Alan Harding: Diner in restaurant's viral clip believed to be dead man's ghost reveals himself as 67-yr-old ex-IT worker
HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND: The mystery surrounding a 'ghost diner' at an Indian restaurant that caused quite a stir online has been resolved. Alan Harding, a retired IT manager, has come forward to say that he is the guy eating the chicken korma and not the late husband of a villager in Hampshire.
According to Lucy Watson, the white-haired man seated at a table for two was her husband, Harry, who died in 2014. Although the restaurant insisted that the short promotional video for the Spice Cottage restaurant in the village of Westbourne, near Chichester, was taken earlier this month, she claimed he was in it. The restaurant's management tried to put an end to the rumor by claiming that the video was actually shot on January 13, making it impossible for it to be from 2014. In order to put the strange allegations to rest, the manager of the restaurant in Westbourne, West Sussex, has now published a picture of the mysterious diner.
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Alan Harding identifies himself as the mystery customer
Alan Harding, a retired IT manager, has come forward to identify himself as the diner. He told the MailOnline, "I guess I am the ghost. It is just unbelievable how many people from around the world have read about this. I had no idea until a friend of mine called to say he had read about the ghost diner and thought it looked like me. I saw the video and of course recognized myself and my friend Kevin Parsons. It is all quite funny, but I am definitely very much alive."
Harding, who resides in the Emsworth village, claimed to visit the Spice Cottage around six times a year. On January 16, he was present when the restaurant's owners recorded customers eating their meals. Harding and Parsons were seated at a table for two in the center of the restaurant. He said: "They do a very good curry and it is our local place to go. I do remember seeing them film in the restaurant but thought nothing of it. I guess some people really wanted it to be a ghost but sadly not to be."
Spice Cottage shares humorous Facebook post with Harding
The eatery acknowledged that Harding had called on the evening of January 30 to identify himself as the diner in the video. To put an end to the mystery, restaurant manager Rofiqul Islam shared a joke along with a picture of a beaming Harding on their Facebook page.
It read: "Aloo Everyone! We have a ghee mattar we would like to close. The photo below is our customer that was captured in one of our recent promo video. We can confirm he is not Lucy's husband. As much as we wish our curries bring people out of kormas, unfortunately this was not the case." Our video has spread through all corners of the world, and it has been a pleasure of meeting the customers who have cumin this week! If you are ever in the village of Westbourne, please pop in, there's never a dhall moment in our restaurant."