The Paranormal Database

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, so now her ghost haunts his.

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.

The fairy known as Rollicking Bill.

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.