(Original headline: Mysteries of a ghost town )
If you've ever seen a ghost or sensed an apparition, then maybe you were aware of a strange presence in Northampton's Abington Street just over a week ago.
Large, grey and silent, the object cast an ominous shadow as it loomed over shoppers as they strolled in the sunshine.
No, it was not a spectral friar, but the travelling "Ghost Truck" of Derek Acorah and his cohorts.
The television medium and his team have chosen Northampton as the first place to investigate in a new series and descended on the town for filming a few days ago.
Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns will feature the spiritualist and two LIVINGtv co-presenters as they travel to towns across the UK to investigate paranormal activity.
From haunted buildings or poltergeists to buried legends and folklore, Derek said he and his team will attempt to explain some of Northampton's strangest phenomena.
"We have been travelling across the UK, in our 'Ghost Truck', to towns such as Northampton looking into mysterious stories that have disturbed residents for years," he said.
"I will interact with real people with deeply personal spiritual experiences, and that is what I am really excited about with this new show."
Not only does the town offer some fine local legends, but UCN's Dr Simon Sherwood will also be the resident parapsychologist for all eight one-hour episodes of the series.
Dr Sherwood, a senior lecturer in psychology, said he had been approached by the producers after they heard of the research at UCN's Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP).
"They contacted one of my colleagues who told them I was interested in apparitions," he said.
"I was pleased to be approached, because the subject is so fascinating."
Dr Sherwood said he had been intrigued by spirits ever since a ghostly encounter as a child.
"I was about four or five, and I was sitting up in bed one night when I saw a huge black dog-like creature appear at the end of the landing," he said.
"I was paralysed. I couldn't move or scream. It came running towards the doorway and then vanished.
"When I told my parents they said it must have been car headlights, or a cat looking through the window."
It was only several years later, while reading the local paper, that Dr Sherwood read about a case of a poltergeist, during which the father of the family also described seeing a black dog-like creature which rushed at him then vanished.
This confirmation of his sighting has led Dr Sherwood to set up a black dog website, and also to attempt to understand his own apparition experience.
"I have been doing a lot of research since," he said.
"At the time I thought it was a genuine ghost, but now I think it was something we call 'sleep paralysis'; a condition which makes you unable to move, and you sense a presence or see figures.
"Mind you, I still can't explain why so many other people claim to have seen the same sort of black dog."
For the Ghost Towns programme, Derek is told as little as possible about the places they visit, and any impressions of events he picks up are then checked with a local historian to see if they match the legends.
Dr Sherwood said his role had been to try to explain the phenomena and impressions picked up by Derek rather than scout out ghosts.
"I turned up at the truck in the town centre and they had decided on the locations where we would do our two nights' filming," he said.
"We filmed in the evenings – although that is not necessarily when ghosts will appear, people do think those kind of times are more likely.
"We would get to the location and Derek would wander around and see whether he picked up any impressions about what might have gone on there, or any alleged spirits there at the time.
"I would follow behind the crew, observing and taking notes, and seeing if any phenomena occurred."
One of the places visited by the team was the Wig and Pen public house in St Giles Street, which is said to have several ghosts haunting the bar, cellar and bedroom.
Landlady Amanda Peach said Derek and presenter Daniella Westbrook had arrived about 12.45am and set up a séance in the main bar.
"It was certainly a very interesting evening," she said.
"There's supposed to be all kinds of ghosts here but they actually got in touch with an old landlord from the 1800s called George, who lives in the bar.
"Apparently he wants to stay because he still thinks it's his pub! But luckily that sort of thing doesn't bother me."
Derek Acorah has built a reputation as one of Britain's best professional spirit mediums, and Dr Sherwood said he had been keen to talk to him during filming about his powers.
"My first impression was that he was very friendly and welcoming, and went out of his way to make me feel at ease," he said.
"He was very open to me asking questions about how it worked and to what to extent he can close off the information that is coming through.
"He told me he has a spirit guide called Sam who sometimes communicates information between him and other spirits, but sometimes he also hears other spirits directly.
"Other times, it is just an impression and images he gets.
"He told me he started seeing deceased people from a young age, and one thing I am hoping to do through the rest of the series is to sit down and chat to him properly about it."
As the programme will not air until the autumn, Dr Sherwood said he was unable to talk about what they had found, but admitted there would always be some unexplained mysteries.
"When people see ghosts it is difficult to say what they are experiencing, because each encounter could have a different explanation," he said.
"I think it's true that people have experiences of ghosts, because as far as they are concerned they see a figure or sense a presence.
"So the experience itself is valid, but I am not yet convinced they are all genuine spirits, although if it was true it would explain quite a lot!
"But I think people's expectations can also play a role – if they go to a dark, spooky castle, for example, which is allegedly haunted, there might be a tendency to interpret a noise or shadow, or feeling of coldness, in that way.
"The effects of the environment on the brain or the body are very powerful – but, alternatively, it might actually be a spirit!
"I investigate alleged hauntings in my spare time, and I would like it if people locally who are having experiences would get in touch with me, because I would like to talk to them from a research perspective."
Anyone who has an experience they would like to share with Dr Sherwood can e-mail him at simon.sherwood@northampton.ac.uk.
