Most people are sceptical if any starts to tell a ghost story. And they would be even mores sceptical if a journalist claimed to have seen a ghost! But Michele Brailsford of The Thame & Chinnor Star stands by her story.

She was driving on the Postcombe to Thame road on Thursday July 9th, 1992, when she had her eerie encounter. She reported in The Star: ‘As the figure appeared about 40 yards ahead near the Toll Gate House, I presumed it was a resident out for a midnight stroll – in the middle of the road – and slammed on the brakes. Although I only saw the figure from behind it seemed to be male, wearing a greeny brown coat like a Barbour – another reason why I thought it was someone out for a walk. And it seemed to have something on its head like a large brimmed hat. Once I’d slowed down to avoid running the thing over, it, cliched as it sounds, vanished into thin air and I put it down to my imagination, the rain and the steamed up windscreen.’ Michele did, however, find a man living on that stretch of the road who believed her story. Geoffrey Kellond, a resident of some 17 years, had not seen anything strange himself but had heard of weird goings-on. He told Michele: ‘Three weeks ago a young man from High Wycombe driving form Thame ended up in the ditch. There was no smell of alcohol on him and he swore that somebody jumped out at him. A number of years ago two young men were killed on the corner coming from Thame. A few years later one of the passengers injured in the crash came past the same spot on his motorbike, which he jumped off, after he swore he saw his friend standing there. This was in the afternoon. People come off that corner at least two times a month. Some have said that someone has jumped out at them but I blame it on the drink.”

Michele’s description marries with that of other ‘green man’ type ghosts. The green man is, in folklore terms, the spirit of the woods. He has been seen for centuries and is still seen today by witnesses who describe him as a figure wearing a thick woolly jumper or green barbour style coat.