The Paranormal Database

An old postcard of Lake Windermere.

Tizzie-Wizzie

Location: Lake Windermere - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: This creature, reportedly part hedgehog, part squirrel, and part bumblebee, has been reported on and off over the past one hundred years.

An old postcard of Lake Windermere in Cumbria.

White Horse

Location: Lake Windermere - General area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A legend says that when evil or misfortune is en route to villages alongside the lake, a white horse appears and crosses the water.

An old postcard of Lake Windermere in the Lake District.

Giant Eel

Location: Lake Windermere - Waters of the lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: August 2006, and February 2011
Further Comments: In 2006 Steve Burnip and his wife observed an eel-like creature, estimated to be up to six metres long, in the waters of the lake. Steve said the creature had a little head and two humps which protruded from the water. In 2011 Tom Pickles photographed a multiple humped creature in the lake, although the image looks like waves caused by the wake of a boat.

Led off the path by a will'o the whisp (public domain).

Death by Fairy

Location: Lamplugh - No exact area given
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1656-1663
Further Comments: Cumbria Archives reported discovering an old manuscript that recorded deaths in Lamplugh between 1 January 1656 and 1 January 1663. During this timeframe, four people were 'frighted to death by faries', three 'old women drowned upon trial for witchcraft', and one 'led into a horse pond by a will of the whisp'.

Boggles

Location: Lanercost - Banks of the river
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: These northern fairies would play merry havoc near the rivers, frightening horses and riders alike.

Luck of Eden

Location: Langwathby - Eden Hall (aka Edenhall) - demolished 1934
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present (but in the Victoria and Albert museum)
Further Comments: Stolen from fairies by a former butler, the fifteen centimetre tall cup was locked away deep within the house, before being moved to the V&A - a curse placed by the little folk in retaliation for the theft states that if the beaker breaks, so does the Eden Hall's luck. The hall was also reputedly haunted by an elderly lady, who may have been a maid, who had a habit of appearing as a reflection in a mirror.

Yellow-eyed Creature

Location: Leece - Road through the village
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Winter, late 1990s
Further Comments: While driving through the village, a married couple spotted a large black animal in the middle of the road. They were forced to stop the car, as the creature did not move. It was about two metres high and just under a metre tall, covered in black bristly hair and yellow coloured eyes. One of the witnesses reported that the beast resembled a large cat but was not feline nor dog. The creature eventually moved slowly from the road and stood on the grass verge, enabling the witnesses to drive off.

Hooded Figure

Location: Little Orton - Gypsy Lonning - area where monastery once stood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2004
Further Comments: A six foot tall, cloaked figure was observed gliding towards a wooded clearing. Animals in the area acted strangely, making a great deal of noise.

A circle of witches dance around a central figure, from an old woodcut.

Meg & her Daughters

Location: Little Salkeld - Long Meg stones
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still standing
Further Comments: A collection of standing stones, these are said to have been a coven of witches turned to stone for their sins.

Top Hats

Location: Lowther - Askham Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to 1956
Further Comments: The peel tower was once home to ghostly footsteps, and several guests at the property reported, at different times, seeing two phantom men wearing top hats in a bedroom carrying a box. After the removal and destruction of a black cat found mummified in a wall space, the ghostly presence left.

An old postcard of Lowther Castle in Cumbria.

Sir James Lowther's Coach

Location: Lowther - Lowther Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown - Middle Ages?
Further Comments: Sir James was blamed when poltergeist activity sprung up around the castle a few days after his death. The entity caused a little disruption at the funeral (in the form of knocking emerging from the casket). The carriage Sir James travelled in during life was seen and heard moving along the roads near the castle at dangerous speeds, glowing in the dark. This ghost has not been reported since an exorcism was performed.

Unlucky Tree

Location: Lowther - Parkland
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A tree is this park has its branches propped up - a legend says that if the branches ever touch the ground, ill fortune will befall the Lowther family.

Floating Woman

Location: M6 - South of Lake District
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer (year not known), 22:30h
Further Comments: A ghostly woman was reported on the hard shoulder, appearing to float just off the ground, as her feet were not there. The apparition was dressed in old fashioned clothing and the witness who drove past said the phantom looked as if she was watching out for something.

Murdered Girl

Location: Martindale - Henhow Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: Both this girl and her unborn child were poisoned by the father, a local preacher. A local man spoke to the entity, who told him she had been murdered, and was obligated to haunt the area for one hundred years.

Crying Baby

Location: Maryport - Dearham Bridge railway station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man once threw his new-born child under a train here, killing the infant. The father was hanged for the crime. Now, as a train is now about to enter the tunnel, the child can occasionally be heard screaming before being hit.

White Woman

Location: Maryport - Netherhall Mansion (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1973
Further Comments: Before the mansion burnt down, it stood empty for twenty years. The caretaker reported seeing a phantom grey lady within the building, and even though the mansion was boarded up, furnishings and fittings would be found thrown around within. Some believe the grey lady started the fire which finally reduced the mansion to a shell which was demolished.

Black Tombstone Shape

Location: Mealsgate - Low Mill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A black shadow resembling a tombstone would appear in one of the bedrooms here, emanating an evil presence. On one occasion malicious laughter was heard coming from the dark shape. There were also reports of objects disappearing for weeks on end, only to turn up in predominant places.

Grey Horse

Location: Millbeck - Stone water trough
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: Author Alasdair Alpin MacGregor reported encountering the phantom of a grey horse at an overgrown water trough near Kirkandrews upon Eden. MacGregor relayed his sighting to a local postmaster, who told him reports of the apparition were not uncommon.

Dragging Sounds

Location: Millom - Commodore public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of heavy dragging likened to that of furniture being moved has been reported here.

The Hob

Location: Millom - Millom Castle
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Like many of his siblings, this hob helped keep the area clean and tidy. The creature left when a man offered him a hooded cloak to wear during winter.

Floating Woman

Location: Millom - Railway Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990, 23:00h
Further Comments: A local story says that a woman leapt from the bridge during the Second World War after hearing that her husband had died in battle. Some fifty years later, a witness spotted a woman in old fashioned clothing hovering above a hedge next to the bridge. The figure appeared to be missing her legs.

Old Nick moved many churches back in the day (public domain).

Sinking Church

Location: Millom - Sunkenkirk (aka Swinside) stone circle
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: A church is said to have once stood here, but the Devil appears and dragged it underground - all that remains are fifty-five stones that form a circle.

Murdered Man

Location: Miterdale - Area where the Nanny Horton Inn once stood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century onwards
Further Comments: Murdered in a farmhouse, this man returned with such ferocity that no one could live in the building and it fell into ruins. The phantom's influence also resulted in the local Inn also falling into decay, and some believe that he remains in the area.

Eleven Men

Location: Morland - Skellaw Wark
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, likely to have been early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A small group of girls walking home witnessed these men walk by in single file, glowing with a weird yellow light and waving their fists in anger. Their skeletons were discovered in 1827, their wrists covered with golden bands. Another phantom, that of a dark skinned man, was said to drift between the rocks which once stood in the area.

An old photograph of Muncaster Castle.

Headless Carpenter

Location: Muncaster - Muncaster Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered by a jester on the orders of the then owner Sir Ferdinard Pennington, the carpenter (who made the mistake of falling in love with Sir Ferdinard's daughter) was beheaded in the garden, where he now haunts. The jester has also been reported on the site, holding a severed head. The ghost of King Henry is another reported to haunt the castle, hiding from those who took him to London to be murdered, and finally the shade of Mary Bragg, hanged by the front gate as a joke turned tragedy, manifests as a white woman.