BIRTHDAY boy Danny Meadows celebrated the occasion in scary style — when he went ghost hunting at Ye Olde Man and Scythe.

The freelance picture editor, who turns 31 today, donned a Ghostbuster costume with four of his friends on Saturday night — and turned to the spirits as part of his birthday celebrations.

The UK’s fourth oldest pub, in Churchgate, made headlines all over the world after spooky CCTV footage, which apparently caught a spectre on camera, went viral.

Mr Meadows, from Halliwell, said he felt it was his duty to head down the pub and stop the ghost — before it ate all the pasties from nearby Ye Olde Pasty Shop.

He said: “I’d considered going out in Manchester, as we did that last year.

“Then I saw a ghost looking shifty around the meat pasties in that video and figured if someone didn’t stop it there’d only be the cheese ones left, and I didn’t think Bolton would benefit from that.”

After his night out. Mr Meadows, who works for various fashion magazines and cosmetics companies, said the team hadn’t seen any ghosts, but had still had a great evening.

He said: “We had a fantastic night. The reaction from people in the Man and Scythe was great and there was a lot of love for the Ghostbusters.”

The CCTV footage from Ye Olde Man and Scythe appears to show a peculiar presence at one end of the bar. Footage was found by manager, Tony Dooley, who was woken just after 6am by the sound of breaking glass.

He noticed that the pub’s CCTV cameras had mysteriously stopped working and when he checked back over the film, he was shocked to see the dark figure come into view.

Some believe that James Stanley, the seventh Earl of Derby, has haunted the premises since he was executed outside the building for his part in a massacre during the English Civil War.

  • One of the stars of the Ghostbusters film, Harold Ramis, died this week, aged 69.