As soon as I return to my hometown of Folkestone, in the much loved county of Kent, a piranha is found in a pond! From the Guardian
When your chosen fishing spot is a pond inside a park in central Folkestone, it's fair to say you're not expecting to catch anything too exotic. Hence Derek Plum's shock when, after a 15-minute struggle, he reeled in a piranha.
The 46-year-old caught the half-kilo carnivorous predator at Radnor Park pond in the Kent town, some way from its normal South American habitat.
"I felt an almighty tug on my rod – next thing I knew it had dragged my line about 500 yards. It was going all over the place," Plum told the Sun newspaper.
"Luckily, the fishing hook had fallen out of its mouth otherwise I would had somehow had to remove it myself."
The Environment Agency said the fish had probably been kept as a domestic pet, but was released when it became too big for its tank.
Ben Weir, a fishery scientist of Angler's Mail magazine, said today: "I used to keep them and they would sharpen their teeth on the glass of the tank, so I know one when I see one.
"It's probably become too big for its tank but it's extremely irresponsible to release it like this.
"They are a top-end predator. I'm extremely shocked that this has happened."
The fish was identified as a red-bellied piranha, whose diet consists mainly of fish, insects and worms. The chairman of the local angling club said a member had seen someone emptying a container into the pond the week before the piranha was caught.
Paul Foot said: "Our pond gets dumped full of goldfish and the odd koi carp because people cannot afford to keep them. It's unusual that this fish survived because the weather has been so cold."
Piranhas are among some of the most ferocious predators in the world and generally attack in large numbers. They usually feed on insects and fish but have been known to strip large animal carcasses such as cows and horses.
There are over 20 species of piranhas which grow to an average of between 20cm and 30cm, although some as long as 60cm have been found.
Experts said piranhas cannot survive long-term in UK waters, but that the introduction of non-native species into the waterways can cause serious harm.
In August 2009 a freed pet piranha was also found in the River Torridge in Devon.
The Environment Agency have urged people to seek advice rather than freeing exotic animals into the wild.
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The Romney Marsh Times has a piece on the myths and legends of Romney Marsh, a place close to my home town (which is very much in my thoughts at the moment as I make plans to return to live there). Check it out!
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As some readers may know, I hail from Kent and grew up in the south east of the county in Folkestone. You may also realise I like Fortean things! So I thought, let's find something interesting and Fortean from Kent to write about today. I was thinking maybe some historical event, when my research found me looking at literally dozens of reports of orange lights over Kent, specifically in the last few months. There are quite few a comments regarding them on this BBC report about similar sightings in 2008. Now I don't mean to say these sightings are limited to Kent, but I'm limiting my focus there. The MoD, however, does suggest something strange is going on over Kent.
Below are a "few" more sightings, with links to the original witness report and more detail.
30th May 2009 - A real clutch of sightings here: one fast moving orange object observed over various parts of south eastern UK, especially northern Kent. Other objects seen by some witnesses. One witness describes as being a little like a jellyfish.
22nd June 2009 - Two orange lights seen in Snodland, Kent (famous for being the town of my birth, of course!) rising eventually extinguishing but visible dark object still seen.
etc. etc. The two sites linked to multiple times during these sightings will provide many more similar things.
So what could they be?
Meteors: given the distances some were seen over within one hour (such as the 30th May sightings in northern Kent, down through to Dover) it is unlikely these can be explained by anything other than a meteor(s). Not only can meteors look like stable fireballs, some can also "flash" on and off.
Chinese Lanterns and "hoax" fire lit bags: I think the below video from Southampton shows the stunning effect that Chinese lanterns can have. The effect is amazingly similar to the reports described above. Also many descriptions indicate it looked like the top half of a jellyfish, which is again consistent with some sort of illuminated "bag". Do people really let off that many Chinese lanterns around the south east?? Erm... yes they do. This news story from Thanet last month indicates that not only are the emergency services being called about them more often "especially this summer" but also has comments from people stating they themselves have used them a number of times so far this year... just in Thanet! Also see this news story regarding video below.
