The Paranormal Database

Crying Child

Location: Baldock (Hertfordshire) - Hinxworth Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy autumn nights
Further Comments: Thought to relate to a particularly ironic incident when a maid accidentally killed a child who had dressed up as a ghost to scare her, the infant's screams can now be heard echoing down through the ages.

Murderer Begging for Mercy

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Gibbet Hill, Black Down
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: One fellow was hung in the gibbet while still alive - it took many days for him to slowly die of thirst. His voice is occasionally heard begging for someone to kill him.

Wallace

Location: Ardrossan (Ayrshire) - Castle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: An old haunt during his life, it is only fitting it should become one for Sir William Wallace after death.

Laird on Horseback

Location: Maxton (Borders) - Littledean Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Killed by a local witch, this former owner of the tower can be seen riding his mare, lost on the barren land. Another ghost story from the area says a woman returned from the grave to ensure that her hidden treasure was given fairly to the landowner and a kind serving girl.

Crying Children

Location: Farndon Bridge (Cheshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Two young princes were once thrown off this bridge into the river below by Roger Mortimer - their cries for help now heard on windy or stormy nights.

Sir Gaulter and Lady Friend

Location: Northenden (Cheshire) - Area near the Mersea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: These two figures reportedly haunt the shoreline of the Mersea.

Lost Fisherman

Location: Polperro (Cornwall) - Willy Willock's Hole (cave system)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: A local fisherman once died in the maze of caves located here - he can still be heard crying out for help when the atmospheric conditions are right.

Anne Isabella Milbanke

Location: Seaham (Durham) - Along the cliffs
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: During stormy nights, a grey lady is reputed to walk along the cliff tops, pausing close to Seaham Hall. She has been named as Byron's former wife.

Coach and Horses

Location: Rockfield (Gwent) - Road between Rockfield and Monmouth (Ancre Lane?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: A coach pulled by a team of frantic horses reputedly vanishes into a field after crashing through a wall on the roadside.

Detail from Salvator Rosa's painting The Witches' Sabbath.

Sobbing

Location: Moelfre (Gwynedd) - The Druids' Circle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Cries, sobs and loud moans are heard from the Stone of Sacrifice on certain nights of the year. During a meeting of witches in the dim and distant past, this stone communicated with the pagan group - two of the women dropped dead on the spot, while a third went mad.

A reminder not to play on the tracks.

Pointsman

Location: Bispham (Lancashire) - Rail tracks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Swinging his lantern, this ghostly lone figure walks slowly along the tracks.

Sound of Stones

Location: Sheringham (Norfolk) - Cliffs
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: The bodies of twelve sailors were buried in a gap in the cliffs; the corpses were covered with stones and left, rather than being taken to the nearby church. Now when the weather is right, the sound of the bodies being buried can be heard.

Rebecca

Location: Horton (North Yorkshire) - Bracken Hall, village green, and surrounding moor land
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Murdered the day before her wedding by her fiancee, Rebecca now appears in her white dress in protest over her rough treatment.

White Horse of Clumly

Location: Hestwall (Orkney) - Clumly Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Both horse and rider were killed in an accident as they galloped back home, the rider having just disposed of a body. Now the pair only appear when the environment is right.

A horned devil (public domain).

Croydon Hill Devil

Location: Rodhuish (Somerset) - The nearby Croydon Hill
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: An old lane on this hill was once reportedly home to a creature with horns. A local lad, who once dressed up as the creature to play a joke on strangers travelling the lane, disappeared without trace; it is thought his ghostly screams can be heard on stormy nights, as the real Devil takes him.

Widow Shawe

Location: Boulge (Suffolk) - Churchyards in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Having cut her own throat, this phantom woman was said to have taken up haunting churchyards in the area.

Sailors

Location: Warton (near Wrea Green) (Lancashire) - Boggart House (no longer standing), on the road leading to the riverside public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights (pre-Second World War)
Further Comments: Before the house was demolished to make room for landing strips for wartime aircraft, locals believed it to be a haunt for dead sailors who lost their lives in the nearby Irish Sea. It was also reported that a murder occurred in the house, and the screams of the victim could still be heard.

Off the coast of Blackpool.

Kilgrimol

Location: Blackpool (Lancashire) - Off the coast, between St Annes and Blackpool
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: stormy nights. Last heard 21 May 2013?
Further Comments: A town lost off the coast of Blackpool many years ago, the bells can be heard ringing on stormy nights. The bells may have last been heard by a mother and daughter walking near Sandcastle Water Park.

Blanche

Location: Disley (Cheshire) - Lyme Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights. Last seen circa 2004?
Further Comments: A mistress of Sir Piers Leigh who died 1422, Blanche pined away after hearing news about his death. Pier's funeral procession is now seen advancing towards the house, with Blanche wailing a short distance behind it. Another group of ghosts, this time children, have been seen playing on a bed in the Knight's Bedroom. Blanche may have last been seen by three people arrested for trespassing nearby, with their three descriptions of the ghostly figure given to the police marrying up perfectly.

Phantom Army

Location: Deeside (Clwyd) - Ewloe Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: Aside from the occasional ghostly echo of marching soldiers, a soft singing can be heard as the rain and wind knock against the castle.

Galloping

Location: St Just (Cornwall) - Road between St Just & Tregeseal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: The sounds of horses pulling a carriage have been reported coming from this stretch of road during stormy nights.

Caller of Claife

Location: Claife (Cumbria) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: A phantom figure would often be heard shouting across the lake, causing fear to all those who heard it. One man foolish enough to investigate was found petrified, and he died within 24 hours. Even though the entity was exorcised by a monk, the phantom figure is now said to either silently appear by the water's edge or call out when storms hit. A phantom boat is also said to traverse this area on Windermere.

Bolting Horses

Location: Trent (Dorset) - Trent Barrow, pool
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: The pool was once the scene of a tragedy when a horse drawn carriage crashed into it, drowning all on board. This mishap can still occasionally be heard. The pool was once believed to be so deep that it could never be measured.

Coach

Location: St Andrews Bay (Fife) - West Sands Road, and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: This spectral coach and four is seen passing through the area, vanishing in a puff of blue smoke and leaving only the reek of sulphur.

Parcy Reed

Location: Redesdale (Northumberland) - Pringle Haugh, Batinghope Glade (author's note - could not locate on map, so likely to have been renamed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: Parcy (or Percy) was murdered by a family named Hall, who lured him from his home using the pretext of hunting. Although the murderers were caught, Parcy's ghost, with rifle slung over one shoulder, remained in the area.