Well… the books do fly off of the shelves sometimes
Clemo Books is a teeny tiny bookshop housed in an 18th century building on the corner of Bank Street and Beachfield Avenue in Newquay – and there is evidence to suggest that it’s haunted. BOO!
I shall lay the evidence out with the facts I have and you, dear reader, can decide if Clemo Books is indeed haunted.
The first piece of evidence
Books regularly launch themselves off of the shelves. Now, perhaps this is down to my poor skills as a bookseller to merchandise the paperbacks correctly, or…
Sometimes I unlock the door in the mornings, walk in and find there are books on the ground, not just one, there can be two or more on the floor. I’ve also experienced it where a book has fallen off the shelf at speed and on one occasion a customer on the other side of the store said “it wasn’t me!”
The second piece of evidence
A witch said so. Witch and all-round glorious woman, Emma Griffin, author of the The Witch’s Way Home, said there were spirits present. Emma came to Clemo for an event and we all had a great time. We talked of spells and nature and returning home to the beautiful traditions of our little isle.
But, she said she felt there was definitely a presence, however, hastened to add that it was a nice one.
The third and final piece of evidence
This doesn’t relate to our building, BUT, I have been told by numerous people that a malevolent force used to spook staff in the old Madame Hawke department store across the road (it’s a Costa Coffee now). The ghostly activity was so regular that they even invited a priest to exorcise the spirit at one point in history.
Perhaps this naughty, but probably well-dressed ghoul, has walked through the walls and across the road once or twice to read some of the classics in Clemo Books!
The verdict
Clemo customers you can decide if our bookshop is indeed haunted. I’m happy either way. It gets lonely when Jonathan the Seagull isn’t about so a ghostly friend could be nice to have around.
If you and your little ones want to experience the ghoulish activity for yourselves we’ll be hosting a storytelling session on Saturday 24 October at 12pm/ midday as part of the Spooky Newquay celebrations. Come clad in your creepiest outfits!
