The Paranormal Database

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

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The Paranormal Database is regularly updated. New and revised records may be stories from yesterday, last week or could date back hundreds of years...

Fire Starter

Location: SE15 (Greater London) - Private residence, Trafalgar Avenue
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1960s, normally around Easter
Further Comments: Graham and Vera Stringer claimed their home attracted spontaneous fires around the Easter period, with the 1962 outbreaks destroying their bed and a carpet. A medium blamed Vera's brother, who had died twenty years previous, aged eighteen months.

Knocking

Location: SW16 (Greater London) - Flat opposite Coventry Hall, Streatham
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: September 1962
Further Comments: Mild poltergeist activity disturbed the occupants of this flat, with knocking, the fridge opening unaided, and a hairbrush dragged over a dusty surface. One occupant blamed the haunted building across the road.

Lady in Grey

Location: Tardebigge (Hereford & Worcester) - Country Club (was part of the Hewell Grange estate)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1962
Further Comments: A cowled woman in grey would haunt the main bar, with one member of staff referring to the entity as beautiful and harmless. The poltergeist at the same bar caused more of an issue, breaking ashtrays tearing down decorations, and rocking tables and chairs. Another phantom haunted the ballroom, and although said to be frightening, no description was forthcoming.

White Lady

Location: Stainton le Vale (Lincolnshire) - Lake
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cruelly treated by Sir Ralph Maddison, a local woman cursed the squire, promising the three family marriages would end with the bride drowning. The woman took her own life in the lake, her ghostly form continuing to haunt the area. Over a four hundred year period, three Maddison women drowned in the lake, although the white lady continued to appear after the death of the third lady.

Shaking Bottles

Location: Blyth (Northumberland) - Croft Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 20 August 1962
Further Comments: Having broken a lamp in the nearby Railway Hotel, an unseen entity moved to this pub and violently shook the bar, rattling bottles and sending a couple of glasses smashing to the floor. Discussing the incident in the local press, the owner also claimed that an unearthly tune occasionally emerged from the cocktail cabinet in the upstairs flat.

Footsteps

Location: Blyth (Northumberland) - Flower shop, town centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1962
Further Comments: Two employees claimed as they began their morning duty of making wreaths, loud footsteps would start stomping around in the storeroom above. When investigated, the room would be empty.

Pianist

Location: Blyth (Northumberland) - Fox and Hounds Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 21 August 1962
Further Comments: The owners of this pub heard the piano playing in the back room as they were tidying up. When investigated, no one could be found, and the piano keyboard remained closed. The event occurred a day after two other nearby pubs reported poltergeist-like incidents.

Flying Lamp

Location: Blyth (Northumberland) - Railway Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 20 August 1962
Further Comments: After an unseen hand threw a lamp from a shelf and smashed it on the ground, Bar staff blamed Peter, a poltergeist which occasionally caused mischief.

Young Men

Location: Barton under Needwood (Staffordshire) - Former RAF Tatenhill, now a business park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008-2010
Further Comments: A witness who works on the site has reported the smell of old aftershave in the corner of a warehouse which is only detectible at 20:30h, and the sounds of young men in disused buildings. A loud crash and the shaking of a concrete floor resulting in one employee running to a warehouse, convinced that racking units must have collapsed, but nothing was disturbed. On one summer night, the sound of young children playing and singing could be heard by the main gate at 23:00h, a location many miles from the nearest residential site.

Former Director

Location: Chertsey (Surrey) - Private organisation in northern Chertsey (no longer present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2012
Further Comments: Following the death of a director notorious for working until 20:00h, office workers would hear his office door slam closed on the top floor, the lift ascend before descending to the ground floor, and the front door finally rattling.

Pneumatic Drill

Location: Walsall (West Midlands) - Private house, Bloxwich Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February - March 1962
Further Comments: Bangs at the volume of a pneumatic drill would keep this family (and their neighbours) awake at night. Housing officers and police attended the scene, and although their opinions are not documented, a visiting metaphysicist declared a dead family member to be attempting communication.

Portuguese Sailor

Location: Weymouth (Dorset) - Spice Ship public house, Preston
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This ghostly sailor took the form of a poltergeist and created general mischief. It was blamed for phantom footsteps, setting off alarms and even pulling one landlord from his bed. Folklore said that the sailor had said to have become delirious and had jumped to his death from an upper window in the 1870s, although during the 1930s, a visiting medium claimed the man had been thrown from the window during a robbery.

