Viking Of Canvey Point

The Point (Canvey Point) is reputedly haunted by a phantom Viking. Raymond Lamont Brown in his ‘Phantoms Legends, Customs and Superstitions Of The Sea (1972)’ described the ghost as being ‘6 feet tall, fierce looking, with a beard and long moustaches.’ He goes on to say that ‘Wildfowlers and fishermen who have seen him say that he wears a horned helmet and jerkin of coarse leather. As the phantom strides out over the mud-flats, his long sword, hanging loose from his belt, sends a clanking sound through the ever-rustling reeds.’

The Thames was vulnerable to Viking attacks and they used the nearby Benfleet as a base so there is a good reason for a Viking to be seen here. In 894 the Vikings at Benfleet were defeated by the army of King Alfred the Great (Born 849 – Died 26 October 899) under the command of his son Edward the Elder (Born between 874 and 877 – Died 17 July 924) and son-in-law Earl Aethelred of Mercia (Died 911).