Essex Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Lynx?
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - Area around the railway station
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2005-2010 (and ongoing)
Further Comments: Appearing only at night, a lynx or similar cat is reported to traverse this area.
First added: 2010-04-03 | Last updated: 2010-04-03 | ID #9824
Anne Boleyn
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - Bellhouse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former hunting lodge, local legend says Boleyn occasionally returns as she favoured the site.
First added: 2023-10-11 | Last updated: 2023-10-11 | ID #15104
The Sea Witch
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - Coastline
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1850s-1870s
Further Comments: Sarah Moore, locally known as the Sea-Witch, was blamed for cursing unborn children with a hare lip, causing storms at sea, and spontaneously combusting a couple of children as they tried to break into her abode. Legend says she met her end after cursing a skipper; as he hacked away at his boat's rigging with an axe, his psychic energy (combined with the telepathic axe blows) killed her.
First added: 2001-06-07 | Last updated: 2001-06-07 | ID #826
Footsteps
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - Old Camping & General Store, A127
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 21 March 2012
Further Comments: A witness reported hearing footsteps and other sounds in this building after it had closed, before seeing items moved unaided.
First added: 2012-07-20 | Last updated: 2012-07-20 | ID #11011
Wobbly Man
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - Prospect House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: A fishy smell is said to accompany the appearance of this short spirit, which wears a long coat.
First added: 2001-09-09 | Last updated: 2001-09-09 | ID #901
Suicide
Location: Leigh-on-Sea - The Bakery, Broadway West
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This building is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a man who killed himself before the site was converted into a bakery. Instances of objects being moved are common, footsteps have been heard and inexplicable breezes have swept through parts of the bakery. One worker saw something and fled from the bakery - they have never spoken of what was seen.
First added: 2006-03-14 | Last updated: 2006-03-14 | ID #6771
Golden Warrior
Location: Lexden - Belgic (or Bronze Age) barrow
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Dismissed 1924
Further Comments: While a local legend said that a warrior clad in gold was buried here; when excavated in 1924, gold and silver objects were found (but no golden warrior).
First added: 2009-05-04 | Last updated: 2009-05-04 | ID #9331
Nobby Barker
Location: Linford - A Water Company House in Lower Crescent
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: An old pumping station worker, Nobby haunted the building for ten years, disappearing for good once his wife died.
First added: 2001-09-06 | Last updated: 2001-09-06 | ID #851
Grace
Location: Little Baddow - Grace's Lane, and canal area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2001
Further Comments: Locals say that Grace was a young woman who drowned in the canal around the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth century. Two people who moored at the canal reported phantom footsteps and tapping in 2001, to such a degree that they moved on during the night.
First added: 2002-06-08 | Last updated: 2002-06-08 | ID #1121
Alice
Location: Little Baddow - Grace's Walk, pond near Little Baddow church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Alice took her own life in the 1610's, after her horrid uncle pushed her too far... She is now seen near the pond in which she drowned.
First added: 2001-09-08 | Last updated: 2001-09-08 | ID #896
Footsteps
Location: Little Baddow - Near Jay's Green. Cottage on a hill.
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 21:00h, regularly
Further Comments: Bodiless footsteps were once often heard by the occupants, always at the same time in the evening, walking around the building.
First added: 2000-08-17 | Last updated: 2000-08-17 | ID #209
Thrashed Jack
Location: Little Clacton - General Area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 23 March 1906
Further Comments: According to newspaper reports, a figure described as a 'Spring Heeled Jack' who had acted in a ghost-like manner, scaring the locals, was caught in a trap and given a 'sound thrashing'.
First added: 2022-02-13 | Last updated: 2022-02-13 | ID #14397
Floating Figure
Location: Little Hallingbury - Junction at the bottom of Church Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s?
Further Comments: A motorist had to break to avoid hitting a floating black figure which quickly vanished.
First added: 2017-10-14 | Last updated: 2017-10-14 | ID #12581
Murdering Publican
Location: Little Hallingbury - Sutton Arms (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A past landowner named Sutton murdered a maid here, and his ghost now seeks forgiveness.
