The Paranormal Database

The ghost of Birchen Bower.

Madame Hannah Beswick

Location: Oldham (Greater Manchester) - Birchen Bower (building no longer stands, but replaced by Ferranti Works), Bower Lane, Hollinwood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: clear nights. Last seen 1950s
Further Comments: Though the building no longer stands, the ghost of Beswick was also said to haunt her former lands, watching over the gold that she had buried to protect it from thieves and soldiers. The shade reportedly stands tall, wearing a black silk dress and frilly cap, although sometimes she was headless. According to legend, her presence grows stronger every seventh anniversary of her death (in 1758), and she was also seen on clear nights. During the 1950s it was claimed that 35 Ferranti workers had seen her on different occasions.

The Passenger

Location: Olney (Buckinghamshire) - Whirley Pit (pond)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pond is said to be bottomless; occasionally a phantom coach pulled by headless horses led by a decapitated driver passes through the village and dives into the pool, their passenger none other than the Devil on his way home.

Headless Horseman

Location: Onecote (Staffordshire) - Road from Leek to Onecote, and Butterton Moor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless horseman is said to either be a murdered pedlar or a knight killed in combat with the Scots. Either way, the figure is said to be unlucky (with witnesses either dying or losing livestock) and an exorcism once performed on the phantom horseman by seven preachers failed.

Silent Woman

Location: Other London (Greater London) - Railway line between London & Carlisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Dressed in black and wearing a veil, this figure has been seen sitting quietly and disappearing without warning. She is believed to be a bride whose new husband had stuck his head out of a window and was decapitated. Found holding his body once they reached London, totally insane, her spirit has been making the journey since.

The Ghosts' Promenade

Location: Outer London: East Barnet (Greater London) - Church Hill Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: So many phantom encounters along this road led to a Justice of the Peace to name it 'The Ghosts' Promenade'. The ghosts were said to include headless humans and dogs, and phantoms in the trees.

Headless Man

Location: Outer London: Hounslow (Greater London) - Two unidentified cottages
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 1948
Further Comments: Police were called after a headless man sat on a bed, scaring a nearby dog.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Location: Outer London: Wallington (Greater London) - St Mary the Virgin churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Raleigh's headless body was returned to his wife's family in Beddington; his ghost said to walk along a path in the churchyard.

Coach

Location: Ower (Hampshire) - Paulton's Estate (now an amusement park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1935
Further Comments: The sound of trotting horses pulling a coach could be either heard in this area or spotted headless. Strange and beautiful music would emerge from woodland in the area, the source of which could never be found.

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.

Headless Horses

Location: Penryn (Cornwall) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Christmas Time (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Pulling a coach, this team of headless horses manifests around the season of goodwill. Legend states if stared at, it will whisk the witness away to the nether realm.

Headless Horseman

Location: Pettistree (Suffolk) - High Street?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Witnessed by at least two different people since 1990, a headless horseman has been seen trotting down the high street during the early hours.

Headless Horseman

Location: Portlaoise (County Laois) - Green Mill Lane and/or Ridge Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local folklore says that the site of an old mill is home to a headless horseman. One version of the story says the horseman was a coach driver who failed to duck while passing under a low bridge.

Headless Woman

Location: Poulshot (Wiltshire) - Lemon's Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman carrying her head under one arm was said to emerge from around the farm. Her story is unknown.

Six Pallbearers

Location: Powerstock (Dorset) - Road leading to North Poorton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Six decapitated men carrying a coffin are said to slowly move along the country lanes.

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 War of the Roses messenger is doomed to carry his cargo forevermore. Another story says he was decapitated by a thin wire that was placed across the road, while a different version of the tale claims the ghost to be a Royalist courier killed when he rode into a rope strung across his route.

Headless Dog

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that the town was once haunted by a headless black hound, appearing when danger threatened the town. Another ghost said to wander the general area of Preston was that of a white woman.

An old woodcut of a monkey.

Scratching Monkey

Location: Puddletown (Dorset) - Athelhampton House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Home to several ghosts, the monkey was accidentally bricked up behind a wall and now tries to escape. Headless figures allegedly sit around the dinner table, duellists re-enact their last fights outside, and a grey lady walks through walls in the east wing.

Headless Horseman

Location: Pulham Market (Norfolk) - Mill Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach and horses is driven down this lane by a headless horseman. The horseman's whip sparks at each crack.

St Osyth

Location: Quarrendon (Buckinghamshire) - Holy waters
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Osyth was executed by Vikings; a spring burst forth from where her decapitated head landed, and she stood, picked up her head and walked off to a nearby convent where she died.

Hearse

Location: Quidenham (Norfolk) - Bridge close to a church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A headless coachman drives his coffin laden carriage and horses across this bridge.

Decapitated Figure

Location: Quorndon (Leicestershire) - Footpath between Quorndon and Barrow upon Soar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A headless phantom has been reported in this area.

Christopher Bloor

Location: Rainham (Kent) - Lane leading to Bloor Place (no longer standing) and near church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Christopher Bloor had a reputation for being a seducer of women. This proved to be Christopher's undoing - he was decapitated by a posse of local men with wives with whom he had slept. The lane was haunted by the headless Bloor, who reputedly drove his coach pulled by headless horses, and ghostly hoofbeats heard around the church.

Headless Men

Location: Ramsbury (Wiltshire) - Road near Hare and Hounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Carrying a coffin, these two headless men were said to walk close to the old Hare and Hounds pub.

Headless Man

Location: Ravendale (Lincolnshire) - West Ravendale Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One local story says a woman came to the priory at night to meet her lover - seeing a figure in the moonlight, she rushed over to give him a hug, only to realise the person she had seen had no head. She fainted and was found a short time later by her lover. Local legend says it's more common for the headless man to leave the priory and return a short time later, carrying his head under one arm.

Woman with Child

Location: Redbrook (Gwent) - Swan Pool
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heralded by the sounds of a baby crying, a phantom woman holding a baby is said to slowly emerge from this pond. Soon after, a large black dog, which may or may not be headless, circles the pool before heading to a nearby ruined kiln.