The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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May - Paranormal Database Records


The phantom horse and rider emerge from the lake.

O'Donoghue

Location: Killarney (County Kerry) - Lough Leane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (O'Donoghue, every 7 years) (reoccurring), others on misty nights
Further Comments: A warrior by the name of O'Donoghue is said to emerge from the waters of the lake on the back of a white horse once every seven years. Another story has an unidentified figure walking a hound appear on misty nights.

Viking Funeral

Location: South Walsham (Norfolk) - South Walsham Broad
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: Reports here claim that a spectral Viking long boat appears, burning in the middle of the water.

Singing Nuns

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Godstow Nunnery, Wolvercote
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: As dawn breaks on the first of May, phantom singing can be heard coming from the empty chapel. The phantom of Rosamund Clifford has also been reported here, though she is not so fussy as when she should appear.

Secret Door

Location: Brecon Beacons (Powys) - Llyn Cwm Llwch (somewhere around the area)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a year, a secret door opens here which will take mortals to the fairy realm. The door was once always open, but after a man stole a fairy flower, access was restricted. The area is also home to an old woman who uses music to lure the weak willed into the lake waters where they drown - once she has killed nine hundred people, she will regain her youth and become mortal.

White Horse

Location: River Wharfe (Yorkshire) - Wharfedale's Strid
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Together with a fairy, this pale horse rises from the dangerous waters once a year. It has been known to drown people who come too close.


The River Ouse running through York.

Pale Figure

Location: York (Yorkshire) - Edge of the River Ouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring) (legend), ghost unknown
Further Comments: Thought to be the shade of a drowned person, this figure drifts around the banks of the river. Another piece of folklore says that a person drops five white pebbles into the river when the Minster clock chimes one in the morning during the first of May, they see their past, present and future.

Fighting

Location: Loch Ashie (Highland) - Shores around, and to the moors east of, Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring), last seen 1870/71, heard 1999
Further Comments: Accompanied by silence, a battle has been seen raging once a year on the muddy banks of this loch. It was said to have been last heard during the summer of 1999.

Wine

Location: Culloden (Highland) - St Mary's Well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring), or first Sunday in May
Further Comments: This holy well would be visited to heal the sick on the first Sunday in May - a piece of cloth would be dipped in the water before being hung from the branch of a nearby tree. One myth says that on Mayday the water turned to wine.

Healing Well

Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - St Bridget's Well, Ash Road
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 01 May - 09 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: It was once believed that drinking from the well for these nine consecutive days in May would result in any disease being cured.

Old Nick in Waiting

Location: Burgh St Peter (Norfolk) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 02 May reoccurring (skeleton appears)
Further Comments: The builder of this church is said to have sold his soul to finish the construction. The Devil is said to still wait for the soul due to him, while the old man's shade lurks protected within the church grounds. There is one report that says the builder now takes the form of a clothed skeletal figure and appears once per year.

Charging Horseman

Location: Prestbury (Gloucestershire) - Shaw Green Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Killed by a Lancastrian arrow in the 1400's, this glowing messenger is doomed to carry his cargo forevermore. Another story says he was decapitated by a thin wire that was placed across the road.

Hell Stone

Location: Helston (Cornwall) - Angel Hotel, Coinagehall Street
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 08 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil dropped his stone while fighting with St Michael here, and is said to return once a year to view it (the rock now forms part of the building). The hotel also has a resident ghost named Nelly.

Mediaeval Party

Location: Salthouse (Norfolk) - Salthouse Pool
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 12 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A re-enactment of a mediaeval (or possibly Roman) feast occurs late at night; the phantom scene includes singing, dancing, and small bonfires. Some sources state that the event happens on the third Tuesday in May.

The Devil Takes His Due

Location: Ormesby (Norfolk) - Exact location unknown
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 15 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil is said to appear and burn down an old mill, containing a miller, his daughter, and a visitor.

Coach

Location: Horstead (Norfolk) - Meyton bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven (or twelve) bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Phantom Coach

Location: Wroxham (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.


Thomas Boleyn, as pictured on his tomb.

Phantom Coach

Location: Aylsham (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Phantom Coach

Location: Belaugh (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Anne Boleyn

Location: Blickling (Norfolk) - Blickling Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: To mark the anniversary of her death, a coach pulled by four headless horses pulls up on the driveway, with a decapitated Anne on a seat, her head in her lap. After Anne's headless white ghost arrives, it is said then to climb out, before inspecting each room of the Hall (the place of her birth and childhood). On the same date, Sir Thomas Boleyn is said to drive a team of headless horses in this area, cursed to cross twelve Norfolk bridges (including those at Aylsham, Coltishall and Wroxham).

Sir Thomas Boleyn

Location: Braydeston (Norfolk) - Bay's Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This bridge is said to be one of several which Sir Thomas passes over in his coach on the anniversary of his daughter's death.

Sir Thomas

Location: Burgh (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven (or twelve, or forty) bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Phantom Coach

Location: Buxton (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Sir Thomas

Location: Hautbois (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Phantom Coach

Location: Oxnead (Norfolk) - Oxnead Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Phantom Coach

Location: Coltishall (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring) (coach)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution. A headless Black Shuck is also reputed to cross this bridge once per night.

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