However, I recently received an intriguing e-mail from Linda and Lonnie Loft, of South Shields, who had a very strange experience indeed last year while sailing through Warwickshire.

The boat the family hired was an attractive one, and the Lofts, thoroughly enjoying their excursion, moored in Atherstone on Wednesday, August 13. 

They had all had settled down for the evening, as everyone was tired because they were travelling around the entire "Warwickshire Ring" in just seven days. 

The eldest and youngest daughters were sleeping at the front of the boat, while Lonnie and Linda were berthed in the middle.

Their son Craig, 16, along with the second eldest daughter, were sleeping in the bow.  

As darkness fell, Lonnie suddenly realised that he could hear something coming through the adjoining wall – it sounded like Craig breathing.

He roused Linda and told her to listen – but Linda, confused, said it couldn't be Craig, as he wasn't sleeping in the next room.

"Lonnie, the bathroom and shower are next door," she said, "not the beds!"

Mystified, the couple didn't think too much about it, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

Then, in the early hours of the morning, Craig rushed into their quarters and shouted, "Mam! Mam! Can you hear that?"

Linda sat upright in bed, startled, and replied, "Can I hear what?"

Again Craig shouted, "Listen!"

By this time, Lonnie had woken up and all three listened in silence.

It was then that they heard the voice; an intense, female whisper repeating the words "Look at me! Look at me!"

By now, Craig was becoming scared, and kept saying, "Honestly, mam, dad! Can you hear it?"

"We assured him that we could," Linda told me, "and immediately looked outside the boat for any intruders.

"None were found, and to be quite honest our dog would have barked straight away if there had been. 

"Anyhow, during this time the voice never stopped whispering."

As luck would have it, the couple had bought Craig a digital sound recorder for his birthday a few days previously, and they suggested that he try to record the mysterious voice.

Craig dashed off, retrieved the recorder and, commendably, did indeed manage to record the strange voice.

Linda explained why she didn't think the sound could have had a natural explanation:                  

"When mooring up and settling for the night, all the engines are switched off and the keys removed.

"There is no engine running, no central heating on - so it was silent both aboard and outside the boat. 

"We had our dog with us, and during that night he seemed unsettled, and he paced the floor back and forth as if he was guarding us all! 

"I even got up and checked the windows to make sure they were secure, and they were.