What happens if you dance naked around the Devil's Bush in Pluckley, Kent's most haunted village? Do 'big cats' roam the local woods? Does the Devil appear if you manage to count the 'countless stones' at Aylesford? Is Bloody Mary more than just a childhood rumour? Does a phantom hitchhiker haunt the dark lanes of Blue Bell Hill? KENT URBAN LEGENDS is a new book by full-time monster hunter and folklorist Neil Arnold, a strange, quirky and downright weird collection of tales reputedly true yet never proven, passed down through generations and best told around a flickering campfire. Chinese whispers, playground murmurs, internet rumours, and friend of a friend tales are the most potent in that they can embed themselves into a local community despite the fact such yarns are not true. Stories can spread like wildfire despite lacking any detail, causing a snowball effect that can affect an entire village, town or city. KENT URBAN LEGENDS looks at a number of stories not just related to the county of Kent, but legends which have spread across the world, varying depending on the storyteller. Have you heard the one about the famous footballer who paid the mortgage of a couple who had booked their wedding on the same day as his? Have you heard about the girl whose hair was so dirty that all manner of creepy crawlies took up residence and eventually burrowed into her brain? And what about the woman who chomped down on her Chinese takeaway only to find the remains of some animal? These type of stories are known the world over, and you can guarantee that there's always someone you know who knows someone else this has happened to. Urban legends come in all shapes and sizes, but for the most part they are tales of horror - confined to mist-enshrouded lanes and eerie woods, but with KENT URBAN LEGENDS you'll also find out what happens if you play a heavy metal record backwards, or if some horror movies are cursed. You'll also find out if the Chelsea Smilers really did slash the mouths of school children in the 1980s, and what really happened to the woman who had a Killer In The Backseat of her car. Whilst tales of the Bunnyman, The Hook, and The Babysitter & The Man Upstairs may seem to have their origins in the USA, Neil proves that there's more to these scare stories than meets the eye, and delves into similar tales from Kent often involving lone female motorists and cavorting couples brave enough to venture into the night. From video nasties, to phantom viruses, from chain letters, to tales of monstrous bogeymen and out of place animals, KENT URBAN LEGENDS is one book you won't want to read before camping, driving, babysitting, or eating a meal! Be warned...the bogeyman is real after all! KENT URBAN LEGENDS is published by The History Press, with a foreword by Janet Bord (Alien Animals), is an essential book to be read by candlelight! Available from Amazon and all good bookshops, priced £9.99

I'm sure there are a few sceptics, detractors and the like among the people who, over the years have read my articles, seen me talks etc. I do wish more detractors and sceptics would come forward with their criticism's rather than hide behind a pseudonym to vent their frutrations at my words. It's a shame that people can't be more civil and simply come forward and talk of their issues, or at least ask questions, which is why on this blog I'm trying to appease everyone with snippets of info and evidence. Mind you, it's always nice when sceptical folk have an encounter with a 'big cat'. Three cases spring to mind over the last few years. One such report concerned a doctor, who, despite all his qualifications, as one of the most ignorant people I ever met. He once told me that he knew everything about British wildlife and constantly pooh-poohed the idea of exotic cats roaming the UK. "I've nevers een one..." he told me time and time again. Sadly, the guy became so angry over the years at my claims, that he began to get rather personal, which I find very weird. Recently I've had a few people telling me they are going to shoot these big cats if I don't do something about it - one chap stated that he was worried about children being killed - but surely a trigger-happy lunatic attempting to shoot a big cat is far more dangerous, especially if he ends up hunting his quarry and injuring it. Anyway, back to the doctor - this guy would ring me time and time again, telling me there were no 'big cats' in the wild, and that he'd never once seen any sign. Now, when I give talks, or write articles etc, I can only put or offer material within the space I'm allowed - but often I show photo's of sheep kills, scat, and whilst I'm happy for someone to say these animals don't exist - my argument is, "Okay then, so if a big cat didn't leave this sheep up a tree or didn't leave that paw print then what did ?" and that's when the sceptics get rather angry, and it's all rather petty.

