Princess Diana 'Praying Ghost' Image Remerges After Fans Mark Her 65th Birthday, Resident Claims

Images of a mysterious kneeling figure said to be a ghoul which haunts the church where Princess Diana is thought to have been secretly buried have resurfaced after fans marked what would have been her 65th birthday this year.

OK! can reveal it's thought the "praying ghost" has appeared at St Mary the Virgin church in the English village of Great Brington, Northamptonshire – now thought to house the crypt with Diana's remains.

For years, millions of Diana fans have remained convinced that her final resting place was a peaceful island sheltered by oak trees in the center of an oval lake at her ancestral home of Althorp House, the 16th-century, 100-room stone mansion 80 miles north of London.

Her mother was seen rowing to the spot the day after her funeral, and her brother Earl Spencer is said to have thought it was a fitting resting place as it reminded him of the tragic heroine at the heart of Sir Walter Scott's romantic epic The Lady of the Lake.

But there is now evidence Diana has been secretly moved to St Mary the Virgin church to avoid grave robbers targeting her Althorp memorial.

Some believe the appearance of a praying ghost in the church is paranormal confirmation of the move.

The praying ghost seen in an image being spread online by Diana fanatics was photographed in 1964 by photographers Gordon Carroll and David Hadsell.

It was captured kneeling before an altar and bowing its head at a St Mary the Virgin church in a Northamptonshire village close to the one where Diana's remains are now believed to lie.

Locals who live near the church where Diana is believed to have been moved now say the ghost has been spotted again – possibly paying homage to Diana.

One resident of Great Brington – who did not wish to be named – said: "The praying ghost was huge news in Northampton when the photograph came out. For some reason, it seems to haunt the two St Mary the Virgin churches in the area. Maybe it's searching for something or someone, as there are a lot of graves around those churches. I hear it's been seen kneeling directly above the spot where Diana is thought to have been buried. Who knows what it wants? It seems harmless enough. And maybe it's praying for Diana herself, as a lot of people round here now think her body is in the Great Brington church."

They added: "Diana always loved anything spiritual and used psychics, so she'd probably be comforted by the fact that someone from the other side is appearing to pray on top of her grave. It's not a scary phenomenon – it's thought by people around here who believe in ghosts to be quite poignant actually."

The church where Diana is said to lie is almost identical in layout to the one where the praying ghost was caught on camera. It appeared in one shot on a roll of film recorded by snappers Carroll and Hadsell.

They were stunned when the grim figure did not appear in any other picture taken the same day, by a camera mounted on a tripod to eliminate movement and keep their snaps in focus.

But royal fans from the US, Asia, Africa, and across the U.K. have recently been flocking to St Mary's in Great Brington as it is at the center of shock claims that Diana's body was moved there under cover of darkness at the last minute before her 1997 funeral.

The visitors' book at St Mary the Virgin is now bursting with comments explaining how it's believed Diana's Royal standard-draped coffin was really lowered there beneath a slab on the central church aisle.

A visitor from Australia who made the pilgrimage wrote: "Beautiful resting place, RIP Diana, with your family."

Another mourner from Australia penned: "At rest with your family," while a visitor from Trinidad and Tobago states in the book: "We will never forget you."

One of the many locals who have signed the book said, "Hoping that you can find peace here."

It's thought one reason behind Diana's secret burial was fears that grave robbers would target her resting place.

When it was announced she was to be buried at Althorp in 1997, the estate was flooded with crazed fans sneaking onto its grounds to try and catch a glimpse of her body.

And Diana's brother recently revealed there have been four attempted break-ins to Diana's tomb over the past 20 years – adding to the belief she was moved to protect her body.

Earl Spencer added: "We've had four attempted break-ins to her body in the last 20 years. I'm very glad we've seen them all off."

Tight security measures have now suddenly been installed at Great Brington's St Mary the Virgin church – adding weight to the claim it is the real final resting place of Diana, killed 21 years ago at age 36 in a horror high-speed Paris car wreck.

Motion sensors and warning signs now surround the very church crypt in which Lady Diana is claimed to rest.

The sensors have been fitted to the ceiling and floor of the crypt, also surrounded by six-meter-high alarmed fencing.

Posters adorn the church's notice board, warning criminals they are being watched and that "forensic systems" are "in use."

A green light flashes from the sensors when a person steps near, while a sign warns: "This area is ALARMED!"

The church is a stone's throw from the Althorp family estate, where Diana is officially said to be buried – and where people are charged $25 each to visit.

The theory goes that Diana's final journey to her Althorp family home in Northants – in front of a worldwide TV audience of 2.5 billion people – was a sham to throw fans off the scent of her actual burial spot.

Diana Frances Spencer's father's ashes also lie at St Mary the Virgin, where her Spencer family's crypt sits.

Photographs have emerged showing wet cement marks around the spot where Diana's casket was allegedly lowered.

Diana's brother Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, who still lives at Althorp today and moved millions with his eulogy at his sister's funeral, had initially planned to bury her sister at the church.

Workers even came to the church to dig a hole in the floor inside the heavily guarded crypt – surrounded by six-meter-high fencing and an alarm system – to prepare space for her coffin to be lowered into.

But on the night before her state burial on September 6, 1997, the Earl changed his mind; he claimed to have decided to lay her to rest on an island at his Althorp Estate instead.

The move was made, he said, due to the huge media and public attention that would have descended on Great Brington, which had a population of 200 at the time.

Some Diana fans aren't convinced and suspect Charles' claim was a red herring to disguise the fact he followed through on the original plan and had Diana buried at the family crypt.

To add more weight to the theory, locals claim "suspicious activity" took over the village around the night of Diana's burial, including a mystery power cut, and the sound of heavy machinery rumbling in the area.

Rev David MacPherson – vicar of St Mary's in 1998 – told that same year how an area of fresh, wet concrete had been seen around the Spencer family vault.

Paul Johnson, head chef at Great Brington's Althorp Coaching Inn, said: "I heard that the night before she was buried, the village was blacked out and there was a lot of heavy machinery and trucks moving around. I also heard wet cement could be seen where tiles were taken out."

Another local who did not want to be named added about the theory: "When Diana died, there was a lot of activity up at the church. My wife went into the church one evening, and they had all the slabs up in the Spencer crypt. The floor was out. People were stopped from going in, but she was able to get in somehow. They stopped people going in so they could get the job done and put the slabs back. But you can see all the new cement!"

Diana would have turned 65 on July 1 this year had she survived the Paris car crash.