The Paranormal Database

Motorbike

Location: A377 - Between Copplestone and Morchard Bishop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 22 September 2022, 17:30h
Further Comments: Two people travelling along this road could hear a motorbike approaching their car from behind. The bike could not be seen, but clearly heard as it overtook the car and accelerated away. Both witnesses were left shaken by their encounter.

Glasses

Location: Abbotsham - Thatched Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As well as the 'normal' sounds of disembodied footsteps, the other phantom sound often reported is the clinking of glasses from an empty room.

A ghostly monk-like figure in a field.

Fading Monk

Location: Abbotskerswell - Area around St Augustine's Priory (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1890s, 2015
Further Comments: The ghost of a monk was reported in the nineteenth century as haunting the roads in this area, though has not been reported as of late. A phantom nun was reported in the same area in 2015.

Misty Man

Location: Aller (?) - Private flat
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa August 1963
Further Comments: After moving in to their flat, a couple were subjected to a manifesting male figure who appeared in their living room. Ornaments would also be moved by an unseen hand. An exorcism drove the ghost out, only for the entity to move into an adjoining flat. The occupants here appear to have been more tolerant and learned to live with the ghost.

Ringing

Location: Alwington - Portledge Manor
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1868
Further Comments: At midnight, a ringing church bell woke the Crosse household, who were staying at the manor at the time. The Crosse family asked neighbours about the ringing the following morning, to be told that the bell only rang to foretell of a death in the Pine-Coffin family. It was later discovered that a member of that family had died in India at the time of the ringing.

Sobbing Child

Location: Ashburton - Bay Horse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A crying child has been reported in the upper part of the building, as have sounds of children running around.

Floating Lights

Location: Ashburton - Skies north of the village
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Summer 1915
Further Comments: Admiralty Intelligence Officers investigated a series of strange lights which were seen in the skies over the area by multiple witnesses. The investigating officers also watched the lights rise into the air and vanish. The officers' report suggested that the lights may have been attached to a balloon used to lift wireless equipment to enable German spies to contact the mainland, although no evidence could be found.

Death Warning

Location: Ashleigh Barton - Manor House
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death in the family
Further Comments: This shade haunts the upper part of the building prior to family tragedy.

Emily

Location: Ashprington - Waterman's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two ghosts haunt this site. The first, Emily, is said to be young, and died after being hit by a cart outside the pub. The second phantom is a former landlady with grey hair, and may have manifested to an old landlord.

Fireplace Man

Location: Ashwater - Manor Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hot shade can be seen in the embers of a fireplace here.

Vanishing Man

Location: Ashwater - Unidentified farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2022, 23:30h
Further Comments: While working late and alone, a witness spotted a man standing in the farmyard. The man promptly vanished.

Hanging Servant

Location: Aveton Gifford - South Efford House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early / mid twentieth century
Further Comments: One of three shades found here, this servant's shade could be seen dangling from a rope over one of the staircases. The other ghosts are of a naval officer (who can be heard shouting and swearing) and that of a ferryman.

Walker

Location: Aveton Gifford - Tidal Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly man is said to walk along this road before vanishing.

Lady de la Pole

Location: Axminster - Shute Barton manor house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Hanged in the garden for being a Royalist during the Civil War, Lady de la Pole now continues to walk the grounds of the building. There are also reports of a phantom feline that looks quite normal, until it walks through something solid.

Tom Faggus

Location: Barnstaple - Ashleigh Road area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2005
Further Comments: Two people witnessed the ghost of a man riding a large horse in this area. The witnesses carried out some research and believe they had encountered the ghost of Tom Faggus, a Robin Hood-like figure who operated in the area.

Boot

Location: Barnstaple - Braunton Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: A man staying at this inn for a few nights reported being woken by the sound of someone talking in the room. The witness also said that he had photographed 'part of a leg with a dark boot' in the same room, although the image was accidently deleted.

Fred

Location: Barnstaple - Cinema
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The spirit at work within this building could be that of a worker who fell from the roof during repair work in 1931 - he died a week after the accident.

Puma

Location: Barnstaple - Civic centre
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Late 1970s
Further Comments: This large black cat was seen loitering close to the town centre.

Mucay and Justy

Location: Barnstaple - Guildhall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Ken Mucay and Bob Justy were named by a medium as the two ghosts haunting this council building, both dying in their 50s, though many years separated their deaths.

Photographed Figure

Location: Barnstaple - Nineteenth century burial site (may no longer exist)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1909
Further Comments: After a rumour started that a ghost had been seen in this disused site, a man claimed to have photographed the spirit rising from a grave. The image was displayed in his window; it is unclear whether any copies of the photograph exist today.

Jack

Location: Barnstaple - Pilton Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Jack had a fatal heart attack in the park during the early part of the twentieth century. Since then, his shade has been creating mischief in the green space.

Headless Woman

Location: Beer - Bovey House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While the smell of lavender is often reported, without any apparent source, the headless ghost, dressed in blue silk, has not been observed for years.

Smuggler

Location: Beer - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1998
Further Comments: After the sound of an impossible to open trapdoor slamming shut woke a family for fourteen consecutive nights, they called a medium who claimed it was caused by a smuggler/fisherman. The entity was told to leave, but could occasionally return, his presence denoted by the smell of smoke. A phantom old woman is also said to haunt the site.

Door Opener

Location: Belston - Tors Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late Twentieth century
Further Comments: This polt is blamed for slamming doors in the upper part of the building.

An old postcard showing Berry Pomeroy Castle.

Blue Lady de Pomeroy

Location: Berry Pomeroy - Berry Pomeroy Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After being raped by her father, this former member of the de Pomeroy family now haunts the ruins of the building for the crime of killing her own child. The child has also been heard crying and screaming in the building. The castle also lays claim to possessing a phantom cavalier, and a ghostly black dog.