A team of real-life ghost hunters in Tasmania has recorded what they believe could be evidence of paranormal activity in a National Trust home.
The group, known as the Tas Ghost Hunting Society, has been given access to Franklin House near Launceston.
There is a ghost story to be told in almost all of Tasmania's colonial buildings, but now members of the society are trawling through hours of recordings to sort fact from fiction.
By day, Franklin House is a tourist attraction with sprawling gardens, precious antiques and a cosy tearoom.
The grand home was built in 1838 for Britton Jones, a former convict who became an innkeeper and brewer.
Within four years he had leased the property to school master William Keeler Hawkes to run an academy for boys.
National Trust volunteer Leonie Ingram is one of several staff members who have had unusual experiences while working there.
"I've noticed a few things move around and it could just be somebody else doing it, just enough to make me notice that it was a bit unusual that it kept happening," Ms Ingram said.
Earlier this year, the Tas Ghost Hunting Society volunteered to find out what happens at Franklin House after dark.
"We're a non-profit organisation," member Brad Hull said.
"We're out there to go and investigate, learn more about the paranormal, educate others about the paranormal and help anyone who's having problems with the paranormal, because not all spirits are friendly.
"A lot of people can be physically interacted with by the paranormal where they can be scratched or harmed, they can also hear screams and noises and shouts and objects can move."
During two visits to Franklin House the ghost hunters set up modified infrared cameras to monitor several rooms, including Mr Hawkes' classroom.
Once the house is plunged into darkness, they sat in front of a large screen and waited.
"It's not guaranteed that just because you're investigating, you're going to get evidence," Mr Hull said.
He is yet to see a ghost himself.
"Visually seeing an apparition? No. Would I like to? Yes, that'd be awesome."
Bump in the night?
In one corner of a sitting room at Franklin House, an investigator using an electromagnetic sensor detected higher than normal levels of energy.
The group usually experiences much more subtle activity.
"I've been around the whole house and this is the only part where the light turns orange," Ms Ingram said.
"It means there's activity here."
That was when the investigators started communicating with what they believed to be spirits.
In an upstairs bedroom they asked several times the question: "What is your name?"
"It came back with the answer, 'Will'," Mr Hull said.
The response was very faint, but Mr Hull added that is to be expected.
"An electronic voice phenomena is a sound that's in the white noise spectrum, which we can't audibly hear with our ears at the time, when we go back and review it's imprinted on the digital recorder."
Ms Ingram says it is unclear if the schoolmaster Mr Hawkes was known as Will or William.
"A number of the boys who were students here would've been Will as well," Ms Ingram said.
Ready for sceptics
There are other mysteries, such as a beam of light that seems to travel up and down the main staircase before disappearing.
"We've also captured some light anomalies with still shots on door frames and things like that which shouldn't happen," Mr Hull said.
Investigator Simon Coleman understands there will be many sceptics.
"I guess that's what we aim to do is provide evidence that this stuff does exist," he said.
"It's not just a claim of faith we're trying to do here, it actually gives some substance to the fact that the paranormal is a present thing."
Mr Coleman does not think the house is haunted in a negative sense, but he is convinced there is something there.
"From the evidence I've seen so far it has a reasonable amount of activity," he said.
"This investigation will certainly help us to clarify that more and get a better understanding of what's going on here."
The team still needs to review hours of footage and audio recordings.
Even then, some things may never be explained.
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