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Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana of Greater London

Uneasy Sound

Location: Outer London: Enfield - Unidentified house on the edge of Enfield Chase
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1873
Further Comments: This site was haunted by a sound which only one person at a time would hear. The noise would follow the person around for a while before ceasing and disappearing for weeks or months at a time before manifesting again.

Hooded Figures

Location: Outer London: Feltham - Disused building along Elmwood Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Various days, 2007, around 06:45h
Further Comments: Moving at a fast pace, two hooded figures resembling monks were seen walking through a closed door of a disused building. The witness approached the door and realised it had not been opened for quite a while, as the grass that had grown around the base of the doorframe had not been disturbed.

Church Goer

Location: Outer London: Greenford - Greenford Methodist Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A mysterious figure was seen several times sitting in the pews, vanishing if approached. Strange laughter was also reported in the church. The entity appears to have vacated the premises after an exorcism.

Pacing

Location: Outer London: Greenford - Greenford Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Footsteps 1960s onwards, figure spotted summer 1984
Further Comments: Heard from time to time walking along the upper floor, these phantom footsteps start at midnight and continue until dawn. One night duty station officer reported seeing a figure in an old fashioned police uniform sitting in the tearoom. When the sighting was mentioned the following morning, the witness was told the ghost was probably that of an inspector who hanged himself upstairs in the 1930s.

White Lady

Location: Outer London: Greenford - River Brent, Coston's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: It is said that the white lady died with her husband in the 1890s when their horse and trap slipped into the swollen river during bad weather. They were swept away; the lady was found a half mile downstream and her husband and his horse were recovered from under the old wooden bridge. It is believed she continues to look for her husband.

Footsteps

Location: Outer London: Greenford - Royal British Legion Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Footsteps have been heard to cross the wooden dance floor when nobody present, breezes have been felt as they brush past and items have been moved whilst nobody in the Club.

Working Children

Location: Outer London: Hanwell - Hanwell Community Centre (previously the Old London Work House School)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom sounds of youngsters laughing and crying can be heard from time to time, but only by other children.

Cavalier

Location: Outer London: Harefield, Hillingdon - Fisheries Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This swordsman has been seen walking around this public house, disturbing any pets that pass in his way. A ghostly monk is also reported to reside in one of the bedrooms here.

Young Woman

Location: Outer London: Harefield, Hillingdon - Private house off Church Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 2006
Further Comments: A witness spotted a faint, translucent young woman, between 20-24 years old, stood by the front of a bed. The blonde haired ghost appeared to be wearing a pleated lilac skirt and a pink tank top, and held a pink handbag and a lipstick. The woman turned and looked at the witness before disappearing.

Woman and Child

Location: Outer London: Harrow - Headstone Manor (Harrow Museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several entities are reported to haunt this building once owned by Henry VIII. These include visual manifestations of a phantom woman with a child, a man wearing coarsely woven fabric clothing, and of a light floating up the staircase, while the sounds of a baby crying, and plainchant, have also been reported.

Giant Shadow

Location: Outer London: Havering - Frank's Wood, now known as 'the brickfields', near Moor Lane, Cranham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: A black shadowy figure, standing two and a half metres tall with no discernible features, gave chase to a group of friends as they left the wood.

Monk with No Legs

Location: Outer London: Havering - St Mary's Lane, Cranham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (Reoccurring) - last reported 1970s
Further Comments: This phantom monk is said to float silently across the road.

Tall Man

Location: Outer London: Hayes, Hillingdon - Cherry Tree Cemetery
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A tall man with no eyes was seen briefly by a witness tending a grave. By the time the witness stood up, the tall man had vanished.

Heavy Breathing

Location: Outer London: Heathrow Airport - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This ghost was heard several times, breathing heavily around female members of staff, but never being seen. A second entity wears a bowler hat and has been known to ask about the whereabouts of his briefcase - both case and man were in an aircraft that crashed in the late 1940s, killing all on board. A phantom Dick Turpin rides a brown horse across the runways (or cargo sheds), while cleaning staff during the 1970s reported a presence which held them down, applying pressure around their throats. Finally, prior to the airport being built, a phantom Saxon prince reputedly haunted the area close to a pond where he drowned.

Shark Attack

Location: Outer London: Heathrow Airport - Unnamed reservoir south-east of Heathrow Airport
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 16 August 1997
Further Comments: A woman swimming in this reservoir was attacked by a creature under the water that grabbed and held her foot with its mouth. She managed to kick the creature off, and when the bite marks were examined by marine biologist, she was told the creature must have been a shark.

Water Spirit

Location: Outer London: Hounslow - Bell Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This destructive entity, named as a highwayman hanged just across the road, is blamed for turning on taps and smashing barrels of beer.


An old woodcut of Hounslow Heath.

Dick

Location: Outer London: Hounslow - Hounslow Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The highwayman Dick Turpin, who is just as busy in death as he was in life, is reported to haunt this area of urban heathland.

Highwayman

Location: Outer London: Hounslow - Hussars public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure, complete with dark clothing and cape, has been observed loitering around the cellar doors.

Pound Pincher

Location: Outer London: Hounslow - Private residence, Catherine Gardens
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: March - July 1956
Further Comments: The Hankins, a married couple, asked their vicar for an exorcism after one-pound notes vanished without trace, no matter where they hid the money. Footsteps were also heard, objects moved, and food would be scattered around the kitchen. The activity ceased after a psychic visited the site and the family used 'anti-poltergeist' chants whenever they spotted a strange shadow.

Invisible Mare

Location: Outer London: Lower Bedington - Orchard House (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: Heard but never seen, a horse would gallop up to the gates of the house before stopping.

Dark Figure

Location: Outer London: Mitcham - Private residence along Morden Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1988-1998
Further Comments: A former resident stated that he and other previous owners of the property had spotted a dark shadowy figure in the hallway and on the landing. The figure appeared to be wearing a cloak.

Large Black Cat

Location: Outer London: Northolt - Central Line Railway between Northolt & Greenford
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 1995 onwards?
Further Comments: It was claimed that this ABC used the local rail tracks to move around without attracting too much attention.

Lost Pilot

Location: Outer London: Northolt - RAF Northolt
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003 / 2004 (seat / presence), others unknown
Further Comments: Seen walking along the east/west runway of this former fighter base, a ghostly figure wears a pilot's uniform dating back to the Second World War. The residence of the station commander is also reputedly haunted, with one occupant hearing someone sitting on a creaky seat throughout the night and feeling its presence (although it was described as non-malevolent). One story says the Officers' Mess is home to a couple of ghosts, while on a road outside the base, a phantom Polish pilot from Second World War asks for directions - the man died when his aircraft crashed a short distance away.

Churchill

Location: Outer London: Queensway - Queensway Station, Central Line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Witnessed waiting on the platform, Sir Winston Churchill once lived quite close to the station.

Kate Webster

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Barnes Railway Bridge (original, which was replaced in 1895)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1879
Further Comments: The ghost of murderer Kate Webster was said to appear on this bridge and could be seen dropping the remains of her victim, Julia Martha Thomas, into the river below. The main problem with this ghost story is that Webster threw pieces of her victim into the river from Richmond Bridge...

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