Ghostly image caught by security camera at historic Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace was formerly the home of Henry VIII and has long reported to be haunted.

The 16th Century palace in south-west London is well known for alleged supernatural activity, but nothing suspicious has been caught on film before.

However, in October this year, this curious image was caught on the palace's video-security system.

On several occasions security guards were alerted to an open fire door in an exhibition area of the palace. After securing the door each time, they returned to their office to view the footage to see who had opened them.

On the first occasion the footage showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had.

On the second, the guards were stunned when a ghostly figure in period dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors. The same thing happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.

Stranger still was that a visitor had noted in the palace's visitor book that she thought she had seen a ghost in that area.

One of the palace's "custody warders" (security guards) said: "I was shocked when the CCTV footage showed an eerie figure in period dress in the doorway. It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn't look human.

"My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides but they don't own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving!"

19th December 2003

Thanks to Ananova.Com