The Paranormal Database

Monk

Location: Bedford - Cineworld
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Both Screen 4 and the toilet area are reputed to be haunted by a hooded figure. Cold spots and strange sounds have also been reported. The cinema stands on the former site of Newnham priory.

Black Tom

Location: Bedford - Junction of Tavistock Street, Union Street and Clapham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around Christmas, 1990s
Further Comments: A nineteenth century highwayman, Black Tom was executed and buried at this junction with a stake driven through his heart to prevent his return. The ritual failed, and both he and another unknown ghost were seen countless times for years following his death. A 1960s sighting of Tom took place in broad daylight, with witnesses stating they saw a gruesome figure with a broken neck staggering down the road, vanishing into thin air seconds later. The witness who spotted Tom during the 1990s thought he was just a drunk man in fancy dress, until he suddenly disappeared.

Young Man

Location: Bedford - King's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Built on the site of a morgue (!), there are any number of contenders who could be the source of this young looking spectre. An older looking man is reported to haunt the cellar.

Creeping Man

Location: Bedford - Methodist Church, along Newnham Avenue
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A witness reported seeing a well-dressed man creeping along the back of the church. This figure walked through a wall, leaving a thin veil of smoke in his wake. A few years prior to this, another entity had been seen around the same place, though the witness said the ghost had worn tweed clothing.

Soldier

Location: Bedford - Park public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The ghost of a Second World War soldier who died when this building was used as a hospital is said to occasionally appear to staff. The ghost also has been known to open doors.

Record Player

Location: Bedford - Private flat along Tavistock Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A man using the flat came home after work to find a record playing on his music system. Furniture would also rearrange itself.

Nan

Location: Bedford - Private flat, Ram Yard
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 September 1999
Further Comments: Awaking to see her grandmother sitting by her bed, this witness briefly forgot that her grandmother had died a couple of years previous. The witness then noticed an orange glow outside. The window - a car outside was on fire, blocking the exit and filling the building with smoke. The fire brigade soon had the blaze under control, although the witness was convinced that her grandmother had saved her from dying of smoke inhalation.

Black Tom?

Location: Bedford - Private residence along Gladstone Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1985 or early 1986
Further Comments: A man at this property awoke to find what he thought was an intruder in his bedroom. The man's shouts awoke his wife, and they both witnessed a dark shadowy figure in a black cloak and floppy hat move to the opposite side of the room and vanish. A few months later they heard the legend of Black Tom, the local horse rustler hanged close to their home.

Locked In

Location: Beeston - The Cross public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Customers have reported being trapped in the toilets after an unseen hand locks them in. Bottles of spirits have been known to fall off the shelves for no reason, and the taps on beer barrels are turned off.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Begwary - Public footpath between Begwary and Colesden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: First half of December 2020
Further Comments: A man walking alone along this path felt something behind him. Turning to look, the man spotted a male figure wearing a black cloak hurrying towards him. No one had been on the path previously, and the man felt a sense of menace from the figure who seemingly emerged from thin air. Breaking into a jog, the man reached a fork in the path. Quickly choosing a route, the man continued to jog before turning once more to see the figure had gone.

Singer

Location: Biggleswade - Golden Pheasant public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Singing has been reported coming from an empty bar, and footsteps have been heard in other vacant areas.

Stable Boy

Location: Bletsoe - Falcon Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dying after falling from a hayloft, this young stable lad is now thought to haunt the kitchen area. He is blamed when small items go missing, often reappearing a short time later.

Thrown Objects

Location: Brogborough - Roundhouse
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 2012
Further Comments: The site has picked up a spooky reputation, most likely influenced by its ruined state. The Luton Paranormal Society claimed to detect spirits on the site, while other groups have experienced poltergeist-like activity.

Sir Lewis Dyve

Location: Bromham - St Owen church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Lewis Dyve is said to walk within the church, ensuring his boots and sword remain inside. The churchyard is also home to the phantom laughter of children.

R101 Airman

Location: Cardington - Cardington Hangars
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The old airship sheds from which the R101 departed, are reputed to be haunted by at least one airman from the ill-fated airship which crashed in France.

Ghostly horses in Bedfordshire.

Galloping Horses

Location: Chellington - Carlton Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A pair of galloping horses are said to charge down the hill, vanishing as they approach the bottom.

Horseman

Location: Chicksands - Woods and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: A driver passing through the woodlands encountered a horseman who passed through their car. When the Luton Paranormal Society investigated the area in 2015, they reported no evidence of a haunting, though noted the site had an 'odd feeling'.

Older Man

Location: Clapham - Glenn Miller Museum (was RAF Twinwood Farm)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2012
Further Comments: Luton Paranormal Society wrote that spooky occurrences are reputed to have occurred here, including a sighting of a phantom older man in RAF uniform, and the sound of disembodied footsteps. During their own vigil, the group reported several strange feelings and perceptions.

Hooded Monk

Location: Clophill - Between Haynes Church End and Clophill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: A hooded monk on horseback holding a lantern was seen by a man delivering newspapers in the early hours of the morning. He said that the horse passed straight through his car.

The ghost of Bertha Rosaca.

Pregnant Nun

Location: Clophill - Chicksands Priory (currently owned by the Ministry of Defence)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 17 August (reoccurring), last seen 1960
Further Comments: After a secret liaison with a male superior, Bertha Rosaca became pregnant - her spirit now appears once a year in protest of her subsequent treatment. The spirit, when last seen, wore black and disappeared through a wall.

Sophie

Location: Clophill - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A woman named Sophie is thought to be one of the ghosts that haunt this church. Her coffin was discovered hidden in the nave. A First World War air force mechanic named George is also thought to wander around the headstones, looking for his friend's grave. The church was heavily vandalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with a grave being opened and the human remains placed in a ritual circle - maybe because of this activity, many people report the church has an oppressive atmosphere.

Vanishing Car

Location: Comworth - Honeydon Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa late 1980s / early 1990s
Further Comments: Five occupants of a car driving along this road spotted another car a short distance in front of them. The vehicle ahead followed the winding road around a cutting; as the car behind did the same, the occupants realised that the other car had vanished, with nowhere to turn off or pull over.

Sailor

Location: Cople - Five Bells public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Smoking a pipe and wearing his hair in a pigtail, the ghost of a sailor was seen several times by a former landlady as he sat by the fireplace.

Floating Hat

Location: Cranfield - Buttercup Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: Two men walking along the lane watched a legless and armless shape wearing a large hat drifting along. They stated the entity stood just over two metres in height and changed colour from white to black.

Lady Snagge

Location: Cranfield - Wood End Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While riding her horse, Lady Snagge was decapitated by a thin piece of rope pulled across the road by robbers who plundered her body before leaving it. Snagge's ghost is still reported as it repeats her final journey, sometimes with head intact, and sometimes without.