GhostFamous
The Unknown Sailor
He paid for their ale. They paid him back on Hindhead.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Inscribed 18th-century memorial stone by an old road
- Legend from
- Recorded event, 1786; ghost lore later
- Tone
- Dark history
He bought them drinks at Thursley. They walked him over Hindhead. Nobody ever learned his name.
In September 1786 a sailor walking to Portsmouth stopped at the Red Lion in Thursley and paid for drinks for three men he met there. They set off together along the old road over Hindhead, and the three men killed him and robbed him near the Punch Bowl. They were caught the same day, and the next year they were hanged on Gibbet Hill and left in chains. His name was never known. Thursley villagers paid for his gravestone, and a stone by the old road marks the spot. Walkers on the rim say he still walks.