A GROUP of people stand around a table inside Reigate Caves, their hands resting gently on its surface.
Suddenly, as if of its own volition, the table tilts onto one leg and begins to spin.
Many of the group stand transfixed by this unexplained phenomenon, but for the ghost hunters among them, this is one of their greatest finds.
On July 13 four ghost hunters – or paranormal investigators as they are officially called – led 20 guests down into the caves under Reigate in search of otherworldly residents.
During the course of the evening the team claim hats were blown off, hands were moved and people were pushed to the floor by unexplained forces.
But, even for the experienced hunters, the spinning table was a rare treat.
"It was a fantastic night," said Zanda Vincent from Shadows in the Dark, the company which led the investigation.
"The table spinning was the main activity we had.
"We had some experiences with people being pushed to the floor and arms raised.
"We sensed quite a lot of spirits down there, but they didn't want to come through initially."
Mrs Vincent is a medium who claims she can pick up the presence of spirits around her – a skill she has had since she was eight.
Though there is video of the spinning table, she admits it is "not the most conclusive" evidence of spirits.
"You are always going to get sceptics and you're going to get believers," she said.
"Seeing is believing and we do a lot of investigations with people who start out sceptical and end up believing.
"We are not ghost hunters in that sense, we are paranormal investigators, we like to show and prove it.
"We invite the spirits to come forward and touch people."
Mrs Vincent picked up names such as Ted, Edward, Kathleen, Jack and Thomas during seances in the caves.
She also did a spirit call-out – asking spirits in the area to interact with the humans – and people claimed to be pushed to the floor or have their hats knocked off by "unknown forces".
Marq English, author of Paranormal Surrey, was one of the visitors on the night.
He said: "As a sceptic I had to look at everything rationally and can't say anything really happened.
"We did get some unusual table tipping for a while which was interesting. It's a very interesting place though and worth a further visit."
For more details visit www.shadowsinthedark.co.uk
