Kent's ghosts, ghouls, and visitors from space
YOU will either be quaking in your boots or shaking with laughter after reading Neil Arnold's book.
A quick flick and you will discover our county is inhabited by ghosts, mysterious beasts, witches, zombies and even aliens.
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Canterbury: Review of book Paranormal Kent by Neil Arnold
The latter don't stay long, apparently preferring to snatch and go rather than getting to know the natives.
No need worry, however, for those of us living in east Kent. Apparently the ghouls, ghosties and spine-tingling visitors prefer to head west.
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There is, however, a mention of three women being executed as witches under the headline The Day The Devil Came Down To Faversham.
Mr Arnold writes: "Most defendants admitted their crimes following 'examination' – otherwise known as torture."
The first anti-witchcraft law was introduced by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 668 but it was not until the 15th century that witch hunts began in earnest.
In 1645 Joan Williford, Joan Cariden and Jane Hott stood trial before the Mayor of Faversham, Robert Greenstreet.
According to reports at the time, the widow Hott told the other women to confess but denied being a witch herself, insisting she would sink if "put to the water" – a sign of innocence.
Suspicious inspectors plunged her into the water anyway and were surprised to see her floating.
She later explained that the "Divell" had told her she would sink.
Joan Williford confessed that the devil came to her in the shape of a dog and gave her money.
Joan Cariden said the Devil, in the shape of a black dog, had climbed into her bed and spoke in a "mumbling language," promising to revenge those who had done her wrong in return for her soul.
Mr Arnold also refers to the town's "phantom fox," an outbreak of "globules of fire" dancing near apple trees in Upstreet, Canterbury in 1927 and spooky goings-on at a former burial ground at the crossroads of the A253 and A266 south of Margate where there used to be a gibbet.
He quotes John Harries, who wrote The Ghost Hunter's Road Book. Mr Harries told of a mysterious glowing light which moves along the road then "momentarily takes on the shape of a robed figure."
Mostly, though, Mr Arnold, a hunter of big cats from the Medway Towns, considers the rest of the county far more esoteric, with many pages spent in Rochester and Pluckley. Frustratingly, there is no index to quickly check sightings in your own town. Eileen O'Brien
Paranormal Kent by Neil Arnold is published by The History Press and costs £9.99.
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