A TEAM of paranormal investigators from Dorset is determined to find definitive proof of the afterlife.

The ghost hunters have just opened for business and already have bookings from a haunted homeowner in Wareham, who claims to see a phantom at the end of the bed, and a terrified man from Blandford who hears voices when his house is empty.

The six team members, including a psychic medium, have called their new venture High Spirits and have carried out several investigations in houses reputedly haunted by spooks.

Businesswoman Louisa Bullock, 34, from Verwood, who has a degree in psychology, revealed the group photographed a ghostly face in an attic window while searching for the supernatural in The Crown Hotel, in Market Street, Poole.

Legend has it two deformed children were murdered, although the group suspects the face belongs to the notoriously cruel Judge George Jeffries, who stayed at the hotel while he sat at the Assizes, at the nearby Guildhall.

The group has also taken several pictures of orbs, which they claims are balls of supernatural energy, that often appear before spirits manifest.

Miss Bullock: "It is something that frightens me, but for me as for most people the greatest fear is fear of the unknown.

"I think proving there is life after death would be very comforting to a lot of people."

Symptoms of haunted places include light anomalies, sudden temperature drops and objects being moved.

To contact the group telephone 01202 826640 or 07881 525596.

First publication: August 18