Say the name ‘’Baker Street’ to most people and their immediate thoughts will turn to Sherlock Holmes, the seemingly infallible detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s extraordinary (if occasionally flawed) imagination. Ask them to name anything else connected with this street and many (including me) will mention the haunting and poignant autobiographical song by Gerry Rafferty.
Baker Street is in Marylebone in the heart of the bustling city. It has an underground station (on the Bakerloo line) and right around the corner stands Madame Tussaud’s and the London Planetarium, but Baker Street itself is an unprepossessing thoroughfare, with seemingly little but legend to recommend it.
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Named after the builder, William Baker, who laid out the street in the eighteenth century, it started life as a high-class residential area but is now comprised mainly of commercial premises; oh, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, situated at – you guessed it – 221B (which isn’t even a real address!). Confusingly, the museum is actually located between numbers 237 and 241.
A number of famous real people have lived in Baker Street –and some appear not to want to leave it. The eighteenth century actress, Sarah Siddons, is one of them. Her house was where number 228 stands today. She is seen walking through walls on the first floor.
Meanwhile, nearby, the (now closed) two-hundred-year-old Kenwood House Hotel, not only had sightings of an apparition dressed as a Cavalier gentleman, it also possessed that most fascinating of supernatural entities - haunted furniture. Specifically, the drawers opened and closed by themselves and the mirror…poltergeist activity has been reported. With no guests to tease or terrify, it is not known if the ghosts still haunt.
At 245-247, the Volunteer Gastropub not only feeds and refreshes its visitors, but guests can also look out for the ghost of Rupert Nevill, whose family owned a large manor house on that site which burned down in 1654. He is said to appear in the cellar – indeed, the cellars are the originals so would be familiar to him.
Deep underground isn’t free of apparitions either. Travellers on the Bakerloo line have reported seeing the reflection of a ghostly figure in the window, sitting next to them. But there is no one there…
Pamela Courtney is surrounded by ghosts when she is evacuated to Chanterlands. And they're not shy in coming forward...
“You don’t belong here. None of you do. None but us….”
1940. Fourteen-year-old Pamela Courtney is evacuated to Chanterlands where she will live with her two spinster aunts: Jilly, the eccentric one, who dreams of her days as a star of the silver screen, and Bunny, ever practical and down-to-earth.
But Chanterlands is home to more than just the living and some of them do not rest in peace. There’s the long-dead lonely boy whose room she sleeps in - and that’s only the start.
Pamela discovers the long-neglected attic and, as she sorts through the assorted detritus accumulated over generations of her forebears, more ghosts stir, and an ancient feud reveals just one of the sinister secrets of this once-great house.
But, in the grounds, there is much more danger awaiting Pamela during that summer long ago when war waged all over Europe and the safety her mother had wished for her took a dark and fatal turn.
Here is what they are saying about Ghosts of Chanterlands:
‘A classic ghost story in the vein of Susan Hill’ – Priya Sharma, World Fantasy Award Winner
“Ghosts of Chanterlands captures everything I love about classic gothic horror. Reminiscent of The Woman in Black, it weaves an eerie haunted house mystery through generations of family tragedy and loss. Catherine Cavendish creates an atmosphere so vivid and unsettling that I felt as though I were wandering the shadowed corridors of Chanterlands myself. A beautifully crafted ghost story that is both chilling and deeply poignant.” – Gaby Triana, Gothic suspense author of Moon Child
‘Fans of creepy, suspenseful gothic ghost tales will absolutely love this book’ – JG Faherty, author of Ragman, The Wakening and Sins of the Father
Coming out on August 18th 2026, available for pre-order at:
Images:
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Nick Wells/Flame Tree Press Studio