MIKE HALLOWELL: The Ghost Cat of the Grotto

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a journalist on a local paper I column for, attached to which was an e-mail the paper had received from an old colleague of mine. I'd not seen Billy for years, not since we both worked together in the Crime Prevention Department of Northumbria Police (E Division).

Billy had no direct way of contacting me and hence, penned his epistle for my attention to the journalist concerned. Billy wanted to know if I was attending a “ghost hunt” at the legendary Marsden Grotto Inn, a strange pub in a cave that nestles at the base of a large cliff at Tyneside's Marsden Bay. Both Marsden Bay and the Grotto Inn are known to myself, Jon Downes and Richie Freeman. Jon and Richie visited the pub years ago when we were filming a documentary entitled Anatomy of a Haunting. The documentary was the work of filmmaker Gary Wilkinson, and concerned the wide range of bizarre phenomena that take place in the vicinity. I wrote the script and did some of the presenting, whilst Jon and Richie did a very spooky intro.

Later, I went on to write an entire book about the pub (The House That Jack Built: Amberley Publishing, 2008), and I've taken part in no less than five documentaries about the place and penned over twenty articles and columns on the same subject. Hence, I was intrigued about the forthcoming ghost hunt.

I telephoned Billy and we spent at least half an hour catching up on old times. I confessed to him that I knew nothing about the forthcoming event, and normally didn't have much enthusiasm for this sort of thing, but if it was taking place at the Grotto then I might be persuaded. I then rang the chap who had organised it and he said he'd be delighted if I'd go along and perhaps help inform those in attendance about the history of the place and some of the odd characters who had been associated with it over the centuries.

Then the event took place, and I watched with fascination as thirty enthusiasts not only hunted for the Grotto ghosts but also attempted to make contact with them via ouija boards and sundry other means.

But it was during a break in the proceedings when my curiosity was truly heightened. A cameraman was filming me as I moved from location to location and in between shots we found ourselves standing by the main entrance, which leads out onto the patio outside. The cameraman suddenly turned and looked down towards the ground, obviously distracted by something.

“That's weird,” he said, “I've just felt a cat brush against my legs, but there's nothing there...”

I must confess I was delighted, for I wondered if the legendary Grotto Ghost Cat (GGC) was back.

The Grotto Ghost Cat first appeared, to my knowledge, in the mid 60s when patrons playing the “one-armed bandits” reported having the same sensation as the cameraman: the unmistakeable feeling that a cat had just brushed against their legs. What intrigued me more was the fact that the gambling machines used to stand only six feet away from where we were standing now.

Occasionally drinkers in the Grotto would not only feel the cat's presence but actually see it. It was invariably described as black and white, although a couple of witnesses have also seen a completely black cat, so maybe there are two Grotto Ghost Cats.


The first witness I ever interviewed who had actually seen the GGC was the former landlord of the Grotto, Nick Garvey. Not long after taking over the pub, Nick spotted a cat in the kitchen. He said it looked “large as life” (a weird expression, for to my knowledge you don't lose height when you're dead) and tried to catch it, as he didn't want a run-in with the local council's health and safety people. He bent down and tried to pick it up, but was astonished to find that his hands just passed straight through it. The phantom cat then simply walked through a nearby refrigerator and disappeared.

I've actually been in the Grotto when other patrons have complained to the manager about “that cat in the bar” but when the landlord investigates it has inevitably disappeared into the ether.

There's no doubt that a spectral cat of some kind haunts (if that's the word) this old public house. However, is it a ghost or some kind of zooform cryptid? Its hard to say, to be honest. In some respects it acts like a conventional, run-of-the-mill ghost (if there is such a thing) but one or two incidents make me wonder. In November 2000 a witness who saw the GGC claimed it had “bright, glowing red eyes”, and others have heard it “meaowing”. Another witness I interviewed said that as the GGC leaped from a table onto the floor it seemed to change shape. Maybe it is a cryptid off sorts, then.

I've been told that someone has a photograph of the GGC, and I'm going to try and track it down. If I'm successful, I'll post it here, so watch this space....