The Paranormal Database

Priest

Location: Sissinghurst - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The garden area is said to be home for a peaceful monk, killed by Sir John Baker who built the castle. His footsteps have been heard walking alongside visitors to the gardens. A phantasm has also been reported on a staircase in the castle, though it is unclear whether it is the same entity.

ID #1279, last updated 2002-06-17

Crossers

Location: Sittingbourne - Railway Level Crossing (no longer part of the railway)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1893
Further Comments: The crossing here had a spooky reputation after a train driver spotted a white figure run across the line in the early hours of the morning. The driver thought that the figure had been hit by his train, but when the area was searched, nothing could be found. At least one person had died on the crossing and a footbridge erected as a result.

ID #13724, last updated 2020-05-02

Small French Man

Location: Smarden - The Chequers Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late Spring (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The ghost of a French POW from the Napoleonic war is said to move small items around the premises and upset pets in the building.

ID #1097, last updated 2002-06-06

Green Lady

Location: Southborough - Common
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Roaming the common on New Year's Eve, nothing more is known about this woman.

ID #15078, last updated 2023-10-01

Short Woman

Location: Southfleet - Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Believed to be either a nurse or a nun, this spectre wears a brown outfit and carries an armful of paper.

ID #1244, last updated 2002-06-16

Jack

Location: St Margaret's at Cliffe - Unidentified fields in the area
Type: Other
Date / Time: November 1904
Further Comments: A group of men looking for a ghost which had taken up haunting the area claimed something like 'Spring Heeled Jack' escaped them by running into the mist. Several other ghosthunters mistook a nurse walking home for the ghost, while another team startled a horse and trap which narrowly avoided injuring the driver.

ID #13776, last updated 2026-01-31

Long Sea Beast

Location: St Margaret's Bay - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1912
Further Comments: This sea serpent was observed moving swiftly through the water, vanishing from view after a sailing boat moved too close to it.

ID #4372, last updated 2003-06-28

Moaning

Location: Staplehurst - The Kings Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: After a headstone in the garden was removed, phantom noises came from the bar area once it was devoid of human life, and the guest room. The latter area is supposed to terrify animals.

ID #1285, last updated 2002-06-17

Python?

Location: Strood - Carnation Road area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: There were reports of a large snake, presumed to be a python, observed in people's gardens along this road and the nearby wooded area. One witness observed the creature swimming in her pond.

ID #15657, last updated 2024-10-12

Kentish Longtails

Location: Strood - General area
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 24 December 1190 onwards
Further Comments: One legend says that Thomas Becket was riding through the land when a member of the de Broc family cut off his horse's tail. This must have mightily upset the archbishop, as Becket cursed the population of Strood to be born with tails.

ID #8779, last updated 2008-08-25

Black Cat

Location: Strood - General area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: One witness observed a large black cat in an alleyway eating something, while a teenage girl camping in a garden peered out after hearing a noise and spotted green eyes looking at her. One theory is that the creature lived in woodland near Higham.

ID #15656, last updated 2024-10-12

Older Lady

Location: Strood - Temple Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Built in the thirteenth century and occupied by the Knights Templars, this building was said to be haunted by an older lady. Local folklore also says that there is a secret tunnel that connects the site to Rochester Castle on the other side of the river.

ID #15663, last updated 2024-10-13

Smart Man

Location: Strood - Three Crutches Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in fine clothing, this phantom gentleman is said to walk through a wall in the dining room. Another ghostly figure has been observed sitting at an upper floor window.

ID #9033, last updated 2008-10-14

Cursed Widow

Location: Sundridge - Combe Bank - Parkland
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cursed by her husband prior to his execution (the woman's testimony placed him there, enabling her to run off with another man), Lord Ferrer's widow died in a fire so intense only part of her thumb was recovered. Her spirit is said to be looking for the rest of the body.

ID #1267, last updated 2002-06-16

Drummer

Location: Sutton Valence - Sutton Valence Boarding School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The local press reported a phantom drummer boy would stand on the lawn, having been seen several times over a three hundred year period. A lady in white also haunted the site, as did a former master and his dog.

ID #16463, last updated 2026-04-03

Gamekeeper

Location: Swanley - Field in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: This area is reputedly haunted by a gamekeeper wearing a long brown coat and tricorn hat, killed after accidently stepping on a mantrap that he had set to catch poachers.

ID #11817, last updated 2015-05-17

Mother

Location: Swanley - Private residence, Rowan Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: April 2015
Further Comments: Local news carried the story of a woman who claimed that the ghost of her mother could be seen peering out of a window in her former property on Google Earth, although the image is more likely to be pareidolia.

ID #11818, last updated 2015-05-17

Sky Ship

Location: Swanscombe - Church and nearby Blue Anchor public house
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1211
Further Comments: A group here for Sunday service watched a strange ship drop anchor from the heavens, which became entangled around a gravestone. One of the crew jumped overboard and headed towards the anchor, moving as if swimming. Witnesses grabbed the stranger as he reached the ground; he struggled briefly before drowning, even though on dry land. The remaining crew in the ship severed the rope of the anchor and sailed away; the strange artefact was melted down and used to make the hinges on the local church doors.

ID #1824, last updated 2002-07-18

Young Man

Location: Tenterden - A28, near Silver Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1997
Further Comments: A woman driving along the road watched in disbelieve as a semi-transparent man dressed in black stepped out in front of her car. She hit the figure and stopped immediately, but was unable to find the man, and her car remained undamaged.

ID #5296, last updated 2004-08-13

Officer

Location: Thanet - Former Ambulance Station, now Westwood Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: A cold wind felt in the former ambulance station, even in the height of summer, was attributed to a phantom officer. Some believe that even though the building has been replaced by a shopping centre, the ghost remains.

ID #9014, last updated 2008-10-05

Gardener Watching the Goldfish

Location: Thanet - Thanet House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This dedicated gardener has been watched several times standing on a stone bridge, watching the fish in the pool.

ID #1291, last updated 2002-06-17

Tall Man

Location: Thurnham - Thurnham Castle
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 17 June 2003
Further Comments: A small group of people standing around a fire watched a seven foot tall man dressed in a green and blue tunic run past, waving his arms wildly. Though only visible for a couple of seconds, one of the witnesses reported that while the figure had no face, he did possess smartly cut short hair.

ID #4405, last updated 2003-07-09

Woman in Black Dress

Location: Timberden Bottom - Private house, exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1968 onwards
Further Comments: While the ghostly figure of the woman has been seen several times, a phantom clown has appeared twice, hanging in the air where, if the legends are to be believed, he hanged himself in the 1600's.

ID #1292, last updated 2002-06-17

Orange Lights

Location: Tonbridge - Barden Lake
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 01 September 2007, 21:00h
Further Comments: A group of ten orange lights flying in a straight line were spotted by fishermen, a few forming triangular shapes. Changing position slightly, the witnesses could see around twenty more lights flying low behind the tree line, all moving in the same direction.

ID #7961, last updated 2007-09-18

Brick Tosser

Location: Tonbridge - Bradley House (demolished), outskirts of town?
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late 1959
Further Comments: Men working on the demolition of the property had bricks thrown at them by unseen hands, resulting in hospitalisations. Workers also reported being attacked by a thrown door and covered in water after a pipe was wrenched from a wall. Accompanying the events were periodic sightings of a phantom young man with blonde hair, a photograph of whom would later be discovered under floorboards.

ID #16415, last updated 2026-03-07