It was eventually demolished, but any thoughts that knocking down the buildings would get rid of the ghosts within them proved to be woefully premature.

The farm was more than 300 years old, and had obviously played host to many different residents over the years.

At one point it was inhabited by a Polish family, and so intense was the haunting that they apparently fled the place in terror, although exactly what they experienced has now been covered by the sands of time.

The farmhouse certainly had a chilling reputation. In the 18th century a local woman was said to have hung a dog from a nearby tree, sparking off rumours that she was involved in "dark practices".

The ghost of a man was also seen on many occasions, and for some reason he gained the epithet of "The Gentleman".

Another tale attached to the farm was that it was haunted by a nun known as Sister Mary.

Apparently she had met an untimely death on a convent that once stood on the site, although there is no historical record of her existence to my knowledge.

Just before the farm was demolished it was inhabited by a local family. They too experienced things that truly frightened them.

On one occasion, the couple were in bed when they distinctly heard the sounds of ornaments and other objects being moved around in a room on the ground floor.

The man asked his wife if she had "let the cat in", thinking that the noises may have been generated by the family pet "messing around" downstairs.

The man's wife vehemently denied letting the cat in at all, but before he could go down to investigate events took another mysterious turn.

As the chap got out of bed, the couple heard the distinct sound of footsteps ascending the stairs.

As they got closer they became louder until, eventually, they stopped – right outside the bedroom door.

The man flung the door open, expecting to see an intruder standing there, but there was no one.

Other than the family the farmhouse was completely deserted. At least, there were no other flesh-and-blood humans present.

Whether there were other, more malign invisible entities in the place is another matter all together.

After the old farm was demolished a school was built on the site, and it wasn't long before the ghosts that had haunted the previous buildings reappeared.

The first to make her presence felt was the spectre of the old nun, Sister Mary.

On a number of occasions Sister Mary was seen in a stock cupboard at the school. Then she began to appear in the library.

Disturbingly, a number of witnesses said that she appeared to be standing in a pool of blood.

In July 1973 rumours started to spread among the local populace about the hauntings.

At one point the police had to be called to disperse a crowd of children who had gathered to see if they could spot Sister Mary or any of her ethereal compatriots.

During my decades of research I've investigated many alleged hauntings which, to be quite frank, were nothing more than the product of over-excited imaginations.

However, in cases like the one above it is difficult to deny the testimony of so many witnesses. The simple fact is that they can't all be hallucinating or lying.

If I hear of any other reports of ghosts within Peterlee's haunted schoolhouse, you'll be the first to know…