The Paranormal Database

Dark Figure

Location: Outer London: Bromley - Orpington Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 22 February 2015
Further Comments: A drone operator caught a figure in black standing within the priory grounds, although there is little to suggest that the figure is not 'real'.

Charlotte

Location: Outer London: Bromley - Queensway Village Bakery (aka Plaxtol Village Bakery), Petts Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2013
Further Comments: This bakery hit the headlines after it was reported to be haunted by an entity named Charlotte. She was said to be harmless, although she was blamed for throwing baking trays and bread, flicking lights on and spelling the first three letters of her name in spilt caster sugar.

Sea Captain

Location: Outer London: Bromley - United Services Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: An old sea captain reputedly haunts this site, possibly from the building's time as a post First World War military hospital.

Unknown Male

Location: Outer London: Bromley - Viola, Crescent Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The spectral image of a man was seen several times in a bedroom in his house.

Royal Messenger

Location: Outer London: Carshalton - Convent of the Daughters of the Cross, Pound Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by a fall down the stairs (he was pushed after delivering bad news), this former courier now haunts the steps on which he died. Two more ghosts haunt the long galley; a butler murdered a housemaid in the area, and their earthbound souls have been watched re-enacting the scene.

Man's Voice

Location: Outer London: Carshalton - Poulters Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 11 September 2011
Further Comments: It was reported that while crossing the park at night using phones as torches, two witnesses also recorded the voice of an unhappy man saying 'vanity' and 'get out', amongst other short statements.

Young Woman

Location: Outer London: Carshalton - Rose Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The building is reportedly haunted by a woman who stands by the fireplace.

Blurred Figure

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Addiscombe railway yard - sheds (station demolished in 2001)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 11 April 2006
Further Comments: While the buildings stood, one worker witnessed a grey figure walking from the sheds, the apparition's face blurred and distorted. The sounds of machinery being moved at night were also reported, though the buildings were locked. The grey figure has been seen since the demolition, viewed from the fence along Capri Road.

A phantom German pilot in Surrey.

Pilot

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Area around New Addington, and Queen Elizabeth's Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a German pilot shot down over the area during the Second World War is said to remain in the neighbourhood. One story says that a man looking for his lost wallet along Queen Elizabeth's Drive had the object handed back to him by the pilot, who appeared quite solid.

Boy in an Orange Jumper

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Council House on New Addington estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A garden attached to a house once owned by a convicted paedophile was dug up after police were tipped off that the bodies of two children were buried there. Though nothing was discovered, another family which once lived there reported they moved out after their daughter saw a ghostly boy in an orange jumper and a girl who would stand at the bottom of the garden.

Highwayman

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Farthing Down
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2017
Further Comments: A highwayman was spotted on the downs at dusk.

John Carver

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Former cafe in Brighton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 26 May (reoccurring), last encountered 1940s?
Further Comments: John Carver was found not guilty of the murder of his wife, though most of the community believed he was guilty. After leaving court, Carver found himself hounded by a crowd who wanted him dead. Eventually Carver moved far away to escape. Sixty years after the crime, the owner of a cafe reported seeing the ghost of a tall man in grey, minus head and legs, climb the staircase and hover on the landing. In addition, on each 26 May (the date of the wife's death), the breaking of glass could be heard. The cafe was thought to be one of the locations Carver tried to hide before leaving the area.

Pilots

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Forte Posthouse, Purley Way
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: post-1945
Further Comments: It was said a chambermaid working at this hotel quit after spotting a phantom RAF pilot. A guest also reported seeing a group of pilots sitting and singing around a fireplace in the restaurant.

Walking Mother

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Old Croydon Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once an orphanage, it is thought the ghost of a woman who walks the corridors is a mother searching for her lost child. It is unclear whether the same entity is to blame for the wailing and screaming also reported onsite.

Archbishop Sheldon

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Parish Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The grey figure which haunts this church has been variously named as either Archbishop Sheldon or a grey nun. One story says the ghost's visitations ceased once Sheldon's tomb was repaired. A wailing Elizabeth Finch is also said to frequent the site.

George

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Purley Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: George, killed in 1830 by a rogue beer barrel, was 'released' in 1992 by spiritualists. George was said to have been responsible when the beer pumps failed to work.

Fifty Pence

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Purley Way
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1970s, 07:30h
Further Comments: A witness walking to the nearby college suddenly realised there was no traffic on the roads. Something made him look up only to see a large fifty pence (heptagon) shaped craft hovering silently in the sky. It had a red underbelly, bright silver sides and moved from left to right. The witness looked down briefly, during which time the craft started to move away at incredible speed. The witness chased it across the road (traffic had appeared again) but it had disappeared. The witness later found out that he had lost an hour of time.

Preacher

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Sandrock public house, Upper Shirley Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This public house is said to be haunted by an old man with a long beard, dressed as a preacher. He has reputedly been seen by former staff.

Grey Lady

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Selsdon Park Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: Carrying a candle whilst walking down the Tudor Corridor, this spook is thought to be that of a maid who killed herself during the 1930s. One guest caught the reflection of the entity in a mirror as he sat in the bath.

Droning

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Teevan Road area, Addiscombe
Type: Other
Date / Time: May-July 1958
Further Comments: The source of a throbbing, droning noise which could be heard at night remained unknown. Witnesses said it sounded like an aircraft circling above, although the aircraft theory was dismissed (alongside hornets and a secret broadcasting station in someone's cellar).

Woman in Lace

Location: Outer London: Croydon - The King's Cellars public house, 48 Park Street (no longer a public house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The ghost of a young woman has appeared several times at the King's Cellars. Glowing blue, she scared the staff when she spoke the words 'help me'. The pub is said to have been built over an old fire station where a gruesome murder was carried out, and the ghost of a former fireman also haunts the site.

Elizabethan Handmaiden

Location: Outer London: Croydon - The Old Palace (currently a school)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost is said to date back at least two hundred years and is followed by an aura of sadness whenever seen or felt.

Moving Bottles

Location: Outer London: Croydon - Wheatsheaf public house, Thornton Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s?
Further Comments: One landlady reported bottles which relocated themselves in the bar area and a permanently cold boiler room. A local legend says that the ghost is that of an old landlord's daughter murdered on the site.

The Ghosts' Promenade

Location: Outer London: East Barnet - Church Hill Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: So many phantom encounters along this road led to a Justice of the Peace to name it 'The Ghosts' Promenade'. The ghosts were said to include headless humans and dogs, and phantoms in the trees.

Grey Lady

Location: Outer London: East Barnet - Grange
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Up until at least the early twentieth century, locals believed the area to be haunted by a grey lady.