Coastbusters: Scarborough community rallies round to solve mystery of the Open Air Theatre 'ghost'

This week, The Scarborough News reported that a holiday-maker had spotted a ‘ghost’ at the Open Air Theatre. (Pic: Tracey Gray)

Tracey Gray, from Halifax, was visiting Scarborough for the first time on a family weekend away.

Whilst she was here, she attended the Paul Heaton gig at the Open Air Theatre.

She said: “We were seated at the right hand side of the theatre and after about 30 minutes of the music starting something caught my eye over to the right in a large open field situated behind the theatre.

the mysery on the ‘ghost’ has been debunked as one Facebook user shared another image of the ‘ghost’, and it appears it was a woman with blonde hair and a white t-shirt on whilst walking her dog.

"I just stopped and stared at a human figure but couldn’t make it out properly so I took a picture and I stopped listening to the music as this caught my attention.

“As I was watching the figure for about seven minutes a black mist came from nowhere and the figure vanished. I can’t really explain the mist, it was like a smoke from a fire or something.”

You can read the original story here.

The story got everybody talking on social media, with people trying to guess as to whether it was a ghost or another explanation.

The 'ghost' capture beside the mytery debunking picture.

One Facebook user said it was a nun, another user said it was a beekeeper and several other users said it looked like a bride.

One person said that the picture could have been in ‘Rotterdam or anywhere’, and a few users said was it ‘Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa or Sue’?

The story got picked up on national TV, however, with Jeremy Vine on 5 using it as part of their ‘Papers and Everything Else’ feature on Thursday, August 17.

The segment began with Matthew Allwright asking Whitby author and former priest Graham Taylor about the story and commented: “It’s a beautiful and haunting place and I have to say I’ve seen Paul Heaton live and I've seen The Beautiful South numerous times and I did see things afterwards but I don't think it had anything to do with the music.”

Coumnist Angela Epstein clarified that she thought the picture was “Spooky, that was really spooky.”

Storm Huntley then gave her opinion on the picture, saying: “It’s a youth that wants to terrify its neighbours.

Finally, Marvyn Harrison weighed up his opinion: “This looks just like a carrier bag that’s been caught on a twig and that’s my literal interpretation of what im seeing and now we’ve created a ghost.”

You can read more about the Jeremy Vine on 5 appearance here.

Now the mysery on the ‘ghost’ has been debunked as one Facebook user shared another image of the ‘ghost’, and it appears it was a woman with blonde hair and a white t-shirt on walking her dog.

It might not have been crocodiles off the Yorkshire coast, but it still made a great story.

If anybody else has spotted any other ‘ghosts’ around the Open Air Theatre or across Scarborough, then get in touch by emailing [email protected]