The Paranormal Database

Cowled Monk

Location: Skelton cum Newby - Church of Christ the Consoler
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 1954
Further Comments: Reverend K F Lord accidentally snapped an image of a cowled monk on the altar of this church - dressed in black robes with an elongated, skull-like face, this picture frequently appears in ghost literature.

A Sea Man

Location: Skinningrove - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man was caught in the sea by fishermen and kept for many weeks in a cottage where he lived on a diet of fish. After a while, the 'sea man' returned to the sea, waving goodbye to people standing on the coast before diving down and never returning.

Headless on Headless

Location: Skipsea - Roads around town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The headless highwayman seen around this area rides a headless horse. A road on a hill south of the town is haunted by a woman (who may also be headless) wearing black, who quickly vanishes just before reaching a hill.

Poisoned Wife

Location: Skipsea - Skipsea Castle, Albermarle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Headless woman on moonlit nights (reoccurring), others unknown
Further Comments: Drogo, a Baron from the eleventh century, poisoned his wife and fled abroad - she has been seen, headless and white, walking from the castle (or what remains of it) to a brook at the base, disappearing before reaching the bridge. She may be the same entity known as Awd Molly, who was once believed could be summoned if you walked around a certain pit in the area. Finally, depressions in the ground somewhere on the hill are supposed to belong to two warriors who killed each other in a dual - if filled, the ghosts of the fighters were said to return.

Wailing

Location: Skipton - Archway along Sheep Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2010s
Further Comments: One witness reportedly spotted a phantom woman in this area. Local legend says several women were killed in a gang fight during the 1800s and they can now be heard wailing and moaning.

Farm Hand

Location: Skipton - Close House
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Being a dab hand with corn thrashing, this fairy fellow was most welcome at the house, but left when accidentally insulted by the owner.

An old postcard of Skipton in Yorkshire.

The Padfoot

Location: Skipton - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This black, horse-sized hound unset the villagers when it paid them a brief visit.

Gartham's Revenge

Location: Skipton - Grammar school
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The school's master, Reverend Robert Thomlinson, was found dead at the school - a rumour quickly sprung up that he had been scared to death by the ghost of his predecessor, whom Thomlinson had tried to remove from office by using a dirty tricks campaign.

Clifford's Coach

Location: Skipton - High Street
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight, prior to a death in the family (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The appearance of Lady Ann Clifford in her horse drawn coach was said to herald the death of the owner of the local castle.

Grandmother

Location: Skipton - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1984
Further Comments: The children of the Thompson family reported seeing the ghost of their grandmother around their house. What added credence to their encounter was that they described the ghost as wearing a pink dress and carrying two crucifixes, which were the items which were cremated with the lady, and something of which the children were unaware.

Hotspot

Location: Skipton - Skies over area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This area was claimed to be a UFO hotspot by enthusiasts.

Woman

Location: Skipton - Woolly Sheep Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn is reputed to be haunted by a woman in a flowing dress.

Bear

Location: Skipwith - Skipwith Common
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: February 1975
Further Comments: A man reported seeing a dark brown bear standing 150 centimetres high. No trace of the creature could be found later.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Skirlaugh - Old farmhouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000-2006
Further Comments: A former occupier of the property reported encountering several phantoms on the site, with other members of the family also spotting entities. These included a floating cloaked figure, a little blonde girl with an expressionless face, a young black man and a boy who ran around the yard.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Skirlaugh - Old farmhouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000-2005
Further Comments: The family which lived in this old farmhouse reported seeing several phantoms during their time here. A floating cloaked figure was seen at dusk, a young boy wearing old fashioned clothing was watched running around the yard, a young girl wearing a black pinafore spotted from the kitchen window, and a young black male observed scrubbing the wall of a barn.

Silent Woman

Location: Slaithwaite - Silent Woman public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub is named after the headless ghost that resides between the canal and a viaduct that carries the railway.

Serving Girl

Location: Sleights - The Old Vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976
Further Comments: This former vicarage was once said to be haunted by a serving girl who committed suicide in the building.

Poisonous Lizard

Location: Slingsby - Road from Hovingham to Malton
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A great lizard that lived along this road, feasting on lonely travellers at night, was killed by a local hero and his pet dog. Unfortunately, both the victors died soon after the battle due to the delayed effect of the dragon's poison. One story says that the dragon was over a mile long.

Dragon Death

Location: Sockburn - Area marked by the Greystone
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir John Conyers killed this worm by stabbing it under a wing, marking the spot with a stone and donating the used sword to Durham Cathedral.

Speech

Location: Sowerby - Pudding Pie Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fairies can be heard talking within the hill if the listener either runs around the hill nine times anticlockwise while the moon is waxing, or they stick a knife into the centre of the mound, or both.

Faith

Location: Soyland - Bluebell (or Blue Ball) Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Drowned after an affair with the landlord resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, Faith is heard running along the corridors of the public house after hours; protesting that while all knew her death was murder, no one questioned the official finding that called it a suicide.

Robin Roundcap

Location: Spaldington - Spaldington Hall (demolished 1838)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre-1838
Further Comments: An elf took up residence here, putting out fires and spoiling food. He was banished to a nearby well by three members of the clergy.

Mill Stones

Location: Stainforth - Robin Hood's Mill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The miller in question had his mill swallowed into the ground after he worked on the Sabbath, though the grinding of the mill stones was said to be heard for years after.

Teenager

Location: Staithes - Boulby Cliff
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This young woman was killed in 1807 when the cliff path gave way, a large, heavy rock crushing her skull. Her headless shade still walks the path as it once was, several metres out from the current one.

Sandsend Bogey

Location: Staithes - Coastline between Staithes and Whitby
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity would accompany random fishermen out to sea, with its presence bringing any vessel good luck. Not all were happy with the otherworldly being, regardless of it being lucky, and it disappeared after a priest exorcised it.