The Paranormal Database

Flickering Light

Location: Pluckley - Church of St Nicholas
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sounds of knocking can be heard coming from beneath the church at night, often accompanied by a flickering and fluttering light inside the empty building. Some say the light belongs to Lady Dering, buried within three lead coffins to prevent her decay. The churchyard is reputed to be haunted by a red lady, wandering the area in search of her missing baby. Finally, the inside of the church is also said to be haunted by a woman in mid-twentieth century clothing.

Victorian Woman

Location: Pluckley - Dering Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pub is said to be home to a phantom woman in Victorian clothing who lurks by the bar.

Pleased to Meet you...

Location: Pluckley - Devil's Bush
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An unknown bush in the village can be used to summon the Devil, by dancing three (or thirteen) times around it, and/or saying (or not saying) a spell.

Headmaster

Location: Pluckley - Dicky Buss's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1965
Further Comments: Taking his own life in the 1800's, the phantom headmaster was observed by an author in the mid-twentieth century; the entity wore stripy trousers and an old coat.

Walker

Location: Pluckley - Elvey Farm Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Blamed for poltergeist activity, a phantom walker was once said to frequent the farmhouse. There are also reports of a haunting smell (burning yarn or wool) and the ghost of Old Bill, who sits on the end of a bed and talks to himself.

Dying Highwayman

Location: Pluckley - Fright (aka Frith) Corner
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large spectral tree has been seen here, together with a highwayman pinned to it by several swords. On other occasions, an elderly phantom woman is spotted; thought to be a gypsy woman, she accidentally set herself on fire with her pipe while sleeping.

Miller

Location: Pluckley - Mill Hill, location where ruined mill once stood, near the Pinnock
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This location is haunted by both a miller and a gypsy woman, the latter said to have burnt to death on the site.

Colonel

Location: Pluckley - Park Wood (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1965?
Further Comments: This woodland, levelled in 1965, was home to a phantom officer who had hanged himself on the site.

Alarm

Location: Pluckley - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1989
Further Comments: Two employees would be woken at 02:15h by their alarms over a two week period, although neither had set their devices. The figure of a young woman quickly vanished after being spotted by one employee, and a cat would appear in the building before disappearing in areas with no possible exist. Finally, men (but never women) would find one room particularly disturbing, with builders refusing to work within and guests leaving during the night.

Tutor Lady

Location: Pluckley - Rose Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This reputed female phantom could be heard calling out for her hounds, although it is said that she has not been heard for many years. The woman is said to have committed suicide by eating poisonous berries.

Screams

Location: Pluckley - Screaming Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that the screams which emerge from the woodland belong to those who became lost and died amongst the trees.

Dog Walkers

Location: Pluckley - Station Road, area around Greystones House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Couple unknown, monk reported seen in 1971
Further Comments: Victims of the all-too-common love triangle that ends in suicide, this couple and their little dog can be heard walking and chatting down this area of the road. Greystones itself is reputedly home to a phantom monk.

Flaming Woman

Location: Pluckley - Surrenden House (original house no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1904
Further Comments: Contemporary newspapers reported that a visitor to the house spotted a burning woman holding a baby running along the driveway. The witness fainted, and by the time she had recovered, the figure had vanished. Another entity, possibly later the same day, was said to have tried to strangle another woman in her bed (although the newspaper speculated this event occurred because of the day's excitement).

Invisible Hand

Location: Pluckley - The Black Horse Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s onwards
Further Comments: This non-alcoholic spirit moves items across the bar, tidies, and sometimes hides coats and wallets. The site is also home to disembodied screaming.

Horses & Carriage

Location: Pluckley - The main village street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen trotting down the main street, the history of the carriage pulled by two horses (or four, depending on the source) is unknown.

Taxi Fare

Location: Pluckley - Unnamed road in village
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A taxi driver reported seeing a man on the roadside who flagged the taxi down. The fare climbed into the back of the cab, but when the driver turned around to ask his passenger where he was heading, he found the car empty.

Spitfire

Location: Postling - Postling Wood
Type: Other
Date / Time: 21 June 2012
Further Comments: The story of a ghostly spitfire appearing here was carried in the local press; it was actually Spitfire BM597, owned by the Historic Aircraft Collection, and was operating from Pent Farm Aerodrome on the day in question.

Lord Rokeby

Location: Postling - Stone Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord Rokeby races around the area, minus his head, being drawn by a team of four horses.

Drowned

Location: Queenborough - Mouth of the Themes
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An evil captain, discovered his passengers were carrying treasure, forced them off his ship on to the sandbanks here and left them to drown. The water on the spot was said to be more disturbed than normal, with moaning heard from beneath the sea, and the occasional blue/green light glowing.

Christopher Bloor

Location: Rainham - Lane leading to Bloor Place (no longer standing) and near church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Christopher Bloor had a reputation for being a seducer of women. This proved to be Christopher's undoing - he was decapitated by a posse of local men with wives whom he had slept with. The lane was haunted by the headless Bloor, who reputedly drove his coach pulled by headless horses, and ghostly hoofbeats heard around the church.

Space Man

Location: Rainham - Sky above Medway
Type: UFO
Date / Time: May 2017
Further Comments: Mark Taylor photographed a strange man floating high in the sky. After local press picked up the story it was revealed the sighting occurred on the same day a child had their life-sized stormtrooper balloon swept away by the wind.

Not Rats

Location: Ramsgate - Unnamed semi-detached house on Ramsgate / Broadstairs border
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 1947
Further Comments: Scraping, rapping, and gnawing sounds could be heard in this house, turning into loud bangs and crashes while the occupants were away (neighbours believed someone had entered the house, but they searched and found no one). Initially thought to be evidence of rats, it soon transpired that the rapping followed the family's daughter after they moved.; floorboards were torn up, but no evidence of rodents could be found.

The Reculver Towers, Kent.

Crying

Location: Reculver - The Reculver Towers
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Folklore says that the haunting cries of a baby have been heard many times in this area. During the 1960s, the skeletal remains of young children were recovered close to the site. Nearby Roman ruins and coins dated the human remains to around 270 - 300 AD, and it is thought the infants were sacrificed to appease an unknown deity. Other stories say a phantom cowled figure drifts through the ruins, and a duel takes place on the cliff edge.

Roman Soldiers

Location: Richborough - Richborough Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The fort overlooks the landing site of many a legion, and some of the soldiers have found it hard to leave their duties. Some stories consist of several hundred ghostly soldiers matching into the sea, where they vanish under the waves.

The infamous Blue Bell Hill, Kent.

Vanishing Hitchhiker

Location: Rochester - Blue Bell Hill, near Rochester
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A famous urban legend, though a score of witnesses swear this happened to them. One witness went to the police after believing he had run over a girl - on investigation, nothing was found. Two families have reported, at different times, a terrifying old hag-like figure standing in front of their cars, causing them to stop.