The spooky Essex forest where historic serial killer hid to avoid police searches

The beautiful views inside Epping Forest
-Credit: (Image: Grahame Larter)


One Essex forest is a family favourite for autumn walks, nature lovers and cyclists. However, this woodland is not all it seems to be, and there are plenty of spooky legends and facts about it.

Less than an hour’s drive away from London, you’ll find Epping Forest, which stretches from London to Epping. It lies on a ridge between the rivers Lea and Roding and is the perfect place to spend a Sunday out with the family - but this forest also has a dark side.

For example, the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin is rumoured to have had a hideout in Epping Forest. A tea room in High Beech claimed to have Turpin’s cave attached to it - but it is also said that his cave was in Loughton Camps near Kate's Cellar.

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The creepiest thing that some may say occurred in Epping Forest is the fact that a serial killer hid out in the woodlands for days while he was trying to evade capture. According to The Little House of Horrors, triple policeman murderer Harry Roberts hid out in the forest for a short time before being arrested in 1966.

Harry Roberts is an English murderer who, in 1966, instigated the Shepherd's Bush murders, in which three police officers were shot dead in London. Roberts used his military training to evade capture for 96 days but was finally caught by police while sleeping rough in a disused airfield hangar in Hertfordshire after travelling through Epping Forest.

Roberts has since been released from prison - and it is incredibly creepy to think who you may have come across while taking a stroll in the first back in the 1960s. Another spooky myth is that a pond, deep in the forest, is said to draw people to commit suicide in its dark waters.

Legend says that 300 years ago, this pond was the scene of a tragic murder-suicide of two young lovers. There are too many spooky stories about the forest to count - so if you're heading to the woodland this Halloween, do keep an eye out for any signs of it being haunted!

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