Location: Pluckley, Kent.
Haunting Date: Tudor era - 1965.
Type of haunting: Apparitions, audible events and folklore.
Sources of research: Personal on-location investigation, published information and own experiences.
My conclusion: Under investigation.
Pluckley is a traditional Kentish village with it's recorded history stretching back to at least the 1086 Domesday Book, when the village was recorded as a more significant settlement than that of the now larger town of Ashford. The village sits on the Greensand Way long distance walking route, that stretches from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. The parish has a long connection to the Dering Family, that resided at the nearby Surrenden Manor, and many of the hauntings involve historic Dering family members. The village featured as the filming location to the ITV drama series 'The Darling Buds of May'.
I visited the parish, somewhat appropriately on All Hallows' Eve (31 October) 2025, to ring the church bells. Arriving early, I took the opportunity to visit the majority of the locations of the alleged hauntings in the parish, the photographs of which, with associated information with their respective hauntings, will be listed below. Whilst in the village and visiting the church of St Nicholas, I had the chance to speak with local author Ed Adams, who had just published his new book Pluckley: The Making and Faking of a Ghost Story. Mr Adams has spend a great deal of time researching the history and individual stories behind each alleged haunting, and has collated his findings in a very detailed book. The generally regarded 'hotspots' of activity in the village is The Black Horse Pub, which for a long time was closed and used as a residential property but is now back open to the public, and St Nicholas parish church.
The village itself gained 'fame' in the paranormal world in 1955 with the publication of a book by Frederick Sanders called Pluckley Was My Playground. Comprising largely of a collection of memoirs from his memories of growing up in Pluckley, the book is widely regarded to be the first publication that collates the 12 alleged ghosts of the village together in one record.
It is perhaps coincidental and/or fortuitous that at around the same time as the publication of Sanders book in the early 1950's, a former resident of Pluckley by the name of Desmond Carrington admitted to ''concocting a whole string of them'' for use in an article featured in the TV times, written by Bill Evans. The records of the hauntings on this page concern: The Miller, The Schoolmaster, The Red Lady, The White Lady, The Monk and the Lady of Rose Court, The Highway Man, The Phantom Coash and Horse, The Old Gypsy Woman, The Miller, The Colonel, The Screaming Woods and The Screaming Man.
The exact identity of 'The Miller' has been up for debate for some time, with evidence and historic sightings suggesting two possible people. The location of the haunting is at the site of the old Pluckley windmill, which was located on the patch of grass in front of the tree photographed below. There are rather unhelpful coincidences when it comes to the signings of The Miller, as there are a number of people who claim the apparition is seen regularly, yet nobody is willing to come forward to identify themselves and give information. There are numerous claims that a 'black like ghost shape' is seen regularly and many believe this to be The Miller.
One claim is that the black figure was sighted by the last resident of Pluckley Mill, Richard 'Dicky' Buss, before the mill was struck by lightning and burnt down.
The other claim is that the apparition is Richard 'Dicky' Buss himself, which would contradict the claim by Mr Buss, that he had seen an apparition.
Further information regarding The Miller is a quite that it is ''a very old ghost of a miller who hung himself from a beam inside the mill and legend has it that whenever something horrible is going to happen in the village, the ghost will make its appearance, hanging from one of the beams inside the mill.'' This sighting would no longer be possible as the mill no longer exists.
The only actual recorded sighting is that by Richard 'Dicky' Buss, who claims to have witnessed the apparition himself. This would, therefore, shed doubt on the claims that the haunting is that of Mr Buss. A third variation of the sighting is that the old mill was haunted by the ghost of a miller, who is witnessed at night, searching for his lost love.
The mill was active until 1916 with the final miller Charles Buss, the son of Richard 'Dicky' Buss, ceasing milling at the site officially in 1919, when he was 74 years old. The mill was in a poor condition of repair, sometimes claimed as 'ruinous' by 1932, and during a storm in April 1939 the mill was struck by lightening and burnt down. The ruins of the stone base of the mill were visible in 1940 but were eventually removed altogether. There are claims that the black figure was sighted around the ruined brick base of the former mill, until it was eventually removed. Aerial imaging showed traces of the footprint of the mill until circa 2025, when all visible aerial traces were lost.
