A woman has spoken about the terrifying goings-on at a 'haunted' house in Petts Wood - after a ghost took a dislike to a new-born baby.

That baby was Charl Dickson, who is now in her forties, who has told how something in the house took a special dislike to her and wanted her gone.

She said: "My bedroom was a normal bedroom - until I was put into my cot. The room would suddenly go very cold and an awful strong smell would start. As soon as I was taken out of the room, it went back to normal. The carpet and floorboards were taken up to find the source of the smell, the radiators were checked - everything was normal. It only ever happened when I was carried into the room."

Charl has spoken out about the events at her former home on Crofton Lane, Petts Wood, in the run-up to Halloween.

But she says the chilling stories are more than ghost stories, but family legend.

The house was empty when the family moved in - apart from in the attic where, in the darkness, in the corner, there was a mannequin with a wedding dress on it. In the front garden, underneath lots of weeds her parents found a headstone with RIP written on it.

Charl said: "My mum decided to clean the oven one day so took the shelves out and lent them against the cupboards. As she's cleaning there was an almighty noise - like a massive crashing sound. After the shock of the noise mum thought that the shelves had just fallen over on the floor and carried on cleaning. When she stood up she saw that the shelves were just as she'd left them.

She added: "Keys were always going missing. One day for example I was just big enough to sit up but not crawl. Mum sat me in the middle of the living room floor with the house keys which were on a huge jailer's ring that you could fit your arm through. She went to strap my sister into the car seat and when she came back I was still sitting there but the keys were gone. Never to be seen again."

Eventually things became so bad for the family that they sold the house.

Charl and her mother Sue believe in ghosts. Charl thinks there are too many people, over hundreds of years who have seen and felt things to ignore their existence. Charl beleives that whatever was in the house wanted her gone, and it took a special dislike to her as a baby.

She says there are some stories that are just for children at Halloween, but there are others that cannot be dismissed so easily.