EERIE goings-on at an Ilkley house and the appearance of a spooky face in a photograph have convinced a resident his home is haunted.

William Armitage, 74, of Mornington Road has had years of strange happenings and household objects going astray.

But the discovery of a mysterious photograph has now convinced him he may be sharing his home of more than 70 years with a ghostly occupant.

Now he is seeking an answer to the paranormal goings-on, and would like to get in touch with anyone who feels they can investigate the house and work out what is responsible for the strange happenings.

He said: "You get used to it, it's been going on for years. I keep turning around expecting to see a spectre or something. Things go missing and sometimes things are interfered with."

Most of the poltergeist-like activity he has seen over the years has involved household objects vanishing from the safe place he has left them - then re-appearing out in the open.

"The other night I was listening to the football on the radio, and when I came down in the morning, the CD player was switched on. I had switched it all off before I went to bed," he said.

He also recalls an incident from many years before, when an old cuckoo clock which had failed to work for many years suddenly sprang into life.

But when Mr Armitage had a camera film developed recently, and discovered a picture he is certain he did not take himself, he believed he had finally found proof that there is a supernatural presence in his home.

When he first saw the pictures at a photograph developing shop in Keighley, he thought there had been a mix-up with the films. But staff at the shop said the photograph did belong to his own set.

The picture shows the face of a man in a darkened room, and having studied the picture closely, Mr Armitage believes he is wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

He claims he may have seen the strange face before - peering through the skylight of his house one night. Mr Armitage says no-one could have been on the roof of his house.

He said: "I saw this face looking at me, and I looked back. I thought I should have been scared, but I wasn't. ."

Mr Armitage says he knows little about the history of the house - which he believes to be 19th Century - and the previous occupants.