A mysterious box thought to contain the remains of a pub landlady - or her lost hoard of cash - has been found bricked up in the wall of a beer cellar.

Local people still recite the legend of how Maggie Duffton was interred in the vaults of the pub along with a pile of cash after her death in 1931.

The owner of the hotel, Malcolm Edwards, is determined to find out exactly what is buried under his premises, which are said to be haunted. He announced last week that he was going to knock through a walled-up chamber in the basement of the pub in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire.

Putting an infra-red camera through a gap, Mr Edwards and Karl Bisset, a stonemason, were able to see what appears to be a box and a photoframe on the other side of the wall. “There is definitely something

in there,” the landlord said. “The picture is hazy, but it's definitely box-like.”

Over the years there have been many sightings in the area of Duffton's ghostly apparition. Regulars speak of an unnerving presence in the hotel.

Duffton is said to have had three coffins made when she died. One, rumoured to contain only rocks and soil, was buried in a family grave at the nearby church. The other two are said to be entombed in the cellar of the Burnett Arms Hotel, one containing the landlady's remains and the other a pile of money.

Now Mr Edwards is inviting local people to gather for the ceremonial demolition of the wall in three weeks' time. Although some are worried about what may lie beneath, the hotelier has drafted in a team of paranormal investigators to hold a seance in the beer cellar on Friday.

If something gruesome is uncovered after the chamber is opened, Mr Edwards is ready to seal it off and call the police.

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