East Riddlesden Hall has long been renowned for ghostly goings on.

The 17th-century manor house is reputedly home to at least three spooky spectres.

But bosses at the National Trust property have experienced an upsurge in paranormal activity. And they believe it could be down to staff changes!

Visitor services manager Samantha Lawson said: “We have recently had some staff leave and taken new people on and it seems to have coincided with a particularly active period for the hall’s resident ghost population. We think they have been disturbed by the change and have, quite literally, come back to haunt us!

“I have been at the hall five years now and I can’t remember a time when our ghostly residents have been this active.”

Staff and visitors have reported seeing shadowy figures, experienced sudden drops in temperature and heard things being moved around in empty rooms.

Long-standing ghosts at the hall include the Blue Lady, an image of a woman who is said to have drowned in the grounds’ fish pool, and a young boy. But most notorious of all is the Grey Lady, reputedly the ghost of a woman who — after being caught by her husband in a compromising situation with her lover — was bricked up in a room and left to starve to death. Samantha said: “We get quite a lot of comments from visitors saying they haven’t liked a particular room or they have felt someone or something brush past them. We have also had taxi drivers here late at night who have claimed to have seen a ghostly blue woman by the fish pond and been scared out of their wits. I think it has a lot to do with the house — it is a dark sandstone building, small and the sort of home that would have stories associated with it. It was the centre of the community in its heyday and was very much used by the locals.”

The hall receives requests from groups to spend nights there and it has been filmed for TV show Most Haunted.