The Paranormal Database

Dashing Lady

Location: Crowborough (Sussex) - Alice Bright Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: A young woman was found drowned in a stream along this lane early in the twentieth century - now when the weather is right, her shade is seen running down the road in the conditions which lead to her accident.

An old postcard of Goodrich Castle.

Drowning Lovers

Location: Goodrich (Herefordshire) - Goodrich Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy weather (screaming)
Further Comments: A failed escape from Cromwellian soldiers resulted in a young officer and his lover drowning in the river Wye. Their ghosts, mounted on horseback, have been reported struggling in the river, standing in the ruins of the nearby castle, or heard screaming during storms. In addition, an imprisoned Irish chieftain who died trying to escape is said to haunt the Macbeth tower.

Barbara Palmer, nee Villiers, painted by John Greenhill.

Barbara Villiers

Location: W5 (Greater London) - Walpole House, Chiswick Mall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy, moonlit nights
Further Comments: Barbara, mistress to King Charles II, was once a beautiful young lady, until she contracted a disease that swelled her body to a huge size - her bitter, misty shade walks the house, acting threateningly towards any who see her.

Secret Tunnel

Location: Little Abington (Cambridgeshire) - Jeremiah's Cottage and Old House
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Visible during snow
Further Comments: A secret tunnel used by highwaymen is said to connect these two properties. When it snows, the snow is said to melt above the tunnel, revealing its location.

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.

Drummer

Location: Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy days
Further Comments: During a Civil War skirmish, the cavaliers retreated into a tunnel that led from the church to the rectory. Rather than follow them in, roundhead troops sealed both ends of the tunnel. The trapped cavaliers slowly died; the last sound the roundheads heard was the drummer boy beating his drum. His instrument is supposed to be still heard beating in the village on windy days.

Geoffrey de Mandeville

Location: Burwell (Cambridgeshire) - Ruins of Burwell Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy nights
Further Comments: Killed while trying to storm the castle with a gang of thieves and robbers, de Mandeville dying words can sometimes be heard on the wind.

Lamenting Witch

Location: Slieau Whallian (Isle of Man) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy nights
Further Comments: Accused of witchcraft, this woman was placed in an internally spiked barrel and rolled down the hill. Her ghost is never seen but can be heard screaming on the winds at night.

Sir Thomas Button

Location: Dyffryn (South Glamorgan) - Dyffryn House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy nights (possibly last seen nineteenth century)
Further Comments: Former owner Button was said to walk through the garden and occasionally pop up in the cellar.

Jack Aitken

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Harbour area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy weather
Further Comments: Hanged for attempting to commit arson in a naval dockyard, Aitken's body was then displayed in a gibbet - the chains of which can still be heard clinking in the wind.