Have you ever felt the sensation that you were being watched even though you knew you were alone? Jumped at a sudden unexplained bump in the night or caught the glimpse of something out the corner of your eye only to turn and see nothing there?

In the majority of cases, all of these eerie phenomena can be explained by any number of logical justifications. However, if you take a visit to one particular Kent village, you may be a little more justified in your fear should you encounter something resembling the paranormal.

Pluckley is found just outside of Ashford and is widely regarded as the ‘most haunted’ village in all of Britain. Thanks to the spooky reputation and hair-raising tales that surround the village, Pluckley has even been featured in the Guinness Book of Records and it is said the area is home to 12 ‘official’ ghosts.

Recently, Kent has been dubbed the “scariest region” in all of Britain, due in no small part to its abundance of ghost stories such as the many which surround Pluckley. With the spookiest holiday of them all, Halloween, nearly upon us once again, now is a perfect opportunity to look at the legends that have earned Pluckley its grave claim to fame.

You’ll find hair-raising tales all over the village, from the spectral highwayman at Fright Corner to numerous spirits said to linger in the winding woods. Meanwhile, the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church is believed to be visited by the spirit of The Red Lady, alongside several other alleged ghosts.

Being such an apparent hotspot for the paranormal, it should come as no surprise that the village has seen its fair share of ghost hunters pass through – though Scooby and the gang are yet to pay a visit. Pluckley has leant its scenery and legends to numerous TV shows including Most Haunted and Ghostly Legends.

However, it’s not just the spooky spectres that make Pluckley recognisable, as the village was also the shooting location for ITV’s The Darling Buds of May series in the early 90s, which starred Kent’s own Pam Ferris. The village is home to a well-regarded boozer as well which has its own ghostly claim.

The Black Horse is a 15th century destination pub and prides itself on being one of the ‘the UK’s most haunted’. So, dim the lights, grab some snacks and get comfortable, here are all of the ghostly stories that surround Pluckley, as reported by The Mirror – be warned, you may want to sleep with a lamp on after reading some of these!

Hauntings of the highwayman

Kicking off the list of Pluckley’s most well-known hauntings is the spirit of the very aptly named Fright Corner. The tale goes that a highwayman was killed here in the 18th century and it’s claimed he got into a fight with those in charge of keeping the peace in the village.

The highwayman was pinned to a tree with a sword and it said their fight is re-enacted. Unfortunately for the ghostly highwayman, the clash always ends the same way.

If you go down to the woods today…

Though it may look like the perfect place for a relaxing autumn stroll, the tales that come from Dicky Buss’s Lane are sure to make you reconsider. With its name deriving from a miller, there have been apparent sightings of the corpse of a teacher who hanged himself.

It is said that he took his life after World War One. His body was then found by Dicky, the miller from whom the lane gets its name.

Screams in the dark

There can be few deaths as horrific as being crushed to death by a wall of clay, but for one unlucky brick worker in Pluckley that’s how he met his gruesome end. People claim to be able to still hear his screams of agony from the site of the brickworks.

Hammering hooves

It’s not just the spirits of people that are said to haunt the streets of Pluckley. Among the village’s reported eerie sounds to keep an ear out for is the thunder of disembodied hooves.

Visions of a horse-drawn carriage, along with the clip clop of horses hooves haunt Maltman’s Hill, according to locals. A babysitter even reported seeing the coach as if it was real, with light pouring from its windows as horses pulled it along the street. And back in 1997 one driver almost crashed when they heard the clatter of hooves on cobbles on a tarmac road.

The lady in red

Perhaps the village’s best-known paranormal resident, this particular haunting takes place in a fittingly eerie location – the graveyard. Lady Dering was buried in the cemetery of the local church, St Nicholas, in the 1100s in a coffin made of lead, with a red rose placed on top of her final resting place.

There have been numerous sightings of her. Now known as The Red Lady, after her rose, wandering amongst the tombstone and wailing while she searches for the grave of her stillborn baby.

Menacing monk

A house named Greystones was always going to be imposing and threatening – and this one has its own ghostly monk for good measure. The house was originally built in 1863 and was called Rectory Cottage as it was the home of the rector of St Nicholas Church nearby.

Nowadays its most famous resident is said to be the ghost of a monk. However, since it was renamed Greystones, the monk seems to have hidden himself as there have been no reports of unusual activity.

Ghosts of the ‘BOO’zer

Not even Pluckley’s pubs are safe from spectres, as is the case for The Blacksmith’s Arms. In fact, there are said to be three spirits taking residence in the boozer – and we’re not talking about gin or vodka.

Previously called both The Spectre’s Arms and The Ghost’s Arms because there have been so many hauntings, strange things are still going on behind its walls to this day. Among the figures who have been sighted in the pub there are a Tudor maid, a coachman who gazes longingly at the fire in the public bar and a Cavalier wandering around the upstairs rooms.

Misty miller

Richard ‘Dicky’ Buss, who had a lane (which is obviously also haunted) was a well-known figure in the village last century. He was a miller and is said to now haunt the village’s, now ruined and abandoned, windmill, The Pinnocks.

Dicky closed his mill in 1930 and nine years later it was destroyed in a storm when it was struck by lightning. However, it seems Dicky has unfinished business and his spirit is said to still haunt the windmill, and is said to reappear just before a thunderstorm hits.

Thieving spirits

As mentioned, The Black Horse is regarded as the ‘most haunted pub in the UK’, with plenty of ghostly tales of its own. It would seem they are a little more shy than some of the village’s other spectral residents, instead getting up to mischief unseen.

The pub, which used to be a farmhouse belonging to the local bailiff and was surrounded by a moat, is famous for things magically disappearing from right in front of people. But it seems these ghosts have a conscience because a few days after items disappear, they turn up again.

The lady in white

St Nicholas makes its third appearance in the list with a lady in white said to stalk both the church and the library of her old family home, Surrenden Dering. The grand house was destroyed in a blaze in 1952 but her spirit was reportedly seen by staff from the US Embassy, who used the property as a base between World War One and Two.

One employee even held an all-night vigil one Christmas Eve and when the lady in white appeared in front of him, he shot her ghost with his rifle.

Beware the woods

The second man who took his own life in Pluckley is a colonel who hanged himself in Park Wood. He has been spotted wandering among the trees, even though much of the area has been cleared, his spirit still seems to remain.

Fatal attraction

Rose Court looks like the perfect, quaint English village home, but the 250-year-old house is said to have a very dark past. The story goes that the mistress of the home took her life by eating a handful of poisonous berries in despair over a love triangle.

Haunt at the hunting lodge

If you thought two haunted pubs in one village was enough, you’ve definitely never visited Pluckley. The Derring Arms used to be a hunting lodge and is said to be home to the ghost of a woman wearing a bonnet.

She has been seen by many customers and her figure is so clear, she’s even been mistaken for a real drinker.

Screams amongst the trees

Last, but by no means least, is the chilling stories that surround the Screaming Woods – an inviting name if ever there was one. It’s a spot that has become a hotspot for would-be paranormal investigators who are brave enough to spend a night sleeping in the deep dark woods.

There have been numerous reports of the sounds of screaming men and women being heard after dark, which are said to be the sounds of those who died while lost in the misty woods. In fact, the woods actually appeared in an old episode of Top Gear, which saw presenters James May and Richard Hammond brave spending a night in the eerie locations themselves.

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