A ghost has allegedly been caught on camera at one of the oldest inns in Britain. An image of a shadowy figure was filmed with a CCTV camera at the Ye Olde Man and Scythe in Bolton.

The staff at the pub believe that they have caught a ghost on CCTV on the night of February 14. The footage was discovered later on in the morning of the same day after the management checked why the CCTV had stopped recording at 6:18 am.

In the 34-second footage, a shadowy figure of a person has flickered into view, walking by the small space visible in camera. It’s unclear whether the image was of a man or a woman.

“I came down and saw a glass smashed on the floor so I was instantly suspicious and went to check the CCTV and found it has stopped working,” the pub’s manager, Tony Dooley, told the Manchester Evening News. “We checked the footage and it revealed this figure.”

“To be honest I was a bit concerned – I’m a bit of a sceptic when it comes to ghosts but you become more of a believer when you see things like that.”

The Ye Olde Man and Scythe pub is the fourth oldest in Britain, dating back to as early as 1251. It is reputedly haunted by the Seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley, whose family originally owned the inn.

According to stories, he spent his last hours in the inn before he was beheaded in 1651. The chair he sat in before he was taken outside and executed is still in the pub. Many also believe that he hasn’t left the pub at all, and is still inside.

During the Bolton Massacre of 1644, there were hundreds of soldiers and civilians that were killed outside the pub, making it a hotspot for paranormal activities. A psychic evening held in 2006 inside the pub had found that it was haunted by at least 25 spirits.

“There have always been rumours it is haunted and we’ve had psychic readings done here in the past,” Mr Dooley continued. “Occasionally you hear things and wonder if it’s just the building settling down or whether it’s something else.

“It’s the fourth oldest pub in Great Britain so it’s had its fair share of deaths and whatnot.”

This isn’t the first “ghost” video that has made its way online, but it’s one of the few that has made the news and gone viral.

While there were readers who found the ghost claim freaky, there were others who weren’t totally convinced, with some calling the video “fake.”

One commenter said that the footage is fake because it looks like a film reel, saying, “The flashing ligts look like a movie so that is why I say it is fake and doesn’t look real.”

“I don’t like this pub at the best of times but being one of Britain’s oldest pub it wouldn’t surprise me at all that ghosts haunt it,” a YouTube user wrote.

History of Ye Old Man & Scythe