SATELLITE TV channel Living TV brought its cult show Most Haunted: Live to Clitheroe for a three-day special at the weekend. Last night, on Hallowe'en itself, reporter and 'open-minded sceptic' ADRIAN WORSLEY took his seat in the audience to witness an apparently genuine paranormal phenomenon.

OLD Demdike, like the rest of her alleged coven of witches, would no doubt have been spinning in her grave.

That is if her poor spirit hadn't been chased around Pendle Hill by a hyper-active TV presenter, a Liverpudlian psychic and an increasingly jittery film crew.

Old Demdike, aka Elizabeth Southerns, was one of several Pendle Witches to make a personal 'appearance' during last night's extraordinary programme.

Filmed with a live studio audience in Clitheroe's St Mary's Hall, the three-hour paranormal pantomime featured former Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding getting into increasingly scary scrapes with the "ghosts" of Britain's most famous witches.

The Most Haunted team, which visits a different part of Britain each week, chose the Ribble Valley for its flagship Hallowe'en show because of its links with the famous Pendle Witch trials of 1612.

After last year's Hallowe'en show pulled in around 1.7million viewers, last night's show was expecting even bigger viewing figures.

And, if the 200-strong live audience was anything to go by, fans are willing to travel huge distances to join in the fun. They came from all over Britain to take their places.

Suitably wound up by the warm-up act we settled in for a night the likes of which Clitheroe will never see again. The format was simple. A visibly shaken Yvette stood by as Scouse psychic Derek Acorah allowed himself to be 'possessed' by whatever 'presence' happened to be floating by.

In the hunt for the exact spot where the Pendle Witches' coven is thought to have held their sabbats, or meetings, the team wisely gave Pendle Hill itself a wide birth because of the traditional procession to the top on Hallowe'en night.

Instead, their search took them to Low Well Head on the south side of Pendle Hill, where they told us they encountered the first of the witches. To the obvious delight of the audience Derek became possessed almost immediately.

The crew was less delighted to hear Derek, who was now possessed by the ghost of Old Demdike, tell them: "She wants to scalp all of us."

The finale was at an old house now owned by the descendents of Pendle Witch Alice Nutter.

Long-lost relative Laura Nutter was even invited on to the show to be interviewed by host Dr David Bull.

She told him: "The family bought this house in 1970 and there's definitely something there. About 20 years ago a family member saw somebody knelt in front of the farm, while four years ago someone spotted an old woman wearing a cloak."

In three hours of exciting and infuriating television, it was an understated moment and one of the few that genuinely rung true.

Speaking before the show Richard Woolfe, Living TV's director of programmes, said: "The show is a phenomenon, but people can see it's genuine. We are not saying you should believe or not believe. People in the audience are intelligent enough to make up their own minds."

The third and final show filmed in Clitheroe starts at 9pm tonight on Living TV.