I went ghost hunting in England’s most haunted town… and ended up playing with a Ouija board in the graveyard
Standing in the spookiest part of Britain’s most haunted city, my guide handed me a Ouija board and a K-II electromagnetic field meter.
In the dark of night, all you can see from St Nicholas Churchyard in Pluckley, Kent, is the fading eternity of crooked gravestones radiating from the imposing 13th-century church.
Presumably ghosts emit a magnetic field that registers on the K-II device, with the field strength determining how many of the five lights flash from green to red.
‘Red means running’, Andrew Ayres, by Ghost Hunter Toursexplained.
As soon as he handed me the gadget, the penultimate, orange light flashed prominently – presumably roughly indicating that I needed to do some stretching before the main event.
At night it’s clear why St Nicholas’ Church and its adjoining cemetery have such a reputation as the epicenter of spooky happenings in England’s spookiest village
The ghost of an old lady is said to be seen in the lower left window of the facade of the Dering Arms (above), one of at least twelve different ghosts said to be local to Pluckley, Kent.
The cemetery has its own section for the village’s historically rich Dering family (pictured), including the resting place of the Red Lady who haunts the land
All year round, but especially at Halloween, people across the country take the one-hour train from London to this small Kentish village for a dose of adrenaline that only fear can bring.
Pluckley, in Ashford, was once in the Guinness Book of Records for being ‘Britain’s most haunted village’ – a category no longer in use.
At least twelve clearly recognized ghosts, along with a series of locations for other haunted places, earned this title.
Their chilling tales include a highwayman’s fatal fight that is eternally repeated at Fright Corner, with the ghost ending the same way each time: the ghost is impaled on a tree.
Spookiness engulfs the place, with even the nearly 200-year-old train station eerily failing to hide the fact that it is one of the oldest in the country.
The history of the village goes back long before that and is mentioned in the Doomsday Book from 1086
As you approach the center of Pluckley you pass a stretch of road where a driver once claimed to have almost crashed his car due to an overwhelming and otherworldly cacophony of clopping hooves without a horse in sight.
Parking in the village center I settled into what must be the supernatural equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.
On one side is the Black Horse. This 15th century pub wants nothing to do with its history of moving glasses or disappearing cutlery, but staff at the nearby Swan Inn confirmed they had heard such reports from a staff member who had been working with their ghostly neighbour.
Across the road, in Dicky Buss’s Lane, is the spot where a schoolmaster was said to have been found hanging from a tree by his pupils over a century ago, his body still occasionally found in the same position to this day. place is seen.
And just a stone’s throw away in the opposite direction is St. Nicholas Church and its cemetery, which two ghosts – the Red and White Ladies – lay claim to.
The ghost of the White Lady is said to have escaped through her seven coffins and the oak sarcophagus to haunt the church in a long, white, flowing dress.
The Red Lady, who is buried in a lead coffin at the cemetery site designated for Pluckley’s historically wealthy Dering family, is said to be returning to the area in search of her stillborn baby.
Just an hour by train from London, ghost hunters descend on the Kent town every Halloween, and throughout the rest of the year
Pluckley held the title of ‘Britain’s most haunted village’ in the Guinness Book of Records until the category was discontinued
Andrew Ayres of Ghost Hunter Tours (above) is surprisingly skeptical about Pluckley’s legendary ghosts, which have been embellished by former resident Desmond Carrington
The last person you would expect to look at these stories skeptically would be Mr Ayres, the guide himself.
However, he stated, “You will never see a woman in a white, flowing dress in a cemetery.”
He didn’t just doubt that one ghost, or the few ghosts in that location. Mr Ayres’s skepticism extended to the farthest reaches of Pluckley and included the old lady of the Dering Arms, the menacing monk of the house of Greystone and the screaming mason trapped in his own wall.
He explained that he pays little attention to the specific legends associated with Britain’s most haunted village, embellished by former resident and ex-broadcaster Desmond Carrington, with Mr Ayres’ questionable attitude being the key to to make people he shows around trust that he is. guide them in good faith.
“I approach it as a skeptic,” he continued, “we will always try to debunk things.”
He even admitted that the Screaming Woods’ name, originally called Dering Wood, was anchored in a 2004 Top Gear episode in which Richard Hammond and James May spent the night in a Smart car.
Nevertheless, Mr Ayres still takes visitors to the woods, including for a ‘Victorian Seance’ this Halloween evening, so why?
“Is Pluckley paranormally active?” He asked rhetorically and replied, “Very much!”
He explained that the activity he sees during ghost tours in the area comes in the form of spots and lights in photos, unexplained noises and malfunctioning equipment – “batteries going crazy here.”
Right on cue, the cameraman who joined Mr. Ayres and I struggled to turn on his camera to capture the entrance to the forest.
This was a good precursor to another unexplained spooky moment from my greatest hits tour that occurred on our return to the church, when our guide finally revealed the K-II meter and Ouija board.
The aforementioned supernatural activity, indicated by the K-II, led Mr. Ayres to tell me about a vigil in the 1960s at the church, which was interrupted by knocking sounds from the crypt below – meters from where I found myself all those years later was standing.
This timely revelation put on hold any plans to play with the Ouija board that evening while we tried to explain the electromagnetic activity.
The three of us checked our phones, because a notification when turning on a device can affect the meter.
My last post was the most recent, but 15 minutes in advance didn’t help justify the behavior of the equipment.
St. Nicholas Church houses two ghosts, the Red Lady and the White Lady, who is buried in seven coffins and a sarcophagus
The Red Lady was a member of the Derings and is buried in a lead coffin from which she escaped in search of her stillborn baby.
Dering Wood has adopted the name The Screaming Woods since it was featured in an episode of Top Gear almost twenty years ago
I returned the Ouija board to Mr. Ayres, a no-brainer given the combination of a nagging fear of being haunted for the rest of my life and a general skepticism about the effectiveness of attempts to communicate with the dead.
After saying goodbye to the church and my guide, I returned to the safety of my car.
Despite Mr. Ayres’ assurances that the city’s legends were not what he encountered on his travels, I couldn’t help but prepare myself for the drumming of hooves around me as I rode out of the city.
Perhaps this is why Pluckley is so popular among ghost hunters, or anyone else with the slightest interest in the supernatural.
It’s exciting once you immerse yourself in the legends, whether you believe them or not, as long as you are aware of the stories you can’t help but think about what you might encounter as you move from one important location to the other goes.