Here's more videos from Kent this year which I think are very similar, if at a great a distance and filmed very badly, to the video above. The concept of them "rising" and also the Snodland report stating an object could still be seen rising even after the light extinguished again back up this theory.
Hot air balloons: You may think me mad, but Kent is well known for having hot air balloons up in the sky. Leeds Castle, near the centre of the county, has regular air balloon flights which travel for miles in all directions. As a kid in Snodland, we'd take great delight when we'd see one of these in trouble over the town as we knew they'd land over in the rec which meant we'd get to have a good look! At night it is difficult to see the outline of the balloons but easy to spot the flashing light caused by the fire inside the basket. I have, more than once, had to take a second look at the night sky before realising that "UFO" was in fact a hot air balloon.
Aliens/interdimensional beings/otherwise fortean explanation. This becomes difficult here... Of almost all the reports of the lights I can see no reason to believe they are intelligently controlled. Few make any abrupt turns, few seem to move at inexplicably fast speeds (check out the video above again, those lights are moving plenty fast and it doesn't seem that windy of a day!). Others say the lights "move at different speeds". Well yes aerodynamics and different wind speeds in different layers of air can explain that.
I think what we have here are many reports of Chinese lanterns, a few meteors, a couple of hot air balloons and a few sightings that remain "unexplained" but probably not "Fortean". If you really don't believe people can't tell the difference between Chinese Lanterns and "a craft" just check out this report from my hometown of Folkestone, Kent to see how easy a misidentification can be.
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Wild peacocks... in Sheerness?? Yes, Kent's very own Isle of Sheppey has wild peacocks and a colony of scorpions (possibly one of the only such colonies in the British Isles). Maybe the rest of Kent (including me) should stop making fun of the Isle of Sheppey. Nah....
Yes you heard me correctly, according to This Is Kent, a strange triangular object has been sighted on Google Maps about a mile east of (Planet) Thanet.
David Icke, leading proponent of a philosophy many call "New Age conspiracism". Some consider him to be an enlightened fighter against the injustice of modern Western society, while others think he is a crackpot, a loon, or, worse still, an attention seeking con artist.
David Icke's beliefs stem, by his own admission, not from the head but from the heart. And I truly do believe he is a good person trying to do what he believes is right. But the things he proposes can at times seem unbelievable and crazy.
By 1990, after a varied career as a football player, reporter and TV presenter, David Icke had become a national spokesperson for the Green Party (England and Wales branch... I vote for them in EU elections but their anti Union and republican ethos means I must withhold my vote at UK elections). It was in that year that he began to express his spiritual side on a national level, and it was the year he became a laughing stock in the United Kingdom. I'll let the Guardian give you an idea of what happened:
In 1990 David Icke was a TV sports reporter/commentator tipped for the top. Then he visited a medium in Brighton called Betty Shine who, having chatted to Socrates (the philosopher not the footballer), was able to pass on the information that he was the Son of God.
Humbled, Icke instructed all his followers to wear turquoise tracksuits and travelled the world making prophesies (e.g Teesside and Kent would shortly be underwater following earthquakes measuring eight on the Richter scale). None of his prophecies came true.
'My predictions were meant to be wrong on a massive scale because I have always been scared of ridicule,' said Icke. 'Unless you have experienced hot and cold you cannot know what lukewarm is.' In later years he modified some core beliefs: 'Turquoise is an important colour,' he revealed, 'but you don't have to wear it all the time.'
Check out his early nineties appearance on Wogan (good old Wogan!)... this was not long after the Green Party had told him to, erm, step down as a spokesperson.
Following his brush with total ridicule and almost total craziness Icke moved to make things a little more sensible releasing book after book, in which he starts to crystalise his world view.
Icke set out his understanding of the way our world works. Firstly he believes the world to be controlled by a group of elites called the Brotherhood at the top of which stands the "Illuminati" or "Global Elite." They wish to control the entire planet and use many different means to gain power; economic and political control and subtle mind enslaving techniques.
