The Paranormal Database

Dick Turpin Followed by a Ghost

Location: Loughton - Traps Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Three times a year (exact dates not known)
Further Comments: Turpin's ghost is said to ride down this hill, with a ghost of an old woman hanging onto his back. In life, Turpin tortured her until the woman told him where she had hidden her money. As punishment, Turpin's ghost is tortured by his victim.

A guilty-looking owl.

Attacks

Location: Loughton - Warren Hill area
Type: Other
Date / Time: June 1908
Further Comments: Objects were thrown at travellers' heads over the period of a few months, and as the attacker could not be seen, ghosts were held accountable. One theory claimed a pair of nesting owls had started to attack people passing through the area after dark.

Cavalier

Location: Magdalen Laver - Winter's Armoury
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This seven hundred year old building is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a murdered cavalier, who moves noisily up and down the corridors.

Figure of a Hooded Person

Location: Maldon - Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 22 August (reoccurring) (some sources say 11 August)
Further Comments: Just one of many spooky happenings at Beeleigh Abbey, this spook has been observed standing in a corner of the James Room. The entity could be a monk or the ghost of John Gate, executed in 1553 for supporting Lady Jane Grey. Either way, the ghost can be heard screaming and crying throughout the building. A poltergeist has also been reported opening a trapdoor and vibrating beds.

Misty Female Figure

Location: Maldon - Disused railway station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s onwards
Further Comments: Reports of a figure waiting on Platform Two date back towards the end of the 1950's. The station is no longer there; it became a public house before being left empty and for sale, but the figure is still seen, making a strange groaning sound as it walks. An icy chill is said to denote her presence.

Footsteps along Hall

Location: Maldon - King's Head public house (now closed and part of a shopping centre)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Christmas 1946
Further Comments: A couple were disturbed as they spent Christmas here by phantom footsteps outside their room and a force that held their bedroom door closed. The pub was traditionally said to be haunted by a young boy.

Rollicking Bill

Location: Maldon - Maldon Marsh
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This fairy fellow has been seen skipping over the marsh at twilight.

Hunched Man

Location: Maldon - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2022
Further Comments: A babysitter in this home spotted a hunched man, around seventy years old, watching him across the room. The babysitter assumed the man had broken in and chased him through the hallway; the man vanished as he reached the locked door. A search of the house revealed nothing, and a video surveillance camera showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Red Lion public house, Manningtree.

George

Location: Manningtree - Red Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn is haunted by a Victorian gentleman nicknamed George, though some (unsurprisingly) claim that the spook is Matthew Hopkins. The pub was also once said to have a series of secret tunnels connecting it to other buildings in the area.

River Stour, Manningtree, Essex.

Witches Death Cries

Location: Manningtree - River Stour
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1700s onwards
Further Comments: Manningtree and Matthew Hopkins are synonymous in this part of the world, so it is not surprising that the area is haunted by the agonised cries of a dying witch being tortured by the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General himself.

Seafield Bay, Manningtree.

Elizabeth Clarke

Location: Manningtree - Seafield Bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1647 onwards
Further Comments: Executed on the orders of Matthew Hopkins for being a witch, Elizabeth Clarke now appears on the shoreline of Seafield Bay. Screams of other tortured witches can also be heard here on certain nights, though other sources say the sounds are Elizabeth's familiars looking for their owner.

White Hart Inn, Manningtree.

Witchfinder General

Location: Manningtree - White Hart Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mathew Hopkins once frequented this establishment, and they say he can still be heard in the building.

Icy Cold Hands

Location: Manuden - The Jolly Waggoners
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This spirit has woken people staying in the pub by removing their bedding and flicking light switches on and off.

Legless Male

Location: Margaretting - Margaretting Road between village and Galleywood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 2023
Further Comments: A fast moving and seemingly legless male figure with dark hair and wearing an oversized grey tee-shirt shot across the road at huge speed in front of a motorist. The figure disappeared over a ditch. The driver slowed and stopped to look, but the figure had vanished.

Phantom Coach and Horses

Location: Mashbury - Forecourt of The Fox
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Witnessed by the wife of a landlord, a phantom coach pulled by a team of horses entered the courtyard, quickly fading from view.

Moved Stones

Location: Matching - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil tried to prevent the church from being built by moving stones at night, but he ultimately failed.

Woman riding Horse towards Clouds

Location: Mayland - Skies over the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sight could only be seen while looking through the branches of a certain tree in the area at night. However, the tree has since been cut down...

A beach near the church on Mersea Island.

Wrecked Yacht

Location: Mersea Island - Beach near church
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local man spotted a wrecked yacht just off the coast, the crew in dire need of assistance. The man spent several hours trying to save the badly injured sailors, only to eventually lose consciousness during the rescue attempt. He later awoke on the beach, only to discover there was no evidence the boat or the crew ever existed.

Where Colchester Road and High Street meet, Mersea Island.

Woman in Smock & Tall Hat

Location: Mersea Island - Corner of Colchester Road & High Street
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: This phantom female dressed in a smock and wearing a tall hat was observed sitting on a wall on the corner of the two streets, a stick under one arm.

Dawes Lane, Mersea Island.

Young Woman in Long Silk Dress

Location: Mersea Island - Dawes Lane
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A couple out walking watched a woman wearing a bonnet and a long silk dress approach them. They noticed she made little sound, and when the girl walked into a cornfield, the crops did not move around her. The young woman then disappeared.

The causeway along East Mersea Road, Mersea Island.

Roman Soldiers

Location: Mersea Island - East Mersea Road, near Causeway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Quite possibly the oldest ghosts seen in the UK, sightings exist of Roman soldiers wandering around the island. A woman reported that while walking back to her home late one night, she was closely followed by the ghost of a man dressed as a Roman soldier.

Danish Brothers

Location: Mersea Island - Ray Island (restricted access)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Many moons ago, two Danish brothers fought to discover who should marry a beautiful Saxon girl. They managed to kill each other, and their ghosts continue to fight to this day. Other stories say the island is haunted by the sounds of a horse, the shouts of an abusive man who drowned chasing his wife and daughter, and a Roman centurion.

White Hart Inn, Mersea Island.

Little Old Lady

Location: Mersea Island - White Hart Inn (closed 2013)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wearing a dress of blue velvet, this older woman has been spotted behind the bar. The cellar was also said to be haunted by a dog, and a secret smuggling tunnel connected the cellar to the nearby churchyard.

Music and Chanting

Location: Messing-cum-Inworth - Messing Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard coming from the empty church, the source of the music and chant could never be discovered.

Boudica's Battle

Location: Messing-cum-Inworth - Site known as 'The Rampart'
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Local legend states that this was the site of Boudica's final battle.