The Spirits of Chislehurst Caves

Today I decided to do something which I have been meaning to do for a while, and that is to take a walk down to Chislehurst Caves and take the tour. It's roughly a two-hour walk each way from mine, and seeing as the sun was shining and I finally had no other plans, it seemed like the perfect opportunity! And lucky me - I arrived just in time for the 11am tour and was the only one of the tour.


The caves themselves are impressive; the only written proof that the caves exist are in Church mining records from 1737. However, they are believed to be much older than that. Whilst it is generally agreed that they were been dug initially to find chalk and flint back in 1250. One particularly eccentric archaeologist who worked on the caves (William Nichols, then Vice President of the British Archaeological Association) believed that they could be old enough to have been dug by the Druids! There are roughly 20 miles of tunnels beneath the surface, which over the years have been used not just for mining, but as an ammunitions storage site during the First World War, air raid shelter during the Second World War, a mushroom farm, a concert venue (having hosted the likes of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix), TV filming location, and now as a tourist attraction.


It is unsurprising that an old cave with such a rich history has its fair share of spirits. I will admit, I didn't sense much for most of the tour. However, as we got to one particular point, I become aware of many different spirits - too many to discern one over the other! Interestingly, this is where the tour guide decided to stop and tell the first ghost story. He did say that there was no historic evidence to prove that it was anything but a ghost story, but according to the internet the bones of a woman were found in that location in the 1940's. She is known as the White Lady, and her spirit has been seen rising from the shallow pool where she was drowned by her husband. The tour guide told me that following the reports, the owner of the cave decided to issue a challenge; if any person could spend the night near the pool with nothing but six candles and a sleeping bag, they would win £5 (which would probably be about £120 today). The owner very quickly rescinded the offer, as most of those who did take him up on it ended up very much not OK following the experience.


Another spirit said to haunt the caves is that of a young girl is reported to have died during a partial cave collapse in 1939. Her, and several other child spirits, are said to throw things at visitors whilst giggling (I was lucky enough to leave the caves unscathed). Then of course, there are the spirits of those who never left the shelters during the years that the World Wars were taking place, and the spirits of the Druids have even been said to walk the tunnels!


I personally found it interesting that throughout the entire tour, the spirit activity seemed to be concentrated around the one pool of water that had naturally collected within these tunnels. The element of water has played a large part in many death rites and rituals, through various different cultures and traditions; it acts as a portal, a barrier between this world and the world of the dead. It doesn't surprise me that this would be the place the spirits would choose to congregate!


As well as the standard day-time tours, the caves also put on evening 'spooky tours' which I am definitely going to be keeping an eye open for - it seems like the perfect opportunity to learn more and see if more spirits present themselves.


For anyone in or around the London area, I highly recommend checking out Chislehurst caves. Unfortunately they don't allow any photos to be taken in the caves otherwise I would be posting them here. And when I returned to the surface roughly 45 minutes later the next tour - the 12pm - looked to be fully booked! Tours are held on the hour, and I definitely recommend getting their early as spots on the tour are allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis.