Staff at Home Bargains in the Newlands centre in Kettering had been complaining of strange activity in the shop, with items moving from the shelves and even fire doors opening in the middle of the night.

So paranormal investigators from Northants Haunted camped out in the centre last night to see if they could spot any spirits.

When the centre was built bodies were moved from the graveyard of Tollers Church in Gold Street and moved to sites in Wellingborough and it is believed many of the ghostly goings on are directly linked to the burial site.

Group founder PC Rowley Adams said: "We were asked to come and look into the activity here after staff at the centre saw an article in the Evening Telegraph.

"We were talking one day after watching Most Haunted on television and decided to give it a go.

"The centre is built on an old burial ground which spanned from the Newland Street entrance to where Boots is and hundreds of bodies were buried here."

The group started the evening using a ouija board to try to contact spirits in the Home Bargains store, where they received a number of messages.

This was followed by table-tipping, where spirits are asked to move the table – or in one case spin it on one leg – to prove their existence.

Mr Adams said: "We have infrared cameras that we will go through and look for orbs, which look like balls of light on the screen.

"We will also listen out for any other paranormal noises from the footage as sometimes it does not appear until you are listening to it back."

During the investigation a table was pushed from the Crazy Udder milkshake shop to Boots at the other end of the centre by a spirit called Pru, who claimed to have been buried in that exact spot.

Other spirits who came through on the night included a three-year-old boy who died in the 1950s and a man who died in the 1600s.

Northants Haunted was formed three years ago by Kettering police officer PC Rowley Adams and includes a group of 12 officers and psychic mediums who visit hot- spots of paranormal activity.

For more information visit www.northantshaunted.co.uk.