Spooked councillors have called in a crack team of Ghostbusters as the spectre of a murdered woman stalks their town hall.

The 17th century headquarters of Dover Town Council is believed to be haunted by a ghost known as ‘Mary’ – the spirit of a woman shot during the Civil War.

Doors slam, bells ring and pictures fly off the walls and even the mayor admits to witnessing things that go bump in the night.

The council’s finance and general purposes committee have now voted to bring in a team of spectre detectors called Thanet Ghostwatch.

They will be equipped with state-of-the-art gear to register changes in heat and electrical impulses as well as cameras to record any images.

Town clerk Mike Webb said: “During my first week at work I was alone in my office when the door closed by itself – and basically it just can’t.

“It’s far too heavy and I knew there was no-one else here as I was locked in alone.

“The councillors believe it is worth investigating as they want to share the historic nature of this building – the oldest around apart from Dover Castle.

“I suppose I am a sceptic – but after my experience I really know the truth of that phrase about the hairs rising on the back of your neck.”

The paranormal presence at Maison Dieu House in the town centre is thought to be that of the servant who lived there and died in the 1688 revolution.

“She knew the Jacobite rebels were coming over the hill and ran in to warn people – but she was shot before she could,” said Mike.

Town mayor Jan Tranter said Mary ringing the doorbell when nobody else was around was “quite a common” way for her to make her presence felt to staff and councillors.

Other manifestations include pictures coming off walls in the building – which dates from 1665.

And the store room on the top floor which was probably Mary’s living quarters is considered cold and creepy.

Jan added: “I remember coming up here with one of the girls once and they said we don’t want to stay up here too long – we don’t like it.”

Thanet Ghostwatch is set to spend a night in the building when two teams will observe activity and only compare notes after the investigation to work out whether they have the same or different findings.

Cameraman Keith Campbell said the group would be equipped with cameras, thermometers, voice recorders and meters to measure electromagnetic images.

But he admitted his main aim was to capture the ghost on film.

He said: “Believers will always believe and doubters will always doubt.”

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on kentnews.co.uk