The Paranormal Database

Titmouse Brown

Location: Croston (Lancashire) - Trees in the local area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An entity resembling a cross of fairy and ghost, this local figure has been observed leaping from treetop to treetop. He is said to warn people of any immediate danger, reportedly saving one lad from a speeding lorry. Titmouse Brown is also known as Shrewfoot and Marsantos, and sometimes chases a phantom stag through the trees.

Auto-Amputating Lime Tree

Location: Cuckfield (Sussex) - Cuckfield Park
Type: Legend
Date / Time: To mark a death in the family
Further Comments: A lime tree in the grounds of the park is said to drop a branch just before a member of the family in the nearby house dies.

A glowing ball in the trees.

Flickering Light

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Coffin Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once the location where bodies would be transported from horseback into their coffins, the wooded area is now home to a glowing ball which flickers around the trees.

Funeral

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Wistman's Wood, one mile north of Two Bridges
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A procession of white clad figures where observed walking through the wood, following the path of what was once a well-used funeral route.

Wish Hounds

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Wistman's Wood, one mile north of Two Bridges
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Large black dogs are rumoured to hunt in this area of the moors - they once killed the son of a farmer.

Knocking

Location: Denton (Sussex) - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1933
Further Comments: Locals claimed that the presence found in this house was antagonised when the new owners destroyed a set of trees planted by the occupant before them. The spirit proceeded to knock on the doors and walls dozens of times a day, until the owners fled.

The ghostly Lady Derwentwater.

Lady Derwentwater

Location: Dilston (Northumberland) - Dilston Hall and nearby woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Waiting for the return of her husband, Lady Derwentwater has been gazing out of one of the windows (or if not seen direct, her lamp has been spotted flickering in the distance). Her spirit is also said to stalk the nearby woods. A legend says that when Lord Derwentwater was executed at the Tower of London in 1716, the stream running by the hall turned red with blood.

James II

Location: Donore (County Louth) - Athcarne Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: James II stayed here just before his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, and now his shade lingers on. He is not alone here, however. A crazy looking girl walks around the area with her hands caked in blood, while a soldier has been observed hanging by his neck from a tree.

Hand

Location: Dovenby (Cumbria) - Wooded area on road between village and Tallentire
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark, stormy nights
Further Comments: A disembodied hand is reported to reach out from the trees and push passing cyclists from their bikes.

Merlin's Grave

Location: Drumelzier (Borders) - Thorn tree in a meadow close to the church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: According to one legend, the mighty magician Merlin was killed by shepherds close to this spot and was promptly buried.

Glowing Eyes

Location: Dundar (Lothian) - Woods in the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A witness recounted how friends were terrified by a strange black dog with glowing red eyes which appeared and disappeared around them. The sightings were accompanied by high pitched screeching.

An old postcard showing The Hermitage at Dunkeld.

Wishing Tree

Location: Dunkeld (Perth and Kinross) - The Hermitage
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Circa 2011 onwards
Further Comments: The stump of a tree which fell during a storm in December 2011 has become known as a place for wishing. Pennies are hammered into the wooden remains in exchange for good health.

Rushing Horseman

Location: East Malling (Kent) - Barming Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January (normally) (reoccurring). Seen last in 1971
Further Comments: This figure has been both seen and heard as he darts around trees and over roads. One witness said the entity charged towards their car, disappearing on impact.

Long Haired Man

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Yew tree at the Manse, Colinton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pallid spirit can sometimes be seen hiding behind the large tree.

White Woman

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Area where sycamore tree once stood, Dovecote Road, Corstorphine
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This white lady stabbed her lover to death by the tree, while fending off his attack. She was executed for the crime, but her ghost holding a sword would return to the tree where the crime was committed. Another version of the story says that she was murdered here.

White Lady with Sword

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Corstorphine Sycamore Tree (only the stump remains)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lady, angry at being (once again) stood up by her secret lover, murdered him with his own sword. She now haunts the scene of the crime.

Hiding Place

Location: Edwinstowe (Nottinghamshire) - Major Oak, Sherwood Forest
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Tree still present
Further Comments: It is widely believed that Major Oak, the largest oak in England, was used by Robin Hood to hide from his enemies.

Murdered Girl

Location: Epping (Essex) - Forest Pond/Willow Tree
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1600s onwards
Further Comments: A story dating back to at least the 1600's, a young couple secretly met at the sight, their love hidden from the girl's father. When the father found out, he killed his daughter, but her ghost still turned up at the meeting point the following day.

Monk

Location: Epping (Essex) - Great Monk Wood, near Main Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Once the monks of Waltham Abbey were commonplace in the woods; now only the odd hooded ghost is seen, walking between the trees.

Laughter

Location: Eskdale (Cumbria) - Wooded area near Santon Bridge
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Several men heard female laughter, accompanied by loud barking and screeching, pass overhead when camping in the woods.

Ghostly Dragon

Location: Faygate (Sussex) - Wooded areas
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Many years ago, before the construction of the road and railway, a large lizard creature was said to reside here. It possessed qualities more like a ghost than a physical creature.

Henry Burghersh

Location: Fingest (Buckinghamshire) - Woods around the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Bishop Burghersh (or Burgwash) was condemned by his God to haunt the forest for stealing land from the local peasants.

Hanging Jock

Location: Fordell (Fife) - Area around the village mill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Jock's master killed a couple of soldiers and fled to avoid the consequences, leaving the poor assistant to pay the ultimate price for the crime. Now Jock is sometimes seen swinging from the trees by his neck, eyes milky and bulging.

Jock

Location: Fordell (Fife) - Tree close to a mill (neither likely to standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: Jock's employer, the miller, poisoned four soldiers who tried to abuse his wife and daughter. The miller left the area before more soldiers arrived to avenge the deaths of their colleagues. Finding Jock, the soldiers hanged him instead, leaving his body dangling from a nearby tree. Jock remained in the area, manifesting after nightfall, swinging from the branches.

The Black Boy

Location: Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) - Littledean Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: The Black Boy was a servant of Charles Pyke - they were always considered to be as close as brothers, until the servant killed Pyke in 1744. Now the boy haunts the building, along with a ghostly cavalier, the sounds of screaming and heavy footfalls.