The Paranormal Database

Raleigh

Location: Southwell (Nottinghamshire) - Road between Southwell and Oxton
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 25 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Beneath a small valley located between these two places is the lost town of Raleigh, swallowed up by an earthquake in 1185. A local legend says the church bells can sometimes still be heard on Christmas Day.

Jolly Monk

Location: Wonersh (Surrey) - Grantley Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This figure once appeared every Christmastime, though has kept his head down over recent years (perhaps the exorcised performed by a Roman Catholic barmaid succeeded).

An old woodcut of a large bear, appearing to exhale smoke.

Final Bear

Location: Fernhurst (Sussex) - Ruins of Verdley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This is said to be the location where the last wild bear in England was pointlessly killed; the creature's ghost now returns in protest.

Monk with No Legs

Location: Outer London: Havering (Greater London) - St Mary's Lane, Cranham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (Reoccurring) - last reported 1970s
Further Comments: This phantom monk is said to float silently across the road.

Betsy Jane

Location: Solway Firth (Dumfries and Galloway) - Waters of the Solway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December - Betsy Jane appears, and the Rotterdam prior to a maritime disaster
Further Comments: Laden with a golden profit made from selling slaves, God extracted revenge on this morally questionable practice by sinking the ship and killing all the crew on Christmas Day, just prior to the vessel docking. The passenger ship Rotterdam, which sunk in the nineteenth century with the loss of all hands, is still seen, normally as a warning prior to a major disaster at sea. A hearty mix of other spectral vessels has also been reported.

Petrified Thief

Location: Llandyfrydog (Gwynedd) - Just outside the village - Carreg Lleidr (Robber's Stone)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 25 December, midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Legend has it that an oddly shaped stone here was a thief who stole a bible, and while carrying it over his shoulder, was turned to rock. Every Christmas the stone runs three times around the field in which it stands.

Game of Shinty

Location: Dalarossie, Inverness (Highland) - Land near the local church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December, when it falls on a Sunday (reoccurring)
Further Comments: These people, during life, made the mistake of playing sports when Christmas day fell on a Sabbath. Now they all return from the grave for a quick game once a year.

Glowing Train with Red Lights

Location: Wormit (Fife) - Tay Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The badly designed Tay Bridge collapsed in 1873, a passenger train crashing down with the faulty structure into the cold waters of the Firth of Tay below. The scene is re-enacted on the anniversary of the crash.

St Thomas of Canterbury

Location: Lapford (Devon) - Road through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The ghost of Thomas Beckett appears on the anniversary of his death, passing through the village on horseback.

An old woodcut of a knight in armour riding a horse.

Knight in Shining Armour

Location: Kemsing (Kent) - Kemsing Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This gallant looking figure rides up to the church, enters the building and briefly prays at the altar before vanishing again until another year goes by.

Molesworth Arms Hotel, Wadebridge.

Coach and Four

Location: Wadebridge (Cornwall) - Molesworth Arms Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Materialising in the courtyard, this phantom coach driven by a decapitated coachman leaves via the hallway. While some people are said to have seen the apparition, others can only hear it pass by.

Wine

Location: Kinsale (County Cork) - Two Found Out Well (no longer accessible)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The water in a well close to Kinsale was said to turn into wine on New Year's Eve, but anyone who gazed into the water at this time would die. A couple went to see if the legend was true, and the following morning their bodies were found next to the well.

Drinking Cross

Location: Langton Herring (Dorset) - Ancient cross
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This stone hewn cross moves to the nearby Fleet lagoon to drink.

Jumper

Location: Hockley (Essex) - Railway Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A former worker at the station is said to have witnessed a young girl in a skirt with a cardigan over her shoulders run to the top of the bridge crying. As he shouted out to her, she jumped off the bridge and vanished before she hit the ground. When the worker told his colleagues what had happened, they said the tragedy occurs every year - the girl committed suicide on a New Year's Eve in the 1960s after finding her boyfriend with another girl.

Coach and Horses

Location: Wickford (Essex) - Runwell Hall (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: After a spectral horse and carriage stops at the top of the driveway, a woman climbs out and walks to the hall's door to be met by a long dead butler. A similar story says that Anne Boleyn travels in a coach along the roads surrounding the Hall around the same time of year.

Scarlet Rider

Location: Stockport (Greater Manchester) - Bramall (also known as Bramhall) Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This figure on horseback, dressed in an unmistakable red, appears once a year - in 1630 he is said to have taken the life of the owner of the hall.

John Bibby

Location: Bootle (Merseyside) - Peel Road / Bibby's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Seen once a year, Bibby rides his coach with his decapitated head in his lap.

Man on Black Horse

Location: Ranworth (Norfolk) - Neighbourhood of Ranworth Broad
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Locals tell of an unknown man on a black horse that is believed to haunt the area. The devil is seen riding across the broad every 31 December; under his arm is the soul of a Colonel who had dared hunt on the Sabbath.

Green Hunter

Location: Fawsley (Northamptonshire) - Dower House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This woodland figure dressed in green, manifesting minutes before midnight, is thought to be an ill omen if observed.

Walking Stone

Location: Birsay (Orkney) - Standing Stone in the area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: At the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay, this stone would walk down to Birsay loch and would briefly dip its head into the water before moving back to its original location. Anyone foolish enough to try to observe the stone at this time would be found dead the following morning, laying by the base of the stone.

Horse & Dog

Location: Penselwood (Wiltshire) - Sloane Track - between Penselwood and Stourton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A man who wagered that he could cross the track in record time fell from his horse and snapped his neck. The man on horseback, now minus a head, with a hound in tow, tries again and again to make the journey once a year.

Coach & Four

Location: East Wellow (Hampshire) - Area from Embley Park to St Margaret's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring) (another story says 24 December)
Further Comments: Moving at breakneck speed, this phantom coach leaves the park, passing through the walls, just before midnight on the last day of the year.

House Party

Location: Downend (Isle of Wight) - Area near Knighton Gorges
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December knight seen (reoccurring), house reported in the twentieth century
Further Comments: A manor house has been seen in the area, a party in full flow visible through its windows. However, the house was demolished many years previous. Even when not seen, locals have reported hearing music coming from the site. A large black knight on horseback is still occasionally seen, once a year.

A photograph of a statue depicting the Devil.

Laird Beardie

Location: Moonzie, Fife (Fife) - Lordscairnie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December, Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Beardie played cards against the Devil and lost - the fateful game is now replayed once a year, though it is warned that anyone watching the game will also travel to hell with the Laird at the end of the match.

Westminster Bridge, London.

Leaping Shadow

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Westminster Bridge (over)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December, midnight (reoccurring) - 'Ripper' seen. Woman circa 1900s?
Further Comments: Just as a new year begins, a phantom man is said to throw himself off this bridge - many believe it to be the ghost of Jack the Ripper, taking his own life. Another story tells of a policeman who encountered a woman who pleaded with him to follow her. The policeman set off and was led to another woman in the act of throwing herself into the river. Having prevented her suicide, the policeman realised that the woman looked identical to the girl who had taken him to the spot, who had since vanished.