Vanishing Lady

Location: Durham (Durham) - Newton Hall estate
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: January 2024
Further Comments: Observing the silhouette of a woman walking down the street, a witness watched as the figure promptly disappeared after passing under a streetlamp. Realising there was nowhere the figure could have gone, the perplexed witness searched the area without success.

Floating Lady

Location: Coalpit Heath (Gloucestershire) - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s-2000s
Further Comments: While washing up, a witness turned to see the apparition of a lady float up the stairs and turn into one of the bedrooms (a recent addition). Occupants also reported the sound of footsteps, doors opening and closing unaided, and a blast of chilled air when no doors or windows were open.

Man in Blue Overalls

Location: EC2Y (Greater London) - Moorgate station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Workmen repairing the station said they had seen a man in blue overalls walking through the tunnel with a horrified look on his face. The figure vanished into a wall.

Footless Figure

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Portsmouth & Southsea Train Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 January 2016, between 05:00h - 05:30h
Further Comments: Standing alone at the empty station, a commuter suddenly spotted a man wearing a 1940s suit standing at the opposite end of the platform. The slightly transparent figure did not have any facial features and, despite also lacking feet, started to walk towards the commuter, who fled in terror. The commuter refused to return to the site and subsequently used another station to travel.


The A148.

Three Tolls

Location: King's Lynn (Norfolk) - A148
Type: Other
Date / Time: 02 March 2024, 23:58h
Further Comments: Driving late home from King's Lynn, a witness heard the distinctive sound of a huge bell toll three times. Not being able to see anything nearby that would be chiming so late, the witness interpreted the tolls as a warning and took additional care driving home.

Crossing Figure

Location: Caldecote (Warwickshire) - Weddington Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2012, around 18:00h
Further Comments: A driver and their passenger observed a figure step out from behind hedgerow and cross the road ahead. The witnesses could see oncoming car headlights through the figure which shimmered as it moved.

Short Man

Location: Rathfarnham (County Dublin) - Killakee House restaurant (closed September 2020)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: While the owners of the restaurant said they had not encountered anything otherworldly, one said that some customers experienced a 'bad feeling' in one particular location. Another witness claimed to have seen a ghostly short man with kyphosis standing at the back of a room.

Tree

Location: Ardagh (County Longford) - Jim Sweeney's land
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1983 (story covered by press)
Further Comments: Jim Sweeney appeared on national television sharing the story of the fairy tree on his land. Sweeney claimed that when the tree fell, he would be dead within a week, and as the last remaining member of the family, Jim worked tirelessly to keep the dying tree propped up to ensure his survival.

Animal in Chains

Location: Ballymahon (County Longford) - House along St Matthew's Terrace
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: December 1983
Further Comments: Strange noises, including something resembling an animal in chains and loud pounding, and lights switching on and off resulted in the family living here moving out and into a caravan.

Bad Luck Stone

Location: Wexford (County Wexford) - Lightship Guillemot Museum (no longer open, cut up for scrap)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: After the decommissioning lightship 'Guillemot', it became a maritime museum that housed a stone that caused ill-luck to anyone who touched it (taken from a fairy fort by a lorry driver who refused to return it. One woman who held the stone injured her leg, while another man who touched it slipped off the ship into the water.

Little Girl

Location: Framlingham (Suffolk) - Cottage on 'Sheeranville' estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: During an 'MTV Asks Ed Sheeran' interview, Ed Sheeran declared his cottage to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl. Visitors to the cottage had seen the entity and cleaning staff refused to enter the haunted room.

Children's Voices

Location: Little Glemham (Suffolk) - Glemham Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When this property appeared on the market, a couple of media outlets made reference to the building's previous ghost hunting events, that focused on ghostly children's voices heard in the nursery and cold spots in the servants' area.

Legs

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne (Tyne and Wear) - 13 Grey Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Cleaning staff reported this building to be haunted by a ghost of which only the bottom half could be observed; one member of the team fled after encountering the entity.

