Recent sightings of a ghostly figure walking through solid doors have added to the legend that Finchley's Avenue House is haunted by the spirit of a rather fastidious governess named Dora.

Two visitors independently reported to manager Janett Durrant that they had seen a female figure walk through a closed door into a first floor room in the 19th Century mansion on consecutive days back in August.

The room where they reported seeing the apparition is now a kitchen but was once the nursery of the children of Henry C ‘Inky' Stephens, who left the estate in East End Road to the people of Finchley in 1918, having made his fortune from his father's invention of IndiaN ink.

Sarah Stacey, who works for the Barnet Care charity based at the house, also saw the ghost in late September.

"I was in the kitchen making the tea one morning, at about 10am, and I felt a presence behind me.

“I turned and saw an old fashioned-looking woman in her early 40s, wearing dark clothes and a long, high-waisted skirt. She had mousey hair, which she wore up.

"She stared as if she was inspecting me — it seemed to go on for ever but must have been only for a split second.

“She wasn't threatening but I didn't feel comfortable and I legged it."

Sarah's colleague Marcella Jara-Ferreira has not seen the ghost but says she has also felt a powerful presence there. "On one occasion, when alone in the office, the door began to swing wildly as if caught by the wind," she said.

At first Marcella was scared but she is now more relaxed about it: "We call her Dora," she said.

Richard Wiseman, professor of psychology at Hertfordshire University, has carried out experiments into reported sightings of supernatural phenomena at some classic ‘haunted' houses, including Hampton Court. He remains unconvinced.

"Physical factors, such as drafts or magnetic fields, can give people unusual experiences but it can also be psychological," he said.

"Some people have particularly strong imaginations and can't tell that what they have seen is actually an internally produced apparition.

“This is all the more likely once a place gets a reputation for being haunted."

Despite that scepticism, Ms Durrant says she plans to continue monitoring the situation.

She said: "We're now recording all sightings to see what linkage there is between them."