9:56am UK, Wednesday April 08, 2009
Paranormal experts are investigating an alleged ghost sighting apparently caught on CCTV in the grounds of an Edwardian country house.
Is this the ghost of a long-dead Earl said to appear around the time of the National?
In the eight-second footage, a luminous yellow glow is seen emerging from trees outside Croxteth Hall in Liverpool.
It then heads towards a path leading to the house before disappearing.
Like many old buildings, the hall has a reputation for being haunted, and the mystery light - captured at 3am last month - has left paranormal enthusiasts in high spirits.
County Hall ghost on CCTV
One theory among the happy mediums is that it may be the ghost of former resident Hugh William Osbert Molyneux, the 7th Earl of Sefton, who died in 1972.
Another contender is the infamous gambler William Philip Molyneux, the 2nd Earl of Sefton, who laid the foundation stone for nearby Aintree Racecourse in 1829.
A local legend says his spirit appears and strolls the grounds around the time of the Grand National.
Ghost appears during Grand National
Former Most Haunted ghost hunter and TV presenter Jason Karl has seen the footage, and believes it could be an important sighting in ghost circles.
He told Sky News Online: "This is very intriguing. Video footage of phantoms is very rare.
"If this stands up to scrutiny, it could be a very important piece of spectral evidence for the worldwide community of paranormal enthusiasts."
He believes the last time an alleged ghost sighting was caught on CCTV was at Belgrave Hall in Leicester in December 1998.
Then, security cameras appeared to capture a strange white apparition, but it later turned out to be a fake, he said.
Liverpool councillor Berni Turner said she was keeping an open mind about the Croxteth Hall footage.
"I'm a huge believer in the paranormal and think this footage is really interesting," she said.
"It's great to think that we may have ghosts walking around these beautiful grounds."
Generations of the Molyneux family lived at the hall from the sixteenth century until the death of the last Earl in 1972.
