The Paranormal Database

Woman

Location: Rochester - Backroom Bookshop (no longer open), High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The owner of this shop spotted a woman dressed in 1960s-era clothing walking between the shelves before she vanished.

The infamous Blue Bell Hill, Kent.

Vanishing Hitchhiker

Location: Rochester - Blue Bell Hill
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: The vanishing hitchhiker is a famous urban legend, though a score of witnesses swear they have encountered the figure. One witness went to the police after believing he had run over a girl - on investigation, nothing was found. Two families have reported, at separate times, a terrifying old hag-like figure standing in front of their cars, causing them to stop.

Strange Animals

Location: Rochester - Blue Bell Hill and surrounding area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: An ostrich was seen by a driver during the 1990s near the haunted hill, but when he stopped to investigate, the creature had changed into a large black cat which ran away. The cat (or a similar one) had been previously seen in the area, as has a large hairy beast, thought by the witness to be a gorilla. During the same decade, a UFO was reportedly observed above Blue Bell Hill; on a summer evening, a descending light swerved and vanished above some trees.

Roman Soldier

Location: Rochester - Carpark at the base of the castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 1988
Further Comments: Local folklore says that the sighting of a phantom Roman soldier on a grass verge by two teenage girls led to an archaeological dig on the site.

An old postcard of Rochester Castle.

Lady Blanche de Warenne

Location: Rochester - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Blanche on Good Friday or 04 April, Dickens on 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A bystander in a battle for the castle, the Lady Blanche was killed when an arrow entered her heart - her shade has been observed still staggering with the shaft protruding from her chest. It is also believed that Charles Dickens's ghost haunts the moat; he has been seen both here and at the Corn Exchange clock.

Grey Monk

Location: Rochester - Cooper's Arms public house, St Margaret's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Once a year in November, late at night (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Bricked up alive for a long forgotten sin, this misty monk emerges from the wall behind the bar in this ancient building that once was a priory.

Flying Veg

Location: Rochester - Food Glorious Food (shop)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 2021
Further Comments: Local media reported the site to be haunted after owners witnessed vegetables flying across the shop, and experiencing power cuts and a radio which would start playing classical music. One piece of local folklore claimed the entity may relate to a man who had his figures cut off after sexually assaulting a woman.

Smoke

Location: Rochester - Former bank, High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2003
Further Comments: The fresh smell of tobacco, possibly from a pipe, could be detected in the cellar of this building, even though smoking was banned from within it.

Smiling Old Man

Location: Rochester - George public house, High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cellar was once a church crypt and within a small man (sometimes identified as a monk) has been observed.

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell

Location: Rochester - Guildhall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Cloudesley bought the decorated plaster ceilings at the guildhall with his own money - perhaps that is why this phantom wearing uniform has been seen walking the corridors.

Pale Woman in Blouse

Location: Rochester - Hotel (exact one unknown, but next to former airstrip / current airport)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This young female form, sometimes accompanied by a clicking sound, appears on the second floor of a modern extension of the hotel. Some staff members believe her to be connected to a murder that once took place on the piece of wasteland just outside the original building.

Woman

Location: Rochester - Love Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: A ghostly woman is said to haunt this lane, one report stating that she is only visible from the waste up.

Footsteps

Location: Rochester - Minor Canon Row
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps have been heard following people along this street.

Tutor Music

Location: Rochester - Old Hall, Boley Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One room was once home to phantom Tudor music, while a ghostly woman would be seen elsewhere.

Relative

Location: Rochester - Private residence, Lower Rochester Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1950s - 1980s
Further Comments: Over four decades, cupboard doors would open and close unaided and objects would be moved. The family believed the site to be haunted by a relative.

Black Oval

Location: Rochester - Sky above Carnation Road
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Mid 1990s
Further Comments: One witness watched as a black oval shape unnervingly blocked out the night sky as it passed by.

Young Boy

Location: Rochester - St Bartholomew's Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 2021
Further Comments: After being abandoned, the hospital attracted several spooky stories, including the tale of a woman who would walk through walls, and the appearance of a young boy which would herald a death on a ward.

Monk

Location: Rochester - The Vines (park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom monk is said to walk the area where the Priory of St Andrew had their vineyard.

Highwayman

Location: Romney Marsh - Site of Gibbet
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Buried under the gibbet that housed his body for many days, the highwayman is said not to have completely left this earth. . .

Flying Wood

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - 9 - 15 The Pantiles
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: The row of properties were being renovated. An early rising street cleaner who passed the site heard banging from the site and spotted timber being thrown around. However, there was no one on the site at the time.

White Limo

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - B2169 to Bayham Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Always seen parked on the side of the road, the white limousine (or black, according to other reports) shimmers and vanishes when witnesses move in too close.

Sid

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Barry M Cosmetics, Calverley Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990 / 1991
Further Comments: All the staff reported paranormal activity while working in the shop during this time. Footsteps would be heard on empty floors, a sweet smelling tobacco could be detected, whispering could be heard, and finger marks would suddenly appear in dust.

The Devil's Burning Nose

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Bathing Waters
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Waters still present
Further Comments: After being attacked by Saint Dunstan in Mayfield, Old Nick ran here and placed his flaming nose into the waters - they turned red and have remained so ever since.

Matron

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Binns Restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in grey clothing, this phantom matron is said to sit by a window on the first floor.

Misty Man

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Broomhill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At least one couple driving along this road have had to stop because they believed they hit this ghostly figure which stands on the side of the road.