FIFE Council has to deal with a lot of things in a typical week but being asked about supernatural sightings probably ranks as one of the strangest.

The local authority was just one of many similar bodies across Scotland swamped with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from members of the public wanting to know just about everything.

One Fifer asked, “How many murders took place in Kirkcaldy?” to which the council responded that they don’t hold this information.

Another curious Kingdom resident asked what by-laws exist relating to the upkeep of poultry in gardens in Fife. Council cluckers deemed this to not be an FOI and put the person in touch with the environmental service.

Perhaps the most intriguing case, however, came from a member of the public who asked, “How many supernatural sightings were there in Fife?” In response to this spooky submission the council astonishingly replied, “One!” The local authority received an enquiry via the MSP office in the summer of 2013 regarding a tenant in Kirkcaldy who claimed that there was an “entity causing disruption in their home”.

Despite budgets being notoriously tight, the council decided to send a caseworker to visit the home to investigate the ghoulish goings-on and reported the following: “The tenant is convinced there is a spirit (or spirits) in the property. The tenant has called in a medium and been told the last tenant who died in the house is there along with their dead brother and an old woman.

“The property has been damaged, bags ripped, small nails sticking out of a small case causing injury, loud noises from the attic and end wall (checked by workmen and nothing discovered) and electrical goods going off and on and breaking down.

“This claim could not be proved or disproved but was taken seriously. There is a new tenant in the property and to date there has been no other disruptions.” Could not be proved or disproved? The truth is out there...