Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond
Location: Pittington (Durham) - Lady Peace Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The daughter from the local manor house was murdered along this lane, and now she has returned, her screams can be heard from the nearby village.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2002-10-03
Last updated: 2002-10-03
ID: #2507
An old image of Raby Castle.
Location: Raby (Durham) - Raby Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen in the library, the only part of Vane's body observed is the head and shoulders. A figure resembling Lady Barnard has been seen along the corridors after dark (with one story claiming she knits as she walks, her knitting needles glowing red), while a third ghost can be seen entering the castle from outside, vanishing as he reaches the gate. Charles Neville, the Sixth Earl of Westmorland, drifts up the staircase to the Baron's Hall.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2002-10-23
Last updated: 2024-02-24
ID: #2810
Location: Redworth (Durham) - Redworth Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord Surtees had his mentally ill child chained to the fireplace - the youngster can be heard crying and wailing.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2005-06-18
Last updated: 2005-06-18
ID: #6364
Location: River Skerne (Durham) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This river, like several in the northern part of England, was said to contain an entity which would drag the unwary under the water.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2016-03-13
Last updated: 2016-03-13
ID: #12057
Location: River Tees (Durham) - Cauldron Snout waterfall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A farm girl who killed herself once a relationship with a local miner ended, her pitiful shade can now be heard singing.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2005-06-19
Last updated: 2005-06-19
ID: #6367
Location: River Tees (Durham) - Waters of the river
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This water entity would pull under anyone who swam too close to her home - witnesses would only see her green hair seconds before their friends who would be pulled under the water.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2003-05-31
Last updated: 2003-05-31
ID: #4254
Location: Rokeby (Durham) - Rokeby Hall, Mortham Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A former owner of the hall believed his wife to be having an affair. He severed her head and tried to conceal his crime by hiding the body in the local river. Her ghost followed him home, however, and the headless shade has haunted the building ever since.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2003-01-13
Last updated: 2003-01-13
ID: #3551
Location: Rowlands Gill (Durham) - Clump of trees and undergrowth along Smailes Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely to be pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Doctor Stirling was murdered along the road, his body dumped in a spinney, his killers never brought to justice. Around fifteen years after his murder, the doctor could once again be heard moaning and calling for help from the spinney. Two figures were also seen in the area, with pale faces and bright eyes, named by some to be the doctor's killers.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2011-04-25
Last updated: 2011-04-25
ID: #10278
Location: Rowlands Gill (Durham) - Former Lintz Green Railway Station, now a cycle path
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 00:00h, but date last seen unknown
Further Comments: The sound of a train would be heard passing the former station, even though the rail tracks had long been removed.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2026-04-06
Last updated: 2026-04-06
ID: #16534
Location: Rowlands Gill (Durham) - Gibside Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Countess unknown, monk in 1930
Further Comments: Gibside is another location that made it into the National Trust's top ten haunted locations in 2007, which claimed the site to be haunted by an upset female form thought to be Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. In 1930, a couple out for a walk spotted a phantom monk or friar.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2007-11-27
Last updated: 2026-04-06
ID: #8066
Location: Rowlands Gill (Durham) - Hamsterley Hall
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A noisy presence which attached itself to a disliked footman ceased after the man left.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2026-04-06
Last updated: 2026-04-06
ID: #16537
Location: Rowlands Gill (Durham) - Private residence, Sherburn Towers Estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s-2012
Further Comments: Residents of this property are said to have observed a dark haired man wearing a bowler hat who stands at the bottom of the staircase. Sounds of banging have been heard and items move around.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2012-08-26
Last updated: 2012-08-26
ID: #11083
Location: Ryhope (Durham) - Cherry Knowle Hospital, Laurels Block
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: Ghost hunters were said to be putting their lives at risk by breaking into this former hospital, and local newspaper Sunderland Echo named it 'the most haunted hospital in the UK'. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of historic ghost stories relating to the structure, and one cannot help but to think a modern myth is in the making.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2008-02-24
Last updated: 2008-02-24
ID: #8196
Location: Ryton (Durham) - Private building off Main Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2011
Further Comments: Ada is said to have died of tuberculosis in 1907. Her ghost was reported to have been seen in a residence, sitting on a bench during a dinner party. She is also blamed for opening cupboard doors, turning on taps and moving objects around.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2011-05-08
Last updated: 2011-05-08
ID: #10458
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.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2009-12-29
Last updated: 2009-12-29
ID: #9746
The painting Witches Going To Their Sabbath, By Luis Ricardo Falero.
