The Paranormal Database

Strange Animals

Location: Rochester - Blue Bell Hill, near Rochester
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 another one) had been seen there in the past, as has a large hairy beast, thought by the witness to be a gorilla.

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.

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.

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.

Smiling Old Man

Location: Rochester - The George, High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cellar was once a crypt of a church and it is here that this small man has been observed.

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.

Coffee Shop

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Calverley Road
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 18 June 1968
Further Comments: A woman in a supermarket spotted an old fashioned coffee shop frequented by several smartly dressed people, through a doorway in the shop. A little while later she returned to the site with her husband but was unable to find the coffee shop. After a little research, they discovered a bar had existed on the site many years previous.

Carpenter

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Chalet Arosa restaurant (currently Springs)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980
Further Comments: Twice, a figure wearing a carpenter's apron has been observed on the site. During the second sighting, the figure vanished into a wall.

An old postcard of Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Mary Jenning

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Common land opposite The Pantiles
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1959 (Mary)
Further Comments: Mary Jenning, a rather large drunken woman, is said to haunt this area, and was observed by two women sheltering under a tree from a sudden downpour. In addition, a phantom female voice can be heard calling out the name 'Daniel'; the woman is never seen but is thought to be a lady who fell to her death from the nearby Wellington Rocks. Finally, a horseman dressed in mauve on the back of a black horse also travels the area.

Grey Woman

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Swan Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 October 1997, and mid nineteenth century
Further Comments: A phantom woman in grey was spotted at this hotel during the 1990s. An older story says that the site is haunted by a girl would calls out the name 'John'. It is not clear whether they are the same entity.

Kentish Apeman

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - Tunbridge Wells Common
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1940s onwards, last seen October 2012
Further Comments: A two and a half metre tall hairy hominid with glowing red eyes has periodically been reported in this area since the Second World War.

Woman in Black

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells - York Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Standing by the front gate of the cottage, this ghostly woman appears to be happy.

Man in Grey

Location: Rusthall - Broomhill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1960s
Further Comments: A phantom man in a grey suit is said to stand by the roadside, his presence denoting the location where a cottage once stood. One driver stopped their car after believing they had hit the figure.

Headless Rider

Location: Rusthall - Hurst Woods, path from Broomhill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: While walking along this footpath, a man heard a horse galloping behind him. Turning, he was quite surprised to see a headless horseman dressed in Cromwellian battledress - needless to say, he fled the area.

Dog

Location: Rusthall - Red Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub is said to be home to a scruffy phantom hound. The entity sometimes 'sleeps' on the bar floor.

Daisy & Will

Location: Saltwood - Brockhill Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This dog and her owner are reported to still take walks over the park, though it has been a good few years since they shuffled off their mortal coils.

Cowled Figure

Location: Saltwood - Brockhill School area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost sees fit to step in front of oncoming cars, vanishing just before impact. A woman in grey has also been seen here, and it could be the same entity interpreted differently by witnesses.