We ain't afraid of no ghosts!

Apr 17 2007 By Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

IF there's something strange in the neighbourhood... who ya gonna call? Birmingham's first ever official ghost investigation team, that's who.

Mother-of-two Joanne Morris has set up the paranormal team to get to the root of ghostly goings on across the city.

And the 37-year-old believes she has the perfect credentials for the role after being brought up in a haunted house in Harborne.

Joanne has put together an investigation squad for Birmingham Ghosts and Hauntings Group and they are preparing to look into the region's 'most haunted'.

They have sparked such an interest that the group's website has already had 3,000 cyber visitors.

"I have had lots of experiences with the supernatural but couldn't believe there wasn't a website for Birmingham," said divorcee Joanne, from Bartley Green.

"I want to investigate some of the most haunted buildings, not for entertainment, but to seriously get to the bottom of why ghosts exist.

"We lived in a Georgian townhouse in the 1970s and I saw things moving from the age of five. One night, the window wasn't open but the curtains suddenly rose up to the ceiling and hovered there.

"My brother-in-law saw an apparition, but when my mother got locked in the front room, we decided to move house.

"That started my curiosity about ghosts. Lots of people are getting in touch and a builder wrote saying he worked on a house in Henley in Arden with a sealed room.

"When he started making a hole into it, he had a horrific feeling that something evil was watching him and coming out the hole, so he ran away and said he will never go back to that house.

"This group is not about the scare factor, it's about studying the paranormal properly."

The team is hoping to investigate Aston Hall when it reopens next year, while strange visions from Dudley Castle have been placed on the website.

They are also hunting for a historian to help with investigations.

Anyone who can help should check out the Birmingham Ghosts and Haunting Group's website at www.birminghamghosts.webeden.co.uk