Country and County: United Kingdom

Slaptonbury Mill

There is a ghost legend attached to Slaptonbury Mill, of which not even ruins remain.

A4146 Crossroads, Edlesborough

The Dagnall road near Edlesborough may be haunted by a phantom black car.  In 1961 Mr Stanley Prescott from Dunstable and his wife were driving along the A4146 when, as they approached the B489 junction, Mr Prescott was forced to take his car off the road and through a hedge by an oncoming vehicle.

Jack the Leather, Edlesborough

Jack the Leather was a highwayman who is said to have been caught whilst hiding in the stables of Church Farm. According to tradition, soldiers noticed the lathered farm horses that Jack had been exercising each night by riding them around the farm’s spring-fed moat. He was captured and dragged to a Gibbet at either Ivinghoe Beacon, or Gallows Hill.

Dick Turpin, Edlesborough

On dark nights it is said that the ghost of Dick Turpin rides the road leading from the 13th century St Mary the Virgin Parish Church towards the Tring Road. Local legend says he would hide in the attic of Butler’s Manor at Northall and watch for potential coaches to hold up.

Gallows Hill, Ivinghoe

Gallows Hill stands 615 feet above sea level and it is thought to have the remains of a Bronze Age barrow on it, bones from which were discovered in the 19th century. At one post medieval time the hill is said to have mounted a gallows from which it gets its name.  It is from this time that the story of its haunting is thought to derive from.

Ivinghoe Beacon

The National Trails Ridgeway footpath begins and ends at Ivinghoe Beacon on Beacon Hill. The remains of a late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age univallate hill fort and numerous barrows can be found here. The ramparts are 2m high in places and it is thought that the main ditch around the fort would have been 3.1 meters m wide and 2.2 meters deep.

Stert Crossroads

According to the BBC Domesday Project, a ‘ghost lurks at Stert crossroads where once a carriage overturned killing all who rode in it. Subsequently, suicides, fatalities etc have regularly occurred.’

The Bird in Hand, Chinnor

The Bird In Hand public house on Lower Road closed in 2000. According to the BBC Domesday Project, ‘A young baby is believed to have died in an inn called ‘The Bird in Hand’ in Chinnor; the sound of its crying has been heard several times.