The force, not Ghostbusters, is with you as public have `safety concerns` over the supernatural
When you see a ghost, zombie or vampire, who you gonna call?
Oct 14, 2016
By Nick Hudson
When you see a ghost, zombie or vampire, who you gonna call?
Avon and Somerset Constabulary received 179 calls about “supernatural” events from January 2013 to August this year from reports of UFO sightings to a werewolf in a bath.
More than a quarter of callers expressed an “overriding concern for safety” following the paranormal sightings with only six of out of the total officially labelled as hoaxes by investigating officers.
Some 103 calls including the keyword `ghost` were made across the whole of the force`s policing area in the 30-month period and officers were dispatched to 98 of these incidents.
The force received 38 calls with references to `zombies` and attended 23 of the incidents where callers were “expressing a concern for safety”.
`Vampire` call-outs numbered 19 with officers attending seven of the incidents. Five phone calls to the force contained the phrase `UFO`.
One caller reported a werewolf in their bath, while another claimed they had actually become a ghost.
A man from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, reported a goblin at his front door. Another caller insisted there was a ghost in his house because it had gone cold.
Other stories include a ghost coming out of a TV set in the style of popular horror movie The Ring, a witch stirring her cauldron outside a house, and a woman in Somerset claiming she had died and become a zombie.
Another woman contacted police to say she was expecting a ghost child.
The force is urging the public to think twice before calling. Last Halloween, Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Watson said the nature of policing today means calls about “threat, harm and risk” must be placed at the very top of the list to which officers respond.
She added: “We want to encourage people to help us in protecting those who are most vulnerable by thinking before they call us and asking themselves, is their call really important and necessary?