According to Moira Byatt from the Deddington & District History Society, a ghost of a phantom horseman is heard (but not seen) at or around the crossroads in the centre of Hempton.

Speaking on Radio Oxford in October 2020, Moira claimed to have heard the sound of a horse passing her house, which sits on the crossroads, but saw nothing. When she mentioned it to neighbours, they told her that she had heard the 'Hempton Horse Man', a seemingly well-known local phenomena, although no clues were given as to the identity of the ghostly rider.

Moira also mentioned that cyclists from a local cycling club had complained of being pushed from their bicycles by an unseen force at the crossroads.

This story is partially mirrored in an earlier account given by Christina Hole, then Secretary of the Oxfordshire Folk-lore Society. Speaking to the Bicester Rotary Club in 1954, Hole mentioned that the road between Hempton and Deddington was believed to be haunted by some 'unseen elemental ghostly force'. In Hole's account, this force would trouble local cyclists, but rather than pushing them from their bikes, it would block their path and prevent them from going further. The force was also sensed by horses, who would become nervous and often bolt or shy, seemingly without warning, along this stretch of road.

In both cases there is no explanation suggested for the phenomena, but the two accounts given nearly 70 years apart clearly indicate an enduring local belief that there is something peculiar going on near Hempton!