The nights are drawing in (sorry about that, Southern Hemisphere subscribers), and the season of ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night is approaching and for just about the first time, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph’s City Diary, we have a ghost story for this spot – he spotted in a Friendly Inns brochure on Haunted Birmingham the appearance of a traditional red telephone box in Station Road, Erdington: seems the phone box is haunted by a lady in a scarlet dress who makes lengthy telephone calls – there’ll be the Devil to pay says British Telecommunications Plc while doing nothing to cast doubt on the veracity of the story – but vanishes when those waiting to use the phone impatiently tap on the glass, and which point they quite forget who it was they wanted to call; the ghost is Victorian-looking and is accompanied by a scent of pear drops, which, say the cognoscenti, is a sure sign that she was poisoned with Prussic Acid – no doubt by someone kept waiting until too late to put a winning bet on the 3.30.
