WELCOME to Haunted Wirral, a feature series written by world-famous psychic researcher, Tom Slemen for the Globe.

Here are a few seasonal spooky stories ...

AS the world searches for an end to the darkness of Covid, many see Christmas as a temporary let-up in the ongoing attack on humanity from the submicroscopic realm.

Of course, we must continue to be mindful of the ubiquitous virus during the festive season, but let us now, for a short while, gather around the fire, have a mince pie and a glass of our favourite tipple, and reflect on a few paranormal puzzles in our spooky selection box of yuletide mysteries.

We could start with that star which is depicted on millions of Christmas cards all over the world.

It is sung about in carols, shines from the tops of Christmas trees and foil imitations of it twinkle over nativity scenes – but just what was the Star of Bethlehem?

Did that starry messenger really exist in the night skies of Judea?

And who were the Three Wise Men who followed the mysterious star?

The star and the Wise Men were only mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, and astronomers have looked for any planetary conjunctions, exploding supernovae, comets and so on, that would have been visible over the Holy Land during the period when Jesus was born – all to no avail.

The star was spotted in the east soon after sunset and was seen to move across the sky, until it halted over the manger.

Was it some UFO hovering over the humble place where an unearthly man - who would later say his kingdom was not of this world – was born? We can only speculate on this stellar mystery, and the Wise Men are equally as baffling.

Next, we come to those other ethereal fixtures of Christmas – angels.

An angel is a type of celestial intermediary between humans and God, issuing messages and often acting as guardians, according to the Biblical definition, and there have been some intriguing local incidents in Wirral which could be construed as encounters with guardian angels.

In December 1980, for example, a Rock Ferry man named John Hughes was driving his wife and two children home one night after a visit to his mother-in-law at Ellesmere Port.

The road he was travelling down was slicked with treacherous black ice and Mrs Hughes told her husband to slow down.

"I'm only doing forty-five," he told her, when suddenly there was a bright flash of light about fifty feet away in the middle of the road.

John Hughes slowed down and stopped the vehicle, and he and his wife and children saw what looked like a man who must have been about seven feet in height, gesturing for John to stop with raised hands, and this striking, frightening figure was giving off a blaze of bluish white light.

Through the dazzling radiance, the four witnesses saw the towering entity had shoulder-length silvery hair and wore a long flowing white robe with wide sleeves.

Although Mr Hughes was an ardent atheist, he had the overwhelming impression that the glowing goliath was a type of angel, warning him of some danger on that road, and as soon as the figure vanished, he drove the car home via another route.

The family talked about the incident for the rest of the night, and the next day, Mrs Hughes pointed to a small article in the newspaper.

Minutes after that "angel" had obstructed their route home, a fatal crash had occurred on that very road when two cars had collided.

"Why were we saved?" John muttered. His wife told him that she was exceedingly grateful to that entity for apparently saving her life and the lives of her family.

Santa Claus is a mysterious paranormal chap, gaining access to locked houses via chimneys in the dead of night and defying gravity as he rides his sleigh across the sky – but I often get reports of sinister Santas - eerie impostors who masquerade as the lovable man in red.

In December 1961, a five-year-old child named Bernie was being minded by a 15-year-old babysitter named Wendy in his three-storey semi-detached home - an old house - built on Park Road South in Victorian times.

Bernie's parents were out enjoying themselves at the Princess Ballroom on Oxton Road, and were not due back until midnight.

Bernie was spoiled by Wendy, and instead of being put to bed around 8pm, the babysitter let him stay up till nine, when she took him up to his room, told him five bedtime stories, then left his room with the night-light switched on.

The boy dozed off, but was awakened some time later by a creaking sound outside his bedroom door.

The boy looked towards the door and saw it slowly open until a man with a white beard and moustache peeped in – and he had on a reddish hood.

In the eyes of Bernie, it had to be Father Christmas, even though it wasn't even Christmas Eve.

"Santa" put his index finger to his mouth, gesturing for Bernie to be quiet, and he came into the room, opened the window, letting in a fierce icy wind which blew the curtains about.

He then went over to Bernie and said: "Come and ride in my sleigh – it’s outside the window!" 

Bernie noted there was a terrible stink coming from this Santa, sensed something wasn't right and screamed for Wendy.

The boy tried to get out the bed but the shady Santa grabbed him and there was a struggle.

Bernie yanked off the intruder’s white beard and moustache – to reveal a grotesque, almost skeletal face.

At that moment, Wendy came into the room and saw the figure dressed as Father Christmas vanish, and as he did, Bernie fell to the floor.

The terrified boy slept with his parents for almost a week. Just who or what that Santa impersonator was remains a mystery.

There’ll be more seasonal spooky stories next week.

All Tom Slemen’s books and audiobooks are on Amazon.