The Paranormal Database

Headless Bride

Location: Winster (Derbyshire) - The Angel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, particularly active around Christmas
Further Comments: The decapitated ghost caused one witness to faint as it ascended the staircase and headed towards the viewer. A local legend states that the ghostly woman and her lover both committed suicide the day before she was due to be married to another man. The building has a history of phantom footsteps and doors that open themselves.

Jean Baptiste du Barre

Location: Bathampton (Somerset) - The George Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, said to be more frequent in December
Further Comments: A Frenchman killed in a duel, du Barre reportedly took his last breaths in the inn. A spirit resembling the duellist was seen standing by the bar at the end of the twentieth century; the witness said the entity was friendly and unthreatening.

Toast Smell

Location: Thornton Heath (Surrey) - Lion Inn, Pawsons Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twenty-first century, during winter months
Further Comments: Said to work in the older part of the pub, this poltergeist is blamed for a toast-like smell, as well as creating voices and other noises. The winter-born polt is just one of the ghosts at home here, with a phantom child, a former serving girl and an old pub regular cited as the others.

King John's Hounds

Location: Purse Caundle (Dorset) - Purse Caundle Manor
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Varies: 20 June or 23 June and 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Twice a year, this pack of devil dogs is let loose in the neighbourhood. Sounds of ghostly plainchant have been heard coming from the manor house.

Night Coach

Location: Ilmington (Warwickshire) - Roads of village, particularly Pig Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 24 December and 01 January the pack hunt, date of coach unknown
Further Comments: This spectral vehicle runs along the roads, before suddenly veering off and vanishing across local fields. This may be related to the ghostly hunt pack seen in the area, led by a man killed by his hounds.

Party with Ugly Young Man

Location: Madingley (Cambridgeshire) - Madingley Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 24 December Lady Ursula seen. Party reported in September 1963
Further Comments: One witness claimed to have heard a ghostly party, followed by the sighting of a stuffy young man, whose face resembled that of a skeleton. Others have also reported similar occurrences, describing the man as having a decaying green face. Lady Ursula Hynde also returns to the hall once a year, upset at her son's actions - he pulled down a church, and used the wood to finish construction of Madingley Hall.

Green Train

Location: Manchester (Greater Manchester) - Fairfield Railway Station, Audenshaw
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Autumn and winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Said to appear around sunset and visible from Booth Road, an old-looking green train with several carriages vanishes if anyone moves too close. A tunnel that has been filled in is said to be home to a disembodied voice that calls out the name Mary.

An old postcard of Rochester Castle.

Lady Blanche de Warenne

Location: Rochester (Kent) - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Blanche on Good Friday or 04 April, Dickens on 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A bystander in a battle for the castle, the Lady Blanche was killed when an arrow entered her heart - her shade has been observed still staggering with the shaft protruding from her chest. It is also believed that Charles Dickens's ghost haunts the moat; he has been seen both here and at the Corn Exchange clock.

Incense

Location: Broadhempston (Devon) - Church House Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Christmas and Easter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a cottage for monks, the sweet smell is thought to come from the long dead monks celebrating their festivals.

The Black Abbot

Location: Prestbury (Gloucestershire) - Church and churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Christmas and Easter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Maintaining the same route every year, this ghost materialises in the church before crossing the churchyard and disappearing through a wall in the High Street. It was photographed in 1990 by a Mr Stafford.

Stomping Boot

Location: Harreitsham (Kent) - Ringlestone Tavern
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Summer & Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The sounds of someone stomping on the cellar steps have been heard, stopping just prior to reaching the top.

Black Coach

Location: Outer London: Enfield (Greater London) - Bell Lane, Enfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: weeks leading up to Christmas (reoccurring), last seen November 1961
Further Comments: A popular local story tells of the Phantom Coach of Enfield, flying two metres off the ground where the road once lay. Seen a couple of times in the twentieth century, the ghostly passengers are said to be quite clear and distinct. A 14 year old boy cycling close to Albany Park School claimed to have passed through the apparition.

Red Eyed Sailor

Location: Faversham (Kent) - Shipwrights Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Cold winter nights
Further Comments: Having died in a shipping accident, the phantom sailor now appears on icy nights. His favourite trick is to open the front door and walk in, only to disappear moments later, leaving only a strange, disconcerting odour.

Fast Moving Old Lady

Location: Farnham (Surrey) - West Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Wet winter nights
Further Comments: Limping, this OAP runs by witnesses at a rate of knots and disappears into the doorway of a house along the street. The same street is also haunted by a black dog which performs a similar action to that of the old woman.

A ghostly black dog in the snow.

Lord Norbury

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Cabra district
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The otherworldly black hound which stalks the area is said to be the ghost of Lord Norbury, a harsh judge renowned for his overuse of the hangman's noose.

Headless Horseman

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Roper's Rest, leading to Love Lane
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This decapitated figure rides along the road once darkness falls, and is thought to be an ill omen for any witness, or one of their family.

Several Arm

Location: Overwater (Cumbria) - Overwater Tarn
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The severed arm of a Jamaican woman (see Ireby - Overwater Hotel, for more information) is said to prevent ice forming on the tarn. As the temperature drops, the arm punches upwards and breaks apart any frozen water.

Uther Pendragon

Location: Shap (Cumbria) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A large man on horseback seen galloping around on winter nights is said to be Uther Pendragon, though his motivation for being here is unclear.

The Young

Location: Chesterfield (Derbyshire) - North Wingfield Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: It said that apparitions are occasionally seen carrying young children in their arms.

Man in the Road

Location: Pentreuchaf (Gwynedd) - Road in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Both young and smart in appearance, this male walks along the middle of the road, causing oncoming traffic to stop before he vanishes into thin air.

A loch in Scotland.

Devil's Coach Marks

Location: Lochs in Scotland (various districts) (Highland) - No exact location given
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: During the winter months, when the Devil visits Scotland, the wheels on his coach leave visible marks across frozen Lochs.

Coach and Four

Location: Shepley (Yorkshire) - Roads around the Shepley War Memorial
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing at night, this phantom coach pulled by four horses would move at breakneck speed along the roads in and around the village.

A phantom lady in blue.

Porter

Location: Rothley (Leicestershire) - Railway Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (woman in blue) (reoccurring), last seen 2000s, & porter seen early 1980s
Further Comments: A ghostly porter was spotted at the station by a member of the public returning from a party at 2am one Sunday morning. The building is also home to a ghostly dog and its owner (they were killed on the line a short distance away prior to the start of the Second World War), and a phantom woman in blue who appears in the waiting room.

Woman with a Red Scarf

Location: Outer London: Uxbridge (Greater London) - Ickenham Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter evenings (reoccurring), 1950s onwards
Further Comments: This ghostly figure stands at the end of the platform, close to where she fell and was electrocuted. She sometimes waves to attract attention before vanishing.

Nicholson

Location: Penrith (Cumbria) - Gibbet Hill (aka Beacon Hill), six kilometres outside of Penrith (gibbet marked by a stone)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter nights (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Hanged for the murder of his godfather, Nicholson's body was left dangling throughout the winter of 1766/1767 as a deterrent to others... Some say it still makes an appearance during harsh winters, his skeletal remains hanging from a gibbet.