it wouldn't open and I had to resort to calling for the neighbours to help me.'

Items around the house are frequently moved by the ghoulish houseguests, and Jean Marc claims he often feels the sensation of someone breathing on his neck while he practises on his piano.

One night, the couple were left terrified when the sheets on their bed mysteriously levitated before falling back down again.

And after just a few months living in the flat, the couple were forced to move their bed downstairs to escape the constant haunting.

Chillingly, CCTV recordings the couple have made clearly show dozens of mysterious orbs gliding about the empty rooms in the dark.
Spooky similarities: The case bears a startling resemblance to the recent Hollywood horror film Paranormal Activity, in which a couple use a home video camera to record supernatural occurrences in their home

Spooky similarities: The case bears a startling resemblance to the recent Hollywood horror film Paranormal Activity, in which a couple use a home video camera to record supernatural occurrences in their home

Jean Marc, 64, who married his wife last March, said: 'We have seen somewhere between 200 and 300 of these things flying about the house.

'It's terrifying. We see black silhouettes on the walls and hear screams at night. Sometimes it sounds like a grown man crying.
'The noise is very distressing - it's like something out of a horror movie and doesn't help our sex life'

'The noise is very distressing - it's like something out of a horror movie and does not help our sex life.

'I have lived in England for 45 years and thought I'd finally found the perfect place to live, in a peaceful village. We have spent £18,000 kitting the flat out and now we have to leave, if only for our sanity.'

Now the couple say they are thinking of fleeing to France just to escape the creepy incidents, despite having spent their life savings on the 19th century two-bed home.

Charlotte added: 'We have even resorted to sleeping in the car to escape the horrors of the house, which as you can imagine is not very comfortable.

'We just want to leave and get a decent night's sleep again.'

Poltergeist activity has often been believed to be the work of malicious ghosts.

The word poltergeist comes from the German words poltern 'to make a noise' and geist 'spirit'.

The term itself literally means 'noisy ghost' and victims often report inanimate objects being picked up and thrown, noises such as knocking, rapping and human voices - or even physical attacks.