The Northampton Paranormal Group took the photograph on a trip to a field between Clipston and Naseby on the anniversary of the Battle of Naseby last month.



Members said they heard clunking noises as well as sounds like cannonball fire, but saw nothing.



However, on returning home, the group’s organiser Emma Whiteman, said she noticed a strange image in the top corner of one of the pictures, taken with a digital camera.



She said: “The picture was taken about an hour after we heard the noises but we didn’t see anything at the time.



“When we saw it as we were looking back through the pictures we were gobsmacked.



“We’re saying that it’s a soldier. Some people can see it sitting on a horse and some people just see it as a walking soldier.”



The Battle of Naseby between Parliamentary troops under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Prince Rupert’s Royalist army took place in 1645 and involved about 21,000 troops.



It is seen by historians as the decisive battle in the war, effectively ending Royalist victory hopes.



The paranormal group was part of a gathering at the site to mark the 363rd anniversary of the battle, on June 14 this year.



Northamptonshire author Adrian Perkin, who writes about paranormal activity, said he thought the image looks like a soldier with a musket or pike walking through a gateway.



He added: “If this is genuine it’s a very good example. It’s the best I have seen for many years.”



Sceptics said the effect was caused by a fault with the camera.



Anne Haddon, a patron of The Naseby Battlefield Project, which is working to develop tourist facilities at the site, said: “I haven’t heard anything like this at the battlefield. It’s fair to say I’m sceptical – I’m not the sort of person to believe in ghosts.”



l What do you think? Contact reporter Ian O’Pray on 01858 436005 or email ian.opray@harboroughmail. co.uk.