The Paranormal Database

Stagehand

Location: Canterbury - Gulbenkian Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2011
Further Comments: This phantom presence is said to be a stagehand wearing black clothing. While only being seen once, the figure is more likely to be heard climbing ladders.

Thrown Glass

Location: Canterbury - Maidens Head public house (Room 4 in particular)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2019 - 2022
Further Comments: The pub appeared in the local press after it was reported that keys were taken and glasses smashed by an unseen hand in one of the guest rooms. A jukebox reputedly played while disconnected.

The new Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.

Figure in White

Location: Canterbury - Marlowe Theatre (original theatre demolished in 1982)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1967
Further Comments: This ghostly figure could be seen loitering on the right hand side of the stage during a performance. Please note that the image is of the newer Marlow; the one in which the ghost was encountered was demolished in 1982.

Mrs Veal

Location: Canterbury - Private house opposite animal market
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: September 1705
Further Comments: Even though Mrs Veal arrived unexpectedly at the house of her friend Mrs Bargrave, the visitor stayed and chatted for a while before leaving. The following day, Mrs Bargrave discovered at the time of the visitor, Mrs Veal had lay dying twelve miles away.

Sheet Removal

Location: Canterbury - Private residence along Querns Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: The Canterbury Times reported that Dorothy Crawford had lived in her haunted home for thirty years, experiencing shaking furniture and having bed sheets removed at night. Crawford had also observed an old woman dressed in nineteenth century garb in her home.

Woman's Voice

Location: Canterbury - Rowlands Bistro (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1980s / early 1990s
Further Comments: Locking up late one night with only one other person in the building, a member of staff in the office heard a disembodied woman's voice say, 'I'll be there in a minute'. The witness quickly ran downstairs to find the waiter. The waiter himself stood in shock, having encountered a cold shape which had passed through him.

Black Figure

Location: Canterbury - Shop in The Parade
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: A worker in the upper part of the shop heard rustling. When they turned, a black shadowy figure was observed moving towards a kitchen. When the area was investigated, no one was there. The shadow had been spotted a couple of years previous by a cleaner.

Grey Robed Man

Location: Canterbury - Sudbury Tower, Pound Lane, City wall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This solitary figure haunted a bedroom in the tower, reportedly tucking the occupant in at nights! Some believe the figure to be Simon of Sudbury.

Sun Street, Canterbury.

Bloody Water

Location: Canterbury - Sun Street
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A pump that once jutted from a wall was said to give out red water, coloured by the blood of Thomas Becket.

The Old Weaver's House, Canterbury.

Grey Lady

Location: Canterbury - The Old Weaver's House, currently a restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen by a domestic assistant, the lady in grey was observed ascending the staircase.

Tiny Tim's Tearoom, Canterbury.

Three Children

Location: Canterbury - Tiny Tim's Tearoom (restaurant), 34 St Margaret's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Workmen working on restoring the building during the 2000s reported the sounds of children playing on the staircase, strange noises in the attic, and youngsters whispering in a panelled room where they had found the relics from several children.

Black Figure

Location: Canterbury - Undisclosed shop along The Parade
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2011
Further Comments: An employee reported that a customer had seen a black figure walk into and through a wall in the upper part of this shop.

Happy Man

Location: Canterbury - Unnamed church residence along Burgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: A property along this road was haunted by an unhappy man who made himself frequently seen. A skeleton was discovered the area, after which the phantom took on a cheerier disposition.

Dog Walker

Location: Charing - Pett Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man driving home with his mother spotted a man wearing a mackintosh walking his dog along this lane. The car slowed then stopped to let the man and hound cross, but they passed straight through the side of the car, illuminating the inside before vanishing without trace.

Shaking

Location: Chartham - Chartham signal box
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1991, around 23:00h
Further Comments: A young signalman was on the phone to a colleague in the signal box in Wye when the man on the other end of the phone started screaming. The young signalman asked what was wrong and was informed that the box in Wye had just started shaking. At that moment, the young signalman's box also began to shake, likened to someone hitting the building with a sledgehammer every second. The young signalman opened the door ready to face the person hitting the building; the shaking stopped, and no one could be seen. The young signalman continued to work in the box for several years, and while the intensity of the experience was never matched, the shaking would occasionally repeat.

Plainchant

Location: Chartham - Howfield Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a monastery, plainchant has been heard coming from this area. It is also reported that a monk haunts the grounds of the Manor - he died while trying to save his brothers from a fire.

Girl in Old Fashioned Clothing

Location: Chatham - 122 High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: While watching the CCTV camera here, a member of staff watched the girl brushing her hair by a row of dresses, although when the staff member went to serve the girl, she had vanished. The same girl was later seen looking through a window in the upper part of the shop - upon investigation, the room was empty, though it was impossible for a trespasser to leave without passing someone.

An old portrait of Horatio Nelson.

Nelson

Location: Chatham - Dockyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Nelson has reportedly been seen here, though there are few details as to why. A more recent addition to the ghost world is a female supervisor who died here in the 1980's; she prods workers who are not pulling their weight!

Soldier

Location: Chatham - Fort Amherst
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Although the site is reputedly haunted by a former soldier, people on site have also reported a wailing woman and crying children. One witness became frightened after seeing something white in one of the tunnels.

Footsteps

Location: Chatham - Fort Horsted
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s
Further Comments: The tunnels beneath this Victorian fort are claimed to be home to unidentified figures and untraceable footsteps. A photograph taken of a ghostly child's face is likely to be pareidolia.

Woman with Dogs

Location: Chatham - Great Lines (grassland / park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young woman who was murdered in the eighteenth century walks the lines together with her two dogs.

Edgeborrow

Location: Chatham - Hill House (demolished late eighteenth century, site was north of Chatham Church, now Medway Council Offices)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa mid seventeenth century
Further Comments: Kenrick Edisbury, nicknamed Edgeborrow, was Surveyor of the Navy between December 1632 and September 1638. After Edgeborrow died, he was said to haunt his former bedroom. Samuel Pepys spent a night in this room but did not see the ghost (although he was briefly unnerved by a pillow).

Marine

Location: Chatham - Old Royal Marine Barracks, former guardroom section, Dock Road (building since demolished)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Even after the Royal Marines vacated their former barracks in 1950, one of their number remained. A marine who had committed suicide refused to leave and was spotted by Naval personnel who took up residence in the building.

Wooden Leg

Location: Chatham - St Mary's Barracks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1949
Further Comments: The sound of someone walking around with a peg leg has been heard late at night, and reportedly seen in Room 34 of the Cumberland block.

Humphrey

Location: Chatham - Theatre Royal (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghostly Humphrey would sit and watch shows in the mid-twentieth century - if he liked the performance he would stay, otherwise he would walk out. Humphrey would also lower seating just before someone sat down. Other shades remain in the building - a woman in a long evening dress has been seen and possibly heard, and mild poltergeist activity reported.