He likes to believe that these people are left side of the brain thinkers, who use their "intellect" too much and don't listen to their "heart". And, being intellectually focused, these elites love structure and rule the world through what he calls a "pyramid of manipulation" with different levels of power running through multiple organisations such as the Governments, banks and corporations of the world. At the top it is lead by the "Prison Warders" who are not human. This is the most famous (or infamous) part of his philosophy.
David Icke believes that many of our worlds leaders and highly power citizens are in fact aliens or alien controlled hybrids. These aliens are reptilian humanoids and that they have been slowly taking over our world and spreading their bloodline throughout since the time of the Sumerians. He believes they moved from Sumeria, through to controlling the Roman Empire and from there spread out with the European colonisation of the planet to seats of power around the world. Their plan, so he says, is set out in the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The members of this Elite are either direct incarnations of the fourth- dimensional Prison Warders or have their minds controlled by them. The aim of the Brotherhood and its interdimensional controllers has been to centralise power in the hands of the few. This process is now very advanced and it is happening on a global scale today thanks to modern technology. The game-plan is known as the Great Work of Ages or the New World Order, and it presently seeks to introduce a world government to which all nations would be colonies; a world central bank and currency; a world army; and a micro-chipped population connected to a global computer. What is happening today is the culmination of the manipulation which has been unfolding for thousands of years.
He believes that people have encountered these creatures in their natural form, sometimes accidentally, and there are plenty of people out there who back this up with their own stories.
But his conspiracy theories aren't all he talks about, he also believes that we are all "infinite consciousness" viewing the world in different ways. He considers this life to be an "experience", not the end game for us but something we should try to enjoy while we can. He hates the Westernisation of other countries, and believes this is a sign of the new world order. He hates "sheeple" (although I doubt he's ever called them that).
I believe that the human race has developed a form of collective schizophrenia in which we are not only the slaves to this imposed thought behavior, but we are also the police force of it. The reason most people don't express their individuality and actually deny it, is not fear of what prime ministers think of us or the head of the federal reserve, It's what their families and their friends down at the bar are going to think of them. Source: Leading Edge Newspaper, July/August 1996
Here I feel he has a point, the capitalist, Western way of living is not natural nor is it very pleasant for many. But I do not believe this is a conspiracy dumped upon us by an alien elite but I believe this is what humanity deserves. We are the ultimate cause of our own unhappiness. We are selfish, unfriendly, mean creatures and thus we have the world we live in. David Icke's message includes pleas for peace and love. You can't really diss him for that. Idealism is a worthy thing.
His theories are, of course, not without controversy. Let's not focus on the truth of his claims. I'll leave that to you to decide upon (and encourage you to check out what the man himself says on his website). Instead take a look at some of the more controversial matters of his association with the far right.
The major problems I have with David Icke are actually nothing to do with the substance of his speeches or books (even if I totally disagree with most of his beliefs!). My problem is with his arrogant confidence. His self assertion that he is absolutely correct, that only his world view can be the right one makes me unable to accept what he says. In the podcast I link to below he laughs at the idea of religion and disses Richard Dawkins for worshiping science (things I agree with him on) but then confidently proclaims his way is the right way in the same blindly arrogant ways those he had just dismissed do theirs. Call me old fashioned but I like humility.
So finally check out a wonderful interview with David Icke on audio where you can appreciate that underneath it all, he's not a bad person... whatever one might think about his beliefs. At heart he wants a better world than the Westernised world we all live in. And that's something I cannot but agree with him on.
Ooo... did you spot the mention of Kent! I don't even need to try slipping them in, Kent is the new Eerie, Indiana. It pops up all the time!
