The Ghost Coach of Brockley

Legend has it that there is a ghostly carriage that runs through Brockley Combe. There have been three documented cases of the carriage, and it has come to our attention that the parents of our followers had a very similar experience themselves.

The first group of people to experience this coach was a group of Romany Gypsies who were camped in the Combe over night. The witnesses said that the coach resembled a hearse like coach, drawn along by four horses, but the coachman driving the carriage was also headless.

The second documented case of a sighting of the coach was a sceptical man who upon hearing tales about the Combe being haunted, took it upon himself to investigate this on his own. After running into a group of football fans with whom he had had a run in with and a disagreement, he set off in a different direction from them and paused to catch his breathe. It was at this point the coach and horses revealed itself to him, thus making him a sceptic no more!

The third documented case of a phantom coach was that of a road cyclist taking a short cut through the woods when the coach materialised right in front of him and seemingly passed right through him.

And finally, reproduced below is a transcript of our follower at A41, whose parents encountered the coachman.....

"Hi guys... I saw your post about Brockley Coombe, thought I'd drop you a line. I used to hang around there quite a lot when I was younger; haven't had any encounters there myself, BUT my parents from Whitchurch in Bristol did have a strange one there about ten years ago.

About half way in from the Lulsgate side there is an area on the left that you can park up; there is now a fence there (entrance to a mill???), but years ago it was open and you could just pull over and walk on up the hill.

If you head on up the hill you'll come across the remains of an old road, with old brickwork walls on either side of you, that leads through the woods.

My parents headed out there one Sunday morning for a walk with their dog. As they were walking up through, they heard the sound of what they described as a 'horse and cart' coming towards them through the woods. Not wanting to spook the horse with the dog, etc. they put it on a lead and turned around, heading back out the way they had come.

They say that all the way back out, the horse and cart followed them - although they couldn't see it, assuming it was always just around the bend - they eventually reached the top of the hill and the parking area, so they stopped to see the horse and cart come out... when the sound ceased and nothing came out after them.

They told me about it, and although we thought it strange, nothing more was said... until about a year later I purchased a book on local ghost stories, and one of the stories connected to the Coombe was about a headless coachman? "

So there you have it, there seems to be plenty of paranormal activity in and around the Coombe. I am sure that some of it will reveal itself to the team in due course!