Satanic rituals, animal sacrifice and UFO sightings seem more the stuff of Hollywood fiction than picturesque Sussex village life.

But the quiet village of Clapham, near Worthing, is thought to have been the home of a sinister black magic cult for more than 50 years.

That is, at least, according to supernatural investigator Charles Walker, who is determined to track down an occult group called the Friends of Hecate.

The chain-smoking 49-year-old retired council worker makes an unlikely-looking Fox Mulder, scouring the woods in his tracksuit and trainers.

But his tales of paranormal perils lurking amid the trees would easily fill an episode of the X-Files.

Now the glare of the media is back on Clapham Woods, 35 years after reports of dog disappearances and UFOs first put the village under the spotlight.

Cable channel LivingTV sent six young volunteers into the woods for a night as part of spooky new docusoap Scream Team.

Charles, of Western Place, Worthing, expects a revival of interest in the area's mysterious past when the show is broadcast on Tuesday night.

But when that flash of curiosity fades, he will still be there - as he has been for the past 30 years.

He and colleague Wayne Lewis, spend every day looking for clues to the existence of the Friends of Hecate and stakes out the woods at night, once a month.

Charles believes the group has been using the woods for satanic ceremonies involving the sacrifice of animals.

He also links in four mysterious deaths in the Seventies, including that of retired Clapham vicar the Reverend Harry Neil Snelling.

The 65-year-old vicar went missing from his Steyning home on October 31, 1978.

His skeletal remains were found three years later near Wiston Barn on the South Downs. An inquest recorded an open verdict.

In their book The Demonic Connection, Charles and co-authors Toyne Newton and Alan Brown, suggest he was a victim of satanic foul play.

Clapham has borne a curse since 1288, when Robert Le Faulconer lost a case he brought against local parson Adam le Gest for alleged bodily harm.

Angered by the defeat, Le Faulconer pronounced: "I call upon She who knows to damn this accursed village and all its meagre holdings. May the priesthood of this false God soon come to know their fate."

Charles started researching reports of missing dogs and UFO sitings in the early Seventies.

Other people have claimed to have felt sick, suffered stomach cramp, vertigo or felt an eerie presence, while in the woods.

A mysterious phone call one evening in 1978, was Charles' first major breakthrough. Someone claiming to be from the Friends of Hecate summoned him to a meeting at a crossroads in the woods.

A booming voice addressed him from behind a bush, telling him the group was set up in Sussex 30 years earlier.

He was told how they met in Clapham Woods once a month and sacrificed animals, mostly dogs, to the Underworld goddess Hecate.

Charles said: "Maybe he was a dissatisfied member of the group who wanted it exposed. Or maybe he was warning me to go no further. "

In February 1996, Charles and an animal welfare campaigner found a well-constructed hide buried in the woods. A hidden door opened into two rooms which he thinks were used for rituals.

Charles has tried to work out which dates in the year are most likely to be marked with black magic rituals.

But he and his fellow investigators have never managed to time their woodland visits to coincide with a ceremony.

Charles said: "I want to find them, get photographic evidence and bring them to justice. They have to be stopped. I'll keep doing this until the day I die."