So, this doctor, time and time again began persecuting my words and my research until one afternoon when he went for a countryside stroll with his Alsatian dog. It was a warm, clear day in Ashford and the path he'd taken was like any other path - bracken and brambles either side, a frequently used route by him and many other ramblers. The trouble is, on this occasion, at about 2pm his dog saw something that the doctor probably, deep down, never wanted to see - it was a black leopard sitting on the pathway about 80 yards ahead. The doctor so wanted it to be another dog, but his own dog began to growl, and then whimper and stood firm between his legs, refusing to move. The doctor tried to drag the dog along the path, refusing to believe what he was seeing, in his own ignorance he persevered along the wooded path until he got to within about 50 yards and at that point the animal up ahead shidted and was now standing on all fours. The doctor - especially due to his nature expertise which he was all to eager to tell me off, could see that the animal was around 5ft long and the tail seemed to swoop down behind it. The tail was thick. The shoulders were muscular, the head square and flat, there was no muzzle. The Alsatian continued to resist and the animal up ahead seemed to casually look at the frightened pair - then look away - and then back at them before slinking nonchalantly off into the undergrowth.

It took the doctor 4 months to phone me, but even then his voice was full of...what I can only describe as anger. "Someone probably just let a leopard go," he snorted. I tried to be polite, and so I tried to get every detail from him, distance, size of animal, and asked him was he sure it wasn't a feral cat, and it was that comment which seemed to irk him the most, but now he understood the sort of comments I'd received over the years. Even so, deep down I was actually happy for him and hoe that he'd felt privileged as to what he'd seen rather than simply angry with me because he was wrong. On another occasion a man from Meopham stated quite categorically that there were no 'big cats' in Britain, until he saw one, with a whole group of people whilst on a ramble through the woods of Meopham, not far from Gravesend. Again, it was a daylight sighting, and the group had observed the animal up ahead sitting on the pathway. At first the witness thought it was an Alsatian - or hoped it was - until it moved off slowly into the bushes, but at least this witness wasn't full of such contempt, he was oberjoyed he'd seen the animal. Another case actually involved a relative of mine, a completely ignorant man who for around fifteen years had resffused to take my research seriously. He always commented, "I go out shooting all over Kent and I've never seen a cat, surely if anyone was going to see one then it would be me." I laughed and replied, "If you're out blasting the hell out of rabbits I don't think there'd be a reason for a cat to be around, and let's fact it, you can't be 'all over Kent' at the same time can you ?"

My relative had been shooting not far from Sittingbourne on private land. He was watching a JCB in the distance when a massive black animal ran across the field. He immediately phoned me, his voice shaking as he reported the animal - he was so startled that anyone would have thought he'd seen a dinosaur. When I told him, jokingly, that I didn't believe him he slammed the phone down. Oddly, the man now thinks he's the only person in England to have seen a 'big cat'!!

Sceptics and the like are funny ol' folk. I've often been of the opinion that it's ideal to be open minded, nothing more nothing less. When, as a kid I began looking into sightings of 'big cats' I never believed them and I didn't scof at them either, I simply decided I'd look at the evidence. Over the years I have and have formed my own opinion based on this which I thought was the best thing to do, maybe I'm wrong. I certainly don't think it's a good idea to go out all guns blazing thinking these cats exist in their thousands etc, too much belief can be just as bad as too much disbelief, but if someone is genuinely trying to put the evidence out there then all I can say to the sceptics and detractors is, look at it with open eyes, or at least get in touch with any isues you have, rather than hide behind pseudonyms making petty comments. It's not a playground, it's a subject that interests many people and many people have sen these animals. For many years I've written about ghost stories etc, but I keep the 'big cat' research separate. I've never seen a ghost, but I'm open minded because so many people claim to have seen one but evidence is lacking, but with regards to exotic cats in the wild, there is evidence.

