Pub landlady Dawn McHugh called in the ghostbusters after she was attacked by an angry spirit haunting the 17th Century pub she has just taken on.

Mrs McHugh, 46, says the ghost tripped her up, sending her flying down the stairs at the Flemish Weaver in Corsham High Street.

The drama happened on Easter Monday, only days after Mrs McHugh moved into the pub with her husband Mac, 59, an expert in stain glass window repairs. It meant she ended up in hospital for the day until doctors were satisfied that her suspected fractured skull was, in fact, bad bruising.

Mrs McHugh said: “The first time it happened I thought nothing of it but it happened a second time just a week later when I was putting some curtains up. I felt something strong pulling me around.”

In another incident the landlady blames the ghost for sending her ironing board crashing to the ground.

The happenings at the pub, which dates from 1625, so shocked the couple that they enlisted the help of spirtualist Kim Healy, of Potley Lane, Corsham, who organised a seance of seven people at the pub.

Drama was in store again, however, when a butter plate was flung from the table they were sitting at, smashing on the floor.

Mrs Healy, 53, said they sensed the presence of an angry spirit. She said: “Three of us had picked up that it was a man who carried a stick and he was chasing children. Another picked up a woman who we think was his wife. Something was holding him here and he didn’t want to go.

“We felt he had gone but could sense there was still something there and we knew Dawn would phone again, and she did. On the second visit the group felt that it was Dawn’s father who was now in the room and he was telling her to slow down.”

Staff at the pub also say they witnessed strange sights. Waitress Loretta Butterworth, 19, said: “Once, I was sat having lunch when I saw the outline of a man. Another time I saw the man standing by the window.”

Mrs Healy’s sister Sue Griffin said: “The man just had to be told that he was dead. They told him that his wife was already waiting for him and he accepted it.”

The McHughs think the seances have done the trick and say the atmosphere at the pub has lightened. And their cats, Yoda and Beau, who before would only run in for food and then dash out, have now taken up residence again.