Grey Head

Location: Chalfont St Giles (Buckinghamshire) - Orchard outside Misbourne House, London Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1947, and circa 1960
Further Comments: A teenage witness felt a tingling on his back moments before spotting a grey head, with no body, floating nearby. The head had the face of an old man with a small, pointed beard. Other witnesses reported the same entity, almost always in the same place. A ghostly nun carrying a set of keys also haunted the area. Later, possibly circa 1960, building work at a nearby summerhouse became disrupted by something throwing bricks and other objects around the site.

Footsteps

Location: Tullyallen (County Louth) - Mellifont Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: One man locking up the site heard footsteps coming down the staircase and approach him, although nothing could be seen. The man fled.

Witches

Location: Garway (Hereford & Worcester) - Garway Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A piece of local folklore says, 'There will always be nine witches from the bottom of Orcop to the top of Garway, as long as water flows'. Depending on the story, the witches either helped a man recover his wife who had been kidnapped by fairies, or had brought her back from the dead.


An old image of Raby Castle.

Henry Vane

Location: Raby (Durham) - Raby Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen in the library, the only part of Vane's body observed is the head and shoulders. A figure resembling Lady Barnard has been seen along the corridors after dark (with one story claiming she knits as she walks, her knitting needles glowing red), while a third ghost can be seen entering the castle from outside, vanishing as he reaches the gate. Charles Neville, the Sixth Earl of Westmorland, drifts up the staircase to the Baron's Hall.

James Martin

Location: Fawley (Hampshire) - Jolly Sailor public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s
Further Comments: One employee told the local press that she would hear whispering and spot fleeting shadows when locking up at night. Snacks would occasionally fly off the wall and other items tipped over. Some people named James Martin, a nineteenth century landlord, as the responsible party.


A mermaid combing her hair, engraving circa 1757.

Thieving Mermaid

Location: Marden (Hereford & Worcester) - River Lugg
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An accident sent a church bell into the waters of the local river - a passing mermaid took the opportunity to steal the bell and can sometimes be heard ringing it. As a sidenote, a bell was recovered from the water in 1848.

Anti-Gravity Hill

Location: Shanklin (Isle of Wight) - Nansen Hill, between Shanklin and Bonchurch
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A newspaper from 1961 featured Nansen Hill, a site where cars and bicycles appeared to roll up rather than down. Magnetism, poltergeists, and optical illusions were all put forward as explanations.

Man with Cane

Location: Shard End (West Midlands) - All Saints Church and Shard End Lake areas
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1991
Further Comments: A man wearing a top hat and black-tailed coat, carrying a cane is said to haunt this area, and may have been spotted several times by the same witness in 1991.


View from the Jubilee Line window.

Monks

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Jubilee Line, from Westminster to Stratford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2000s
Further Comments: Since the construction of the Jubilee Line, reports of phantom monks walking the tracks have begun to emerge. The sightings may be connected to the many graves which were disturbed while work was commencing.

George

Location: Denholme (Yorkshire) - Private home formerly St Paul's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2020
Further Comments: Owner Debs Kennedy-Tallis witnessed a ghostly figure, nicknamed George, enter the bell tower. During renovation, two workers refused to lay flooring near the tower due to a presence.

Smasher

Location: SE15 (Greater London) - Flat, Peckham Park Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa June 1960 - 20 October 1960
Further Comments: A family blamed their interest in spiritualism for the poltergeist outbreak that temporarily drove them from this flat. A lamp and clock were smashed, and a heavy mirror leapt off the wall. The family's fourteen-year-old son seemed to be the target of the entity, with banging and thumping following the child. A degree of calmness returned after a visit from a medium.

Laughing Cavalier

Location: Carlisle (Cumbria) - West Walls, Abbey Street, Paternoster Row
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to appear at dawn
Further Comments: The ghostly Cavalier emerges from the wall and, moving swiftly along its predetermined route, reaches a set of steps where he vanishes.

Bed Lift

Location: Marehay (Derbyshire) - Cottage (likely no longer standing)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa September 1958
Further Comments: Mr & Mrs Wilding, while looking after their twelve year old granddaughter, had their bed lifted in the air and drop back to the ground. Rapping began to plague their home while doors opened, and pictures were moved from the walls and left undamaged on the floor. The entity left at the same time as the granddaughter returned home, but as a final goodbye, threw heavy furniture and clothing around the cottage.

