Laying Pluckley’s ghosts: Frederick Sanders and the origins of the “Most Haunted Village in England” 1939 – 1979

Moreton, Simon

Abstract

The village of Pluckley in the British county of Kent has enjoyed a reputation for being ‘the most haunted village in England’ for over seventy years. Popular books on ghosts have featured the village and its stories since the late 1960s, and the total now stands at between twelve and sixteen ghosts. This article uses archival research to piece together the origins of these stories and traces their earliest known recording to the work of a local historian named Frederick William Thomas Sanders during the period 1939 – 1960. The paper then subsequently traces these stories into the 1970s to map both their evolution and proliferation. It offers historical context for an example of a ‘Haunted Village’ for folklorists interested in research on ghosts as a cultural, social, and historical phenomena, as well as providing evidence of the means by which ghostlore can be produced and reproduced as a form of contemporary folklore.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 5, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 12, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 7, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2025
• Print ISSN: 0015-587X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8315
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 136
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 39-61
• Keywords: folklore; local history; memory; place; ghosts
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/12035851