A HOTEL guest has left Brits online in stitches after discovering a terrifying surprise in his room – a life-sized doll resembling an old woman in a rocking chair.
David Noble was staying at Old Hall House near Coventry on Wednesday and was checking out the features of his room when he stumbled across the unusual feature.
The doll was discovered tucked away behind a curtain in the back of the wardrobe, which David thought was an extra storage space for luggage.
Strangely, the 60-year-old chief operating officer says staff at the hotel, as well as reviewers, failed to mention its existence.
He picked up on the hotel’s eclectic decor but was completely unprepared for what awaited him in his room.
Once he was over the initial shock, David filmed himself touring the basement room, building up to the moment of uncovering the doll.
He starts in the hotel’s lounge area and walks towards a door and says: “My room isn’t through that door, because that’s the back door.
He turns to an unassuming door, which he jokes “looks like a cupboard under the stairs”.
Opening it to reveal a set of stairs, he says: “We’re down in the bowels of the building.”
He enters the room, the bed scattered with his belongings.
He quips: “I’ve wrecked the room already. Flooded the bathroom because the doors fall off the shower.”
However, he turns his attention to a narrow door in the corner of the bedroom.
He says: “But the pièce de résistance is that little cupboard there. That’s a wardrobe.”
As he opens it a faint light can be seen emanating from behind a curtain at the back.
He says: “Look, instant wardrobe, coat hangers and everything. But there’s a light behind there, and a curtain.
“And you pull back the curtain. I nearly had a heart attack.”
He yanks the curtain aside with a mock expression of disgust to reveal the old-looking doll behind a clear panel in a stone crevice, which is reportedly an old priest hole.
It appears to be made of stuffed brown fabric, resembling an old woman with a grey wig and round glasses, wearing a tartan shawl.
It sits in a rocking chair with a collection of random metal objects in its lap as a light above it shines directly down.
David says: “What the actual flip is that supposed to be? I don’t know, I’m going to have to read up on that.
“It’s weird, so there we go. Interesting. Probably won’t stay here again, but it’s okay, it’s a comfy bed, it’ll do.”
David shared his video to social media yesterday with the caption: “I shared this with a few friends last night, but it’s just too – well, weird – to not share with you all.”
It has since received over 890 likes and more than 160 comments from amused Brits sharing their own reactions and theories.
One wrote: “Not ideal if you meet up with friends for a couple of jars and come back at night a little worse for wear.”
Another said: “Wow what an experience staying there. I hope the scary lady did not visit you in the night.”
A third commented: “Your hotel owners clearly are most peculiar, beyond weird and extraordinarily eccentric.
“Plus, big Hitchcock fans as that’s quite obviously the dead mother in the rocking chair from Psycho.”
Another said: “No… I’d be back out to my car. No way…”
A fifth quipped: “I’m surprised you survived the night.”
David replied: “I was so tired I’d have slept through a zombie invasion.”
Speaking today, David said: “I’d just checked in after a busy day, just needed to crash.
“I noticed the curtain when I was hanging my jacket, so I pulled it back thinking I could dump my bags there.
“I did ‘jump’ somewhat, and I did actually shout ‘what the actual f**k’.
“I’ve not yet reached out to them, I asked the waitress at dinner and she knew nothing of it, she was as shocked as I was at the video.
“I am planning to email them. Interestingly there are no reviews on any sites I’ve found yet that mention it.”
Hotel group Stay at Heart has been approached for comment.
