Littlehampton's The Dolphin Hotel makes ghostly appearance on Help! My House is Haunted

On Friday (September 7), The Dolphin Hotel, in High Street, Littlehampton, appeared on Help! My House is Haunted, in which a team of paranormal investigators looking to bring ‘ghost-hunting into the 21st century’ visits haunted properties.

Ellie Boiling, 51, has been the landlady for 18 years and was first attracted to the pub after experiencing its hauntings first-hand as a part-time chef in 1989. She said producers for the show, on channel Really, contacted her after hearing about the pub’s reputation for the paranormal.

“It was a great experience, they were very professional,” she said.

“The presenters of the ghost show got it, they understood the pub. I feel that buildings have energies, especially older buildings, and The Dolphin either spits you out or gives you a hug – it embraces people that it likes.”

Ellie said The Dolphin is a traditional family pub, but the hauntings add extra interest.

She runs a ghost hunting team and regularly hosts ghost walks in the building. She described the moment a malevolent spirit, William, who she said was hanged for raping and murdering his own niece, convinced the show’s presenters that he was ‘nice’, rather than the ‘oppressive character’ which Ellie knows.

Her one gripe with the show’s producers was that she was asked not to mention her ghost hunting experience and unfairly depicted as an amateur, she said.

She said two guests had left a ouija board uncovered in the hotel’s most-haunted room, ‘allowing spirits to escape’. The programme, she said, made it seem as though she had left the board uncovered.

“I only found out when one of the guests called me and said she had felt something following her home,” she said.

“I know the show is for entertainment purposes, but it was not me who opened the board.”