There is a pole on top of the roof of a building in Victoria Square, Long St Arcade, that is behaving strangely - so strangely that it has become a talking point among the inhabitants in surrounding businesses.
The pole seems to have a life and will of its own, vibrating and shuddering when there is no wind to speak of and standing still when there is a wind.
The pole was erected by a previous business tenant who wanted to attach a satellite dish to it but he has long since moved.
Baffled observers of the pole have developed different theories about its behaviour but no one is really sure why a seemingly innocent pole should do what this pole is doing.
One of the speculations is that the pole is downright spooky. This theory is strengthened by the fact that it is attached to a historic building standing on erf 666...
Says Julia, former owner of Mogg's Café, situated right across the pole: “The pole sometimes moves so violently that it bends from one side to the other.”
It is almost as if a big hand grips the pole and starts to shake it.
There are whispers that the owners of businesses in the building on erf 666, standing empty once again, seem to be unlucky. Business there just doesn't seem to thrive. Jenny from Jenny's Bookshop said there was a business that did well in that building some time ago.
“The business belonged to a group of Christian girls who used to walk around Long Arcade, singing religious songs. They had some kind of coffee shop that was always busy.”
Yvonne Lautinbach who has been running a shop selling exclusive objet d'art in Victoria Square for the past 19 years said that of course there can't be any truth in a theory about an unlucky building.
“A business is as good as its owner and that is that.”
Another theory is that the traffic in the area (the pole is situated on the eastern side of the parking area at the back of Pick 'n Pay) may have an influence on the pole's behaviour.
However, the pole is apparently up to its tricks at night as well, when there is no traffic to speak of.
Electric currents and magnetic fields may have something to do with the pole's behaviour, suggested someone else.
Dr Pieter Kotze from the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory put paid to the theory about magnetic fields but he is just as adamant that an ordinary steel pole cannot be spooky.
“There has to be a scientific reason why the pole is vibrating randomly,” he said. “If there is a restaurant in the area, it may have something to do with convection streams caused by warm air. Or maybe the structure of the building itself is not sound.”
He said one will have to do electrical tests and an investigation of the building's structure to be able to establish the reason for the pole's erratic behaviour, adding that traffic could indeed have an influence on the vibrations.
But why then the night time antics?
Is there anybody out there who has an answer?
