PARANORMAL experts claim they heard a “deep sigh” as they were leaving an allegedly haunted room at Felixstowe's Landguard Fort.

PARANORMAL experts claim they heard a “deep sigh” as they were leaving an allegedly haunted room at Felixstowe's Landguard Fort.

A team of ghostbusters held an all-night vigil at the fortress at the entrance to Harwich Harbour - using recording equipment to monitor activity in a number of rooms and gun batteries.

Writer and historian Richard Bradshaw, who gives ghost tours at the monument and was on duty throughout the night to look after the team, said it had been an enthralling experience.

“The aim was to conduct scientific experiments and make proper recordings of the data,” he said.

“They had sound recorders, cameras, thermometers and other equipment and before they started made a thorough inspection of the whole fort so they would know if there was anything which might interfere with their work.

“It was absolutely fascinating and they were very pleased that they had some activity recorded, although it was a little inconclusive.”

Mr Bradshaw said in one room the temperature had suddenly fallen by several degrees in just three minutes at one point during the night, while in one of the casemates a scraping sound was recorded.

“The temperature drop was quite unusual although such things can happen in old buildings,” he said.

“The scraping noise sounded like something scrunching up plastic. When they returned to the room they found some mouse droppings but no sign of anything else - we said it would have to have been Supermouse to have made such noises!”

The most interesting event though was a sigh heard as the team cleared away their equipment in what is known at the fort as Maria's Room after historical re-enactors had a ghostly experience there a few years ago.

“They heard a definite sigh, quite loud and very distinct just as if someone was standing there beside them. There was no way of explaining it,” said Mr Bradshaw.

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

FASTFACTS: Spine-tingling Landguard

The ghost of the first ever soldier to be killed in action at the fort during World War Two was witnessed immediately after his death, terrifying his fellow colleagues.

The image of a sailor has also been seen looking out of a window - even seen from the road outside.

A Musketeer who was said to be the only soldier killed in the battle when the Dutch attacked the fort in 1667 during the last invasion of England by a foreign force. He only seems to appear when the country is in danger.

Regular haunting replays the death of a Portuguese woman who was driven insane by her soldier husband's death by firing squad in 1757, so she committed suicide by throwing herself off the ramparts.

The victim of an infectious plague who was locked in the bastion in 1770 and left to die a slow, a horrible death.