The Paranormal Database

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 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 - Messing Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard coming from the empty church, the source of the music and chant can 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.

Young Girl

Location: Middleton - Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1933
Further Comments: While visiting the village to investigate the angel reports, one ghost hunter claimed to have encountered a young girl kneeling in the chancel of the church.

The Angel Gabriel, by Martin Schongauer.

Angels

Location: Middleton - Rectory and general area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1933 (angel), others unknown
Further Comments: In 1933, Father Clive Luget claimed that he, and other people, had seen a glowing ball of light in the rectory garden and around the village. More recently, the rectory has a reputation as being haunted, with the BBC reporting that doors slam unaided and disembodied footsteps could be heard.

A street in the village of Mistley.

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins

Location: Mistley - Around the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Hopkins' grave is present in the village, and he has been reported around the site of the pond in which (at least according to folklore) he drowned.

A house opposite Robert Adam Swan Fountain, Mistley.

Old Man

Location: Mistley - House opposite Robert Adam Swan Fountain
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An aging ghostly figure has been observed in the vicinity of the fountain.

White Dog

Location: Mistley - Mistley Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1938
Further Comments: Folklore says the white dog's appearance is a prelude to a death in the Norman family.

The lake at Mistley Place in Essex.

Shortish Man in Old Style Clothing

Location: Mistley - Mistley Place, Lake
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Locals report this ghost as the spirit of Matthew Hopkins, haunting the 'ducking pond' in the place that acted as his headquarters. He has also been seen in other parts of the neighbourhood.

Old Knobbley.

Glowing Light

Location: Mistley - Old Knobbley (tree), Furze Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 14 January 2022, 15:30h
Further Comments: The eight hundred year old tree known as Old Knobbley is supposed to have been a refuge for witches hiding from Matthew Hopkins. In 2022, a glowing ball of light was recorded as it flew around a person swinging on a tree rope.

The remaining visible part of Hopping Bridge in Mistley.

Phantom Jaywalker Alarming Motorists

Location: Mistley - Small hump-backed bridge known as Hopping Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Matthew Hopkins is named as this phantom jaywalker, reported to wear clothing suited to the seventeenth century.

The Walls, Mistley.

Hearse driven by Headless Driver

Location: Mistley - The Walls
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A coach driven by a decapitated coachman is rumoured to pass along The Walls at Mistley, carrying the body of an unknown man.

Thorn Hotel, Mistley.

Serving Girl

Location: Mistley - Thorn Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: There are a few reports of a ghostly serving girl who once worked at the hotel who still walks along the corridors. A boy is also seen at the rear of the building - during a fight, he was pushed under a horse in the stable which trampled him to death. Finally, Matthew Hopkins is said to make the occasional appearance.

The Waggon & Horses pub, Mistley.

Face in the Window

Location: Mistley - Waggon & Horses public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1921
Further Comments: A photograph taken in 1921 shows a strange face in one of the pub's windows.

Woman in Long Dress

Location: Moreton - White Hart Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1991, between 00:00h - 01:00h
Further Comments: The silhouette of a young woman was seen through the glass window of the internal kitchen door. The figure wore a long dress, and the witness at first thought the figure to be his wife, until he opened the door and the figure disappeared. Returning upstairs, the witness found his wife asleep. The female entity is thought to have died in an accident in the building and has been seen since the 1920s.

Headless Lady

Location: Mount Bures - Bridge Street, the bridge over Craig's Brook
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight, reoccurring
Further Comments: Holding her head under one arm, the spirit has no known history.

Cavalier

Location: Newport - Alleyway connecting Church Street and Wicken Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: This caped figure, with plumed hat, was seen walking down the path armed with a sword.

Healer

Location: Newport - Leper Stone (aka Newport Stone)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: Likely to have once been a megalithic menhir, the Leper Stone was once used by people to leave offerings to a nearby lepers' hospital, although one local myth claims the stone was named after its own healing powers.

Half an Innkeeper

Location: Newport - The Crown House
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Christmas Eve, year unknown
Further Comments: A member of staff at the Crown House claimed to have seen the lower half of a male landlord one Christmas Eve, wearing an apron and buckled shoes. The legs quickly disappeared without trace.

Screeching Ploughboy, Killed by Master

Location: North Benfleet - North side of A13 near Fanton Hall, Screeching Boy's Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1734 onwards
Further Comments: The woodland takes its name from the headless ploughboy murdered by his master. The ghost was occasionally seen and heard around the location, although some say the phantom's screams stopped after the farmer confessed to the crime many years after the event. Another version of the story states the ploughboy was not murdered at all but rather knocked down by a horse-drawn carriage.

Vanishing Pedestrian

Location: North Benfleet - Roundabout in the town, exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A family all saw a teenage girl be hit by the car they were travelling in - but on investigation, there was no body, or marks on the car.