An Elizabethan lady once regularly appeared at the top of a stair-ease at the palace, which served as the summer residence for the archbishops of Canterbury.

Witnesses said despair was written all over her face and she was repeatedly wringing her hands. It is thought this 16th century woman was pregnant when she committed suicide and now returns searching for her lost child.

The staircase has since been removed, but reports suggest the whole area has a discomforting feel, especially after dark.

A robed man has been spotted regularly about Nonsuch Park and especially at the main entrance.

He gazes towards the site of King Henry VIII's lavish palace with a forlorn expression upon his face.

The great fire that engulfed Croydon Parish Church in 1867 destroyed the tomb of Gilbert Sheldon, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 to 1677. His spirit then began to haunt the church and was seen by many people, usually at about a 17:45 in the evening, wandering sorrowfully about the church.

But in 1960 the archbishop's tomb was restored and since then there have been no further reports of his ghost.

A ghostly nurse used to haunt the wards and would usually be spotted by patients who did not have long for this world.

A pilot died after crashing his plane in heavy fog at the airport and his friends later reported seeing his ghost, especially during bad weather, when he would warn them not to take off.

The airport closed in 1959 and m builders who were working on the site reported hearing singing late into the night. They also spotted an airman with no face roaring past them on a motorbike.

It is thought Sir Walter Raleigh's body, minus his head, was sent back to Beddington where his wife's family lived. The cemetery of the parish church is believed to be haunted and a headless body clad in Tudor clothes has been seen wandering among the graves.

A bearded old man, thought to be a preacher, has been frequently spotted at this watering-hole.