Ghost stories have kept Croydon’s haunted history marked firmly on the paranormal map, and old tales still linger.
Several people from Croydon have shared their ghostly encounters with the South West Londoner, further solidifying the prominence of Croydon’s haunted past.
Chris Martins sensed a “presence” in his friend’s new house, claiming when entering the small room joining the kitchen and garden he could feel the aura of something – or someone – sitting in the corner on the floor.
But nobody was there.
He said: “It was there every time I walked through that room. It’s really weird because you know that nobody is there, but it feels so real and it makes you question yourself.”
A few months after the encounter, Chris’s friend claimed the previous owner had taken an overdose in the very same room.
Another woman in Croydon had a series of ghostly encounters of her own while living in Selhurst on Henderson Road.
The first encounter occurred after doing some renovations to the upstairs hallway.
In the absence of a kitchen door, she installed a heavyweight velvet curtain, with lead weights sewn across the bottom.
One evening whilst in the kitchen the curtain moved, as if to let someone in.
She said: “There was no one else there and I definitely felt like I was being watched.”
The old Kings Cellars bar is a well documented haunt for the paranormal.
The stories claim the hauntings were triggered by the suicide of a young woman who jumped from the tower above.
One man tells the story of his mother, who ran the Kings Cellars in the 1970s when it first opened.
She would tell him of apparitions in the wine bar after closing, claiming to have seen the ghost several times.
Anecdotes of the wailing woman at the Croydon Minster or piles of bodies at the Rose and Crown have captured the minds of Croydonites for decades.
A particular hotspot for paranormal activity is the old Croydon Airport.
One such story is of a group of nuns that died as a result of a plane crash on 25 January 1947.
The accident is part of Croydon’s storied folklore and there have been reports of spectral nuns walking the grounds of the estate.
Other reports of ghosts from the area include a phantom motorcyclist, who vanished after passing by.
Below is Croydon’s paranormal map, drawn from the original published in 2016, detailing the locations of ghost stories all around the Borough.
Featured Image: East Croydon skyline, taken from inside the station. Credit: Joshua Brown
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