The Paranormal Database

Headless Horses

Location: Long Compton (Warwickshire) - Long Compton Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: After a storm
Further Comments: A coach pulled by six headless horses is said to travel up the hill. There are also vague reports of a shuck-like dog that runs in the same area. Another ghost, that of a scary old woman with matted black hair, was also reported here in 1973.

Storm Warning

Location: Zennor (Cornwall) - Tinner's Arms
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Before stormy weather
Further Comments: This poltergeist could be little more than faulty wiring, as it only becomes active just before the area is hit by electrical storms.

Stolen Bell

Location: St David's (Dyfed) - Cathedral and Whitesand Bay
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Before stormy weather
Further Comments: The largest bell was stolen from the building by imps disguised as men (or according to others, Cromwellian soldiers) and transported out to sea where it was dropped into the Whitesand Bay. The bell still rings just before a storm, as a warning to nearby fishermen to return home. Another version of the tale says the bell was temporarily placed on rocks during the heist, and it is the rocks that now ring before the weather changes.

An old postcard showing Aberdovey in Wales.

Lost Town

Location: Aberdyfi / Aberdovey (Gwynedd) - Off coast
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Calm nights, or summer (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Swallowed by the sea, church bells belonging to a town lost off the coast here can still be heard on quiet evenings. They say that at low tides one can see sunken tree trunks.

Ashton Court, Bristol.

Decapitated Horseman

Location: Bristol (Somerset) - Ashton Court Estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Clear moonlit nights (horseman)
Further Comments: Ashton Court is best known for its ghostly headless horseman, though there are also reports of grey ladies and a phantom hound.

Grey Lady

Location: Ruthin (Clwyd) - Ruthin Castle (hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Clear nights
Further Comments: This lady was married to a fifteenth century steward at the castle - she decapitated her husband when she discovered him with a younger woman. In turn, she was beheaded for the act of revenge, and now the spook makes fleeting appearances at the former fortress. A man in armour is also occasionally reported.

Black Aggie

Location: Dunbar (Lothian) - Dunbar Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Clear nights
Further Comments: The flitting ghost of Patrick, ninth Earl of Dunbar, has been spotted around the ruins of the castle. Bagpipes have also been heard coming from the empty ramparts.

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.

Old Witch

Location: Outer London: Enfield (Greater London) - Hadley Road, Enfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Cold, misty nights
Further Comments: An old woman who once lived along this stretch of road was executed in 1622 for being a witch - on cold misty nights, her ghostly form now returns.

Lamenting Woman

Location: Menstrie (Clackmannanshire) - Farmland in the area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark and still nights
Further Comments: Driven from her land by the onset of farming, a fairy maiden would return on some nights, crying over the land which once belonged to her and her people.

Thirsty Stones

Location: Llanrhidian (West Glamorgan) - Arthur's Stone (cromlech)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark stormy nights
Further Comments: The stones here are said to animate when the weather is right and there are no human witnesses, to head off and drink from the nearby waters. A ghostly knight in glowing armour also haunts the area; drifting out from under the rocks and heading north on nights of a full moon.

Boots Made for Walking

Location: Besford (Worcestershire) - Church Farm, local field named Dog Kennel Piece
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark, moonless nights
Further Comments: A kennelman was sent by his master to discover what was upsetting a pack of hounds once kept here. The kennelman never returned and in the morning his body was found torn apart by the dogs with only his boots untouched. A ghostly form of the footwear now stomps around the field at night, while the sound of howling hounds drift in the wind.

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.

Squire Cabell

Location: Buckfastleigh (Devon) - Church, the Cabell Tomb
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark, stormy nights
Further Comments: When the weather is right, the squire emerges from his tomb and, together with a pack of hounds, sets off across the nearby moor. Many believe that it is this legend that Hound of the Baskervilles is based upon. A local legend says if one runs around the tomb thirteen times before sticking a finger in the keyhole, the ghost can be felt licking the tip.

Phantom Jaywalker

Location: Pebmarsh (Essex) - Hanner Monk's Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark, stormy nights
Further Comments: This fleeting form is seen dashing across the road when the weather is right. It is thought to be the ghost of Hanner Monk, though it is not clear if the man died on the road or elsewhere.

Brighton's The Coal Shed restaurant.

Jemmy Botting

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - The Coal Shed restaurant, and Boyce's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Dark, windy nights
Further Comments: Botting was a hangman who claimed to have executed 175 during his career. He died in October 1837 after falling out of his wheelchair - he was so despised locally, no one came to help him up. His ghost is said to haunt the Coal Shed, while the sound of his wheelchair is heard passing along Boyce's Street when the weather is right.

Arguing Men

Location: Hardraw Scar (North Yorkshire) - Waterfall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: During thunderstorms
Further Comments: The cries and shouts of three men can be heard here during thunderstorms - it was in such weather that the former friends first fought during their lives, which resulted in the death of one of them.

Biplane

Location: Weybridge (Surrey) - Skies over the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: During thunderstorms
Further Comments: The plane was blown out of the sky during a storm in the mid-1930s; when the weather conditions are bad, the aircraft can be heard struggling in the wind.

Light Aircraft

Location: Woodley (Berkshire) - Skies around Woodley Aerodrome (closed 1959)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy nights
Further Comments: A ghostly light aircraft approaches the old airfield when the weather conditions are less than ideal.

Stanhope

Location: Broughton Astley (Leicestershire) - A5
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy nights
Further Comments: A member of the Stanhope family is reputed to haunt this road when the fog rolls in.

Treasure Hunter

Location: Higher Combe (Somerset) - The Caratacus Stone, just outside the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy nights
Further Comments: The jutting rock is said to have treasure concealed beneath it, though it is now protected by the ghost of a man who tried to remove the stone to find the hidden wealth - his body was found crushed under the stone.

David Bowen

Location: Aberhowy (Powys) - Road to village from Cardigan Bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy nights (last reported 1956?)
Further Comments: The ghost of David on his push bike is said to guide people along the road when the weather is densely foggy and dangerous. Bowen lost his son in an automobile accident on such a night, and now tries to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

Troops

Location: Marston Moor (North Yorkshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Foggy nights. Last seen November 1932
Further Comments: Seen crossing the road in front of a car, these figures looked ragged and battle weary, dressed in clothing that matched that of the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor. Local reports say the battle is sometimes replayed in full, normally on foggy nights. On one occasion prior to the twentieth century, two fiery pillars were seen in the sky at midday, accompanied by the fighting armies. After some time, the northern army defeated the southern forces, after which troops and pillars vanished.

Nance

Location: Sheriff Hutton (North Yorkshire) - Area near the A64 York/London road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy weather
Further Comments: The young lady Nance has been seen standing on the side of the road holding her young baby - she died in the area after being deserted and left penniless by the child's father. It is thought she helps those lost and in peril.

Steam Locomotive

Location: Elsham (Lincolnshire) - Ancholme Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy weather
Further Comments: Said to reappear in the same spot since an accident in the 1920s which killed four people, this large steam locomotive gently glows in its foggy environment.