This picture was taken outside the hall by a gobsmacked Melton woman who went on one of last month's Ghosts and Ghouls tours.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she could clearly see the face of man and a dog in this mysterious image.

The tour member, who took some other spooky snaps randomly on her camera, said: "I just took my camera with me because I'm interested in that sort of thing but I got the shock of my life when I saw the photos. That night it was spitting with rain but there was no mist at all."

Lisa Craddock, one of the tour guides and Brooksby Melton College's head of organisational development, said: "We were all really excited about the photos.

"It was quite clear that night. It was drizzling a bit but there was definitely no mist or fog and no exhaust fumes which could explain the photo taken outside the hall.

"You have to stand away from the photo to see the images but there was nothing there when she took it."

She added: "We had another spooky event before the next tour. We had some visitors who were working late in one of the rooms. One of them had an unusual Irish name and was working late on his own.

"He randomly took a book from the book case and then randomly opened a page which was about the village where he came from and which mentioned his family name. He was utterly gobsmacked.

"We've had a couple of strange things happen here including a strong smell of cigars or cigarettes in one of the rooms. There really is something quite spooky about the place."

Other reported ghostly happenings at the hall - a 16th Century hunting lodge set in the medieval village of Brooksby - include sightings of the lady in grey who walks the corridors, the hearing of footsteps and strange knocking sounds.

Each year it's said that on midnight on December 21, the longest night of the year, a coach and horses has been heard galloping down the road.

A baby has been heard crying in parts of the Old Hall and during previous renovations a woman's headless skeleton carrying a baby's skeleton were found in a hidden room.

The next Ghosts and Ghouls history tours of Brooksby Hall and the 10th century Brooksby Church will take place in the autumn.