A Plympton Ghost?

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Now we have all heard ghost stories in the past, and I’ve always been sceptical about them.

But I have come across 3 different accounts of something that cannot be easily explained, in the same place, by 3 people who I know didn’t know each other. I haven’t named them by the way, but what you read here is the absolute truth as I have been told it.

Account 1

The first incident was in 1985. A group of us were 16, and used to hang around on small 50cc motorbikes, around the cherry park area. One late august evening, around  8:00, one of the lads came up to us white as a sheet. He said he was riding his bike, and fancied riding it off-road for a bit, and knew a good spot to do it.

Half way up an old wooded lane called Drunken Bridge Hill, is a path that goes into some very old woods which are quite think. He road up the path as he had done several times before. It was dark. He turned around to go deeper into the woods and saw a shimmering white figure, standing there in the woods in front of him. He knew what it wasn’t, it wasn’t anything that he’d seen before, and It definitely wasn’t someone dressed up. He could see partially through the figure, and the shimmering glow was totally un-natural. He immediately turned around and fled the woods, back to us where he relayed the story.

It was met with a bit of derision, but you could tell by actually looking at him that he was very shaken. We wanted to go down there, but our friend would not go, and never did again. A few of us did go down there a few times for a look, but never ventured far into the woods, as it was very creepy.

It was something that we quickly forgot about though, although it always remained in the back of my mind when I went along the Drunken Bridge Hill.

Account 2

I had totally forgotten about it, when in 1995, I was talking to a friend in a pub. I had know this guy about 5 years, and knew that he didn’t know the other guy, as I knew him from a stint as a barman in a pub, (him not me), and the other guy had been married for several years, and just didn’t move in the same circles anymore.

I’ll call the guy Pete just for clarity’s sake, however that’s not his real name. Pete now lived in London, and had just came back for the weekend, and wanted to catch up with a few people over some beers.

We were sat down and he said that something weird had happened to his parents a few weeks beforehand, it was late Summer. They were dropping his grandparents home, and driving up Drunken Bridge Hill. In the trees high up, they saw a shimmering white figure which was definitely not human, and un-natural. It just stood up high on a bank looking down on them. Pete’s dad drove away as fast as possible, but they all knew what they’d seen, and his grandparents refused to talk about it afterwards.

Now as soon as he told me this, I was intrigued. 2 Totally separate people with no connection relaying a story about seeing a ghost in the same place. Still could be a coincidence though.

That was until one of my other friends bought a cottage in back lane, juts below the woods of Drunken Bridge Hill.

Account 3

I was in one of the pubs in Plympton again in late summer 1996, twice in 2 years, not bad! And was speaking to some friends of mine who lived near the woods. Remembering the two stories I’d been told, I asked if they had seen anything strange in the woods seeing as they lived right opposite, but I didn’t ask why.

“Funny you should say that”

They hadn’t seen anything, but certainly heard it. The bedroom faced out onto the woods, and late one night while they were sleeping with the windows open, they were woken by the most awful grunting and groaning. It didn’t seem natural at all. It was shuffling about in woods just above their house. The man went out with their two dogs, a Doberman and a terrier to investigate. Now they told me that these two dogs as soon as they get outside the house, they’ll always run straight up into the woods, and I’ve seen them, their not timid animals by any means.

When he got outside, the two dogs would only go half way across the lane, and stand looking up at the woods growling. They would not budge any further. The noise continued, and it sounded like someone was shuffling about in the leaves. Anyway, the guy went back in the cottage, closed the windows and they tried to get some sleep.

The next morning he went out and looked up in the woods. The bank was very steep, and anyone would have had problems standing on it, let alone walking around. The most puzzling thing was that none of the leaves on the floor were disturbed They looked as if they had been untouched for days. As soon as he went up into the woods, he made tracks, which were very visible, and was making less noise than he had heard the night before.

He said to me that the side of the woods where he had heard the noise always seems a bit spooky and unnatural, as if someone is there watching you.

I have been told 3 separate accounts of supernatural sort of occurrences happening at different times in the woods off Drunken Bridge Hill. I am now less skeptical about it, and any other occurrences people know of would only seem to strengthen the evidence that there is something there.

I have been emailed the following account by a resident of Back Lane, Sharney Adams, who also kindly supplied the photos.

Account 4

"I have lived in Back Lane for seven years and in reference to your ghost section, have witnessed a few strange events.

A figure walks right to left across one of two windows in the sitting room, the figure then disappears behind the wall in between those two windows, I have looked to find no one, it sends absolute terror right through my bones. I first think that the figure must be tying a shoe lace or checking their dog. Both myself and friends have kept eyes on both windows and also opened the windows fully to find no one at all. It certainly has made a few non believers think again about the supernatural.

I haven't thank god, seen or heard anything in the woods, those stories certainly make me feel even more uneasy."

If anything, this must merit further investigation.

I must admit though, those woods do make you feel uneasy.