Stephen Holroyd recalls a spooky couple of years when he began his career as a trainee electrician at the Theatre Royal in the Seventies.

As a 15-year-old, he was amazed to discover his colleagues, mainly nononsense fisherman who came straight off the boats to work, were terrified of a theatrical ghost called Myrtle of the Circle.

Mr Holroyd, now 52, of Adelaide Crescent, Hove, said the backstage crew often had to work through the night at weekends to get the equipment from one play cleared away and that of the next set up.

He said he would often start work early on Saturday morning and finish on Monday night.

But he was surprised to see the burly men, including the theatre's nightwatchman, flee the theatre in terror just before midnight every October 31.

He said: "I worked overnight on two consecutive Halloweens and could not believe the superstition ingrained in those hardened fishermen.

"At 11.50pm, until 12.10am, every member left the stage and assembled outside the stage door.

"They all talked of a ghost they affectionately called Myrtle, who walked the then Royal Circle. According to legend, the ghost walked around the circle and appeared and disappeared several times.

"It was only years later when I was looking at copies of original plans of the theatre, I discovered the Royal Circle was in fact made up of private boxes with walls inbetween each."

Mr Holroyd, who is now the director of an entertainment company in Dubai, said many believed the energy created by so many performances and history led the "ghosts" to live in the theatre.

He said there were other tales of ghosts, such as one called The Grey Lady, who lingered around the top corridors in the theatre.

Mr Holroyd said he had even come across people talking to this mythical creature.

He also said it could be a scary place to be stuck in alone late at night, especially if you were given the job of putting out all the gaslights.