Once upon a time there was a boy, let us call him Moonlight, who loved nothing more than a good UFO story. In fact, it wouldn't be going too far if I was to say UFOs were the centre of his interest in the unusual and the paranormal. Then one day he changed and, whilst his interest in zoology allowed his cryptozoological interests to flourish, his declining interest in the X-Files lead his interest in UFOs to reach rock bottom. Eventually he became cynical and rather uncharitable towards those who continued to believe in UFOs. In fact he thought most of them were a little bit bonkers (Louis Theroux's show was the nail in the coffin when he found himself hunting aliens in the desert in the USA with a mind powered gun...)
To be honest I still recoil at stories of UFOs, alien encounters or any other related phenomena as my brain simply refuses to put up with of the craziness. I was listening to a podcast about star children today and found myself wanting to scream out "YOU ARE ALL INSANE" but thought that as I was on a rather crowded train this might not be the best idea...
But I am being somewhat unfair, I'd much rather share a pint with a ufologist than with a fundamentalist Christian (not to say that if a fundamentalist Christian were to offer me a pint I'd say no, I wouldn't... I'd say yes, hint hint hint...)
Anyway... yesterday brought us more news of UFO sightings over the United Kingdom! Woo, I hear you cry! Don't get too excited, this is just old reports finally being released to the public. But they are quite interesting in themselves. Yahoo has a good report on the story, including this about an encounter involving an Italian jet flying over... Lydd, Kent (did you think I'd go four posts in a row without mentioning Kent! As if!)
Documents show the McDonnell Douglas MD80 aircraft was en route from Milan to Heathrow at 22,000ft with 57 people on board when pilot Achille Zaghetti saw the strange object 1,000ft above him.
He recounted: "At once I said, 'look out, look out,' to my co-pilot, who looked out and saw what I had seen.
"As soon as the object crossed us I asked to the ACC (area control centre) operator if he saw something on his screen and he answered 'I see an unknown target 10nm (nautical miles) behind you'."
It goes on:
The files show that Southern TV broadcast a story about a 14-year-old boy who reported seeing a missile flying at low level before climbing through the cloud and disappearing on the same evening.
An unnamed Whitehall official wrote: "It is our intention to treat this sighting like that of any other Unidentified Flying Object and therefore we will not be undertaking any further investigation."
There were a number of other similar incidents recorded in the same year.
On June 17, 1991 four passengers onboard a Dan Air Boeing 737 saw a "wingless projectile" pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport headed for Hamburg.
And on July 15 the pilot of a Britannia Airways 737 reported seeing a "small black lozenge-shaped object" travelling at speed as they approached Gatwick.
Included in the released files are some pictures detailing peoples sightings. One finally explains what is happening with a picture subtly labeled "solar-power geostationary satellite"...
That's no satellite!! That's a Tie-Fighter! No doubt the Emperor's advanced guard. Oh all those fools who labeled themselves Jedi's in all those censuses are going to feel mighty stupid when the purges begin... Ok this is unfair, let's see what the man who submitted this picture in 1986 says...
"I am subjected to mysterious happenings which can only occur with the use of an electromagnetic device," he wrote, enclosing this drawing. "By using high technological equipment I have been deliberately introduced to form of radio communication by which I am able to receive messages.”
Far more sane....
Anyway it is some quite interesting stuff, what are your thoughts on aliens, ufos and the like?
King Henry VIII accused his second wife Anne Boleyn of infidelity, although the truth in that accusation is disputed as Henry probably got rid of her so he could move on to his next prospect, and those accusations began the process that ended in Anne losing her head. Whether or not she put herself around in real life is open to debate, but in the afterlife she seems to be living up to expectations.
On the 19th of May 1536 Anne was put to death (sorry... hacked to death by a sword) on Tower Green by the Tower of London. But such a trifling incident was, it would seem, not going to get in the way of Anne Boleyn living her afterlife to the fullest.
