THINGS might go bump in the night at Worcester's Commandery, but they also go bump in the day, according to staff at the historic tourist attraction.

Spooky happenings are so frequent in a building where combatants died during the Battle of Worcester of 1651, staff members seem to take all uncanny occurrences in their stride, because the spirits don't wait until Halloween to make their presence felt.

Doors open and close by themselves, card displays spin and Commandery interpretations assistant, Carol Campbell once saw a disembodied foot coming down in mid-step, with only the suggestion of a garment above it.

From what she could make out, the shoe on the foot was mustard yellow, a popular colour in medieval and Tudor times.

But shadow figures appear to be the most common spectres at The Commandery. They glide across the Minstrel's Gallery in the Great Hall and they cross doorways, always unexpected and often in broad daylight.

Interpretations assistant, Kerry Whitehouse said: "There's nothing nasty about this. It's like they are saying, we are still here. They are tall shapes - human-like shadows."

But it was Carol who had perhaps the most dramatic encounter with one of these shadow figures.

She said: "I was in the Great Hall, waiting for a school party, when I saw a shadow open a door that was locked, enter the room and close the door behind it. I heard and saw the latch move."

When she checked, the door was still locked.

Carol confesses that this gave her "a bit of a jolt", and Kerry also had a strange tale to tell in the Hamilton Room, where the second Duke of Hamilton died of his wounds, after the Battle of Worcester and where, for a while, he was buried beneath the floor.

A small stone, from apparently nowhere, flew through the air and struck her leg.

And other things have been known to fly in that room.

Kerry said: "A clock used to fly off the mantlepiece, before it was moved."

In medieval times, the Commandery was a monastic hospital, and Carol has seen a cowled figure glide across a landing. The Commandery also has an apparently haunted cupboard, where various members of staff have heard monkish chanting.

Closer to modern times, some psychics have claimed to have made contact with a small girl, probably Victorian, and going by the name of Daisy.

Kerry says that in one room, a small girl, visiting the Commandery, insisted she was having a conversation with a child no adult could see, and she said the name of the invisible child was, strangely enough, Daisy.

The Commandery can make a fair claim to being the most haunted building in Worcestershire, but it has to be said that this is a very spooky county indeed.

Priory House office in Droitwich is said to be haunted by the ghost of Captain Sir Richard Carbury, who was stabbed to death by his fiancée Lucretia in the 17th century.

Staff have reported taps turning themselves on and seeing ghostly figures.

At the Cardinal's Hat in Worcester, the ghost of a young girl in a flowing white night dress is reputed to drift along a landing.

And according to television psychic, Derek Acorah, a blind monk, a buried child and a murdering Satanist are just some of the ghosts that have been haunting the faithful city.

Acorah made his pronouncements when investigating Worcester for to a paranormal television programme.

Ordinary homes can be haunted too, apparently.

In 2005, Dawn and Andy Bradshaw and their children moved into their house in Barnards Green, Malvern, and sensed "something odd about the place".

The family heard children playing on the landing in the middle of the night, and Mr Bradshaw reported seeing the spirits of Victorian girls, with ringlets in their hair.

The Commandery is hosting a Historical Halloween season, with events including a fun ghost hut for children, story telling and even the chance to take a spooky selfie.

Further details at: www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk