The Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch, Worcestershire, England was officially opened in 1976 by the Prime Minister at the time, James Callaghan. The brand new shopping mall boasted around 150 stores and 4 multi story car parks. The walkways in the centre are based on the original layout of the old town roads and many of the shops were built over the original foundations of the buildings that originated from the 19th century, some older. Where the public toilets now stand on Evesham Walk, once stood the Evesham Street Congregational Chapel along with its graveyard which was used for many of the local needlemakers, which was the main industry of the town.
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The graves were exhumed and moved to the Victorian Cemetery on Plymouth Road which is nearby. According to a local urban legend, some of the graves were never moved and they are still underneath the shopping centre.
Not long after the Kingfisher Shopping Centre opened, paranormal activity was reported and most of it seemed to come from the Evesham Square area. When the was centre shut at night, the police were called out many times to various incidents. They were called out one night as a man was seen walking around the balcony area above Evesham Square. |
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A police officer saw the man and rushed up the steps and ran towards him. The man just casually walked away from the officer as if he wasn’t there but as he approached the man, he turned left and walked into a shop front, even though there was a roller shutter that was down at the time.
On another occasion, a baby was heard in Evesham Walk and the police were called out again. They walked to the water fountain that was once in Evesham Square and the crying baby sounded like it was coming from the balcony above. They went up the steps to the balcony and the crying was coming from the water fountain. The police stayed around for a few hours to search the area but nothing was found. The crying baby has been reported by many people over the years but no one has ever seen it.
There used to be benches around the water fountain and in the 1980’s two teenage cousins experienced something really strange. After they’d finished school, the two girls went into the shopping centre to browse the latest fashion accessories, when they decided to have a rest and sit on one of the benches around the water fountain. They were sat talking when a man approached them, pleading for them to help him. They said that the man was very vague and couldn’t speak properly, they also noticed red marks on his neck. After a short while, he handed them a letter an walked away. The girls went back to one of their houses and they gave the letter to her dad. He read the letter but he wouldn’t tell the girls what it contained. It was a suicide note. Days later, when the local newspaper was delivered, one of the headline articles was about a prisoner in the local Hewell Grange Prison who had committed suicide in his cell. His name was the same name that was on the letter.
When people have been into The Works bookshop in Evesham Square, they’ve reported books being thrown across the shop and hitting or nearly hitting customers as they are shopping.
The last shop at the end of Evesham Walk, in Evesham Square is now Primark but from when the shopping centre opened in 1976 it was Owen Owen and later it became Alders.
Over the years, workers in the building have experienced various amounts paranormal activity. One lady worked at Owen Owen for 27 years, she often reported hearing footsteps and doors being slammed in the toilet area when no one was around. She also said that in the corridor the lights would flicker and shadowy figures would be seen walking around.
An early morning cleaner who worked at Owen Owen and Alders when it changed would often find objects fanned out over the floor in different locations around the store. She and other workers would often experience cold spots, hoovers were mysteriously unplugged when only the cleaners were in the store, she said that they always felt like they were being watched and that they’d always see things move from the corner of theirs eye but never seem to get a full glimpse of anything.
Near Evesham Walk is Canon Newton House, part of the shopping centre that has been used for office’s and various other administration use. One night after the centre had closed and was locked up, a security guard had an experience that terrified him so much that he wouldn’t go into Canon Newton House. At night, the steps to the first floor were blocked off for security reasons and the guards had to use the elevator to gain access between floors. This particular night, the guard was doing his usual rounds and had to go on to the first floor of Canon Newton House. He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the next level and all was normal until he stepped out on the next floor. A man dressed in a hooded robe that looked like a monk, walked towards him. The guard ran back into the elevator and nearly fell over. He pressed the button to go back to the ground floor ad the door shut, when suddenly the guard saw the monk in behind him in the mirror, he’d walked through the elevator door. As he travelled down to the ground floor, the monk stayed on the upper level. Ghostly monks are a very common sight in Redditch, perhaps its because of the local Cistercian Bordesley Abbey ruins that was founded in the 12th century and was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.
A shop was staying open late one night due to the launch of a new computer game and the security guards worked late to manage the crowd. It was quiet around 11:15, so one of the guards decided to take their break while their colleague stayed in the area. They walked along Evesham Walk and past JJB Sports and onto the old escalator which lead to the balcony. As they walked along the balcony, they happened to look through a window and noticed that there was another reflection as well as their own. They described the figure as big built and all in black, they couldn’t see the face and it felt like someone had crept up behind. As this part of the centre was closed off, there was no chance of anyone else being around but they felt a sense of panic and screamed. They turned around to see who was behind but there was no one there, they were only in the reflection. When they explained to the other staff what had happened, they said that a monk is always seen around that area and many people have seen it, including the work colleague.
Security guards have also reported having clothing pulled and being pushed by unseen hands. The cleaning cupboard for the janitors of the mall are next to the elevators of Canon Newton House and the janitors have reported seeing them move up and down without anyone in them and the doors staying open.
In the early 1990’s, a window cleaner was doing his daily round before the shops opened, when he had to clean the windows at Tesco which used to be on the ground level and first floor of Evesham Walk, opposite Canon Newton House and all the way down opposite the public toilets. He was cleaning the windows on the first floor when he noticed an old lady walking towards him along the balcony, it was quite usual to see older people in the centre early so they could shop before the crowds turn up. He said that she was slightly hunched over and was carrying a bag. As she approached him, he stopped to say hello but she ignored him and carried on walking past. As he watched the old lady walk past she suddenly disappeared.
Most of the shopping centre cleaners work at night or early in the morning when there are no customers and many have left their jobs due to supernatural incidences that only a few will talk about.
On Evesham Walk is the public toilets, this is where the Congregational Chapel once stood. One lady was working as a bathroom attendant where there was a baby changing room in the ladies room. One day when she was cleaning the baby room, the door locked behind her and she was trapped for about 5 minutes. During this time she felt the room turn icy cold, she felt terrified. After a few minutes the temperature in the room went back to normal and she could suddenly open the door. It was only afterwards that she realised that there wasn’t a working lock on the door. She said that she’d also experienced her clothes being pulled, heard whispering in her ear and had cleaning products turn up in strange places.
In the 80s, the shop on the left of the toilets was a mother and baby shop. Staff reported seeing a dark hooded figure looking like a monk which would pass through the shop on a regular basis. Objects would be moved from one side of the shop to the other. The shop on the right side of the toilets was once an electrical hire store. They had very similar experiences and TVs and radios would turn on or off on there own.
A travel agents that was on Evesham Walk was subject to paranormal activity that was experienced by two cleaners early one morning in 2001. The cleaners used to work separately, one cleaning the shop area and the other would clean downstairs in the staff area. The cupboard which contained the cleaning equipment was downstairs, when one of the cleaners entered the cupboard the door slammed and they were trapped inside like the door had been locked. She heard footsteps running away from the cupboard, she knew it wasn’t the other cleaner as she was upstairs. She shouted and banged the door to try and gain the other cleaners attention but with no avail. After an hour, the cleaner who was working upstairs went to the cleaning cupboard and finally let her out, the door had locked. After sitting down with a cup of tea to help clam down, she explained what had happened. As they were discussing it a man in a black suit walked past them and disappeared into the cupboard.
A young man was once working at WH Smith’s on New Walk who reported seeing book being partially pulled out and some being thrown onto the floor when no one was around.
Another member of staff at WH Smith who was employed there from 1980 until she retired in 1991, once had to fetch a product for a customer from the stock room. While she was in the stock room, she saw an old man for around 3 seconds before he disappeared, just long enough for her to describe him. She said he was wearing an old fashioned suit and waistcoat and he had grey hair and a beard.
On Kingfisher Walk is Boots the chemist which has been in the same location since the shopping centre opened in 1976.
A member of staff who has been working there for 15 years said that she has had many strange experience’s in the store, as well as other members of staff. Her 1st experience was within the 1st year of her working there. She had been told by her new colleagues that the shop was haunted but didn’t really believe it, even though she said that she always felt uneasy in various parts of the building. Several months later, she was asked by a colleague if she’d brought the keys for the counter from the office to the shop floor, in which she had and held them out in her hand to show her. After holding the keys out for a second or two, the keys flew out of her hand and hit the floor landing on the floor right by her colleagues feet. Her work colleague smiled and said ‘I told you we had a ghost”.
During the pandemic, she was asked to work the early morning shift which started at 7am. One morning as she clocked into work along with another colleague, they heard what sounded like someone typing on the computer in the assistant managers office. They both knew that they were the only 2 people in the building but they still asked each other if they’d seen the boss come in. A week later on another early start with the same person, they heard the elevator door slam shut. When they took a look at the elevator, the doors were still open.
She always felt that she was being watched in the stockroom but around Christmas in 2022, she was walking through the stockroom after finishing work when she saw a pair of disembodied legs walking in the opposite direction about 8 feet away.
Many people who have worked in the store have reported strange activity around the stockroom area, mostly with the elevator doors slamming shut and moving up and down with no one in them.
She always felt that she was being watched in the stockroom but around Christmas in 2022, she was walking through the stockroom after finishing work when she saw a pair of disembodied legs walking in the opposite direction about 8 feet away.
Many people who have worked in the store have reported strange activity around the stockroom area, mostly with the elevator doors slamming shut and moving up and down with no one in them.
Further down Kingfisher Walk, which is now known as a food area called ‘The Hub’, once had a set of large doors that separated the shopping centre from the bus station below. One night as a cleaner was using the scrubber drier machine on the main walkway of Kingfisher Walk, he noticed a dark shape that he thought was a security guard, standing on the other side of the doors. He stopped the machine waved for them to come through. The dark shape came straight through the doors, through the machine and through the cleaner too. He ran shouting for help.
Just behind the doors, before you reach the escaltors that lead to the lower shops and bus station was once a public house called ‘The Swinging Sporran’ which opened when the Kingfisher Centre opened. After a few years it changed its name to ‘The Limelight’. It’s now the location of the hardware store ‘Wilkinson’s’.
In the late 1980’s, a cleaner who was working early in the Limelight, noticed some movement across the bar. She thought it was the landlord and spoke to him until she realised that it was a short man in a bowler hat who was floating above the bar. She sat back in amazement and was overjoyed that she’d seen a ghost. She said that he was transparent and he left after a short while through the door.
The bar staff experienced a lot of activity throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, many said that they’d had their bottoms pinched as they’d bent over to pick things up, they’d hear a voice asking, ‘what do you want’, and the kitchen staff would often hear a voice calling their name. The landlords wife was in the bar one day when she heard a voice say, ‘boo’, as she lifted her head and looked around her hair was pulled over her face. Everyone who experienced the ‘cheeky’ ghost believed that it was a little boy. A customer who was sat at the bar once witnessed a glass lift up and turn upside down.
After the pub was closed down and Wilkinson’s was built in its place, the activity didn’t stop. Someone who worked at night to stock the shelves once heard banging on the windows at the front of the shop but no one was there, lights would flicker and there was a terrible smell like something was rotting that would be smelled on occasions but the source was never found.