76. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part Six "There can be no doubt of the phenomena. I have seen them, myself" so said the Rev. A.L. Gardiner in 1921 as London was hit by a mysterious mini-plague pertaining to the exploding of coal from grates. Ordinary, enough, but it was not so simple to explain. Such pieces were then said to dance along the floor, especially in the home of a Mr J.S. Frost who......

75. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part Five After a recent visit to the village of Highgate I'd like to share with you some of the area's lesser known ghosts, as previous episodes of The Saturday Strangeness have covered the phantom chicken of Pond Square and of course, the 'vampire' once said to prowl the cemetery. The Gatehouse Public House sits only minutes away from the gothic cemetery confines and the legend of the vampire......

74. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part Four – Ghostly Women Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue... black, white and grey too! Not just the colours of the rainbow but also the many varying types of spectral woman seen around the world. Just like black and grey monks, ladies adorned in varying colours are considered the archetype female spirit as they are oft' seen floating through graveyards, dusty corridors......

73. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part Three London's dark history is littered with tales of eerie mysteries, and not many places harbour such weirdness as Hampton Court Palace, the most haunted royal residence in the capital. Stretching for over sixty acres, this beautiful structure, and its grounds, have been shared with the public since 1838, and many of these visitors I'm sure are very unaware of the spectres which reside within the vast hallways,......

72. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part Two More from London's haunted side, as the shadow of All Hallow's Eve lurks on the horizon like some rustic menace. Baker Street – famous for its Sherlock Holmes connections, a fine detective who would no doubt have found the many hauntings of this famous street a fine mystery indeed. For Baker Street has long been considered the capital's most haunted street, harbouring a true gaggle of phantoms,......

71. A Gaggle Of Ghosts: Part One With All Hallows Eve just over a month away I'd like to share with you some of London's finest, although not necessarily most known ghost stories which The Saturday Strangeness has been bereft of since its beginnings. Sutton House at Hackney, built in 1535 and in the care of the National Trust, is most certainly a very haunted building. In 1990 an architect visiting the premises encountered......

69. The Phantom Wall Smasher! Well, that's what the press, being The Sun, Daily Mirror and Metropolitan Police newspaper The Job called him in 1977. Following on from last week's feature on bizarre compulsions and spectral assailants, this time we move onto less sinister acts, but something certainly irritating. It took place between the July and September of '77, mainly around Danby Street in Peckham. It was here that some unseen 'wall banger' was......

64. The Beast Beneath. Of all the things I have written about with regards to weird phenomena in London, what you are about to read is possibly one of the strangest and most significant tales ever. This story comes via two good friends and fellow researchers – Jonathan Downes and Nick Redfern. Nick, a Texas-based investigator heard from Jonathan Downes, who runs The Centre For Fortean Zoology, that during the 1940s at the Royal......

63. The Horses Of Death I've often been intrigued by reports of phantom animals, especially horses when they are seen to be leading a carriage through some misty backroad of a night. What perplexes me most is the fact that if inanimate objects have no souls, then why should the coach appear alongside the horses? And, if the horses never died together or with the coach, then why should they appear coupled in the......

60. More Than Just A Haunting... In the borough of Lewisham sits Brockley Road. Not exactly known for its supernatural relations or unnerving apparitions, but let me share with you a campfire story to chill even the warmest of hearts... It happened during the 1800s and the experience was written up and posted to a magazine known as the Review Of Reviews edited by a Mr W.T. Stead who would unfortunately perish aboard the......

59. The Monster Of Markham Square I would like to share with you a true tale of utmost horror and of some obscurity. I have never been one for the repetition of dark, sinister yet factual tales and this particular yarn is no exception – but like all classic, yet truly terrifying stories, this too will extinguish the flames of any cosy campfire by the by the sheer chill of its terror. I have......

48. The Phantom Cat Whilst searching through my archives, like a gleeful grave-digger shoveling out the mounds of soil on a moonlit night, I literally stumbled across a text from a pamphlet dated 1674, in reference to a peculiar haunting, if it was indeed a haunting, or maybe one of the first ever encounters with a large 'panther'! I make no apologies for transcribing the original document exactly for weirdness sake! News from Puddle-dock......

27. More Terrors Of The Tube! To continue from our last stop of ghosts pertaining to the London Underground, the spectral girl of Elephant & Castle appears to be a rail relation to the phantom hitchhiker legend, in that several witnesses have described, often whilst sitting in an empty carriage, encountering a young woman who takes a seat but often vanishes between stops. Just like many phantom hitchhiker myths, this particular spook story is......