The Paranormal Database

Officer

Location: Castle Donington (Leicestershire) - East Midlands Airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s or 1980s
Further Comments: A defunct airliner once stood at the perimeter of the airfield and was used for training. An engineer spotted lights on and returned to the flight deck where he saw a figure in the co-pilot seat who vanished in an instant. The figure was thought to be the first officer who died in a crash.

German Pilot

Location: Chalvington with Ripe (Sussex) - Ripe Lane, heading towards village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: This pilot is said to have died during the Second World War when his aircraft crashed near the village. He now makes the occasional appearance in the field where he died. He was last seen by a woman driving towards the village.

Silent Bomber

Location: Church Broughton (Derbyshire) - Skies over old air force base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1970s
Further Comments: A bomber thought to be from the Second World War has been observed moving silently over the skies in this area.

USAF Pilot

Location: Cirencester (Gloucestershire) - Queen Anne's Column, in the park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 1999
Further Comments: Standing against the monument, this young man has been known to talk to members of the public, only to vanish after his first sentence.

Three Pilots with Pale Faces

Location: Clacton-on-Sea (Essex) - Disused sandpit and spinney
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1953
Further Comments: Seen by two children, the three pilots are believed to be German, the sandpit being a crash site for a Messerschmitt 110 shot down during the Second World War. The area is currently a car park for a nearby factory.

The ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

Droning of Aircraft

Location: Coventry (West Midlands) - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War (aircraft), January 1893 (torchbearer)
Further Comments: Since the city was levelled by German bombers during the Second World War, some people have reported hearing 'old' aircraft over the ruins of the cathedral. In 1893, witnesses spotted a human arm holding a blue torch in the north aisle. The arm vanished when one man grabbed a poker and approached it, although manifested again a short time later.

Passenger

Location: Cranleigh (Surrey) - Dunsfold Aerodrome
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: Workers on the 007 film Casino Royale reported seeing the ghost of a woman moving along the aisles of a 747 they used as a set. It is believed the phantom is of a female passenger who died from a heart attack at least thirty years previous.

Freddy's Photograph

Location: Cranwell (Lincolnshire) - Runway of post-First World War Naval Airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1919
Further Comments: A group photograph taken here in 1919 shows the face of an engineer who died three days before; Freddy Jackson had tripped and fallen into the blades of an aircraft ready for take-off. Issue 91 of Fortean Times has a good copy of the photograph.

Bomber

Location: Cropwell Bishop (Nottinghamshire) - Skies over village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Looking out from their kitchen window, two witnesses watched a large grey aircraft pass silently overhead. As the aircraft was low, the witnesses thought it was going to crash, and stepped outside to investigate, although nothing could be heard. They later found out that a bomber had crashed nearby during the Second World War.

A phantom German pilot in Surrey.

Pilot

Location: Croydon (Surrey) - Area around New Addington, and Queen Elizabeth's Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a German pilot shot down over the area during the Second World War is said to remain in the neighbourhood. One story says that a man looking for his lost wallet along Queen Elizabeth's Drive had the object handed back to him by the pilot, who appeared quite solid.

Pilots

Location: Croydon (Surrey) - Forte Posthouse, Purley Way
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: post-1945
Further Comments: It was said a chambermaid working at this hotel quit after spotting a phantom RAF pilot. A guest also reported seeing a group of pilots sitting and singing around a fireplace in the restaurant.

Mynarski

Location: Darlington (Durham) - Teesside International Airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Mynarski was awarded the VC for trying to save a rear gunner when the bomber they were in caught fire. His ghost dressed in flying kit has been seen around the airport's hotel.

War Staff

Location: Derry (County Derry / County Londonderry) - City of Derry Airport (formally Eglinton air base)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Staff have reported seeing figures dressed in Second World War clothing around the airport.

Officer on Bike

Location: Digby (Lincolnshire) - RAF Digby
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: Cycling along on an old bike, this phantom RAF officer once stopped and asked two guards for the control tower to be opened for him. When they agreed, the officer vanished. On other occasions, lights were reported moving around the control tower, though it would be locked and empty.

Aircraft of the Future

Location: Drem (Lothian) - Drem Airfield
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: A lost pilot recalled flying over disused airfield in the 1930s and saw it operational, with yellow RAF aircraft on the ground - these did not exist at the time. He later checked and found the airfield really was unused. A few years later, the airfield was reopened for training purposes, and aircraft based there painted yellow.

B17 Crew

Location: Duxford (Cambridgeshire) - Imperial War Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The control tower is haunted by crew from a B17 which hit the building while attempting a landing. Other witnesses report hearing aircraft flying low overhead, though nothing can be seen, while hangar 5 is another paranormal hotspot.

Headless Airman

Location: East Cowes (Isle of Wight) - Skies above area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Seen parachuting down from the skies, this decapitated airman is thought to date from the Second World War.

Tall American

Location: East Kirkby (Lincolnshire) - East Kirkby Watch Tower (now an aviation heritage centre)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This USAAF officer has been seen several times in the old watch tower. He is thought to have been killed when a Flying Fortress crash landed near the site in 1944. The same figure is thought to have been seen on the runway - dragging his parachute behind him, he slowly moves towards the control tower.

Fred

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - RAF Turnhouse (no longer operational)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1974, 1982-1997
Further Comments: During the 1980s and 1990s, workers at the MOD transport section would say 'hello' to Fred, the resident ghost. It was said that if Fred were not acknowledged, the phantom would open lockers and move things around. It was thought that Fred was a worker at the site during the Second World War; he died after walking into a propeller. The ghost of a young man in a grey RAF uniform was encountered in 1974, as it walked over to a witness and touched their forehead before vanishing.

Morse Code

Location: Elsham Wold (Lincolnshire) - Former RAF base and flight tower (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s / 1950s
Further Comments: A family living in the tower after the war reported hearing Morse messages being tapped out, seeing pilots dressed in flying gear, and even once watching a large aeroplane taking off from the disused runway, baring the code letters PM.

Hitchhiker

Location: Felixstowe (Suffolk) - Crossroads controlled by lights
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: For several days, a car driver found himself giving a lift to a Second World War pilot, who would suddenly appear in the back seat of his car when he reached a certain point of his journey. This stopped once the driver started taking a different route.

Voices

Location: Fiskerton (Lincolnshire) - Former RAF Fiskerton control tower (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: Left empty a few years after the war, locals reported still hearing voices coming from the control tower. Figures in RAF uniform were also reported in the area, as were men dressed in aircrew gear. An inter-denominational prayer team visited the site in 2006, and no reports of haunting activity has been reported since.

Tail End Charlie

Location: Fradley (Staffordshire) - Former RAF Lichfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The headless rear gunner that haunts this area accidently walked into the propellers of a Lancaster.

A phantom pilot.

Pilot

Location: Grangemouth (Falkirk) - Inchyra Road, site of former RAF airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: A phantom pilot dressed in his RAF clothing has been reported haunting the site of his old base.

Tiny Harris

Location: Grantham (Lincolnshire) - Old RAF Spitalgate, now Royal Corps of Transport base?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1970s onwards
Further Comments: Joe 'Tiny' Harris, a former telephone operator during the Second World War, has been seen standing in the shadows, heard walking down corridors, and is blamed for flicking lights on and off.