INVESTIGATORS are to spend the night in the Hall i'th' Wood historic house to prove it is haunted by the spirit of cotton industry genius Samuel Crompton.

A series of spooky goings-ons has convinced staff at the 17th century hall that it is home to three ghosts, including that of the inventor of the spinning mule.

Crompton invented his famous mule in the building, which he shared with three other families between 1758 and 1803.

Club Zeros, a Stockport-based investigation group, hopes to find proof that the hall is home to ghosts and carry out research to identify them.

The team will stay overnight at the Grade-1 listed building using state-of-the-art technology in a bid to detect any supernatural presence.

Staff have received regular reports of unexplained occurrences, such as apparitions of old women and cavaliers, ghostly footsteps and crashing noises. Others have reported raised voices coming from inside the hall after opening hours when it has been locked.

One cleaner reported seeing a spinning orb of dust which she sucked up with her vacuum cleaner.

Liz Shaw, who became house manager at the hall ten months ago, said: "It has all made me feel very uneasy and I wouldn't like to be left alone here in the dark.

"There are people who say they can sense the spirit of Samuel Crompton and that he is friendly and happy.

"The hall doesn't feel a nasty place. In fact, it has a pleasant atmosphere and I think that is why people do not get too freaked out about it all."

But, she added, that there was one room that did chill the blood of many visitors.

Children are known to start crying when walking into the master bedroom -- and adults say it makes them feel anxious and uneasy. Crompton's ghost is thought to move freely through part of a wall, which in his day was a doorway.

A building has been on the site of the hall since the 1550s and the present Grade-I listed hall dates from 1648.

The Club Zeros investigation group, founded by Chris Andrews, will use a range of techniques during their ghost-hunting night, including digital cameras, low light video cameras, digital sound recorders and electromagnetic field detectors to capture the spirits on camera.

They will also leave historic artefacts, such as coins, about the hall to draw out the ghosts.

Around 20 members will take part in the investigation. Chris said: "We will try to capture proof that these ghosts exist and one day we hope to capture a full apparition."

Have you experienced any ghostly goings-on? If so email our newsdesk at: Drop a line...bennewsdesk@boltoneveningnews.co.uk.