The Paranormal Database

Man in Gaiters

Location: Piercebridge (Durham) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly gentleman wearing gaiters has been reported standing by an old clock in the hotel. The sound of two people in disagreement has been heard coming from the empty bar.

Walker

Location: Pluckley (Kent) - Elvey Farm Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Blamed for poltergeist activity, a phantom walker was once said to frequent the farmhouse. There are also reports of a haunting smell (burning yarn or wool) and the ghost of Old Bill, who sits on the end of a bed and talks to himself.

Crown Hotel, Market Street, Poole.

Screaming Children

Location: Poole (Dorset) - Crown Hotel, Market Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Piano in 1989, other sightings unknown
Further Comments: Two children were once locked up in this building by a parent too embarrassed to let them run around and play in front of other people. The ghostly children now let their protests be heard in the form of crying and yelling. The tinkling of a piano has also been heard in the hotel, as has the sound of a body being dragged around in the upper part of the structure.

Whisky Lover

Location: Port Ellen (Argyll and Bute) - Hotel (name not known)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hotel was once a distillery; a burglar fell to his death from a second floor window after drinking too much during his raid. This drunken crook still lurks the corridors looking for more liquor to consume.

Lady in Brown

Location: Portland (Dorset) - Portland Hotel, Portland Square (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1980
Further Comments: Six sailors stayed at this hotel after their ship was unable to leave the docks due to bad weather. After spending time in the bar, the sailors headed to their rooms. Two of the men spotted a woman wearing a long brown Victorian style dress with a white bonnet and shawl on her shoulders standing outside of a room. The figure disappeared before being seen by the other four men.

Buster Crabb

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Keppels Head hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of two hotels claiming Crabb spending his final night here, the Navy frogman is said to haunt the building. Crabb vanished while attempting to spy on a Soviet warship which docked at Portsmouth during the Cold War.

Buster Crabb

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Sally Port hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of two hotels laying claim to Crabb spending his final night here, the Navy frogman is said to haunt the building. Crabb vanished while attempting to spy on a Soviet warship which docked at Portsmouth during the Cold War.

Drunken Dog

Location: Postbridge (Devon) - Area outside the East Dart Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After drinking left over beer left outside the pub, the dog swaggered up the nearby hill and howled at the moon - the creature enjoyed the sensation so much, it has yet to quit its actions.

Trotting

Location: Prestbury (Gloucestershire) - Prestbury House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom hooves are said to been heard moving around this area, while legend states a ghostly young girl moves around the garden. In June 2012, owners Linda Gardner and David Miller said that the site was not haunted, and that a former owner had invented the stories to increase trade.

Robert Clay

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: One landlord was driven out of the building because he could not tolerate the mysterious presence of Mr Clay. The entity would manifest in the form of a tall, bearded man with a deep voice, dressed in clothing which dated back two hundred years. Robert Clay is thought to have killed two young children on the site, burying the bodies in the cellar.

The Lady Vanishes

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Charnock Hotel, St Annes Street (closed in 2022)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: Owner Mandy Russell reported that items would be moved around the bar at night and beer pumps turned off by unseen hands. One man watched a woman enter the toilets - after several minutes passed and his concern grew, he entered the area only to find it empty.

Crying Girl

Location: Quothquan (Lanarkshire) - Shieldhill Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This woman had her newly born child snatched from her - she died of a broken heart soon after and her ghost is now occasionally seen or heard.

Foggy Column

Location: Radcliffe (Greater Manchester) - Commercial Hotel (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: Several workers in the building reported a strange pillar of white mist that would grow from the floor, disappearing after a couple of minutes. The apparition would be accompanied by a sharp drop in temperature.

Mary

Location: Ramsey (Cambridgeshire) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Mary is thought to be a former landlady who died in a fire on the site. The ghost is said to hate naked flames and will blow out candles and matches.

Pacing Footsteps

Location: Reading (Berkshire) - Roebuck Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost can also be heard knocking on doors, and opening locked windows, much to the annoyance of the owners.

Chained Child

Location: Redworth (Durham) - Redworth Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord Surtees had his mentally ill child chained to the fireplace - the youngster can be heard crying and wailing.

Elderly Lady

Location: Retford (Nottinghamshire) - The Elms (currently a hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s (onwards?)
Further Comments: A soldier on guard duty at the building, which had been taken over as a hospital) spotted an elderly woman in a Victorian-type dress as she glided across the land before vanishing. The ghost may have been seen since this encounter.

An Unfaithful Wife

Location: Retford (Nottinghamshire) - West Retford Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1910s onwards
Further Comments: The ghost here is thought to be a woman who had an affair with the stable boy (who later committed suicide because of the scandal). What became of the woman is unknown, but her shade now walks the corridors, heading out across the courtyard towards where the stables once stood.

Young Girl

Location: Retford (Nottinghamshire) - White Hart Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to have been killed in a coach accident at the rear of the building, some believe that the ghost of the girl lingers on at the hotel. She may have been heard walking down the corridors by visitors to the building. A bust of the girl is contained within a display case, and bad luck is said to befall anyone who touches it.

Anne Armstrong

Location: Riding Mill (Northumberland) - Wellington Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Anne was a witch hunter who caught five pagans practicing 'black magic' in the hotel. It is not known whether the witches escaped execution, but Anne was found hanged in the hotel shortly after and foul play was suspected. Anne's ghost haunts her favourite bedroom.

Young Boy

Location: Ripley (Derbyshire) - Cock Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Strange sounds have been heard coming from empty parts of the hotel, and several staff have reported seeing a young lad with cigarette burns who quickly vanishes in the blink of an eye.

Old Boots

Location: Ripon (Yorkshire) - Unicorn Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Known to his friends as Old Boots, Tom Crudd was a well-liked boot boy, and his nonfrightening ghost now haunts the hotel.

Pale Woman in Blouse

Location: Rochester (Kent) - Hotel (exact one unknown, but next to former airstrip / current airport)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This young female form, sometimes accompanied by a clicking sound, appears on the second floor of a modern extension of the hotel. Some staff members believe her to be connected to a murder that once took place on the piece of wasteland just outside the original building.

Grey Woman

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells (Kent) - Swan Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 October 1997, and mid nineteenth century
Further Comments: A phantom woman in grey was spotted at this hotel during the 1990s. An older story says that the site is haunted by a girl would calls out the name 'John'. It is not clear whether they are the same entity.

Bottled Squire

Location: Rugby (Warwickshire) - Brownsover Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghost of a squire driving his coach and horses raised hell in the neighbourhood until exorcised; trapped in a bottle now hidden within the walls of the hotel, he now waits until released again. A recent email received suggests that late night drivers in the area still encounter the phantom coach along Leicester Road.