Yesterday I was contacted by a lady named Trina who found a fox carcass that had been completely rasped clean (see image). She sent me several images. I've had these looked at by 4 different people who all are of the opinion that a large cat had killed it. Clearly, the fox hadn't died of natural causes, and whilst birds may have finished the carcass off, the rasped ribs etc, are the hallmarks we see time and time again with cat kills. I'm more than happy for someone to step forward and challenge this opinion, but to dismiss is entirely through ignorance is the worst thing you can do. Being open minded and having healthy debate is great, but to believe or disbelieve at an extreme is ignorance.

When I conduct lectures and write books about my research into 'big cats', people often come up to me and ask me why I became a 'monster hunter'. Mind you, some people also ask me, "How the hell is being a 'monster hunter' a full-time job ?", haha! As I've mentioned previously, I began collecting data on 'big cat' sightings across the south-east when I was about 9, and through one or two full-time jobs I continued to write and to investigate as well as research sightings of a more folkloric nature. 'Big cats' in the woods of Kent, etc, are very much real animals, but I was always interested in monsters as a kid - as most kids should be - unless today of course they get sucked into the atrocities of programmes such as The X-Factor! Anyway, a few years ago I walked out of my appalling day job and realised there must be more to life than the 9-5 and the stresses and strains, and it was whilst working one day that I heard myself on the radio that I thought to myself, "I can't carry on doing this...." So, as Christmas came I collected my thoughts, and went back to my job...for a couple of hours....then walked out, and never looked back. I'm of the opinion that if you can find a niche in life, or at least have a shade of originality then you might get somewhere doing the things you love. Mind you, the biggest inspiration of all, came via my dad and grandad who, as a kid, often told me ghost stories. Everybody - whether you believe in them or not - loves the idea of a mystery - unless one is blinkered by what newspapers and tv programmes tell you. Even so, I come from a big family where there is lots of tradition and old fashioned values. As a kid three things changed the course of my life. One was a movie called The Legend of Boggy Creek, a '70s US flick made in a docu-drama style way which, so many years ago, was way ahead of its time and paved the way for modern films such as The Blair Witch Project. The Legend Of Boggy Creek was a creepy, low-budget movie about a Bigfoot-type monster roaming the river bottoms of Arkansas. Around the same time I was given a book by a relative of mine, and the book was called A Dictionary of Monsters & Mysterious Beasts, and was written by a Carey Miller. The book was an a-z of bizarre creatures, mostly mythical, but some allegedly true, such as the yeti and the Loch Ness monster, and I devoured it greedily as my mind worked overtime. However, the main turning point for me came when one dark night my dad took me to a place between Rochester and Maidstone called Blue Bell Hill. Now, I'm sure most of you readers have heard about the Blue Bell Hill ghost story, in fact if you type it in on Google or look at a majority of British or Kent-based ghost books you'll get so much information. Sadly, much of this information is incorrect, but the story - when I was a kid - freaked me out but also intrigued me. The village of Blue Bell Hill and its surrounding woods is ancient. The village is divided, by a dual carriageway, into two parts, the Lower Bell (where there is a pub) and the Upper Bell, near the crematorium.

