MYSTERIOUS apparitions in Aspley, weird women in Wollaton Park, crazy canines along Nottingham canal and unexplained encounters at the university...

No, that's not a summary of a typical student's drunken night on the tiles, but a snapshot of the spine-tingling tales in a frightening new book by psychic medium Netty Leek, from Borrowash.

Chilling Tales from Nottinghamshire is an unsettling collection containing present-day eyewitness accounts of ordinary local folk having extraordinary paranormal experiences while going about their everyday business.

Netty, 36, who put out an appeal in the Post earlier this year for scary stories, said she had spooked herself putting the creepy collection together.

She says: "Of all the stories, the one that spooked me most was a tale of a China doll coming to life.

"There was also another strange tale of a man crossing the road near Trent Bridge Inn. He told me he felt a big hand pick him up and put him back on the central reservation just as a car sped by, jumping the traffic lights. A guardian angel perhaps? I don't know."

Netty did a similar book covering Derbyshire last year.

"During book-signings, so many people said I ought to do one on Nottingham, too, and I think they were right.

"These stories are even scarier," she says.

It seems there's not one particular place in Nottingham that is "most haunted", although there were lots of tales from the University of Nottingham and the Queen's Medical Centre. Netty says: "I had lots of calls from doctors and members of the police, too. The anonymity I give in the book was really important because that allowed people to really let go and tell me things they might not have felt comfortable saying in front of colleagues.

"So many people started their conversations 'Don't think I'm mad but'...."

The people who contacted Netty will find out if their stories are included at the official launch today from 2pm at WH Smith in the Victoria Centre.

The author will be doing a book-signing and the first 10 people in the queue will also get a free psychic reading.

Netty says: "It was an absolutely fantastic response. There were so many stories from Nottinghamshire, I didn't know which to include – maybe I'll do part two."

Chilling Tales from Nottinghamshire includes:

The case of the disappearing woman in a bread shop in Nuthall Road, Aspley

The interviewee described seeing a young woman come in and stand next to him as he waited for his order. "She made no sound or movement, but I could feel her watching," he said. The woman, who had a shoulder-length bob and a sallow complexion, got so close, it was making the man uncomfortable. He finally turned slightly to pass without bumping into her, but she was no longer there. "I asked the woman who served me where the young woman had gone, but she looked at me oddly and said nobody else had been in the shop."

The incident of the woman on horseback at Wollaton Park in December 2005

A couple were walking their two dogs on New Year's Eve when they suddenly began barking madly on one of the tree-lined drives. "Their barking turned into snarls," the man told Netty. A shadowy figure on horseback riding side saddle wandered back and forth across their path. "As we watched, the woman turned to look directly at my wife and I, and then vanished."

The curious case of the dog in the night at Nottingham Canal.

The interviewee was on a regular late evening jog near the canal in the city centre. "As I passed near the footbridge, I had this strange feeling I had just entered somewhere I did not belong," the man said. A sudden movement revealed a huge black dog running straight for him. "I just closed my eyes and braced for impact, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes but the dog was not there."

The china doll

An antique doll knocked over other dolls in a bedroom at night after apparently laughing out loud.

Once, the doll appeared to have real eyes which moved. A medium cut open the doll and found a photo of a girl in it, which appeared to have the same eyes that the doll did that night.

Chilling Tales from Nottinghamshire, published by The Derby Books Publishing Company, priced £9.99.