IF there is something strange in your neighbourhood – like ghosts, angels, unidentified flying objects and generally bizarre phenomena – who do you call?

Highams Park-based Eerie Investigations may be the people to help.

Founded in 2002 by Ian Pleasance, a telecoms company director and Karen Frandsen, a self employed artist and former lab technician, and created with the sole purpose of investigating and documenting paranormal incidents of all kinds, the group has since expanded to include a senior researcher, a psychologist and a voice-over artist for the team’s filmed investigations.

The notion of a gang of ghostbusters roaming the streets of Waltham Forest in search of Ectoplasm and conversing with spirits back from the other side for a casual haunting may draw a snigger or two from cynics, but the borough’s own paranormal posse are disarmingly serious about their work.

The investigators from Eerie retain an element of humour in their outlook and have built up an impressive CV in the marginal field of the paranormal over the years, covering haunted locations such as Dick Turpin’s cave and interviewing representatives from organisations and experts in the paranormal field.

Detailed footage has been filmed for a pilot television programme they hope will be ready to pitch to TV bosses later this year.

Mr Pleasance, who is qualified in camera, sound and film editing, provides technical support for the group.

He said: “I have always had an interest in the paranormal. Apparently, the first house I lived in was subject to unusual activity so maybe that was the catalyst, though I was only six months old at the time.

“Lights would go on and off in the house of their own accord during the night and after a while my father became convinced my mother was leaving them on before bedtime.

“But one night they turned them off together and when they woke up the lights were back on. Since then a host of people have moved in and out of that house, but never stayed there for long.” Rosie Nicchitta, 22, is Eerie’s senior researcher and works for the St John’s Ambulance development department by day.

She traces her interest in the unknown back to her early years.

She said: “Ever since I was three I’d always wanted to be a ghostbuster and work in this field. We lived in a haunted house when I was young and every house I’ve lived in since has had some form of activity going on.” Interviews on film are Ms Frandsen’s responsibility and she also provides medium skills during investigations to detect and communicate with spirits.

Strange phenomena at the family home in Newcastle during her childhood triggered an early interest in the field.

She said: “My mother used to hear footsteps coming down our street and turning on to our path. You would hear the footsteps in the house, the beds used to move around of their own accord and from then on I’ve always felt connected to strange occurrences.” Spooky situations like this would be enough to send Scooby Doo scarpering for safety, but they only served to inspire a life long interest in anomalous phenomena among the group of investigators.

With a technical inventory including Infra-red night vision cameras and scopes, electro magnetic frequency (EMF) detectors, very low frequency (VLF) detectors, microphones and transport costs, getting a team of ghostbusters up and running does not come cheap.

Factor in the sound equipment and computer film editing packages and the team estimate their total expenditure to be somewhere in the region of £6,000.

The group also run their own website – soon to be redesigned - where they post the edgy experiences of local victims of the paranormal.

Eerie aims to have a polished 30-minute TV pilot together later this year and if it is accepted hope a series, possibly on a cable channel, may follow.

But in a market already awash with paranormal slots such as the UK’s Most Haunted series and numerous imports from the United States where audiences are notoriously gullible, how would the locals create a new angle for the genre?

Ms Nicchitta said: “We’re not just going for the glamorous location like the country castle, the haunted stately home and the ancient ruins as the established programmes do.

“We want to look at the incidents that happen around us, in the city centre, in the suburbs, in every day people’s houses. This is where the really exciting stuff often takes place and the audience can relate to.” And the group’s investigations don’t end with your average daily haunting.

Mr Pleasance is keen to point out the wide scope of activity they are willing to look into, from ghosts to UFOs, out of body experiences to big cat sightings in the UK’s more remote regions.

This, he says, will create a broad interest in their programme among the many converts to the paranormal cause.

Sceptics and non-believers may have tuned out at the beginning of this piece, but those who harbour a desire to confront the unknown, or return home of an evening terrified at the thought of another tea cup throwing contest with their resident poltergeist, may be just the people who need the help of the borough’s official ghosthunters.

Anyone with a weird experience they would like to share with the group and have posted on their website can contact them at their office on 8531 9443, e-mail info@eerieinvestigations or go to www.eerie investigations.co.uk for more information.