Ghostbusters now have a chance to prove, or disprove, a theory - and then scoot quickly away! Bruce Wallace believes his paintball site at Scotch Corner has a ghost, and until now nobody has dared to attempt the night ghost course. But now that his company, Paintball Games, has bought five quad bikes he is hoping someone will pluck up the courage. "In addition to our paintball area we now have a cross-country track, a safari course and a trials course for the quad bikes," he said. "But the night ghost run goes through a lot of trees, and we believe there might just be something there we don't want to know about - there are some strange noises." The paintball site covers 48 acres behind Scotch Corner Hotel and is close to a tumulus - or burial mound. "In AD 71 the Romans took control of the North when they beat the Brigantes, a great Northern Celtic tribe at the Battle of Scotch Corner," said Mr Wallace. "One of their main forts was just to the north of Scotch Corner, at a place called Stanwick St John. "With all of that bloodied history who knows what lurks in the area?" Mr Wallace, who is also introducing corporate team-building programmes, took over the business 17 years ago while still a fireman with ICI. "Like Victor Kiam and Remington I liked the game so much I bought the business," he said. Aided by a trusty band of volunteers he ran the business as a hobby until about five years ago and it now has a turnover of around £100,000 with a staff of two full-timers and eight part-timers. And he still runs the business from his Billingham home. With an age range of 13 to 60, paintballing has grown into a national phenomenon with up to 500 tournament teams in nationwide leagues. Last year the Darlington team came first in its division and third overall against 20 UK teams in the Paintball Association Cup. |