Do you believe in ghosts? Do you feel that there is something in between life and death where a few spirits get stuck forever and continue to make contact with the living in one way or another? Do you believe that âsomeoneâ might be staring at you from that dark corner of your room at night while you are asleep?

Well, probably not.

However, the athletes mentioned below in the list may have had some very peculiar experiences which might make them think otherwise. Here are four ghost stories shared by cricketers: 

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In a book named Beefyâs Cricket Tales written by Ian Botham, Sourav Ganugly talks about the paranormal experience he had back in 2002 when India were on a tour of England.

âWe were up in Durham for a match at Chestler-le-Street and were being looked after at Lumley Castle, a beautiful hotel that overlooks the ground. As a captain, I was taken up to my suite and I must say it was a magnificent room with everything you could want. We finished training for the day, with the match due to be played the following morning, and I went back to my room before heading out for dinner. When I returned, I closed the curtains and switched off all the lights and climbed into bed,â Ganguly writes. 

However, the skipper woke up in the middle of the night to the voice of tap water running in his bathroom. 

âI got up, switched on the lights and went to turn off the water. The taps were already off. I thought I must have dreamt it or heard it from another room. I went back to bed, making sure everything was turned off and the place was quiet, then fell back asleep.â About 30 minutes later, he heard the same sound and woke up again.

But when the same thing happened for the third time, Ganguly sprang off his bed and ran to his teammate Robin Singhâs room and slept on the floor without telling anyone about this experience back then.

Ganguly has never stayed at the Lumley Castle ever since.

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In 2014, when England were hosting Sri Lanka for a Test match, pacer Stuart Broad confessed of experiencing âsomething weirdâ in his room in the central-London based five-star rated Langham Hotel. In an interview with Daily Mail, Broad said:

âIt was so hot in the room I just couldnât sleep. All of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off. Then when I turned the lights off again the taps came on. It was very weird.

âIt really freaked me out. I ended up asking to move rooms. Bealey (Broadâs girlfriend) was pretty spooked, too, and I know Moeen Aliâs other half wonât stay there because sheâs so frightened of the ghosts.

âBen Stokes has had some problems sleeping as well. Heâs on the third floor, which is where a lot of the issues are. Iâm telling you, something weird is going on."

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In the beginning of 2015, Pakistan were touring New Zealand when batsman Haris Sohail was found traumatised and feverish in his bedroom after âa supernatural presence shook his bedâ in Christchurchâs Rydges Latimer hotel.

According to a report by The Guardian, Sohail had called one of the coaching staff members after being shaken in his sleep and decided to sleep in his coachâs room that night.

He was so traumatized by the incident that he even missed a one-day warm-up match against a New Zealand Presidentâs XI.

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In arguably the most famous story of them all, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson amongst many of his teammates felt a bit of uneasiness during their stay at the Lumley Castle (yes, the same hotel where Ganguly heard the open taps) in 2005. Reportedly, Watson decided to get out of his room and sleep on Brett Leeâs floor. 

The then media manager of the Australian cricket team, Belinda Dennett even told The Sun what she thought sheâd seen that night: 

"I saw ghosts. I swear I'm telling the truth," she said. "Several of the players were uneasy although a lot of them in the morning said they were fine ... but maybe they were just trying to be brave."

"I closed the blind in my room before I went to bed. But when I was woken at 4am by my phone, the blind was up again. I looked out of the window and saw a procession of white people walking past. It was amazing, very scary."

"Then I returned to bed and the blind went up again - and there was someone looking in through the window. I know I wasn't dreaming because I wrote down the message from my phone and the time. Certainly, when I started to tell my story, a lot of them didn't want to know the details."

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