John Hurt has admitted he believes in ghosts, saying: "How can you not?"
The Harry Potter actor stars in ghost story Whistle And I'll Come To You, and says he does think there is such a thing as paranormal activity.
He said: "Unless everybody is lying [about seeing ghosts], and I don't suppose they are. But what makes that phenomenon happen? I don't think we know."
He went on: "What I don't like is trying to make it into a personal thing, making it into some connection between the ghost and you specifically. I don't think the ghost is interested in whoever it may be. I suspect not, but I don't know. How can I possibly know?"
The actor added that M.R James' Whistle And I'll Come to you is "not a horror film, it's a ghost story."
He said: "I don't see many horror movies that I like because I just don't believe them. I don't find them very believable, I find them rather silly.
"But I am a fan of ghost stories. It goes back to when I was sent away to school in the Forties. If you became a prefect, which misguidedly enough I was, it was a treat on a Sunday night before going to bed, to go in and see the warden who would read ghost stories. He was very good at it, too."
:: Whistle And I'll Come To You is on BBC Two on Christmas Eve.