As Freddie Mercury’s music is set to be released from beyond the grave, a pensioner has recalled her own peculiar encounter with the Queen icon – in a pile of coats!

Margaret Hofman, of Glen Iris Close, Canterbury, says the spooky sighting took place only days after the legendary frontman’s death in 1991.

As if by a kind of magic, she says his profile materialised in her hallway when her children threw their coats over a bannister after a family walk.

She claims the silhouette even shows Freddie’s famous moustache and slicked back hairstyle.

Margaret feared she may be going radio ga-ga, but soon realised she wasn’t the only one who could see the uncanny likeness to the Bohemian Rhapsody singer.

She said: “It was about a week after he died. We went for a family walk around the park and came back about 6pm. We were a bit lazy and just chucked our jackets over the bannister, instead of on a hanger.

“About an hour later we were in the front room having a cup of tea when I just became aware of this face.

“I asked my daughter Ingrid, ‘can you see Freddie Mercury in that pile of coats?’.

“She said she could see his moustache, his hair and his low eyebrow as well, even the dimple in his chin.”

“The entire family could see him, no one doubted it.”

As the foursome looked on in amazement, Margaret grabbed her camera to capture the moment.

She added: “I just stared at it in disbelief. I said ‘everyone keep still while I get my camera’. I think it is an unusual phenomenon.

“The kids liked him. One of their favourite songs was Under Pressure, but he wasn’t one of my super-favourites, although I do think he was very clever.”

The picture featured in a London newspaper and was rediscovered by Margaret on the same day she heard a duet between Mercury and Michael Jackson will be inlcuded on Queen’s new album next month.

Margaret, who volunteers with the SSAFA Canterbury branch based in St Stephen’s Hill, said: “It was just a freaky moment.”