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Kiln Green

Scarletts Farm is haunted by a man in a big hat whose face can never be seen. He walks around the stableyard. He dates from the time of the Civil War or the Restoration. Another ghost haunts nearby Scarletts Manor, which was used as some sort of military hospital during the Great War. A wounded soldier of this period materialises at times on the upper landing and stares into one of the present bedrooms.

Kintbury

The most well-known village ghost is that of Lieutenant Dexter. He asked to be buried with his sword beside him. This sword is said to rattle when people pass through the churchyard at night. Alternatively, the sword was buried with his wife, Mary Dexter.

In the parish church, the bell ringers once saw what they took to be a real-life person sitting in the front pew wearing a black cloak and dark wide-brimmed hat. He got up and walked into the vestry whereupon he immediately disappeared.

One house in the village has the ghost of a dark slim ‘lady in black’ who appears at the foot of the bed.

In the 1970s a young man was tragically killed in the village when he fell through stair banisters during an epileptic fit. Afterwards the sounds of the accident were heard to be repeated.

Three Gate Copse is in the northern part of the parish, not far from Wickham. On All Souls’ Night 1942, a Canadian training flight crashed into the woods there and the rear gunner was killed. Some years later, a local girl saw an eerie light appear 30ft up amongst the elm trees on the same spot, as she returned home one evening. It formed itself into the shape of a large man. Afterwards, she realised that it had been the anniversary of the crash and that she had seen the spirit of the Canadian airman.

Knowl Hill

The ‘Bird-in-the-Hand’ on the Bath Road does not look like an old building, although part of it is. Such pubs were particularly popular with local highwaymen in the 18th century. One of these men was celebrating a huge haul from a passing coach at the inn when he accidentally fell down the stairs and was killed. On occasion, his spirit is still seen around the pub.