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Explore the author's map to discover strange stories from Mitcham and the surrounding areas.

'MYSTERIOUS
MITCHAM'

Contents:

Front Cover

Introduction

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'Mysterious Mitcham' is the online sequel to the original 'Strange Mitcham', which contains stories not found on this website:

Second (2011) edition is now available in paperback and eBook formats.

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 Spectral
Soldier of Graham
Road

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

'Haunted Mitcham' Facebook group:

Facebook group set up
by Geoff Mynn in
January 2015

Heritage maps

Thanks to the
Mitcham Society
and Merton Council
there are some very
nice heritage
maps of Mitcham
available.

Download for free
via this link.

The Mitcham Ghost
Ride

Strange Mitcham
(2002): Errata

Strange Mitcham
(2011)

Paperback:



Kindle:

Haunted Wandsworth
(2006)

Ghosts and legends of the London Borough of Wandsworth (covers Balham, Battersea, Putney, Tooting & Wandsworth):

Haunted London
(2007)

Ghosts and legends of London:

Haunted Lambeth
(2013)

Ghosts and legends of the London Borough of Lambeth (covers Brixton, Clapham, North Lambeth, Norwood, Stockwell & Streatham):

The Poltergeist Prince
of London
(2013)

The remarkable true story of the Battersea poltergeist:

An Apparition at Woof & Sabine

The following story took place in around 1968 and was related to me by Mrs Yvonne Green whose husband Peter had been works manager at the old Woof and Sabine factory that used to stand just to the south of Mitcham Station (now Mitcham tram stop), on Tramway Path.

Above: Tramway Path. Mitcham tram stop lies to the left in this picture, while the factory stood on the right. (James Clark, 2010)

Peter Green was in charge of three men and during one night shift, said Yvonne, 'the men had been in the little side room where they had an evening snack. They came back out into the main workshop - of course it was only a very small factory - one of the men came out into the shop and just as he got out someone followed on behind him, and the first man shouted out: "Hey! What are you doing there? How did you get in? Where are you going?"

'And they saw this figure of a man ... and he just disappeared through the wall. They said he was a little man, with a long raincoat and a cloth cap. And they were quite badly shaken, obviously. Particularly as they were going to be there all night.'

Peter told Yvonne about the incident, and she later mentioned it to a friend of hers: 'I happened to know Kitty Tilley - she was a very well known Mitcham athlete. She was a friend of mine and I happened to be talking to her and I said, "Tell me, did anything unforeseen happen at Tramway Path?" She said, "What do you mean?" So I said, "Well, was there a tragedy or anything along there?" "Well," she said, "you know that they used to excavate sand along there?" And she said one of the [holes] apparently was filled up with water and this man was drowned.'

When Yvonne told Kitty that the apparition had been of a 'little man with a cloth cap and a long coat', her friend 'just went very, very white and she said, "Oh, Mr Smith."

'So I said, "Well, did you know him?" and she said, "Oh yes. He was my best friend's father."

'And apparently he must have just [drowned]. How he got into the [water] I have no idea - I don't think they ever knew. But he must have fallen in and he was drowned. And it was really the fact that Kitty was so distressed at the description - straight away she just said, "Oh, Mr Smith" ... I don't know whether anyone else has ever seen anything.'

Addendum:

In February 2012 Yvonne's son, Ewan, contacted me to pass on the following information:

'Just to add a bit to my mother Yvonne's account of the above incident, I'm sure it was not a one off.

'I distinctly recall being at home around 9 p.m. one night when a panic-stricken Reg [surname withheld] – whom my father had left in charge of the night shift – arrived at the door (before we had a phone) and garbled out a story about seeing a stranger walk across the shop floor and through the wall.

'Reg was white and trembling and took a lot of calming down.

'I was at primary school at the time, so it would have been earlier than the incident my mother recounted – probably around 1961 or 1962.

'[…] We used to go round [to the factory] to meet Dad on occasions as he was finishing for the evening, and play on a small mechanical lift. We never saw anything untoward but I have to say it always felt creepy and I would never have wanted to be there alone.'

[Sources: personal communication with Yvonne Green, May 2005; personal communication with Ewan Green, 2012]