According to my dad, and so many people there is a ghost story attached to this old hill which concerns a phantom hitchhiker. The legend is that many years ago a girl - who was due to be married - was killed on the hill in a terrible car accident - which also claimed the lives of two other women, her friends - whilst one girl survived. This is in fact a true event which took place in the November of 1965. It would seem that since this accident people have encountered a girl on the hill, and they say that she wears the bridal dress (or according to some people the ghost is one of the bridesmaids) she never got to wear on her wedding day. The main ghost story which people have passed down over the years is that a girl in a whitish dress thumbs a lift on the hill but vanishes from the backseat. According to the legend when people go to the house where she asked to be dropped off, they find out that the elderly couple who own the house "get this sort of thing all the time" but then go on to mention that the girl is their daughter....who died many years ago. A great spine-tingling ghost story and a tale that stuck with me for many years, until I found out that most of the details are completely incorrect. It seems that in most cases, what actually happens on the hill is that people knock a girl down in their vehicle but when they look under their car there is no sign of a girl (two separate incidents which took place in 1992 involved an Ian Sharpe and Chris Dawkins who knocked down a girl on different parts of the hill). The woman they describe does not wear a bridal gown of any kind. Now, many people love this story but it's not until you delve into some mysteries that you find that the facts are in fact far stranger than the fiction many reporters, authors and ghost story tellers would have you believe. It's highly unlikely that the girl on the hill is the spirit of the woman (or women) that were killed in 1965, especially as there are accounts of a girl from the hill dating back several decades before the crash. I believe the Blue Bell Hill ghost story - which changed my life - is a product of urban legend in most cases and that over the years the local newspapers have unintentionally embeeded the idea of athe girl in a bridal dress into the psyche of the Kentish community. It became a Chinese whisper.

When I heard this story as a child I became obsessed with Blue Bell Hill and now I know the place like the back of my hand and spend many days and nights there investigating reports of a creature that, rather hilariously became known as the 'beast of Blue Bell Hill'. during the late '90s. Blue Bell Hill is a rather strange area, steeped in history it harbours the fascinating and ancient Kits Coty House and Little Kits Coty House - mysterious sets of stones. There are many legends pertaining to these stones. The village also harbours several other ghost stories, one concerning a very young girl who was knocked down in 1974, another from 1993 in which an entire family whilst travelling up the Old Chatham Road encountered an old hag-type horror - a figure that has been seen a handful of times on the hill. There are also tales of phantom hounds, a giant hair-covered creature (not just the local flasher on the loose!), a flying jellyfish and crop circles. Sure, most of these tales are far-fetched but they add to the mystery of the hill. The old, overgrown quarries - the dark, spooky lanes, all add to the atmosphere. Add to this a legend or two of a large elusive 'big cat' - and yes, there are one or two in the area, then we have an ideal area for what ghost-hunters would term paranormal activity.

Blue Bell Hill is a lovely area, but the ghost story - like so many ghost stories, has become a classic yet stale legend. A good friend of mine named Sean Tudor has researched the ghost sightings on the hill for many years and uncovered some amazing facts and folklore which stretch way beyond the handful of hitchhiker tales that many of you have been fed over the years. His website www.roadghosts.com looks at some of these tales, but at the moment he is writing an enormous, in-depth book about the spooky hill. It's also worth noting that in my recent book Haunted Maidstone I devote a segment to the Blue Bell Hill area and its levels of high strangeness, but if anyone is brave enough, then please do book a place on my Blue Bell Hill ghost walk, www.bluebellhillghostwalk.blogspot.com  I decided to run these walks on the 2nd sunday of each month but am getting a lot of groups wanting private night tours which are far spookier. The walk lasts two hours, and we go into the woods, around the old stones, and I speak about the ghost sightings as well as look into the reports of 'big cats', and other strange phenomena. If you gave any queries then you can email/call the details on the ghost walk website.

So many places across the world, and especially in the UK have a peculiar aura about them, and Blue Bell Hill is one of those places. If my dad hadn't told me the ghost story when I was a kid, then I probably wouldn't have ended up the person I am today (some would say slightly unhinged ha!), but it's important that kids are given mystery and imagination in their lives, rather than being the product of ignorance. Kids may think wildlife or history, let alone ghost stories, are dull because their idea of entertainment is being put in front of a PC or tv screeen for hours and forced into a trance-like state by a computer game. Nature offers us some real magic, on our doorstep are so many marvels, and who knows, when I'm long gone, I hope deep down that a child may continue to carry the torch and write about and investigate the stories I did when I was their age. And who knows, maybe a trip to Blue Bell Hill could change your life, or at least open your eyes to the mysteries and marvels of nature that lurk just around the corner...

If you've seen a ghost on Blue Bell Hill, or heard of any unusual stories about the area, get in touch at: neil.arnold@live.com