The site of the former Pluckley Mill was on the grassland in front of the tree photographed. The patch of 'greener' grass in the photograph is where the mill stood, taken from the public footpath commonly named 'Dicky Buss's Lane'.
I am of the opinion that the ghost of The Miller is perhaps one of the better evidenced and credible cases in Pluckley. Despite the many contradictory reports and three differing claims of the apparition, I believe that the ghost is not that of the 'Dicky' Buss, but is that of the old miller, that he claims to have witnessed. This narriative would not only corroborate the record of Richard Buss and his sighting of the apparition, but would also support the claims of sightings seen both before and after his death. If the belief that the ghost is that of Richard Buss himself, it would immediately bring into question perhaps the most credible statement that Mr Buss had witnessed a 'black silhouette', and the claims of a figure hanging from the beams of the former mill. Richard Buss did not die in this way, and that would therefore unlikely be his ghost.
Pluckley Windmill during it's operational period. Pre 1919.
Pluckley Windmill in a ruinous state prior to being struck by lightning in April 1939.
The base of Pluckley Windmill prior following the fire of April 1939, and prior to the demolition and removal of the ruined brick base around 1940.
Much like the case of The Miller, there are a number of versions to the story of The Hanging Man, also referred to as the Schoolmaster or The Ghost of Dicky Buss' Lane, the location of this alleged haunting.
The first version of the story is that of the Smarden schoolmaster, who went missing for two weeks before being found by Richard 'Dicky' Buss, having comitted suicide after World War One. This is all the recorded information of this version of events.
The second version of 'The Schoolmaster' involves Henry Turff, the headmaster of Pluckley School. He was very close friends with the headmaster of the school at Smarden, who would travel to Pluckley every Sunday to meet with Henry Turff. One Sunday, the Smarden headmaster went missing, and was later found near to the Mill, having hung himself from a tree over what is now called Dicky Buss' Lane. So upset by the suicide of his friend, Henry Turff decided to take his life a few days later, hanging himself from the same tree that his friend had been found at. In terms of sightings of these individuals, the Smarden headteacher has never been sighted, however it is believed that the ghost of Henry Turff has been seen on the lane/footpath, hanging from the tree where he took his life. It was this ghost that was witnessed by a journalist, who claimed the ghost was dressed in a green blazer and stripy trousers.
The third version of events dates from around the 1920s, specifically at the end of Dicky Buss's Lane, where a group of children on their way to school found the body of their teacher, hanging from a tree. There is no recorded reason for the teacher's suicide, but it is claimed that on nights with a bright full-moon, his body can be seen swinging from the branch of the tree. There is no way of knowing what tree, if it even still exists, this surrounds.
The fourth version somewhat contradicts that of the second, as the records claim that the headmaster of Smarden was Henry Turff, and not the headmaster of Pluckley. Research on various sources claims that Turff was the headmaster of Pluckley, whilst other records claim he was the headmaster of Smarden. In any case, this version of events claims that Turff would travel to Pluckley to visit his friend Richard 'Dicky' Buss, and the rest of the story is the same as that of version two.
All versions of the alleged apparition of The Schoolmaster involve trees. Although no trees are visible now, record show that by the 1920s until after World War Two there was an area of trees at the end of Dicky Buss's Lane on the way to The Windmill.
Looking up Dicky Buss's Lane, which is now a public footpath.
I am of the opinion that the ghost of The Schoolmaster is a hoax. There are a number of contradictory versions, none of which are supported with any strong evidence. Even details of Henry Turff and whether he was the schoolmaster of Pluckley or Smarden are non-conclusive. Additionally there have been no recorded sightings of the ghost whether historical or in 'modern' times.