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Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana of London's SE1 District

Raining Stones

Location: SE1 - 56/58 Reverdy Road, Bermondsey
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 27 April 1872, 16:00-23:30
Further Comments: This building was bombarded with stones, smashing every window, injuring people nearby, and even destroying furniture inside - a heavy police presence failed to stop the attack, though it ended almost eight hours after initiation.

Tailless Dog

Location: SE1 - Anchor Inn, Clink Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn is haunted by a dog which lost its tail while trying to protect its master from press gangers.

Teleporting Items

Location: SE1 - Anchor Tap public house, Horselydown Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This tavern's resident ghost (Charlie to his mates) moves items around the building and has been known to hide things for months on end before returning them to their rightful location.

Tailless Dog

Location: SE1 - Anchor Tavern
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This mangy looking mutt failed to save his master from the press gangers who operated here in the 1700's - it now appears around closing time, sniffing around for the owner.


Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames, London.

Tall Woman in Black

Location: SE1 - Blackfriars Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely early twentieth century
Further Comments: A postal worker watched a tall woman wearing black standing on the edge of this bridge. The woman suddenly leapt into the river. Horrified, the postal worker ran to the edge of the bridge intending to jump over the railings to save her. A nearby policeman also rushed over but, instead of helping the woman or summoning additional support, grabbed the postman. The postal worker told the policeman what had happened, only to be told the woman had previously committed suicide and it was now her ghost which performed the same action every day. The policeman told the postman to return at the same time the following day to witness the woman make the suicidal jump again. The postal worker returned as requested and did indeed see the woman in black repeat her jump.

Walter?

Location: SE1 - Boat moored close to London Bridge
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: December 2015
Further Comments: An employee on this boat reported seeing an image taken on board which shows the side view of a figure with ruffled collar. The figure disappears at the knee and looks as if it floats on a white cloud.

Footsteps

Location: SE1 - British Transport Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: More than one officer working alone has heard the distinct sound of footsteps walking along and stopping a short distance away. One witness reported the sound of footsteps was followed by a loud bang and the floor shaking. One detective spotted a shadowy figure running through the area, while a builder on the site walked past a lady who was not actually there...

Lost Child

Location: SE1 - Czar Bar (was the Horns public house), Crucifix Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This little lost spook has been heard moving around the building, crying and calling for her mother. Another witness said, perhaps more sinisterly, that it sounded like the little girl was crying in fear of her mother. More recently, a ghostly old lady has also been reported.

Old Priest

Location: SE1 - East Lane, Bermondsey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1894
Further Comments: This entity, dressed in clothing that the witness dated as late eighteenth century, was seen standing by a window in the presbytery.


The Northern Line platform of the Elephant & Castle underground station.

Vanishing Woman

Location: SE1 - Elephant & Castle Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Northern Line unknown, Bakerloo woman seen twentieth century?
Further Comments: Footfalls and rapping echo around the Northern Line in the station after it has closed - on investigation, no sound source can be found. Another story says the last train of the night on the Bakerloo Line is haunted by a lone girl who walks from the last carriage to the tip of the train, vanishing as she reaches the front carriage.

Misty Figure

Location: SE1 - George Inn, George Inn Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The nondescript shape of a female figure has been seen drifting in the bedrooms of this old coach house.

Sound of New Boots

Location: SE1 - Guy's Hospital, St Thomas Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969?
Further Comments: A nurse dressed in late nineteenth century garb has been seen walking down the corridors of the hospital, sometimes placing her hand on patient's shoulders to reassure them. When not seen, she is heard - pacing loudly down echoing walkways.


Lambeth Palace and the River Thames, London.

Anne Boleyn

Location: SE1 - Lambeth Palace, & River Thames near the building
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Carried in a Thames barge crewed by faded grey figures, the shade of Boleyn is taken to the Tower of London where she met her maker. The palace itself sometimes echoes with Anne's voice, pleading and crying for her life to be saved.

Blitz Bodies

Location: SE1 - Leather Exchange public house, Leathermarket Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The cellar of this pub was used as a makeshift mortuary after a heavy bombing raid during the Second World War. Staff maintain that the presence of the dead remains.

Self-Locking Door

Location: SE1 - Lollards Prison
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The prison is thought to contain the spirits of many a former inmate, with one door renowned for locking and unlocking itself.

Nun

Location: SE1 - London Road Depot (Bakerloo Line)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area is thought to be haunted by a nun who is connected to a nearby Roman Catholic school.

After Hours Drinking

Location: SE1 - Market Porter public house, Stoney Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: People walking past this pub late at night have reported seeing ghostly figures standing at the bar, just visible through the windows.

Bloodied Hands

Location: SE1 - Old Vic, Waterloo Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly woman has appeared several times, always clasping her bloodstained hands. Some believe that she was an actress, and that the blood is fake - used for a stage production of a Shakespearian play.


River Thames, close to the site of the London Eye.

Angel of the Thames

Location: SE1 - River Thames, close to the London Eye
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: At least four people have reported seeing an angel hovering over the River Thames in 2006. Some people say the sightings date back to 1666, the Great Fire of London, while other recent sightings have occurred around war time. Others have called the sightings a hoax, naming people behind a charity event as being responsible for the 'sightings'.

Slamming Doors

Location: SE1 - Site of Waterloo Necropolis Railway, now a training school
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990 onwards
Further Comments: Some staff at this railway training school allegedly now refuse to work at night in 'A' block, due to classroom and other doors slamming shut by themselves.

Great Armies

Location: SE1 - Skies west of London Bridge
Type: Other
Date / Time: 21 March, year unknown (but likely nineteenth century)
Further Comments: Said to have been watched by many people, two great armies were watched as they engaged each other in the sky. During the fight, a flame was seen to head towards the city. As the flame faded, the armies vanished.


St Thomas' Hospital, London.

Grey Nurse

Location: SE1 - St Thomas' Hospital
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, prior to a death of a patient
Further Comments: St Thomas' Hospital, London. A ghostly nurse dressed in grey, reluctant to leave her job, has been mistaken for a real person - until she vanishes into thin air. Other stories say that the nurse's legs abruptly end at the knees. Although her facial details are perfect and of utmost clarity, no one has been able to place or identify her. Some tales report that patients who spot this phantom woman died soon after, a theme repeated in a few other hospitals in the UK.

Noisy Room

Location: SE1 - Thomas a Becket public house, Old Kent Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At one time, the landlord here claimed he had a room so haunted upstairs that nobody could spend more than five minutes inside without fleeing in terror.

Faces

Location: SE1 - Three unidentified houses on Stamford Street (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1872
Further Comments: After the death of the landlord of these three, long term empty, properties, lights would be seen flitting around, and the occasional ghostly face seen at the windows.

Police (and Not a Ghost)

Location: SE1 - Unknown house, Bermondsey Street
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1909
Further Comments: James Phillips was told he was 'more likely to find a policeman than a ghost' by a judge while in court for breaking into an alleged haunted house.

Records 1 - 25 of 26

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