Chapel High Shopping Centre in Brentwood, Essex, is home to a rather intriguing ghostly resident. A worker in a shop within the centre reported a bizarre encounter in the mid-1980s. While stacking shelves, they decided to visit the upstairs storeroom and were startled to see a semi-transparent, hooded monk floating a couple of feet above the ground. Interestingly, the worker didn't feel threatened or scared, which allowed them to approach the monk quite closely - within a metre, in fact. The entity vanished into thin air, leaving the worker with a remarkable story to tell.

Digging into the history of the site reveals that a monastery once stood where the shopping centre now lies. It's possible that the monk's appearance is connected to this historical presence. The worker's account is a great example of a visual haunting, where the entity was seen but didn't interact with the witness in any way. The fact that the worker was able to approach the monk so closely without feeling threatened suggests that the entity may be a benign presence. While there's only one documented account of this haunting, it's still a fascinating experience that adds to the shopping centre's mystique.