A tourist attraction has been burgled – days after a lone security guard quit in terror claiming a new cave is HAUNTED.
Scared Stephen Wheeler has worked in security for 25 years but only lasted eight days at Wookey Hole in Somerset.
He said a new huge cave which was opened this year spooked him and his Rottweiler Sherman so much they refused to patrol the new ‘Chamber 20’ labyrinth.
Stephen said Sherman would flatly refuse to enter the cave and he often felt he was being watched or touched on the neck – or his torch batteries would suddenly run out.
The burly 45 year-old said: “Sherman isn’t fazed by anything but he didn’t want to go into that chamber.
“I’ve done security work all over the place, in graveyards and film sets, he has always come with me and never been like this.
“After 12 o’clock, as soon as we hit that tunnel, you just stop and get really nervous.
“Once we got into the chamber, you would hear noises but no-one was working in there.
“I’m not someone who gets nervous but it made me nervous.
“I always carry two torches with me, LED ones, and they both ran out of battery at the same time. That doesn’t happen at all.
“They have lights in there, site lights run on transformers, but they transformers kept blowing. They are designed to be there.
“I often felt like someone was watching over my shoulder all the time, especially in that cave.
“I’ve also been poked in the back. I’m fairly sceptical but not when it comes to my dog and that cave.
“This is first time I’ve ever quit like this. I had a two-month contract but I just thought no. I’m not doing it any more.”
Stephen, from Easton, Bristol handed in his notice on the 16th October – and three days later burglars struck.
The entrance doors were kicked open and a thief walked away with £400 cash, a charity box filled with change and souvenir items from the tourist attraction’s gift shop.
The intruder was caught on CCTV and a £5,000 reward is on offer.
Stephen had been hired after an earlier attempted break-in on October 1st when five youths were foiled trying to get into the attraction.
Wookey Hole said the new haunted cave was also affecting other staff.
Manager and owner Dan Medley said: “It all started when we blew the cave open at the end of July.
“The rest of the cave system is fine, it is just literally this one chamber.
“It’s made it hard for us to operate. The staff are wary of going in there on their own.
“Security staff are too scared to patrol it. When we say we want the whole site checked on, that is the one area they don’t like and leave.
“When the last guard walked out, that’s when we got burgled. I’m having to go around the whole site now myself but I’m not brave enough to go into chamber 20.”
This week’s midnight Halloween walk has also been cancelled as no staff want to work it.