In 1817 a sentry at the Tower encountered Anne's ghost. So shocked was he at her appearance, that he shortly afterward suffered a heart attack and died. She next made her appearance in 1864 when:
"a soldier encountered Anne and fainted, he was then court-martialled for being found asleep on duty. The soldier at his post near the Lieutenant's Lodgings was met by a white figure, and made the appropriate challenge, "who goes there?". When he received no response he trust his fixed bayonet into it. He recalled a piercing shock when a "fiery flash" ran through his weapon, dropping his rifle and then no more. At his trial the sentry described the spirit, "It was the figure of a woman wearing a queer-looking bonnet, but there wasn't no head inside the bonnet." Many witnesses came forward with testimony of having seen a headless spirit that evening near the Lieutenant's Lodgings. The most sensational testimony was that of an officer who had been in his room in the Bloody Tower. Having heard the challenge he went to his window and saw the whole scene exactly as the sentry had described and added that the headless spectre walked through the bayonet and then the sentry who collapsed. The court-martial found the soldier not guilty and he was acquitted."
A similar incident occurred in 1933 when she was again challenged by a guard, and promptly walked straight on to his bayonet. He made a "tactical withdrawal" and fled screaming to seek help.
If the stories are to be believed she is most likely to be encountered in the corridors of the White Tower, which is in fact not a tower as popularly known but the large white square building many refer to as the Tower of London. As an aside that is quite wrong, the Tower of London is in fact a complex of buildings surrounded by walls and a moat.
Others say you're more likely to find her proceeding from the Queen's House to the Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula and then up the aisle to her grave.
But don't worry if you miss her there. Head down to St. James Palace and to the Chapel Royal. Here's an account of a Captain of the Guard who having seen a light burning in the locked Chapel in the night, found a ladder and saw this scene:
Slowly down the aisle moved a stately procession of Knights and Ladies, attired in ancient costumes; and in front walked an elegant female whose face was averted from him, but whose figure greatly resembled the one he had seen in reputed portraits of Anne Boleyn. After having repeatedly paced the chapel, the entire procession together with the light disappeared.
Now should you suffer the extreme misfortune of missing out on any Royal Ghostly activity here, don't despair! Head down to Kent and visit Hever Castle. Here you'll find Anne Boleyn in an even more sombre guise. Supposedly, a black coach can sometimes be seen racing up the avenue towards the castle pulled by six, large black headless horses.
Hever Castle was the seat of the Boleyn family and Anne spent some time here in her youth. An oak, beneath which Anne and Henry courted, still stands in the grounds and her ghost is said to appear beneath it at Christmas time and can also sometimes be seen walking the bridge that crosses over the River Eden within the castle grounds.
If you've missed this spectacle there's nothing to worry about, she often puts on a repeat performance at the place of her birth; Blickling Hall in Norfolk. Here the same coach and headless horses (although only four this time) can be seen once a year dropping Anne off at the entrance to the building, through which she then wanders until dawn.
Anne Boleyn also spent some time at Rochford Hall in Essex and the locals report a headless female ghost.
Rumours persist she haunts Hampton Court, also supposedly haunted by Henry's favourite Jane Seymour and the headless Katherine Howard. I can only imagine the ghostly bitchfights the three of them might be having in that place (or perhaps they've formed the Second, Third And Fifth Wives Club), no wonder Anne feels the need to spread her wings a little and travel around a bit.
Why is Anne Boleyn's ghost so widely reported? There is somewhat of a cult of Anne Boleyn in this country, and she is definitively the most well known of Henry VIII's wives. It's hardly surprising her name is brought up when anything out of the ordinary is spotted. I'd love to know how so many made the positive identification of Anne? There are, obviously, no photographs and the pictures of her are all in that Tudor style which renders her looking exactly like every other Tudor era woman. How on Earth can they be so sure it's a the ghost of Anne Boleyn??
I don't know... isn't it somewhat a coincidence that the most well known Queen of Henry the VIII also happens to the be the most prolific ghost? Sure her life ended in tragedy, but I feel not so tragic as many a fair maiden met back then, after all she'd played the game and knew what to expect, unlike others who have met far more gruesome deaths. Why should they be any different to her? Why aren't they cavorting around the country enjoying their afterlife? Hmm.. suspicious...