Location: Seaham (Durham) - Five Sisters (group of trees)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Fog
Further Comments: A local legend says that the five trees are where an old witch coven would meet. One of the witches took the form of a fox and led the local hunt over the edge of a cliff - the scene is repeated if the weather conditions are right.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2014-12-28
Last updated: 2014-12-28
ID: #11672
Location: Seaton Moor (Durham) - Petermoor Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The bottom of the hill was haunted by a translucent figure that would wave his chains at passersby.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2003-09-24
Last updated: 2003-09-24
ID: #4601
Location: Sedgefield (Durham) - Old Rectory (building burnt down in 1791)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1791
Further Comments: A local legend says that this rectory was haunted by the ghost of a clergyman. The man had died a few days before the village tithes were due to be paid; his wife pickled his body and sat it at the dinner table, visible through the window, so she was able to collect and pocket the money due.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2017-05-06
Last updated: 2017-05-06
ID: #12388
Location: Shotton Colliery (Durham) - Private residence (new build)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008-2009
Further Comments: A former occupier of this property moved out after his dog chased a shadow out of the living room and up the stairs. They also reported hearing horse's hooves and experiencing poltergeist-like behaviour.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2013-04-01
Last updated: 2013-04-01
ID: #11323
Location: Shotton Colliery (Durham) - Road which now runs through Bracken Hill Business Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1970s
Further Comments: While driving along a minor road, two witnesses spotted a man and a woman walking towards them in the road ahead, lit up white as if from an oncoming car. As the road was narrow, the driver slowed to a safe speed. As the car drew level to the couple, both suddenly vanished. While the man had a 1930s trench coat, the woman wore a normal winter coat that any other person would wear.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2021-11-06
Last updated: 2021-11-06
ID: #14313
Location: Shotton Colliery (Durham) - Unidentified cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1900
Further Comments: A miner named Lamb and his family moved into this cottage, only to be faced with something which rattled and shook the front door every night. A practical joker was first thought to be to blame, but after a night of snow, the door was opened and no footsteps could be seen. Lamb's son spotted a shadowy figure outside the cottage one night, which reportedly had glowing red eyes.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2020-05-07
Last updated: 2020-05-07
ID: #13761
Location: Sockburn (Durham) - Area marked by the Greystone
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir John Conyers killed this worm by stabbing it under a wing, marking the spot with a stone and donating the used sword to Durham Cathedral.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2003-01-19
Last updated: 2003-01-19
ID: #3660
Location: Spennymoor (Durham) - Area of land next to old railway line (now Rosa Shafto nature reserve)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1982
Further Comments: A large, solid, white face was spotted floating alongside a silver birch tree by four children. The children fled home, with at least one of the witnesses having nightmares of the incident for years after the event.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2013-09-22
Last updated: 2013-09-22
ID: #11410
Location: Spennymoor (Durham) - Whitworth Hall County Park Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in black, Elizabeth is still said to walk around the building even though she died in the 1800s. Another ghost here, this time male, is reported to have died of a broken heart.
Source:
Needs Review
First added: 2004-12-19
Last updated: 2004-12-19
ID: #5706
Location: Staindrop (Durham) - A688 between town and Raby Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom rider on a white horse has his face covered in blood. The entities are said to slowly descend into the ground.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2004-12-02
Last updated: 2004-12-02
ID: #5694