Tonight is the night when some believe the spirits of the dead rise up.

If that is the kind of thing that sends an excited shiver down your spine then there are dozens of tales of ghosts haunting ancient buildings in this area.

They include Henry VIII’s wife Catherine Howard screaming down the corridors of Hampton Court Palace to the voices of young girls heard in a Georgian house in Mitcham spook.

See the bottom of this article for a list of things to do at Halloween in towns including Epsom and Ewell, Kingston, Sutton and Croydon

Surrey Comet:

Hampton Court Palace

Spooky tales of dismembered hands appearing, figures disappearing through closed doors or even spirits of donkeys wandering around in fields long-gone have all been passed down through the ages.

In Surrey Ghost Stories by Richard Holland, published last month, he said phantoms in Tudor dress have been allegedly seen strolling around Nonsuch Park in Cheam.

A man in a long cloak has been spotted loitering near the park’s entrance staring with a fixed expression towards the site of a former palace.

Surrey Comet:

Is it a ghost or a shadow? 

The book said Croydon has its fair share of unexplained events.

At the 12th century Croydon Palace which was incorporated into the Old Palace School for Girls in Old Palace Road, particularly disturbing ghostly occurrences have been recorded.

It is said to be haunted by sounds of screaming infants after dark and for years an apparition of a woman in Elizabethan dress was spotted by eagle-eyed members of the public at the head of an old staircase which has since gone, according to Mr Holland.

Surrey Comet:

You might spot a ghost at Hampton Court Palace

The derelict Cane Hill mental hospital in Coulsdon laid claim to a number of ghostly goings-on when it featured in a television documentary in 2006.

Hipposcope Films wanted to create a permanent visual record of the Victorian asylum before the site disappeared forever when it was earmarked for re-development for housing.

Ghost hunter Stephen Morgans took up the hobby two years ago after the death of his father when he started experiencing unusual occurrences at his home in Mitcham.

He takes readings of electromagnetic energy and voice recordings in locations across south west London to detect unusual activity.

Most recently he said a Georgian house in Church Road, Mitcham was arousing suspicion.

Mr Morgans said: "We had doors opening and closing, the detectors going off and I had something touch me on the shoulder.

"I thought it was my nephew but it wasn’t."

He is not the only one to experience the supernatural.

You might be able to spot some of the ghostly goings on yourself on a Hampton Court Palace ghost tour.

The royal palace has sat on the River Thames for nearly 500 years and was originally built for Sir Thomas More until he fell from the King’s grace and Henry VIII took the palace for himself and expanded it.

Visit the spot where two bodies were discovered in shallow graves in the 1870s, hear the tale of the Tudor royal nurse whose spirit is said to stalk her former apartments, and decide for yourself the origin of the mysterious figure caught on CCTV in the palace in the dead of night.

Surrey Ghost Stories is available from bookshops and supermarkets priced £3.99.

What have Epsom and Ewell got in store for Halloween 2014?

Your guide to Halloween events across Croydon

Things to do in Kingston with the undead on Halloween 2014

Don't fear the pumpkins: Sutton Halloween roundup