GHOSTLY goings-on mean two neighbours are keeping their lights on.

Mysterious footsteps, an opening and slamming door - and a cry for help from a phantom woman are disturbing the lives of two Boscombe residents.

Ania Lis and John Gibbons have both had unnerving experiences in their basement flats on Christchurch Road, near Chessel Avenue.

Ania, 21, was in the flat when she heard the front door open then suddenly slam.

"For the first time in my life I locked the living room door. I was very scared," said Ania, who worked in a care home at the time.

"I found out an old lady from the home had died at the same time the door opened - maybe she was coming to say goodbye."

Ania and boyfriend Lukasz Prstok, 24, a factory worker, have also heard footsteps on the floorboards above, well after the shops have shut.

"I do believe it is haunted," said Ania, now a dental nurse. "My ex-neighbour said he had heard there was a fire here and a woman died."

Mr Gibbons, 58, a shop fitter currently invalided from work, said he was in bed at around 11.30pm when he heard a woman's voice crying out Help me, help me, help me!' He said: "I slept with the lights on for the rest of the night.

"I'm not sure whether or not it's a ghost but I do feel a chill as you come down here - the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!"