AN East Lancashire historian has offered an expert insight into footage of a 'ghost' allegedly captured on a road between Blackburn and Belmont.

Ghost hunter Simon Entwistle has recently penned a book called 'Ghostly Tales of the Unexpected', which delves into some infamous Lancashire ghost stories.

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Mr Entwistle suggested that the footage had been captured on the A666, not far from Turton Tower.

The road is known as 'the Devil's Highway', because of its high accident rate on the moors between Egerton and Darwen.

Mr Entwistle suggested the 'ghost' could be that of a monk who was executed in Turton Tower by Civil War troops.

He said: "It's the actual timing that I find quite unusual, this person was executed in early January 1643, and the ghost will only make an appearance in the early January period."

Mr Entwistle said there had been sightings of other 'ghosts' in that area.

He said that a taxi driver travelling between Blackburn and Bolton reported seeing a ghost figure of an elderly woman with long hair sitting in the back seat of his taxi, when he was travelling along the same stretch of road.

Mr Entwistle said: "I've looked at the footage and my first thought was this is someone having fun.

"I can always tell when someone's pulling your leg, but from looking at that footage they were absolutely terrified, the person was genuinely scared.

"Would someone go out of their way to dress like that and actually scare someone?

"If so it could have caused a serious traffic accident, and they were endangering lives.

"It's interesting footage, and I'm sure we haven't seen the end of it."