Spalding spiritualist Stewart Bradley wants to conduct an overnight investigation at the hall to prove there are ghosts living there.

But South Holland District Council has refused the request, saying it wants Ayscoughfee to be seen as a museum rather than as a venue for supernatural investigation.

Stewart, who is a member of the UK Paranormal Society, said: "It's a great disappointment that the council has said no but not a great surprise.

"It's very active there and it would have been very interesting to find out exactly what's there using scientific equipment.

Stewart believes there are at least four spirits there – one in the hall and three in the gardens, including one near the ice house.

He said: "I did detect spirits in certain areas of the gardens and one place where there was a lot of activity was the ice house.

"It was particularly cool as you would expect but something was thrown at me, which I took as validation that someone was there."

Ayscoughfee Hall, which is held in trust by the district council for the people of South Holland, has a history dating back to early medieval times.

In the past staff at the hall have reported feeling a ghostly presence around the rooms and galleries, which used to be home to the late Maurice Johnson and his family.

Stewart wanted to use specialist scientific equipment to answer the question once and for all.

He said: "The UK Paranormal Society is very interested in conducting an investigation. We would like to try and contact the spirits and interact with them to find out the facts about who they are and what they are doing at Ayscoughfee."



l Should the council allow the investigation?

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