Travelling all the way from Wales, paranormal team the Orb Whisperers held a variety of sessions to try and contact the dead.

Founder of the Orb Whisperers, Julie Warrington-Jones, said the night's events had left the team unsure if the place was haunted or simply full of 'energy' left behind when someone dies, but had certainly provided some dramatic moments.

"The man doing the filming (for the crew to use as documentary evidence) was thrown off his chair at one point," she said.

"He said it felt like he was lifted off the chair with a pair of hands."

"It's hard to say if the place was haunted, but it's certainly an interesting place at the end of the day."

By hosting the night, the Gainsborough Lions have raised £800 for local causes, which have yet to be allocated.

The funds will not be put towards the upcoming Riverside Festival - the group will instead splits proceeds from the Gainsborough Duck Race between the Lions and the festival.

In one session attended by Standard reporters, a team of investigators used a glass tumbler to make contact with the sprit of a former actor named Charles, who proved hard to pin down.

By placing their fingers on the upturned tumbler, the group was able to elicit answers as it moved backwards and forwards to answer yes or no.

But it seemed Charles took offence at being addressed by his first name (which was determined after a medium received messages from him), and was just as interested as what happened outside the room as in it, leading to some long pauses between answers.

Gainsborough Lions' vice-president, Angela Porter, said the evening was one of many fundraising events to provide revenue for the group and support local causes, like the upcoming Riverside Festival.

"The Gainsborough Lions have got a history of fundraising for their local communities - we put up lots of fundraising activities all the time and all the money that we raise does go to local good causes," she said.

"We had helped with the Riverside Festival with the ghost hunt we helped to arrange last year and it was very successful, raising just under £2,000."

"One of our members is connected to the Old Nick theatre and we realised that this would be a very interesting place because it is full of history and it is full of character and we thought there could well be some interesting experiences here."