Black Eyed Child of Cannock Chase: Is this the first photograph EVER of the infamous spectre?

Is this spooky snap the first time an infamous ghost known as The Black Eyed Child has been captured on camera?

That's the chilling claim of top psychic Christine Hamlett.

The medium believes she has snared the child spirit known to roam the sprawling heathland at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.

Christine, from Northwich, Cheshire, claims the haunting image shows the fabled and feared Black Eyed Child praying in the dense woodland.

The clairvoyant, 57, captured the picture on Friday, snapping the spirit near to Birches Valley visitors centre.

And she believes the ghoulish girl could be one of the many phantoms she has made contact with that died of now treatable but then deadly childhood diseases like smallpox and dipheria.

She told the Birmingham Mail: “They are asking for help, but they didn’t want help to get back into the light.”

Spooky snap: The picture appears to show a figure praying in the dense woodland of Cannock Chase – a hot-spot for sightings of the Black Eyed Child

Christine is just one of a string of ghost-hunters to flock to the haunted hot-spot after a plague of sightings of the girl with the coal-pit eyes.

And she revealed the secret of her successful snap – the "pan and water" technique.

This involves photographing the reflections of ghouls in the water rather than the traditional point and click of an everyday snapper.

Christine's husband David grabbed the picture as the pair scanned the landscape for ghosts.

She added: "I help spirits who are earthbound, for whatever reason.

"They have a message or something to say before they pass on. There is a light and they have to go into it.

"I try to reassure them there are people in the light who will help them.

Special powers: Christine Hamlett claims to have contacted the spirits of young children who passed away and believes the ghost died of a disease after toiling away in a workhouse

"I can’t make them go, but I try to get them into a frame of mind where they are ready to move on.”

Christine claims the trouble spirit could be one of many buried in an unmarked grave after dying in a workhouse.

And of the girl's ghastly charcoal eye sockets, she added: "The eyes are for effect. These children have a story and they want it told."

The Black Eyed Child of Cannock Chase has quickly become an internet sensation.

The child had not been spotted for 30 years but a plague of sightings in recent weeks has sparked worldwide interest.

Some witnesses claim the child giggles and calls for help while the descriptions of the girl are identical to those chronicled in the early 1980s.

And experts have offered up a string of theories for its existence - from a mass hallucination to links to a Celtic tribe known for blood sacrifces.

One eye-witness account relayed to paranormal investigator Lee Brickley told of a family alerted by screams as they walked through Birches Valley.

The unnamed shocked woman said: "We instantly started running towards the noise.

"We couldn’t find the child anywhere and so stopped to catch our breath.

“That’s when I turned round and saw a girl stood behind me, no more than 10 years old, with her hands over her eyes.

“It was as if she was waiting for a birthday cake.

“I asked if she was OK and if she had been the one screaming. She put her arms down by her side and opened her eyes.

“That’s when I saw they were completely black, no iris, no white, nothing.

“I jumped back and grabbed my daughter. When I looked again, the child was gone. It was so strange.”

Watch Mike Lockley from paper The Birmingham Mail visit the supernatural hot-spot with paranormal investigator Lee Brickley

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/