But I leave you with two pictures to dwell upon, taken by CCTV at Hampton Court. I don't think it's Anne but it sure looks like something I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. More details here.
I am a very proud Man of Kent, and just wanted to point out some of the excellent paranormal, weird and interesting resources and stories out there devoted to my favourite county.
Historic Kent has a really good section on some of the outlandish stories from around the Garden of England... including an excellent article on a story from Folkestone, the town I consider home. It's all about a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion, and it's very in depth for such a small story.
Kent Big Cat Research is our source for news and information on the hunt for the big cats in Kent and around the country.
Neil Arnold writes about other mystery Kentish creatures here. The infamous Mothman may have put in an appearance not more than a couple of miles from my parents house and of course there are stories of Black Dogs haunting the county...
Kent has plenty of other curious tales such as that of Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst who were conjoined twins from Biddenden. A great many of my ancestors hail from that small village and I can remember my Mum mentioning the story whenever we happened to pass through on one of her shopping trips to Tunbridge Wells. They were conjoined at the hip but even though they were born in the 12th Century managed to live until the age of 34. Legend says that Mary was taken ill in 1134 and when she passed away mention was made of attempting to separate Eliza. Eliza was having none of it and said:
"As we came together we will also go together"
She passed away 6 hours later. There are a few ghosts story associated with the Maids of Biddenden but I think their story is interesting even without a ghostly connection.
Then we have the Countless Stones and Kit's Coty House. I remember visiting the Countless Stones when I was very young and sadly am unable to verify exactly how many are there... that's the point I suppose. Got to love living in a country that has megaliths...
Then we have the giants... no not members of my rather tall family (I myself am 6'8")... but the East Kent Giants of which you can find out more on this web page.
Many tales have been told in Europe of Englishmen having tails... but I love the following quote taken from History of British Folklore (originally from A Collection of English Proverbs published in 1670) about the Kentish long-tails:
Those are mistaken who found this Proverb on a miracle of Austin the Monk; who preached in an English village, and being himself and his associates beat and abused by the Pagans there, who opprobriously tied Fish-tails to their backsides; in revenge thereof such appendants grew to the hind-parts of all that generation. For the scene of this lying wonder was not laid in any part of Kent, but pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire. I conceive it first of outlandish extraction, and cast by forreigners as a note of disgrace on all English men, though it chanceth to stick onely on the Kentish at this day.
I have no doubt this was a popular idea among our French friends, whose proximity to Kent has meant a close, if sometimes sarcastic, relationship. They say we have tails and we say they are frogs. It all works out in the end. Although nowadays they like to call us Ros Bofs. Hilarious. NOT.
So that's just a taste of Kent for you, and I'll probably expand upon some of these stories and others in the future.
Emperor Hadrian, who built Hadrian's Wall, Britain's most famous Roman landmark
One thing it's easy to forget is that we here in southern Britain live in one of the former Roman provinces, Britannia (although over the course of the Empire's history the province was split apart and rejoined in various ways and under various names). Once upon a time we were the north western outpost of that once mighty empire and the evidence is all around us. The village my parents live in, Lympne, was once a major Roman port called Portus Lemanis (although the sea is now nowhere to be seen!). Not far away is the fort at Richborough (Rutupiæ) and even here in London (Londinium) you need only go visit Tower Hill station and right outside is part of the old London Wall... with the bottom part being Roman (you can tell by the brick work, don't say Time Team never taught me anything!).
Of course the Romans never truly left us, by the time communication with the Empire was lost the Romans and the native population had pretty much become one culture... the Romano-British. They would eventually escape to the west and north as other waves of (violent) immigration took over the south and east of our island. The Welsh, Scottish and Cornish nations are, in effect, descendants of the Romano-British. But did our Roman forebears leave a little more of themselves behind than just their genes?
Lympne Castle is supposedly haunted by many ghosts, including a Roman. The story goes that a Roman soldier was on watch in the east tower when he fell to his death. His footsteps are often heard going up, but strangely never heard coming down.
