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'Mysterious Mitcham' is the online sequel to 'Strange Mitcham':
Second (2011) edition now available.
'MYSTERIOUS
MITCHAM'
Contents:
Front Cover
Introduction
Receive Updates
Map
Part 1 - Mitcham:
The Phantom Cyclist
of Mitcham Common
(update to Strange
Mitcham)
A Dark Figure on
Mitcham Common
Tales from the Vestry
Hall
'Calico Jack': The
Playful Ghost of
Lacks the Drapers
The Faces on the
Walls: Hancock's
Cottages
The Haunted Cottages
in Tramway Path
The 'Haunting' of Hall
Place
The Legend of
Mitcham Fair
Remember the Grotto
The Phantom of the
'Folly'
An Apparition at
Woof & Sabine
Haunted Rooms at Fry
Metals
The Phantom Cat
Mitcham's (not so)
Haunted Mansion
The Kingston Zodiac
The 'Ghost Tree'
Ghostly Gardeners,
Medicinal Plants and
A Magical Tree
The 'Thing'
The Wrath of God
A Ghostly Experience
in Morden Road
Mitcham Clock Tower:
When Time Ran
Backwards
The Rosier Family
Legend
The 'Ball of Fire'
UFO over Mitcham
Common, 2004
UFO over Tooting
Bec Common, 1990
Part 2 - South of
Mitcham Common:
Carew Manor
The Ghosts of
Beddington Park
Beddington Parish
Church & Churchyard
The Figure in the
Alley
Under Beddington
A Spectral Cavalier
Other Information:
Author's website
The Mitcham Ghost
Ride
Strange Mitcham
(2002): Errata
Strange Mitcham
(2011)
Haunted Wandsworth
(2006)
Covers the London Borough of Wandsworth (Balham, Battersea, Putney, Tooting & Wandsworth):
Haunted London
(2007)
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Introduction
Mitcham certainly has its fair share of mysteries!
When I originally published my booklet Strange Mitcham in 2002, I was forced to leave out many interesting stories because including them all would have increased production costs - and consequently the cover price - far beyond what was affordable. Happily, these missing stories can now be presented here, together with a number of new tales, many of which were sent to me by readers of Strange Mitcham.
So what can you read about here? The stories are a collection of folklore, traditions and - of course - tales of ghosts
and other mysterious phenomena, all related to Mitcham. Whereas some of the supposedly true accounts may tell of
genuinely inexplicable experiences, others might fall more comfortably into categories
such as legends and misperceptions, and the boundaries between such categories can be less defined than might be
supposed. (Indeed, such tales may often reveal less about the 'supernatural' than about the deeper mystery
of what it means to be human.) It is, therefore, up to the reader to decide how much to accept as 'real', how much
to value more for any insights into local history and how much simply to enjoy.
If, after reading the stories here, you find you want to discover more of Mitcham's strange tales, I am delighted to announce that a new (2011) edition of my original Strange Mitcham is now available:
click here for details.
And if this has whetted your appetite for local tales of ghostly goings-on, you will also enjoy Haunted Wandsworth, my 2006 book of ghost stories from the London Borough of Wandsworth (covering Balham, Battersea, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth). Again, you can buy copies of Haunted Wandsworth by ordering through my website.
The tales told in Mysterious Mitcham are being collected as part of Project Albion, an ongoing effort by ASSAP (the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena). Project Albion's eventual aim is to record and collate mysteries and folklore from all across the country in what has been called a 'Domesday Book of the paranormal'. If the number of odd stories in just this tiny part of England is anything to go by, the research will continue for a very long time to come!
Best wishes,
James Clark
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