Paranormal investigators are getting excited about things that go bump in the night at a Bolton pub.

Landlady Karen Wareham decided to call in the ghost busters after a spate of unusual happenings at the Duke of Wellington pub at Chew Moor.

Equipment in the cellar was being turned off for no apparent reason, Karen and a customer had seen a smoky apparition in the cellar and bar area, and there were reports of a small boy dressed in Victorian clothing appearing in the toilets.

Keen to find a logical explanation for the events and wanting to disprove talk of hauntings, Karen called in Stockport-based Club Zero to spend the night at the St Johns Road building.

Volunteers from the paranormal investigation club set up monitors and equipment throughout the building, and stayed until 4am recording their findings.

Club founder Chris Andrews said they got plenty of data from the historic building, which first began selling beer in 1870 and is believed to have previously been a farmhouse.

"It was a fantastically productive night," said Mr Andrews.

"Every member of the team experienced something there.

"I personally believe I saw the outline of an apparitional adult on the top floor, and there were sounds as though there was furniture being dragged."

A compressor in the cellar cut out for no reason at one stage, and when checked it was found to have been moved. And a plug leading to one of the teams cameras in the cellar was wet, even though there was no water nearby.

"Drops of water are consistent with poltergeist activity," said Mr Andrews.

"I have never personally experienced so much in such a short space of time. I am convinced there is something there. In plenty of the places we go to there is nothing there, but not in this case. It was fantastic. Karen should be very proud."

The team are now examining the data they collected, and will be doing research into the history of the building to try and find explanations for the paranormal activity. One theory is that the pub was the scene of a suicide.

Karen, who has been landlady at the pub for the last four-and-a-half years, is not alarmed by the ghostly residents she shares her home with.

"I love it here with my spirits," she said.

But she admits to being spooked late in the evening when the last regular has headed home.

"I turn the lights out, put the alarm on and then run like mad upstairs to my flat," she said.