Leslie Scott, a member of the Clunes Tourism Development Association, delved into the paranormal world by chance when she was researching the town's history for a historical walking tour.

Speaking with local residents about the town's many historical buildings, she began to hear many ghost stories.

The stories inspired her to use her research to run a number of hugely popular ghost tours.

"They were really successful. On those tours we had mediums join us who validated some of the stories and the strange things that happened on the tours. So I decided to see if there was any merit in it."

Posting on a paranormal website to ask if anybody wished to do an investigation, she got in contact with the 'Paranormal Prospectors'.

Ballarat-based Adam and Bel Brookshaw are paranormal investigators whose main gig is running Asylum Ghost Tours in Beechworth.

They visited Clunes one weekend about a month ago and scouted several of the town's buildings -the bottle museum, the town hall, the court house and a private residence - with the most ghost stories attached.

Although, arguably, almost every historical building in Clunes, where the Victorian gold rush was sparked with the discovery of the first amount of payable gold, is home to a ghost or two.

The paranormal investigators brought in their gadgets and equipment to determine whether or not there were ghosts present.

Mr Brookshaw said the human body was the best piece of equipment one could use to communicate with spirits, though they do have many fancy gadgets too.

One piece of equipment - a REM pod - measures static electricity and lights up if there are spirits present in the room. In some buildings it did not light up, but in others, like the town hall, it did.

The investigators also did a table tipping experience, which involves participants lightly placing their hands on the table, which acts as a communication tool for the spirits.

Mr Brookshaw said the table tipping experiment was "a bit crazy" as there were so many different opinions as to what makes the table move.

He said it was a mixture of the people in the room mixed with the spiritual energy that makes the table move, shocking the first time ghost hunters.

"We had to get up with it because it scooted across the floor and was spinning," Ms Scott said.

Ms Scott said she and her sister inspected the table thoroughly afterwards and there were no strings attached to it.

"I had been so blown away by that experience that the following night I got four other people to come and corroborate it," she said. "It didn't happen as much as it did the first night but it did happen again."

The other gadget used was an EVP - an electronic voice phenomenon- which records sound below the normal frequency. It recorded lots of different voices, including in the court house.

The old court house adjoins the town hall and old borough offices.

The investigation uncovered one presence there - a man, who when asked of his crime, replied 'honesty' in a clear voice.

Built in 1871, the town hall has seen many characters and it is said there has long been a presence there. It is believed the presence is that of a person who used to entertain with singing and dancing on the hall's stage. Their footsteps can still be heard tapping away on the stage.

There are three presences in the Lee Medlyn Home of Bottles, which was historically the Clunes State School and then, a knitting mill.

The first death was an eight-year-old student, Amelia, who died of typhoid as a student of the school after drinking contaminated water from the dam in the 1800s.

It is said her giggles can be heard echoing through the building.

The second death occurred when the building was a knitting mill. A man died during an horrific accident with a piece of machinery. Volunteers at the museum today have expressed that they can still hear his screams at night.

The last person to die there was Lee Medlyn himself, whose collection of bottles is housed at the museum. A mural is painted on the floor of the building, where he died.

He is a quiet presence, who sits at his bar.

Ms Scott is planning on running special tours with the paranormal investigators and a medium later this year, including Booktown weekend.

The tours will include access into the town's buildings with paranormal investigators and a medium present for a truly spooky experience.

Mr Brookshaw said the main incentive behind paranormal investigations was both to find spirits but also about telling the stories of various towns and their history.

He said Clunes' ghosts were all friendly, inquisitive and playful and he felt nothing but calm throughout the investigation.

"They all have a story and this is about finding a way to help them tell it," he said.

Ms Scott said she didn't want Clunes to be known as a haunted town as it already has so much to offer but the tours go hand-in-hand with its history.

"It's a good opportunity to showcase our beautiful buildings, history and architecture as well as to do a paranormal investigation with all of the gadgets and gizmos."

Ms Scott has dug further into researching the friendly ghosts at the town's museum in an effort to corroborate the stories.

"It's something interesting for Clunes - it really highlights our history and because our streetscape and the buildings haven't changed much it brings another element because it is still all so original.

"Am I a true believer? No, but did I witness and experience things I cannot explain? Yes, absolutely."

Tour dates will be released later this year.

The Courier, Ballarat