SPOOKY spirits and ghostly ghouls -no, it's not Halloween but a fund-raising stunt by Oswaldtwistle mum Melanie Crossley.
The 32-year-old, of Turnpike Grove, was this week set to take part in a sponsored "Ghost Sit" to raise money for Comic Relief and Help A Local Child.
Melanie, who teaches travel and tourism at Burnley College, said she would be taking seven of her second-year students to stay overnight at Muncaster Castle in Cumbria - one of the most haunted places in the country.
The 18 and 19-year-olds had to plan the event as part of their coursework and also held a street collection for the charities in Burnley on Monday.
Melanie, who has a five-year-old daughter, Kara, said: "We will get locked in the tapestry room for 24 hours and if any of us tries to escape we will set off the castle's alarm system. The only way we can contact people is by radio.
"The staff will provide us with tea and coffee to keep us awake and we'll take in some snacks as well. We'll all be in sleeping bags as there's only two single beds in the room. The tapestry room is the most haunted in the castle. Apparently it is visited by hooded monks, children's voices from an old nursery and a jester named Tom Fool.
"Some of the students are sceptical and the others are terrified but excited. One of them thinks we should all use a Ouija board but I think we'll be too scared!"
To distract them from things that go bump in the night, Melanie added that the students would be making a Blair Witch-style documentary during their stay.
She said: "We're taking a video camera and we've had some interest from regional television, so we're hoping our stay may be televised. But we just want to raise as much money as we can for the two charities."
