THERE has been yet another "ghostly" sighting at Bolton’s spookiest pub.

A strange figure appeared at one of the pub’s back windows upstairs — while the live-in manager was on holiday and his replacement was downstairs.

The haunting, unexplained picture was taken by a neighbour of Ye Olde Man and Scythe in Churchgate.

It appears to show a face, with a beard and mouth, at the window, which is above a sink.

It is the third time Ye Olde Man and Scythe has reported a supernatural occurrence in the last eight months and underlines its international tag of Britain’s most haunted pub.

The pub first hit the headlines in February when a CCTV video released on YouTube seemed to show a ghost appear at the end of the bar in the middle of the night.

Then last month, a Portuguese tourist — one of many intrigued visitors to the ‘haunted’ pub since it shot to fame — caught a mysterious flash of light on film which appeared at an upstairs window.

Owner Richard Greenwood says he has no idea what the face in the window could be.

He added: “I don’t know the guy who took it is but he posted it on Facebook.

“People started saying ‘what is looking down from the window’?

“We had a look and thought it looked a bit spooky so why not put it up.

“Tony, the landlord, is away and John, his replacement, was serving in the pub, so nobody could have been up there.”

The latest spooky sighting will only add to the reputation Bolton’s oldest pub has now acquired — as Britain’s most haunted.

Mr Greenwood said: “I suppose all this is good for business.

“At the weekend people just come in to take pictures. They come from all over the place, as they’ve heard it’s the most haunted pub in the world. The more pictures they take, the more chance they have of capturing something.”

Mr Greenwood was contacted by Japanese TV giant Fuji, to discuss the possibility of filming an episode of a series on paranormal activity at the pub, but a date has yet to be agreed.

The pub, which dates back to 1251, is the fourth-oldest in Britain and is reputedly haunted by James Stanley, the Seventh Earl of Derby.

It is said that the Royalist, whose family originally owned the inn, spent the last hours of his life there before being beheaded in 1651 during the Civil War.

The chair in which he was executed is still in the pub.