Greenwich, my adopted home, is also home to some Roman ghostly goings on (and plenty more, I'm working on that post!). In fact here we have the classic Roman haunting.... the Roman legion.That's according to the Greenwich Phantom anyway:
The Roman Legion. Greenwich had a Roman encampment in the days before Ye Olden Days as it was on the route to Dover (there is, of course, what is assumed to be a temple in Greenwich Park) but it was with great surprise that two workmen removing an old boiler from underneath the Royal Naval College's Jacobean Undercroft a few years ago witnessed an entire legion of Roman soldiers in full uniform appear through a wall, march across the room, then disappear through the opposite wall. The boiler had been placed well under the original ground level, which accounts for the fact that their feet did not touch the ground.
An extremely similar story is told on, appropriately, Britannia.com about York in which a workman was happily working underground when a group of Romans walked past... but this time the old Roman road was beneath ground level so the ghosts appeared to be walking on their knees...
There's a rather amusing video on this BBC News story about the strange apparition of a Roman caught on video my a local film club (supposedly although if anything I'd say he looked more Elizabethan to me). This was obviously a tongue in cheek segment on the local BBC news show but still the video, whether of a ghost or of sun flare, is pretty cool.
Spooky?
Chester also seems to be a hotspot for Roman ghost activity with centurions being seen individually and en masse marching off to points unknown.
Back in Kent and at Richborough fort there have been reports of some Roman activity. During World War II the area was used for coastal defence, and those on duty reported seeing large legions of Roman soldiers marching around the area. Some have reported vague lights and orbs in the area but none have reported such large scale activity since the end of the war. Forgive me for taking some liberties but I like to think that perhaps the legions were readying themselves just in case they were called upon to defend our coasts once more against the descendants of their ancient enemies, the Germanic tribes. Once the war ended, they could rest in peace again. Hey I don't claim to believe in ghosts, but I do like to believe in romantic notions sometimes or perhaps I've just watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks once too many times...
To be honest I've found it hard not to find a Roman ghost story in pretty much every town that was in existence during Roman times, and even in many that weren't!
theory, commonly known as Lucretius's shell, which ghosts were a kind of shell, which diffused or splintered from the body of a dying person and lingered in the atmosphere after death, moving at will.
Just goes to show how little our ideas on ghosts have changed over the millenia.
The Roman part of our history is something we all learn about at primary school and maybe this accounts for Britons, renowned for their love of ghosts, recounting stories of Roman ghosts haunting every corner of the country from the Antonine Wall to the Kent coast.
I've used the term legion rather liberally in this post, and to pedants I apologise; I understand it's correct usage but now the term is used for pretty much any sized gathering of Roman soldiers so please don't hate me!
If you want to learn more about the very real history of Roman Britain check out Roman-Britain.org
The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day…
I do not wish to be crude, using such an esteemed and respectful event as a theme for my post, but it does provide an opportunity to bring up this very interesting phenomenon and I hope you will forgive me, Dear Reader.
I've found this great site about the phantom planes and airmen that haunt some parts of Britain.
There is something that touches the heart in these stories, whether they are real or not. A connection to the stories behind the ghosts, to the bravery of the crews and airmen, and to a not so distant time.
As a Man of Kent I feel a very deep connection to the stories of ghosts at the Biggin Hill airport, a former fighter station during the Battle of Britain.
There have been many reports of the sounds of Spitfire being heard when no such plane could be flying in the area and on more than one occasion this ghostly aircraft has been sighted as it circles over head. What is really amazing is that the ghost of the RAF pilot uses a victory roll to signal that he's going back to his base.
An airmen has also been seen thumbing for a lift back to base along roads leading to Biggin Hill.
Many incidents have occurred where ghosts have been seen around the air field. All in all, for ghostly activity, Biggin Hill is certainly a busy place to be.
More ghostly aviation and airmen stories can be found here.