First added: 2001-09-06 | Last updated: 2001-09-06 | ID #857
Betty Bury
Location: Little Wakering - Hall, Wick Meadow, and the area behind the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reported to have hanged herself in Little Wakering Hall, her shade now haunts the area.
First added: 2001-09-06 | Last updated: 2001-09-06 | ID #841
Baker
Location: Little Wakering - Tree between Barrow Hall Road & Little Wakering Road
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was once said that running around the tree one hundred times would summon the ghost of a baker who hanged himself there. Unfortunately, the tree no longer stands, and a housing estate has replaced it.
First added: 2002-06-06 | Last updated: 2002-06-06 | ID #1087
Captain Scholz
Location: Little Walden - Little Walden Airfield, near Saffron Walden
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1993
Further Comments: Fifty years after dying when his Mustang crash landed, Captain Scholz, dressed in his flying suit, appeared in the back seat of a car as it drove past the airfield. The apparition was only visible for a few seconds.
First added: 2000-08-17 | Last updated: 2000-08-17 | ID #740
Louise
Location: Little Waltham - Liberty Hall, Chatham Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Louise unknown, house shaking in December 1984
Further Comments: Said to haunt the area, the phantom Louise is sometimes said to have a small dog with her. A member of a family who lived here reported that in December 1984 the entire building and its contents were shaken by a massive bang which appeared to come from the wall in the kitchen, the origin of which has never been discovered.
First added: 2012-01-22 | Last updated: 2012-01-22 | ID #10687
Funeral March
Location: Little Warley - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1929
Further Comments: Residents could hear the church organ playing a funeral march, although the building was unlit. The area tended to be avoided because a nearby house had a reputation as being haunted. The village rector said the 'music' could be the noise of traffic from a nearby road.
First added: 2023-05-22 | Last updated: 2023-05-22 | ID #14920
Teenage Girl Dressed in White
Location: Loughton - Alderton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: This woman was a maid but removed from service after she gave birth to the master's bastard child. She drowned the child in a nearby pond before taking her own life, though she haunts the upper parts of the building. A blonde chap in a red cloak has also been recorded on the driveway, and a piano plays itself downstairs.
First added: 2001-06-07 | Last updated: 2001-06-07 | ID #558
Sad Sir Francis
Location: Loughton - Beech House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Sir Francis was a Cavalier who fell in love with Lady Elizabeth, whose father once owned this building. However, the father disliked Sir Francis's political stance and sold him out to the enemy. Now Sir Francis is seen looking longingly out of a first floor window, while the ghosts of Elizabeth and her father wander other parts of the building.
First added: 2004-07-11 | Last updated: 2004-07-11 | ID #5231
Housemaid Mary
Location: Loughton - Loughton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s onwards?
Further Comments: Mary froze to death on the grounds of the hall, and now makes herself known by locking doors from the inside of rooms, ensuring that the building caretakers must cut around the lock mechanism to open them! Her ghostly form has also been observed on the first floor landing, looking down at visitors to the building. Two other shades have been reported here; one a man in black and the other a man dressed in tweed.
First added: 2004-07-11 | Last updated: 2004-07-11 | ID #5228
Pair of Arms
Location: Loughton - Pond near Alderton Hall
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom pair of arms have been observed in the pond's water.
First added: 2001-02-08 | Last updated: 2001-02-08 | ID #557
Pushy Old Man
Location: Loughton - Private house along Oakwood Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: A malicious spirit of an old man was blamed for several falls on the staircase in this building, most of which resulted in injuries. One woman said that it felt as if she was pushed while descending the staircase. A spectral old man was seen standing by the foot of the stairs, and the building was occasionally plagued by strange sounds and smells.
First added: 2004-07-11 | Last updated: 2004-07-11 | ID #5230
Civil War Soldier
Location: Loughton - Small, wooded path near Loughton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: Reported by a local girl, only the top part of this phantom soldier was visible.
First added: 2004-07-11 | Last updated: 2004-07-11 | ID #5229
Records 301 - 325 of 520
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