NOT all visitors to Bovington Tank Museum have bought an admission ticket.

Museum chiefs are bringing in a team of paranormal researchers to investigate reports of ghosts seen inside the museum building.

Researchers with Paranormal Tours, a company specialising in ghost-hunting events, will spend a night at the museum with a collection of ghost-detecting equipment and their own sixth sense.

Museum spokesman Nik Wyness said: "Over the years, stories have circulated of unusual goings-on inside the museum with sightings of ghostly figures, mysterious footsteps and tales of staff reporting an uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

"So to some, the idea that the museum may be haunted is not an unusual one at all."

One enduring story is of a grey figure believed to be that of a German officer, who is said to wander the museum floor at night.

Sightings were reported so frequently that the figure has become affectionately known as "Herman the German".

Former staff have since claimed that Herman was an invention designed to keep mischievous children away from the museum at night.

But this doesn't explain the continued sightings.

Nik added: "The museum is full of machines that were designed for war and have witnessed some of the most distressing and testing human experiences that it is possible to imagine.

"Each one has a story, and so many carry the visible scars of battle that we can only speculate on the fate of their occupants.

"That is the reality of any museum that features the weapons and machines of war."

The investigation will take place on Saturday, March 19, and museum chiefs are planning future visits by Paranormal Tours.

First published: February 16