Corsham Tourist Information Centre co-ordinator Vilma Chapman keeps a lookout for apparitions at Arnold House 30546/4CHIPPENHAM NEWS: GHOST hunters who investigated one of north Wiltshire's spookiest buildings claim they saw a small child who died in the Second World War.

Ghost-busting team the Paranormal Site Investigators spent the night at Arnold House, home to Corsham's Tourist Information and Heritage Centre, on Saturday.

Investigator Nicky Sewell, 23, who runs the group with partner Dave Wood, 23, described the spooky activity experienced by one of their mediums.

"She picked up on a little boy playing there and singing nursery rhymes and someone felt him grab their hand," Miss Sewell said.

As soon as the team of 10 realised there could be a child present they put out toys to encourage the boy, who they think was about five years old, to come out and play.

She said the little boy was probably alive during the Second World War and could have been called Richard.

The medium thought the child enjoyed tidying up, possibly explaining why objects are moved around in the tourist information centre.

"There was also a strong

feeling of nuns walking through," she said. "We found out afterwards there used to be a priory behind the building.

"There was also a strong reference to soldiers from the Boer War and apparently they marched through Corsham on their way to war."

She insisted the medium could not have had any prior knowledge of the history of the building because she was dropped off at junction 17 of the M4 and had no idea which town she was going to.

The team stayed at Arnold House until 3am, hoping to get scientific proof that the paranormal exists.

They used equipment such as weather stations, electromagnetic frequency detectors and digital cameras.

Miss Sewell, who lives in Swindon and hopes to study a masters degree in transpersonal psychology and consciousness, said: "Although we have had some fantastic things happening that we cannot explain we are still sceptical believers.

"We always look for scientific proof before accepting anything is paranormal."

Another team of ghost-hunters, called Mission Apparition from Swindon, will investigate the tourist information centre next week.