Thirteen O'Clock

Location: Embleton (Northamptonshire) - Dunstanburgh House
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1955 - July 1957
Further Comments: This property featured in the news after ex-RAF occupant Patrick Phelan and family found cups and saucers smashed against walls, pillows thrown around, and listened as their grandfather clock began chiming thirteen times. Disembodied footsteps were also heard. Visiting RAF officers also experienced evidence of something strange when they heard a large garden urn overturn, apparently unaided. The RAF, who owned the house, served Phelan with an eviction order after non-payment of rent.

Flying Brass

Location: Bury (Greater Manchester) - Mather and Platt's Works (closed in 1982), Bradley Fold
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 1958
Further Comments: Two designers witnessed brass bushes fly around their office. A bottle of red ink hit a manager and a pencil sharpener also crossed the room unaided, and mugs would fall from surfaces.

Hammering

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - Council house, Kirkholt
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: October 1958
Further Comments: Over a three week period, hammering would start in this house at 8pm. If any family member or visitor made a knock, the entity would repeat the noise. The family moved out after Hallowe'en.

Black Mask Attacker

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Royal Arena wrestling venue (later became New Theatre Royal)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa July 1960
Further Comments: A wrestler known as the Black Mask claimed he was attacked in the Rutley dressing room by an unseen presence. Several dancers also complained about the atmosphere in the room. The building's owner denied the site was haunted.

Garden Tosser

Location: Bewdley (Hereford & Worcester) - Two adjoining properties, Dry Mill Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1960
Further Comments: Mr and Mrs Edwards appeared in court, accused of assaulting their neighbour. The conflict began after manure was thrown over the fence before being thrown back, and over the course of a week, tree branches were broken and red shale tossed into the gardens. Both neighbours denied that they had thrown anything, leading a solicitor to speculate a poltergeist had been responsible and each neighbour had automatically blamed the other.

Mischievous Entity

Location: Selsey (Sussex) - Private bungalow and nearby shop, Seal Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1950 - February 1958
Further Comments: The Quick family moved out of their home after the haunting entity grew too much for them to handle. One newspaper claimed the poltergeist had previously lived next door but had moved to its new abode around 1953. The Quicks experienced moving items, the sounds of pebbles being thrown (although no stones could be found), and cupboards that unlocked unaided.

Large Hound

Location: Northallerton (Yorkshire) - A684, between Northallerton and Leeming Bar
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Summer 2001, between 20:00h - 22:00h
Further Comments: A large black dog ran in front of two women travelling to Leeming Bar by car. The driver closed her eyes and braked hard, expecting to hit the creature. The passenger watched the hound pass through the bonnet, and noticed the creature had no facial features, floppy ears, and was shadow-like. A man that the women spoke to once they reached their destination later killed himself - was the hound a portent?

Pregnant Girl

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Ball Inn, Darnall (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This thin, grey ghost is said to be a member of staff who committed suicide at the inn when she discovered she was with child. She walks the upstairs corridors, while in other parts of the building, strange noises are heard in the night and well secured shelves fall without warning.

Horsemen

Location: Wyke (Yorkshire) - A58/A641 junction, also known as Hell Fire Corner
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Both ghostly horsemen and a phantom car have reported around this junction. The area is considered an accident black spot, begging the question whether ghosts cause the accidents or are they the products?

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Seventeenth century house near Dean Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s?
Further Comments: This house had an entity that opened the front door and could be heard ascending the staircase.

Murdered Man

Location: Chilwell (Nottinghamshire) - Chilwell Hall (demolished 1952)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1840-1860
Further Comments: Thought to be a peddler murdered in fields nearby, this phantom would make strange noises throughout the area at night. Locals believed a married couple who had killed the peddler lived at the hall, although the suspects disappeared and the police did not investigate the crime. Subsequent residents of the hall reported seeing a little ghostly figure wandering the building, and the hall eventually fell into ruin.

Romans

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Military installation, Derby Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1947
Further Comments: The Nottingham Evening News reported that the sound of someone speaking in a 'foreign language' and the noise of clashing metal led some to speculate the military installation was home to a Roman soldier. Local folklore said the site had previously been a Roman camp.

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