This story concerns a seemingly Fortean occurence which took place in 1996. I had just moved to Kent for my university course and was very new to the area, so the first time my mother came to visit, I was very keen to go exploring.
As there had been lots of publicity on the news that year about a renewed sighting of the Bluebell Hill road ghost, I suggested our explorations go in that direction... Between Burham and the A229 (of road ghost fame), we happened upon a spooky looking, derelict, overgrown cottage.
We clambered over the fence, pushed our way through the undergrowth and had a closer look. I took a photo of my mother standing outside (which stayed on the notice board in my student digs for ages and was probably left behind when we moved out). After a few minutes, she began to feel a bit edgy, feeling that perhaps the building was unsafe and we shouldn't be there.
Fast forward five months, I had passed my driving test and eager to explore the cottage again (without motherly restrictions!) I set off towards bluebell Hill... Only to find that the cottage had disappeared !
I remembered the EXACT spot. Everything else was there, the old barn next door; the crooked eldertree, but NO COTTAGE. It certainly hadn't fallen down, there was no trace, no rubble or anything, just weeds.
The spot looked like this:
For years I regaled people with the tale of the disappearing derelict house near Blubell Hill, thinking there might have been some connection with the other ghostly activity in the area. I even remember mentioning it to others on the FT message board a few years ago.
Fast forward again to January 2012. I was helping my child with a school project about Victorian farming, so we decided to visit the Museum of Kent Life near Maidstone... then lo and behold, there was the very same cottage! Fully restored and part of the museum's collection of Kentish buildings.
It seems that in 1996/97 the cottage had been donated to the museum and subsequently removed brick by brick and tile by tile to be reassembled at the museum, three miles away.
So it may take sixteen years to solve, but sometimes things that seem Fortean may not be so Fortean after all !
As there had been lots of publicity on the news that year about a renewed sighting of the Bluebell Hill road ghost, I suggested our explorations go in that direction... Between Burham and the A229 (of road ghost fame), we happened upon a spooky looking, derelict, overgrown cottage.
We clambered over the fence, pushed our way through the undergrowth and had a closer look. I took a photo of my mother standing outside (which stayed on the notice board in my student digs for ages and was probably left behind when we moved out). After a few minutes, she began to feel a bit edgy, feeling that perhaps the building was unsafe and we shouldn't be there.
Fast forward five months, I had passed my driving test and eager to explore the cottage again (without motherly restrictions!) I set off towards bluebell Hill... Only to find that the cottage had disappeared !
I remembered the EXACT spot. Everything else was there, the old barn next door; the crooked eldertree, but NO COTTAGE. It certainly hadn't fallen down, there was no trace, no rubble or anything, just weeds.
The spot looked like this:
For years I regaled people with the tale of the disappearing derelict house near Blubell Hill, thinking there might have been some connection with the other ghostly activity in the area. I even remember mentioning it to others on the FT message board a few years ago.
Fast forward again to January 2012. I was helping my child with a school project about Victorian farming, so we decided to visit the Museum of Kent Life near Maidstone... then lo and behold, there was the very same cottage! Fully restored and part of the museum's collection of Kentish buildings.
It seems that in 1996/97 the cottage had been donated to the museum and subsequently removed brick by brick and tile by tile to be reassembled at the museum, three miles away.
So it may take sixteen years to solve, but sometimes things that seem Fortean may not be so Fortean after all !
