Ghost tours prove too popular!

Ghosthunters hoping to meet a spook or spectre at one of Suffolk's most haunted sites are to have their visits rationed next year.

FELIXSTOWE: Ghosthunters hoping to meet a spook or spectre at one of Suffolk's most haunted sites are to have their visits rationed next year.

Landguard Fort at Felixstowe has become one of the country's most popular sites for ghost nights with groups armed with specialist monitoring equipment flocking for all-night vigils and hoping for a thrill.

From next year though, officials at the monument have decided to limit the paranormal events to two a month - not because the ghouls are tired of being watched, but because of a shortage of volunteers to look after guests.

Writer and historian Richard Bradshaw, who looks after the teams at the special events, said: “The nights have become hugely popular - groups are coming from all over the country to wander around all night hoping to see a ghost, or carrying out psychic experiments and investigations, and hardly a day goes by without an inquiry.

“Those who have been have really enjoyed it and many have had some interesting experiences.

“Our problem is staffing the event as we have to have someone from the volunteers here all night with them.”

Ghosts seen at the fort include a Musketeer said to be the only soldier killed when the Dutch attacked the fort in 1667 and who only seems to appear when the country is in danger, and regular replays of the death of a Portuguese woman driven insane by her soldier husband's death by firing squad in 1757 and who then committed suicide by throwing herself off the ramparts.

Visit Stargate Suffolk, the home of the unexplained, at www.eveningstar.co.uk for more stories of wacky and weird happenings.

Have you ever seen a ghost at Landguard Fort? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk