Tweeters ask: is there anybody (famous) there?

Tweeters are being invited to submit questions for the spirits of departed celebrities including Michael Jackson and William Shakespeare as part of the world's first Twitter seance.

A psychic medium will then try to contact the stars — who were chosen along with actor River Phoenix and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain from nominations sent in by the public — at the London-based seance on Friday, the day before Halloween.

Other prominent dead figures nominated by tweeters keen to pose questions during the "tweance" included John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Abraham Lincoln and Houdini.

Twitter users will be able to follow the seance live on the micro-blogging site, which psychic Jayne Wallace will use to relay any responses she receives from the spirits.