The Paranormal Database

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.

The two figures dropped a body in the river.

Body Movers

Location: SE1 - Unnamed inn, West Street, close to Fleet River (entire area redeveloped, no trace of inn remains)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A clergyman heard screams coming from the inn and watched two people emerge from the site carrying a headless body, and head towards the nearby river. After throwing the corpse into the water, the people vanished. The same spot of the river was also said to be haunted by a woman with a slit throat.

Key Carrier

Location: SE10 - Catherine House, Blackheath Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in dark brown clothing, this phantom woman clasping a set of keys moves down the staircase and vanishes when she reaches the former butler's pantry.

Seaman in Crow's Nest

Location: SE10 - Cutty Sark
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Anchored along the Thames in Greenwich, the Cutty Sark is rumoured to have a ghostly figure that still maintains watch from atop the mast.

Bodiless Hand

Location: SE10 - Greenwich Palace (currently Royal Naval property), & the Queen's House - Tulip Staircase
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: The phantom hand photographed on the Tulip Staircase is one of the most frequent images to crop up in books about ghosts and hauntings, though recently the effect has been duplicated with a long exposure time. The other ghost in the former palace resembles Queen Elizabeth, complete with period costume and red hair. The Queen Anne block is haunted by Admiral Byng, executed for treason in the 1700s.

Pall Bearing Women

Location: SE10 - Greenwich Park, Crooms Hill Gate
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1934 (red headed women), 1898 (human-like entity)
Further Comments: A female witness watched a group of red haired women carrying a coffin in the area; the entities legs ended at the kneecaps, and they totally vanished when they reached the gate. Another entity that materialised by the side of a man in the park was described as short and ugly, and not quite human - needless to say, the witness to this one quickly moved away. More recently, a worker at the observatory left the building after the park had been locked up. While heading towards the locked gates, the worker passed an older woman who smiled as they passed each other. The worker then realised that the park was closed; turning to tell the woman she should not be on the site, the worker found she had vanished. Finally, Elliott O'Donnell stated this park is full of phantom birds.

Elderly Man Wearing a Grey Cap

Location: SE10 - Odeon cinema, Trafalgar Road (was formerly the Trafalgar), no longer standing
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: A man wearing a cap and jacket who had died in a seat in the stalls took to frequently appearing after the final evening screening, but only to new cinema employees.

Sir George Livesey

Location: SE10 - Site of Millennium Dome
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Once standing proud and erect on the land, the South Metropolitan Gas Works Company was haunted by the ghost of a former chairman. Some reports say that workers on the dome project witnessed the ghost on the site while building work was taking place.

Black Mastiff

Location: SE10 - Spanish Galleon public house, Greenwich
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pub is reputed to be the home of a phantom black mastiff hound.

Tom Potter

Location: SE10 - St Mary's Lodge, Croom's Hill
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 08 September 1866
Further Comments: Tom Potter knocked on the door of the lodge looking for his mother, who had worked there as a maid a few months previous. When the new housemaid informed Tom she did not know his mother, Tom walked away. The mistress of the house was curious about the event, and soon discovered that at the time Tom had died in Jamaica two days prior to the encounter.

Lord John Angerstein

Location: SE10 - Trafalgar Road to Vanbrugh Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord John's coach, pulled by four headless horses and driven by the lord himself, is said to leave Trafalgar Road and return to his former home on Vanbrugh Road.

Victorian Gentleman

Location: SE10 - Trafalgar Tavern, Trafalgar Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: Seen walking in the upper part of the building, this ghost is also blamed when items are moved in the cellar.

Robert Francis Bailey

Location: SE11 - 49 Auckland Street, Lambeth
Type: SHC
Date / Time: September 1967
Further Comments: This homeless man's burning body was found in an empty building, blue flame still coming from his charred body. It was though Robert was still alive when he combusted, as his teeth were dug deep into a wooden stair banister pole.

Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London.

The Insane

Location: SE11 - Imperial War Museum, Lambeth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Second World War onwards
Further Comments: The site of the second Bethlem Royal Hospital, the site was used by the Woman's Auxiliary Air Force during the Second World War. Staff based there reported hearing ranting and screaming at night, and the sound of chains being rattled. Some believed it was the ghost of Rebecca Griffiths, who moved with the hospital when it relocated from its original location. More recently, a security guard reported hearing shouting and screaming on the site.

Slamming Doors

Location: SE11 - Kennington Loop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s onwards
Further Comments: All passengers disembark at Kennington and the carriages are checked just prior to trains turning in the loop. However, as the train drivers sit waiting in the dark loop tunnel, at least two have reported hearing the connecting carriage doors open and close as if someone is moving from the rear of the train towards the driving compartment.

Crying

Location: SE11 - Side street by Kennington underground station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984, around 03:00h
Further Comments: Two employees at the station, while smoking outside and sitting on a wall, heard a woman sobbing no further than three or four yards (2.7 - 3.6 metres) away, although no one was visible. As the crying moved away, one of the workers followed the sound, which travelled down the road and into a side street behind the station, where it ceased.

Murdered Maid

Location: SE12 - Former Gatekeeper's Lodge (no longer standing, and a cottage is on the site), Brandram Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Working for Lady Dacre when she was killed, the maid came back, and has even been seen in the new building that has replaced the old.

Robert Smith

Location: SE12 - Pentland Manor House, Old Road, Lee
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seaman Smith was killed in action during the Napoleonic Wars, and now returns to scare students based at the building.

Small Flame

Location: SE13 - 122 Conington Road, Shepherd's Bush
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A witness here said she watched a small flame, the size of a candle's, flicker around her bed.

Kangaroo

Location: SE13 - Beckenham Place Park, Lewisham
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: Footprints resembling those of a kangaroo were reported in the park, while another witness reported the creature had kicked her dog. No sightings of the roo have been reported since.

Dylan Thomas

Location: SE13 - Bush Theatre (Shepherd's Bush Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A former BBC worker, Thomas enjoyed drinking and socialising at this site.

Cries of the Trapped

Location: SE13 - Lewisham Station, & St Johns area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A crash in 1957, caused partly by fog, killed ninety people and injured over one hundred. It is their cries which can be heard on the anniversary on the accident. Another version of the story says the phantom screams date to the Second World War.

Nun

Location: SE13 - Outside St Swithun's Church, Hither Green Lane, Lewisham
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A witness briefly observed the bottom of a nun's habit, moving as if swirling and floating around in the garden. The witness stated that when seen, the surrounding area appeared 'unreal' for a few seconds.

Hunched Figure

Location: SE13 - Private flat close to Network Rail Freight Depot, Hither Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 16 November 2024, 02:00h
Further Comments: A guest staying at the flat awoke several times during the night due to the noise from the nearby depot. Waking at 02:00h, the guest could see the dark silhouette of a hunched man walking slowly past their bed. The figure seemed to be holding an old fashioned railway lantern. The guest quickly turned on the light, but the figure had gone.

Bed Sharing

Location: SE13 - Private house along Georges (or George) Lane, Lewisham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: The guest bedroom of the Smithies family was haunted by an entity which would kiss female visitors on the cheek. One woman ran screaming from the room when she felt something clasp her hand. Men who stayed in the room would complain of icy coldness, no matter how many blankets they piled onto the bed.