So, is The Bellbird Hotel really the Hunter's most haunted pub?

According to bar manager Nicole Crossley, the answer is a resounding yes. 

Over the years, multiple guests of the 1914-built pub have complained of “things happening”. 

Nicole said that just two months ago a full bottle of alcohol flew off the shelf and across the room in front of numerous patrons.

She insists that electronic machines have also been known to turn themselves on after closing time - even when the power has been turned off. 

“On one of the first nights that I was here by myself, balancing the day’s activity at the ATM when I heard a child's footsteps running across the room,” she said.

“It stopped directly behind me and I was scared … too scared to turn around in fact.

“But later when we checked the security tapes nothing was there.”

She says another time her name was called out across the hotel. Although no one else was in the venue, the man's voice echoed out right across the room. 

Overnight guests have also experienced occurrences while staying at the hotel, particularly in rooms 14, 11 and 7. 

“There was one guest who came down to check out saying he refused to stay any longer after being pinned to the bed by an unseen force,” Nicole says. 

"Others say their blankets have been forcefully pulled off during the night."

To get another perspective on the hotel, the Mercury asked renowned ghost whisperer Suzie Price, one of Australia’s best known psychics, to talk a walk through the hotel with us.

“When I walked around the back I started to get a lot of goosebumps and heavy energy and felt that I had to go up the stairs,” she explained.

At one point in the upstairs hallway she said: “Someone died here of a sudden heart attack.”

At another point on the staircase she mentioned how a drunk man had fallen, hit his head and died.

But the big question remained: are there spirits here?

“Yes. It’s an old pub and it has a lot of history and I feel like the people in the spirit love to hang around here,” she said.