91. The Phantom Plane
When ghost stories concern inanimate objects, and certainly objects said to not have souls as people allegedly do, it's always of interest to know as to why such things should haunt.
The Kentish Independent of December 11th 1975 reported on an intriguing find whilst excavations were under way in the construction of Thamesmead. The report claimed that a complete World War II fighter plane had been uncovered on the marshes, bereft of its pilot. Strangely, a spectral airman was said to haunt the Tavy Bridge area around the same time, and more-so the region where the plane was discovered which had become a butcher's shop. Locals even reported the strange whirring sounds of a dying engine belonging to a plane but saw no plane descend to the ground to tear into the landscape.
On the 18th of December the Kentish Times ran a rather contradictory article, stating that a pilot had indeed been found within the plane but the reporter for the paper, who decided to enquire further, came up with a blank when the GLC commented that there was no record whatsoever of a plane being found - although there was mention of a WWI and not WWII plane being found there once!
As the tale began to tie the reporter in knots, he sadly gave up his research as the Ministry of Defence could shed no further light on the speculation, and the Public Records Office as well as the Imperial War Mseum stated that to look into such a matter would, at the time, take too long.
So, who knows whether a plane did crash on what is now known as Thamesmead, or whether it was excavated, with or without pilot? Indeed, the case in general seems to be a phantom episode of sorts.
Photo by tarotastic on flickr
