The Paranormal Database

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.

Bells

Location: Chatham - Pilgrims' Way, close to where 'Black Cottage' once stood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Sunset and sunrise
Further Comments: The soft tinkling heard twice a day was thought to belong to ghostly bells which once hung from the Pilgrims' horse tack.

Woman in Red

Location: Chatham - Register office, Maidstone Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: One cleaner witnessed a woman in red descend the staircase and pass through the wall, while another had spotted a man in a black cloak. Registrar Barry Sims told the local press that he had heard strange footsteps 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.

Taps and Footsteps

Location: Chatham - Two houses along Magpie Hall Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: A nasty suicide occurred in one of the buildings, and now it would appear the ghost has involved his former neighbouring house in the haunting. Loud taps are heard, stopping abruptly upon investigation, and footsteps approach closed doors, never to enter.

Upper Bell Inn, Chatham.

Turpin

Location: Chatham - Upper Bell Inn (no longer standing)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This public house was said to be haunted, possibly by the ghost of Dick Turpin, although there is a distinct lack of accounts of any sightings. A headstone which stood in the beer garden most likely added to its spooky atmosphere, as did its location, close to Blue Bell Hill and its infamous vanishing hitchhiker (but more on her another day). One paranormal group claimed to have photographed 'orbs' on this site.

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.

One-eyed Figure

Location: Chatham - Common Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A posse of men searching for a one-eyed, flying ghost that had taken to haunting the area encountered the entity and disabled it using a pole. The phantom was unmasked as a person wearing a sheet, smoking a cigar, and riding a tricycle. After a 'good hiding', the ghost never returned.

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.

Sounds

Location: Chatham - Fort Pitt / Medway College of Design
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards?
Further Comments: The college was partly constructed on top of the fort, with strange sounds emerging from the basement, close to the fort's tunnel system.

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).

Two Figures

Location: Chatham - Mill Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to occur at midnight
Further Comments: A pair of white ghostly figures were said to manifest at midnight along the lane. Two locals once dressed up as the ghosts and scared a servant walking along the lane - her hair apparently turned from black to white within 24 hours.

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.

Ann

Location: Chiddingstone - Chiddingstone Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This female ghost is rumoured to ride her horse along the lanes that lead to the castle, recognisable by her tricorne hat.

Medieval Girl

Location: Chilham - Chilham Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The bar, built into the castle for the enjoyment of tourists, is rumoured to be haunted by an unknown girl who has scared staff. There is an old story that she was bricked up alive by a previous owner of the castle, for reasons unknown.

Barrow Dog

Location: Chilham - Pilgrim's Way, opposite the Woolpack Inn
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: January 1947
Further Comments: A witness watched this large black creature bounding towards the barrow, where it promptly disappeared.

Man in Black Gown

Location: Chilham - The White Horse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 10:10h, reoccurring, started 1956, end date unknown
Further Comments: The haunting started soon after the discovery of a small secret hole in an old fireplace. The figure disappeared only when spoken to, and is rumoured to be Sampson Hievar, a former vicar from the nearby church.

Grey Lady

Location: Chilham - Wool Pack Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This place is allegedly haunted by a phantom grey woman.

Footsteps

Location: Cliffe - Black Bull public house, Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footsteps can be heard in the upstairs part of the building, and locked doors have been known to open themselves.

Glowing Figure

Location: Cliffsend - Site of old gibbet
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The burial site of crooks and suicides, a glowing figure appears here and was blamed for a handful of weird car accidents near the site.