The Blue Bell Hill crash anniversary and other ghostly tales from West Kent's past
15:38, 28 October 2020
updated: 17:58, 04 November 2020
West Kent has been the topic of many ghostly sightings over the years, some of which have become the stuff of Halloween legend.
The legend of the Ghost of Blue Bell Hill is one that comes up every year, and next month, November 19 will mark 55 years since the crash resulted in tragedy.
In 1965 on the main road linking Medway and Maidstone, Suzanne Browne and her two friends were killed in the smash.
The 24-year-old was returning from her hen night when her Ford Cortina spun out of control on the A229, colliding with a Jaguar.
Her friend Judith Lingham, 22, died on the road while Miss Browne and Patricia Ferguson, 23, died days later in Maidstone Hospital.
The tragedy left behind a mysterious legacy, with unexplained visions reported throughout the 1960s and 70s - although ghostly sightings there are said to date even further back, to the 1930s.
In 1972 Bob Vandepeer said he gave a lift to a girl on the hill only to later turn around and discover the hitchhiker had vanished in the back of the car.
In 1971 James Skene was driving home from work when a girl in her 20s suddenly appeared in front of his car. He gave her a lift to Chatham, but when she got out she disappeared.
There have also been stories of a girl who stares into the eyes of drivers as she steps out into the road, unable to stop cars crashing into her.
Pilgrims Way in Sevenoaks also has a story to tell.
According to Pat Cox and Mike Hanagan, the authors of Legends of Kent, those carrying out an excavation in 1965 made a gruesome discovery.
The skeleton of a girl with a wooden stake driven through her rib-cage was found between the crossroads of Pilgrims Way and Old London Road in Wrotham.
The impalement suggests she would have been considered a witch when she died.
And it's not just roads spiritual believers come flocking to Kent for.
A boarding school in Maidstone has also earned a reputation for being one of the most haunted schools in England.
Cox and Hanagan also say the spirit of a small drummer boy is one of the oldest ghost stories relating to Sutton Valence School in North Street.
Sightings of the unidentified boy playing on a patch of lawn have been recorded more than a dozen times in the last 300 years.
A 'lady in white' has also been spotted floating down a tunnel near the main school building as though patrolling the area.
Another well known paranormal story refers to one of the previous school masters who took his own life in his study.
Several sightings of a man wearing the same clothes he is believed to have worn when he died, a coat and striped trousers, have been recorded.
Some say they have even heard his faithful dog Jack whimpering in the night.
A phantom black dog is also known to roam the grounds in the historic building of Leeds Castle.
Multiple sources say the canine has appeared in the old fortress, and sightings usually mean bad luck for the castle owners.
It's thought the dog is linked to King Henry VI's aunt, Eleanor Cobham, who was found guilty of practicing witchcraft and treason in the 15-century.
She was imprisoned for life in Leeds Castle and is said to have conjured up the animal in a revenge spell.
