Halloween Special Edition Lore: The Legend of Britain's Most Haunted Village
Pluckley is said to be the most haunted village in Britain with at least 12 different ghosts. Is it the most haunted village, or should we read the writing on the wall, er signs, that say ghosts aren't real?
Location: Pluckley, UK
I know I don't usually do deep dives on locations outside the United States, but someone has requested this one a couple of times, and since it's Halloween and all, I figured I could skip across the pond for a quickie look at what is said to be Britain's most haunted village. And because someone is the biggest skeptic I know and the town itself reportedly has had signs up saying ghosts aren't real, well, I might just try extra hard to debunk the ghosties reportedly haunting the area. We will consider this a Halloween treat, no tricks up the Lily's sleeve.
Before I forget, this location was suggested to me by The Artbook Collector over on the YouTubes. If you happen to like art books for games, movies, TV shows, and whatnot, go check out his channel for flip-throughs on his massive book collection. And maybe try to convince him to add voiceovers with that pretty English accent of his...
The Lore
Any town worth visiting has to have a ghost or two, and Pluckley must be the town of all towns (or village, not really sure of the difference if I'm being honest) to visit as they boast 12+ ghosts and haunted woods.
Let's take a look at some of the haunted lore of this adorable little village...
St Nicholas’s Ladies
Jolly ol' St Nicholas indeed as this church is home to two lady ghosts and a pupper ghost! It's like Christmas on Halloween, y'all! Mostly I am just excited about the ghost dog and I will never debunk ghost dog, because ghost dog. But I digress.
The White Lady and the Red Lady both are said to haunt the church and the churchyard, respectively. Interestingly enough, both ladies have origin stories of being buried in seven lead coffins that were then placed in an oak coffin and a rose was placed on top. The Red Lady is said to mourn her stillborn child and the White Lady supposedly haunted the Dering manor before it burned down. She was seen in the library where Walter Winans shot her ghost on a Christmas Eve and she disappeared through a wall that led to a tunnel that connected to the church. I don't know her connection to the library or Winans and he died in 1920. The house burnt down in 1952.
The Gray Man's Cousin - The Miller
Now, I know this ghostie isn't really my Gray Man's cousin, but he does come callin' just before thunderstorms, so forgive me for immediately making me think of my dear, sweet nemesis. But the Miller ghost AKA Richard 'Dicky' Buss has appeared before thunderstorms ever since the old mill was struck by lightning in 1939 and burned down. But also, reports state that the only known sighting of the ghost was by Dicky himself. Why do I suddenly feel dicked around here???? I thought he appeared before storms? Even my G-Man has more known sightings than that. Which, I must say, it appears most of these ghost sightings are one-offs at best. Hmmmm.....the Lily shall keep her thoughts to herself for now.
The Screaming Man
This one sounds a bit more than tragic - a worker at the local brickworks was killed when he supposedly had a clay wall fall on him or he fell into a clay pit. There is also a story of a man losing his arm in an accident at the brickworks. Whether it was death by clay or lost limbs, you supposedly can still hear the man screaming to this day.
Thievery at The Black Horse
This isn't about seeing a man about a horse (sorry...😂), it's about the old Dering farmhouse turned modern pub that is haunted by multiple ghosts, including one who likes to steal your things and only return them when they are considered truly lost. I think this ghostie likes to hang out in my apartment, I am forever losing things only to find them in weird places days or weeks later, but I usually blame household fairies.
Boozy Old Lady
The Dering Arms is an old hunting lodge for the Derings turned B&B and restaurant that is supposedly haunted by a little old lady in a bonnet who enjoys having a drink with customers.
Horsin' Around
One of the few stories with multiple sightings, a horse and buggy have been seen around town. On at least three separate occasions, the horse-drawn coach has been seen or heard. While the roads are paved now, the coach and horse sound like they are on cobblestone. Cobblestone does have a distinct sound, so it would leave a haunting impression on the witness. Hehe, I am so proud of that one.
