Ghost busters at Tewkesbury museum

7:36am Tuesday 25th September 2007

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There were no spooky appearances but there was plenty of strange atmosphere and unexplained noises when ghost busters visited Tewkesbury Museum.

Several people had reported footstep crossing the top floor when the building was empty or felt very uncomfortable in certain places.

Curator Maggie Thornton called in the Three Counties Paranormal Organisation to investigate.

They arrived late on Saturday evening, bringing a mass of equipment, including infrared movement detectors, sound detectors, video and still cameras.

Group leader, Graham Atkinson sent them, Maggie and museum trustee, Geoff Pope and his wife, Angie, off one by one to walk around the building with a map marking spots where they sensed anything strange.

Several people identified one on the first and the second floor so the investigations were based on them.

Cameras and tape recorders were set up to catch anything that happened.

Nothing did in either place, even when sensitive' Nina Neophytou (ok)called out asking any spirits present to make contact.

The party then split into two groups, men in one and women in the other, and took it in turns to sit in each of the rooms.

The women were perfectly happy and relaxed on the first floor, but they all became very nervous and uncomfortable on moving upstairs.

Maggie said that she definitely sensed a presence.

"It was male and angry because it wanted to make contact but couldn't," she said.

It was time for a séance, and this time a call for contact resulted in two clear bangs on the stairs, repeated when asked for again.

Graham described this as "Very useful,"

He added "Although nothing appeared, this could have been because someone was nervous, and subconsciously keeping it away".

The group has been together for three years, and investigated 25 to 30 places but never actually seen a ghost.