_ct1880x930.jpg "Criterion Hotel staff member Jacqui Swift-Ross said she saw a woman in Victorian style clothing in the Allman Room, a lady staff believe to be the hotel's original owner Mrs Allman.")
Historic Warwick pub filled with paranormal activity
FOOTSTEPS in the dead of the night, ghostly orbs and mysterious figures appearing at random.
It may sound like something from a paranormal investigation but for the staff at the Criterion Hotel it's a reality.
From the outside the 99-year-old hotel appears as any other, but inside there is something spooky going on.
Everyone at the Criterion has a hair-raising tale of paranormal activity.
An old lady wandering the Allman Room, a mischievous little girl appearing in guests' rooms and tall thin lady on the balcony are among the figures seen by guests and staff alike.
_t1880.jpg "Criterion Hotel staff members Jacqui Swift-Ross and Kylie Jenner with owner Tony Prentice and a photograph of the hotel's original owner Mrs Allman, who reportedly haunts the hotel.")
Jacqui Swift-Ross has seen and heard strange activity in her time working at the hotel.
"I've been pushed and touched," she said.
"One night I was sitting down writing the hotel's history when someone blew on my neck."
She's also seen a figure downstairs she believed to be Mrs Allman, the original owner of the Criterion.
Mrs Allman built the hotel in 1917, before taking ill and dying suddenly in 1931.
She's described as a plump older woman wearing Victorian era clothing, exactly as she appears in a photo on a wall in the hotel.
Nicola Beggs managed the Criterion for four years.
Even now, years after her last shift, the thought of being alone in the hotel gives her the shivers.
"When you're in there on your own, there's definitely something there," she said.
"There's one hallway upstairs that I just couldn't go down, it'd give me the creeps.
"I even started to bring my dog to work when I had to close and not even it wanted to go upstairs."
Ms Beggs experienced changes in temperatures and the prickly hair raising feeling.
"There were two girls working there who were going down the stairs and saw someone on the stairs in front of them," she said.
"The figure vanished and the girls were hysterical."
She also recalled another staff member seeing the figure of a thin lady staring out an apartment window upstairs.
The thin lady was also reported standing on a back balcony, as well as the ghost of a young man.
Guests have also reported hearing someone wearing spurs walking the corridors at 3am.
One of the most haunted areas of the hotel is room number one.
A staff member once turned around to find a little girl with blonde hair standing by the bed.
The little girl has been described as mischievous, with staff once leaving a ball in the room and finding it moved around the following day.
Cleaner Steph Popp has also experienced strange phenomena in room one.
"One day we cleaned the walls and when we returned there were marks on the walls," she said.
Some staff dread going upstairs alone at night, with reports of orbs in security cameras and random cold spots.
Kylie Jenner said she had definitely felt a change in temperature upstairs.
"Even with the lights on it's still scary up there," she said.
_t1880.jpg "Barbara Beggs stands in an upstairs hallway of the Criterion Hotel where staff have experienced changes in temperature and heard children laughing.")
Barbara Beggs has seen many things out of the corner of her eye in her time at the Criterion.
She said it's not frightening.
"Most of the time you think to yourself did I see that or am I imagining things?," she said.
"Quite a few people have reported hearing children laughing.
"There's one corner upstairs that everyone gets the creeps in."
A psychic who visited the hotel once reported a group of figures in the renovated ballroom who weren't happy their old tea room had been changed.
Even the hotel's owners have felt the strange phenomena.
Owner Tony Prentice has reported the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end upstairs.
His daughter Valerie also regularly experiences strange happenings in the hotel.
"The first time you're scared," she said.
"But I don't think they (the ghosts) are malicious, they just want people to know they exist.
"When I'm upstairs I say to them 'Ok, I'm here. Leave me alone'."
Ms Prentice said she believed the ghost of Mrs Allman was watching over the hotel.
"One of the girls in the kitchen is a seer and she sees Mrs Allman in the kitchen with her," she said.
"She's come back to keep an eye on the place."
_t1880.jpg "Criterion Hotel owner Tony Prentice and his daughter Valerie have felt some of the paranormal activity in the hotel.")
With the Criterion's centenary fast approaching, staff are keen to hear other people's ghost stories.
"We encourage people to tell us what they've seen or heard," Ms Prentice said.
"A lot of guests would think they're just seeing things or wouldn't be game enough to share what they've seen.
"We'd love to get some more stories."
