Blue Bell Hill, the road with a ghostly history

There has long since been speculation that the ghost of Suzanne Browne haunts Blue Bell Hill

It has long since been rumoured that Blue Bell Hill is haunted by ghosts of the past.

Today it is the dual carriageway which links the Medway towns, Maidstone and the M20, but the original road which remains has been the birth place of many an urban legend.

None more so than Suzanne Browne, a 22-year-old who died in a car crash on 19 November, 1965 - on the eve of her wedding to RAF technician Bryan Wetton.

Sue Marshall, an investigator with Paranormal Inspectors, says a common misconception is that the bride-to-be died at the scene.

Blue Bell Hill bride

Ms Marshall told Secret Kent: "She actually was taken to hospital and died five days after. This is the one that they say is the bride that's walking around because she died on the scene, well she didn't."

Three of four women involved in the crash near the bridge over the Old Chatham Road died.

There was a common belief that Miss Browne died immediately, it was actually her friend Judith Lingham who passed away at the scene.

Fellow investigator Jo Fleming says that, since the tragedy, there have been "many, many reports of supposedly the bride of Blue Bell Hill".

One urban legend is that, in 1969, a man travelling home to Rochester late at night saw two pedestrians walking towards him who then suddenly disappeared.

It is rumoured that, in 1974, a bricklayer from Rochester saw a young girl jump in front of his car when driving through Blue Bell Hill.

There are other reported sightings and strange happenings, though Ms Marshall urges a degree of caution.

She said: "Most of these things are happening when it's very dark at late at night...[it is possible] that they've just misinterpreted what they've seen.

"I hate to say that because I want it to be something that we can go and investigate."

The investigator admitted that the 1965 accident is "probably more folklore now than it is a true story", but says she and her colleagues have a desire to "find the real stuff, if there is real stuff".

Whatever the truth of the story of Suzanne Browne, Ms Fleming does not believe that the happenings on Blue Bell Hill is a surprise.

She said: "As a paranormal investigator, I don't believe in coincidence.

"Nothing's a coincidence. I think the history and the energy of the area is just strange. It's just, you can feel it. I think even non-believers can feel something."

Ms Marshall agrees.

"It's an incredible place, lots of history. There's definitely something there, we just don't know what," she said.