The Paranormal Database

Dark Feline

Location: Abberton - Abberton reservoir, south of Colchester
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: A large black cat was seen at the reservoir.

Grey Greyhound

Location: Alphamstone - Sycamore Farm
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: One night during the late 1940s
Further Comments: After seeing a creature in his chicken coop, a farmer fired a shotgun at the creature - it ran through the wire netting and escaped. Examining the scene in the morning, the farmer could find no holes in the netting or footprints of the dog.

Alexia's Polt

Location: Ardleigh - Private residence, Dead Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1975
Further Comments: Alexia Zangli, a former owner of the house that Mary Whitehouse had moved to, claimed in the Daily Mirror that the property had a friendly poltergeist, although did not furnish any further details. In response, Mary's husband said they might invite the local vicar over for a blessing.

Fighting Soldiers

Location: Ashdon - Fields in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Moonlit nights
Further Comments: Perhaps connected to nearby Linton's Royalist stronghold, the fields in this area were said to be haunted by fighting phantom soldiers from the Civil War.

Drowned Lady

Location: Ashdon - Pond known as Lady Well (no longer present) in private residence along Dorvis Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local myth says that a pond which was once in a garden at this village was haunted by a phantom woman. She drowned in the pond after a storm caused her horse to bolt, throwing her into the water.

Moaning

Location: Ashingdon - Hill on which Saint Andrews Church stands
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The hill is said to be the home of ghostly moans which belong to dying soldiers.

Great Cry

Location: Ashingdon - Lane winding past church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The story goes that two men walking past the church had a heated argument which resulted in the murder of one of them. The killer, in turn, killed himself in an asylum; the haunting scream in the area is said to be his, rather than his victims.

Bloodstained Hill on which No Grass Grows

Location: Ashingdon - Saint Andrews Church, Hill on which it stands
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that an incredibly vicious battle was fought on this site, the blood running so thick that no grass could ever grow here again. The hill is currently grassy...

Phantom Coach

Location: Audley End - Audley End Road & Chestnut Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The coach departs the Lions Gate and is driven along the local streets until it reaches the B1383. As normal, the coach driver is said to be headless.

Unknown

Location: Aveley - Old Ship Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Campaign for Real Ale website mentions this site is haunted, although the finer points are not stated.

Hairy Creatures with Large Pointed Ears

Location: Aveley - Road in the area, exact location not known
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 27 October 1974
Further Comments: While driving home, a family of four were abducted by a blue UFO; the occupants were described as four-foot-high hairy beings, with large eyes and pointed ears. After 3 hours, the family were returned to their car.

Blue Workman

Location: Basildon - Ambassador Bowling Club, Alley 17 (now a bingo hall)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: The figure of a man dressed in blue overalls has been observed on lane 17, standing by a bench. The machinery along the lane has a history of behaving erratically, and there have been reported drops in temperature.

Lady in Red

Location: Basildon - Basildon Hall (demolished 1960s)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early / mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A lady who died in a fire, which occurred when the site had acted as an inn, would manifest as a figure wearing a red cloak. She was once seen standing over a baby's cot, standing by the feeding bottle which had previously gone missing. Other items would also vanish and reappear in the same place months (or even years) later.

Screams

Location: Basildon - Cash's Well (aka Vange Well No.5) and surrounding area, Langdon Hills country park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2019 onwards
Further Comments: The area around the well has gained a spooky reputation with disembodied screams heard in the surrounding woodland.

Hit by a Cart

Location: Basildon - Church Road, coming in from Clay Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Either one or two ghosts haunt this road - a spirit was blamed for throwing men over a bush as they returned home from the local pub, and the shade of a little girl has been reported, killed by a cart.

Boy

Location: Basildon - Cranes Farm Road near Festival Leisure Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2010, circa 2020
Further Comments: Seen by at least two witnesses, a boy has been observed on the road. The figure disappears, although there is nowhere he could have gone.

Raining Straw

Location: Basildon - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 28 July 1992, early afternoon
Further Comments: Large piles of straw fell from the sky over the town one summer afternoon. This may have been connected to the straw fall in South Wonston (Hampshire) on the same day.

Woman in Beige Dress

Location: Basildon - Goldsmith's Manor, Langdon Hills
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Reportedly haunting one of the attics, the lady is believed to have been the wife of a former owner. She is also blamed for various bangs and tapings around the manor.

Coughing

Location: Basildon - Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s, 2000s
Further Comments: Coughing and running water would be heard coming from a toilet, although when investigated, the room would be found empty with the taps turned off. It is unclear whether it is the same room where, around twenty years later, a nurse discovered a patient who had taken their own life. The nurse ran for help, but upon returning with assistance, there was no sign of the incident.

Two Black Dogs

Location: Basildon - Pitsea Mount
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late 1980s
Further Comments: A group of youths watched a pair of black dogs that mirrored each other's movements. The young people, terrified by the creatures, ran to higher ground; the dogs vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

Crimson Monk Floating without Legs

Location: Basildon - Vicinity of Holy Cross Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Workers at a nearby factory complained that this figure was appearing as they travelled to work early in the mornings, moving across the road on which they travelled into the grounds of Holy Cross church. Footsteps have also been heard into the church after hours, and the same figure has also been seen crossing the highway heading towards Laindon church. One report sent to the Paranormal Database alleges that the haunting was faked by a couple of friends who used a projector on the mist in the area to create the illusion of the red monk.

Moving Stone

Location: Beauchamp Roding - Church on top of hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: When the church was being constructed in the village, building materials were in short supply, so a large stone from the top of the hill was dragged down ready to be used. The following day, the stone had moved itself back to the top of the hill. The stone was brought down, only to relocate itself again the following day. The villagers took this as a sign the church should be built at the top of the hill, and that is why the church is not in the village itself.

A woman wearing a veil, illustrated by Wayne Lowden.

Veiled Woman

Location: Billericay - Burghstead Lodge (currently Registry Office & Library Archives), south-west room on first floor
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A nurse was attending to an ill man in this lodge. On two consecutive nights she spotted, standing over the man, a veiled woman in a green gown who mysteriously vanished. On the third night, the nurse approached the woman and removed her veil. What she saw is unknown, as the following morning she was found insane and her patient was dead. The nurse herself died a few months later.

Lady in Green

Location: Billericay - Burghstead Lodge, High Street
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Appearing to a nurse on three consecutive nights, this ghost took the soul of an elderly owner of the house and drove the nurse to suicide.

Little Girl

Location: Billericay - Cheyne Library, 118 High Street
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a little girl has been seen on the stairs of the building.