Haunted Hampshire

Haunted Hampshire gathers almost 100 reported ghostly encounters from across the county, arranging them as a geographical tour through the New Forest, Winchester, Southampton, the Downs, the Test Valley and the hills around Overton.

The accounts range from ghostly seamen said to haunt Portsmouth’s King’s Bastion to Roundhead horsemen reportedly seen at Crondall and a haunted megalith at Mottistone. Matthews includes eyewitness testimony alongside the traditions attached to each place, covering settings that include pubs, churchyards, castles and ports. The result is a county-wide collection rooted in local stories, historic locations and claims of strange encounters, presenting Hampshire’s haunted reputation through individual cases rather than a single continuous narrative.