The Paranormal Database

Jake

Location: Aberdeen (Aberdeenshire) - His Majesty's Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1982, and 2006
Further Comments: A former stagehand who lost his head in an accident at the theatre prior to the Second World War, Jake disappeared after building work ended in 1982. However, when renovation work started again, contractors began to report the sound of someone in high heels walking around empty areas of the theatre.

Chilly Room

Location: Accrington (Lancashire) - Spinning Jenny Club, theatre lounge (no longer standing)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Visitors to the building would feel freezing air when entering the room, even when the temperature outside rocketed. Lights would also turn themselves off at the most inopportune moments.

Edna

Location: Arnold (Nottinghamshire) - Bonington Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once the theatre is locked up for the night, the sounds of footsteps can be heard within. Lights have also been switched on and cold spots reported. A rumour says that the building was erected on a Quaker burial site, and that the ghost, nicknamed Edna, is one of the former occupants.

Ernie

Location: Ashton under Lyne (Greater Manchester) - Tameside Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: Jack Douglas of Carry On film fame reported seeing this male ghost several times, standing above him in the upper circle and slowly melting away when approached.

Projectionist?

Location: Attercliffe (Yorkshire) - Adelphi theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: Visited during the day when a nightclub, a member of the Sheffield Paranormal Society and other witnesses reported hearing a series of bangs, experiencing icy cold temperature and a twitching curtain, and feeling compression on her chest whilst in the former cinema projection room. It was said that a former projectionist loved his job and may have never left. The site was also said to have experienced several people dying in a fight in the dim and distant past. The visitors were told that cleaners in the toilets had been hit by unseen hands, while two security guards experienced something which resulted in them never returning.

Vanishing Props

Location: Averham (Nottinghamshire) - Robin Hood Theatre
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A touring group reported that their props vanished, and that furniture was moved around by an unseen hand. After they finished their production, the team turned all the building's lights off and locked up, only to find that all the lights had turned themselves back on as they reached the car park.

Robert

Location: Bacup (Lancashire) - Royal Court Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 12 April 2008
Further Comments: A full investigation of this theatre was carried out by the Paranormal Activity Research Team of Lancashire. Numerous entities were detected by the team, including a woman named Kitty and a man named Jackson by the Circles seating area, a doctor-like figure in reception, and other presences throughout the building.

Man

Location: Bangor (Gwynedd) - New County Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s?
Further Comments: A possible urban myth says that staff once found a dead man sitting on a chair in the balcony. His ghost is said to remain in the theatre.

Hymns

Location: Barmouth (Gwynedd) - Dragon Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2017
Further Comments: This theatre has been home to ghost hunts in the past and is reputed to be home to various entities which include a young girl singing hymns, a ghostly cat, and a figure who closes the stage curtains.

Former Performer

Location: Basingstoke (Hampshire) - Haymarket Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Haymarket is said to be haunted by several ghosts of old performers, though no one can say who, why or when.

Banging

Location: Bath (Somerset) - Little Theatre Cinema
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2017
Further Comments: Paranormal investigators were called to this theatre after strange bangs and other unexplained sounds were heard around the site.

Theatre Royal, Bath.

Grey Lady

Location: Bath (Somerset) - Theatre Royal & Garrick's Head Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (butterfly) (reoccurring), Grey Lady last seen 1975
Further Comments: An actress killed herself in the hotel in the 1880s after discovering her husband had murdered her secret lover. The actress's last performance at the theatre occurred a few hours before her death, a role which required her to wear a grey feather dress - the same clothing her ghost still wears as it patrols the theatre and hotel. Her phantom may have last been seen in 1975. A dainty butterfly is also reported to haunt the theatre, manifesting briefly once a year on Christmas Day.

Leon Salberg

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands) - Alexandra Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Having managed the theatre for over twenty five years, Leon died within the building, and is thought to still walk here. The ghost of an unknown woman has also been spotted.

Moving Props

Location: Blackpool (Lancashire) - Grand Theatre
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Strange sounds and light poltergeist activity have been reported from this theatre.

Vida Swift

Location: Bolton (Greater Manchester) - Octagon Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-1968
Further Comments: Dying while carrying out the role of wardrobe mistress, Vida has been seen walking around the corridors and frequenting the stage control box.

Cloaked Woman

Location: Boston (Lincolnshire) - Outside of Blackfriars Theatre, Spain Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 20 December 2012, around 02:35h
Further Comments: Approaching the theatre from the west end of Spain Lane, this witness noticed a short (5 foot - 5 foot 3 inch) hooded figure in a full length cloak at the opposite end of the building. As the witness neared the figure, it turned, revealing the expressionless face of a young fair haired woman. Within a couple of seconds, the figure vanished into thin air.

Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.

Emily

Location: Bournemouth (Dorset) - Pavilion Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The phantom named Emily was thought to be an actress who died in the 1930s. She was blamed for the disembodied footsteps which could be heard on the empty stage, and the occasional poltergeist-like outburst which involved items being thrown around. One member of staff was even said to have been chased along a corridor by the entity. A newspaper article written in 2007 and just prior to the theatre being renovated claimed that the building work may silence Emily, the implication that she was little more than squeaky floorboards and vivid imagination.

People

Location: Bournemouth (Dorset) - Shelley Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The haunting here appears to be restricted to stories of ghostly people walking down corridors.

Major Rickman

Location: Bracknell (Berkshire) - South Hill Park theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Major Rickman lived in the building until he shot himself in 1940. His ghost is sometimes heard jangling keys or seen standing at the top of the staircase with a worried look on his face. Two children are also said to haunt the site. They died in a fire which consumed the nursery in the late nineteenth century.

Sir Henry Irving

Location: Bradford (Yorkshire) - Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The location he last played before dying, Irving is still said to walk the floor at the theatre.

Brighton's Nightingale Theatre.

Emily Coalthorpe

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Nightingale Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fourteen year old Emily died here in the late nineteenth century when this building was an hotel. Her ghost is supposed to haunt a staircase.

The Brighton Dome Theatre.

White Lady

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Brighton Dome (theatre), New Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: Seen by actors as they rehearse, the phantom lady is described as wearing a long white dress wearing bouffant style hair. A soldier dressed in a red tunic, the sound of disembodied footsteps and the rattling of chains also haunt the building.

The Gardner Arts Centre in Brighton.

Grey Smoke

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Gardner Arts Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1979
Further Comments: A grey mist accompanied by clanking and a drop in temperature was reportedly seen on stage by cleaning staff at this theatre.

Brighton's Hippodrome Theatre.

Vesta Tilley

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Hippodrome Theatre, Middle Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to wear a long black dress (and occasionally a grey one), the ghost of Tilley haunts the area which was once the theatre's bar.

The Brighton pub and theatre Marlborough Tavern.

Pale Woman

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Marlborough Tavern (theatre), Princes Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: The phantom woman observed in this tavern is thought to be the murdered wife of a former landlord - he tried to kill her by pushing the woman down the stairs, and when that failed, left her in the cellar mortally wounded. When last seen, the woman was floating across the stage area.