Twickenham Stadium seems an unlikely place for ghostly goings-on, but guide Phil Mead says there are plenty of stories of grey old gentlemen haunting the home of the RFU.
"In one part of our Prince Obolensky restaurant the lights have been witnessed to switch themselves on and off without any human around," he claimed. "One report says chairs then lifted into the air, and settled on the tables, late one night."
Given the many myths of sport, you start to imagine all sorts of things in the great stands, where thousands of people pour out their joy and their pain during each hard-fought match.
As I walked around the stadium with Mr Mead and the rugby museum's curator, Michael Rowe, they talked of a shadowy out-line of a rugby player in a famous painting called The Roses Match which hangs in the Presidential dining room.
"There is a theory that this player had to be wiped out because he was tainted by taking money for playing at a time when this was forbidden," said Mr Rowe. "We're all intrigued by this half-invisible figure and what it means."
Strange stories have also emerged from a now-demolished house which used to sit at the side of the stadium.
"I saw loads of things such as white figures beside the bed, an out-line of an execution mask circling the ceiling and one night I felt heavy breathing on my cheek and a hand tap-ping my shoulder while I was in bed under the duvet," said one Australian woman, who lived there while working for the RFU several years ago.
"I also saw a ghost in the old RFU offices in the South stand one day. It had a greyish complexion and looked like a very old person.
"Working in the offices I heard voices one night while alone and something swept past my back as I leant over to grab some paper from the photocopier."
All these stories form the basis of two guided tours at the stadium on October 31.
Tickets for the hour-long ghost tours are £10 for adults and £7 for concessions. Details from www.rfu.com/ museum or call 020 8892 8877.