Screaming into the Void
Pluckley is home to the Screaming Woods AKA Dering Wood, that's right, trees that scream. No, not really screaming trees, I am just hopped up on Halloween candy already, but the woods are supposedly the scene of multiple deaths and disappearances within them and some have reported hearing screaming coming from the woods.
The Facts
I think it is safe to say that this is the first time I have had almost every piece of lore debunked before I could research it. The current residents here really do not like the ghostly reputation their village has earned, and I can see why. 364 days out the year, it is just a quaint place to hear your thoughts, but on Halloween, everyone wants to see a ghostie or two and they get a bit flooded with tourists.
Most of the ghosts have only been seen once, by only one person, and with zero evidence of an actual event or person linking the ghost to something/someone real. For instance, good ol' Dicky is supposedly the Miller ghost but he was also the only one to see the Miller ghost. I have questions on how that works. Unless....it's doppelgangers and time theories again, but let's not play Doctor while visiting with the Brits.
Stories like the screaming man by the old brickworks don't seem to have a recorded source but as for the sounds of screams both hear and in the woods? Well, we can blame a lot on little red foxes that call the area home.
Now, ghosts or not, the Dering Wood is home to real-life horrors and sadness. There were 20 bodies found on November 1, 1948, with no real conclusion to what happened, and in October 1998, four college students did go missing after a night in the woods. Cults have reportedly used the area for culty stuff, but the person researching that died not long after making such claims, and even though that was in 1964, I'm not falling victim to a cult just yet.
I did find it interesting how many of these sightings take place on old Dering property, but that's not exactly spooky, just seems Pluckley is a village built on their old family grounds. A few ghosts (not mentioned here as I didn't cover all the ghosts) are reportedly connected to the family in some way, including one who was said to be the mistress of one of the Dering men.
Lily's Thoughts
Looking at photographs, Pluckley is a beautiful place to visit and maybe have one of those delicious-looking meals from Dering Arms. Is it haunted? Well, I can't say the whole place isn't, but more than a few stories seem to be just that—stories.
Many were single accounts (and in the case of the Red Lady, zero accounts, how does that happen...) with zero evidence to back up any claims despite most stories being around less than 200 years. (It's the same beef I have with the Gray Man's initial sighting, there should be a name easily linked to a story from 1822, it wasn't that long ago.)
We do know that real-life tragedy struck twice in the Dering Wood, that can't be denied. But does it mean the woods are haunted? Well, if there was ever a place for ghosts, it would be there. And seeing as how both events happened on/around Halloween, I can see why tourists would flock to the area to investigate spookies. But Horror Rules 101 tells us not to go to the spooky place on the anniversary of the spooky event because you become a spooky story yourself, so just nope out of the situation and let any restless spirits roam in peace on the night the veil is the thinnest. The locals and any potential ghosts alike will thank you.
I hope you had fun visiting the little village of Pluckley, but now it's time to head back home and see about some haunted hot spots in the US.
Happy Halloween, and until next time, lore lovers, stay spooky💖
~Lily
Header Photo by Lan Gao on Unsplash
Sources
My sources are not organized this time and I am sorry, but formating these is the bane of my writing existence and I wanted to post this in time for Halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluckley
https://pluckley.net/village-life/history/ghosts/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dering-woods
http://www.ghostconnections.com/The%20Miller.htm
http://www.ghostconnections.com/The%20Screaming%20Man.htm
https://pluckley.net/village-life/shops-and-businesses/name/the-black-horse/
https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/blog/pluckley-the-most-haunted-village-in-england
https://www.deringarms.com/history/
http://www.dover-kent.com/2014-project/Dering-Arms-Pluckley.html
https://hauntingnights.co.uk/the-screaming-woods-with-haunting-nights/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/2siqqf/the_dering_wood_massacre/
https://web.archive.org/web/20150617051927/https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1061x752q50/911/P7q2mg.jpg
https://web.archive.org/web/20150617051929/https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/675x504q50/538/kMzxrM.jpg
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