ARMED with flashing "K2" spirit readers, temperature gauges, a tipping table and spirit voice recorders, ghost hunters stormed Hylands House.
Andy Radley, 51, and his team of spectral stalkers investigated the Georgian mansion between 8pm and 3am – concluding it was home to half-a-dozen spirts.
Mr Radley, the leader of Essex Ghost Hunting Team, says he nearly died after a poltergeist tried to push him down a flight of stairs and claims he has recordings of a ghost dog barking at his feet.
He led a group of 28, comprising 10 team members and 18 others, around the house in Hylands Park on Friday night.
The father from Silver End said: "The whole night was just amazing, it was like history repeating itself.
"It was about time we did Hylands House and did it properly. We have watched other teams go in and out, going through scare tactics, but we thought we should go in there and address people's worries."
During the night, a member of the public had to go home after he became overcome with dizziness in the library, while they also boast a spooky picture of a man – complete with a cane – surrounding a young girl.
Mr Radley's investigations, aided by fellow Cambridge-based ghost-hunters "Xstream Paranormal", led him to "make contact" with a "Mr Gooch", and a crying woman called Christine Hanbury, the house's last private owner until 1962, who was looking for her son Jock.
Team member and mother-of-two Julie Morre-Dale, 55, said: "If I could go ghost hunting all day and every day I would be in heaven."
Mr Radley says since he got involved 28 years ago and the amount of Essex teams has grown from four to 50. His partner Wendy Sharman, 45, currently writing a book about ghost-hunting, said: "People are getting more and more open to it and more people are believing."
Mr Radley said: "Spirits walk among us during the day. I walk up Braintree High Street and I see Victorian people walking around."
The red-bricked Hylands House, built in 1713, is known for hosting swarms of curious characters. Tom Harper, a duty and events manager at Hylands House, joined the early part of Friday's hunt and says he often feels scared during the evenings.
"We get the feeling of being watched and the feeling of being quite uncomfortable.
"People have seen a Victorian figure on the first floor with a top hat and a long coat, while people have seen cooks in the basement and a lady in what used to be the toilet.
"Someone playing the piano at a wedding even asked – 'who was that bridesmaid watching me?' but there was no bridesmaid," said the 26-year-old.
"I am a definite believer in ghosts. Although the house is old and it's going to make noises.
"It's going to be dusty and the [spiritual] orbs the team see can be down to the amount of dust. There probably is an explanation but at the same time, there is probably something."
While the Essex Ghost Hunting Team occasionally hire venues such as Hylands House to welcome members of the public, the team are more well known for attending venues as a free-of-charge paranormal service.
For more information, contact Andy Radley on: 01376 584 245 or visit: essexghosthunting.webs.com