Further Reading
The Ghosts Of Biggin Hill - Bob Ogley - A book not just about the ghosts but also about the heroes and heroines of the most famous fighter station in the world.
Another Kentish haunting here, although on a far grander scale. According to the 1998 Guinness Book of Records, Pluckley is the most haunted village in "England" (does anyone in America know England is not a country???). It's also home to my grandfathers estate and is somewhere I know fairly well. Sadly I've never experienced anything spooky there but... plenty have... supposedly.....
Pluckley's village website has several bits and pieces on the many hauntings in the village. Unfortunately I believe all this talk of ghosts in the village is a scam.
The phantom coach and horses seems a bit fishy to me. Not only did most people not get a good look at it, but there are actual horse drawn vehicles in the area and people have admitted to pranks.
And as you read through a bit more of the information on all the other hauntings you find that a lot of the stories appear to be fabrications based on nothing more than pure greed in an attempt to get gullible tourists to come visit this small village. Renaming areas to be scarier like the "The Screaming Woods". Hmm...
I think this website says it best in this paragraph:
Pluckley's ghosts first appeared in print in 1955 when Frederick Sanders wrote "Pluckley Was My Playground", where the Gypsy woman and Highwayman were mentioned. The phantom highwayman is certainly a common motif of sorts and the Gypsy woman may have been an old established story. However, Desmond Carrington who once lived in Pluckley has admitted to "concocting a whole string of them" for an article featured in the TV times written by journalist Bill Evans in the 1950's, so perhaps Pluckley's reputation is not deserved. Of all of the ghosts, there has only been a recent (within ten years) witness for the phantom coach and little evidence to support any of the others, though the monk may have been seen sometime in the last thirty years.
Being a Man of Kent, the story of the ghosts of Blue Bell Hill is one I've heard many times over. I remember as a child hearing the story mixed up with a well know urban legend at one of our many playground ghost story swapping sessions.
The ghost of Blue Bell Hill is quite a famous case of a ghost haunting a particular stretch of road. The ghost appears to be a woman who runs out in front of cars traveling along that road and they "hit" her. Open further investigation nothing is found to suggest any sort of accident. You can read a very well researched and balanced piece on the incidents at this site.
Now in the local folklore surrounding the incidents a car crash that killed 3 women (one due to be married the next day) in 1965 is "blamed" for the ghostly happenings. But what is particularly interesting is that reports of the activity here predate 1965 leading us to assume that, whether real or fake, an earlier incident fuels the stories or encounters surrounding this area. This is something I certainly didn't realise until I read that article.
I think that the possible psychological causes of these incidents, and those around the world that bear uncanny resemblance to them, is fascinating. I'll quote from that article:
One idea is that even the unconscious recognition that somewhere could be haunted could act as the trigger for an hallucinatory experience of a quality that simulates and complements reality. Personally, I don’t think it’s as simple as that; I think there must be some other trigger at work, perhaps something genuinely objective. Else, how would persons with no knowledge of the locale fall for exactly the same experience? But there is no doubt in my mind that this unconscious state is an important factor in the experience, and most other apparitional experiences. This mechanism may also in part account for why it is that we have a preponderance of lone male drivers and female ‘ghosts’. Carl Gustav Jung, the noted psychologist, noted that the unconscious of the individual presents itself in the dreamscape as a figure of the opposing gender. This he termed anima if the subject is male, and is represented by an archetypal female form. For a woman, her unconscious presents itself as a male figure, the animus. Surely it is significant that those most susceptible to ‘highway hypnosis’ - the lone drivers, are the ones having most of the experiences - in folklore and ‘fact’? While clearly increasing horrific effect, could the common feature of the phantom locking eyes with the driver - a literally haunting effect - represent the unconscious of the individual recognizing itself, or at least its function in these experiences?
Is the girl on Blue Bell Hill really a ghost of a deceased girl from some long forgotten incident? Or is she a reflection of the inner most thoughts and feelings of male drivers on the edge of sleep as they drive through the middle of the night? That is something that requires further investigation.
