Mystery of 'ghost' seen standing over boy riding bicycle solved

An eerie figure which appeared to follow a five-year-old boy on a bicycle in spooky footage captured by his scared mother was actually a security guard – and not the ghost of a pensioner as suggested on social media.

Louise Lenton captured the footage while watching her son learning to ride his bike. The spooky footage caused a stir online when she noticed what looked like a woman watching from a first floor window of Oldway Mansion in Paignton, Devon which dates back to the 19th Century.

“It looks like a lady with hair in a bun, with white cuffs around her hands,” Louise said at the time.

She even informed Torbay Council of the mystery figure. However, a security guard at the country house has now claimed he was indeed the figure.

Alex Warren, who has worked there for four years, said: “I wear my black cardigan inside and my security coat for outside patrols.

“That day I was just admiring the young lad, learning to ride his bike. Hope this clears up the misunderstanding.

“There are, to my knowledge, no ghosts at Oldway, and I have worked days and nights here for over four years.”

Louise initially thought the figure was an “elderly woman in a period dress”.

Speaking at the time, she said: “My partner and I had split off, with him going to walk the dogs on the fields and I took our little boy to the car park to practise riding his bike.

“The car park is flat and perfect to do it. I was just filming him and that was it. It wasn’t until I was home and in bed watching the film back when I noticed it.

“I was like ‘oh my gosh!’ and my partner could not explain it. Neither of us know what this is.”