ARK 666Y - The true tale of a haunted Ford Capri

No, this is not a joke. For in deepest Sussex there lives a Ford Capri that is allegedly haunted. And it seems, not even the 'cloth' can stop it.

When Keith Tagliaferro (pictured above with the Capri) purchased the car in 1997, he thought he had simply bought a 16 year-old banger for which to get from A to B in. He didn't realise that he had also bought the devil's personal choice of transportation which had a thing for killing other cars that came close to it and often had mysterious floating black mists in the shape of a female being seen sitting in, and passing through, the car.

He blames the purple car for a string of bad luck and strange events, including being struck by lightning, the death of a family pet, ghostly faces appearing in the rear view mirror and rust appearing on the bodywork overnight. He has also witnessed countless phenomena at which ever address he and the motor reside at, including poltergeist activity and evil ghostly apparitions. The Capri even seems to have a hatred for journalists - any of us who have come into contact with Keith and the car have had something horrible happen to them, including their house being burned down and being the victim of a grizzly car accident. Even as I write this, I'm sure I just saw something over my shoulder...

After putting up with the ghostly activity for a few months, Keith called in a local clergyman to perform an exorcism on the car. During the event, Keith was told that the car's number plate represents a conflict between good and evil and that might be the problem.

"I bought the car because I deal in number plates and it is very eye- catching. But the man who sold it to me appeared very keen to be rid of it," Keith told his local newspaper at the time.

Mr Tagliaferro, from Hambleton Close, Eastbourne, East Sussex, added: "The final straw came when I parked the car outside my house and got hit by lightning when I was inside.

"When I looked out at the car it appeared to be glowing with a strange sort of mist around it."I've got a very open mind about things like this. At first I thought it was just a string of coincidences but it is beginning to get a bit deep now".

The exorcism ceremony was carried out by Mr Kevin Carlyon, the High Priest of British White Witches. However, rather than cure the problem, as in many instances, it seems to have merely exacerbated the problem.

In 2002, the Capri was being a little devil, and was royally playing up. This time, the battery wasn't working, so Keith and his friend Paul attempted to jump start it. Before Keith even had time to connect the jump leads properly, the car jumped into life and the spark from the battery came close to burning his hands. Slightly rankled, he shouted to Paul that it was too early to turn the car over. As he was saying this, Paul was jumping out of the car in sheer fright. When asked what was wrong, Paul claimed that the keys turned in the ignition without him doing anything, and then a "cloaked figure in black" came from the back seat and exited via the passenger door into the bush!

Keith even personally witnessed the black figure again at 3.30am in his house in January 2004, as he was woken up by some banging downstairs. When he opened his living room door, the figure was seen to be looking at a picture of ARK 666Y that was hanging on the wall. Stuck rooted to the spot in sheer fright, the figure looked straight at him, and appeared to be a sixty-something year-old male. With that, it just disappeared...

So what could be behind these paranormal occurrences? Some experts have suggested that it could be the car or the licence plate that is haunted. It may even be that it is neither, but rather that his houses have been haunted, or that Keith is somehow projecting these images and events through his subconscious. The main suggestion has been that it is Alistair Crowley, the famous black magician that is using the car from beyond the grave; or perhaps it is one of the women that committed suicide after being used by him.

The truth is that we will probably never know whether this is all just pure coincidence or a true haunting. But as of this year (and after three years in storage), ARK 666Y has been available to hire for anyone brave enough to find out...