The Paranormal Database

Three Pilots with Pale Faces

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Disused sandpit and spinney
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1953
Further Comments: Seen by two children, the three pilots are believed to be German, the sandpit being a crash site for a Messerschmitt 110 shot down during the Second World War. The area is currently a car park for a nearby factory.

Little Old Men with Long Beards and Pointy Hats

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Jaywick's Frobisher Primary School, school field
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1982
Further Comments: Two girls watched a couple of fairy folk, described as looking like the average garden gnome, dig a hole in the school's playing field.

Junction of London Road and St Johns Road, Clacton.

Riderless Horse

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Junction of London Road and St Johns Road, Great Clacton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Before traffic in the area increased considerably, there were several reports of a ghostly horse without rider which would cross the roundabout before vanishing into a now demolished barn.

The site of the old ballroom at the former Butlins camp, Clacton.

Soldier Killed in a Fight

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old ballroom at former Butlins camp, near Martello Tower (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: On 11 June 1938, Butlin's Clacton opened its doors, although it was briefly closed and used as a training base when the Second World War broke out. A local legend says that a soldier was stabbed and killed in a fight which occurred at the ballroom and took to haunting the area. The camp, which stood close to the Martello Tower, was demolished and the area redeveloped in the mid-1980s; it appears that the ghost left at the same time.

Stamping and Slamming Doors

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old Kinema - currently a Homecare shop?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After a 1940's suicide, this cinema gained a reputation as being haunted. The sound of stamping feet has been heard, and doors have opened and closed on their own accord. A few have reported seeing an old man dressed in a 1940's suit.

The Old Lifeboat House in Clacton, Essex.

Moving Stock

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old Lifeboat House
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A shopkeeper who hired a room to store surplus stock reported that items would rearrange themselves overnight.

Plough Inn, Clacton.

Hand Holder

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Plough Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The landlady of the inn reported feeling someone take her hand as she went to open a door. Believing it to belong to her husband, she turned to talk to him, but found no-one there. Many visitors to the building also feel as if someone is watching them.

Miss Holland Playing on the Piano

Location: Clavering - Moat Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Site of a murder in 1899, the victim, Camille Holland, occasionally returns home and plays on the piano. She has also been blamed for poltergeist activity in the area.

Presence, Opening Doors, Smell

Location: Coggeshall - 47 Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Once an inn, people in the building have reported doors that open and close without cause, odd smells, and a strange mist that crosses the base and top of the stairs.

Monk with Lit Taper

Location: Coggeshall - Coggeshall Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pallid wrinkled monk walks silently around the Abbey with a lit taper, before leaving and making its way along the old lanes towards the Blackwater river.

White Monks

Location: Coggeshall - Cradle House, near Markshale Old Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cradle House was once a haven for monks who held meetings in secret rooms within the building; it is believed that these figures sometimes return to dance in the garden.

Old Man

Location: Coggeshall - Guild House, Market End
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This little old man has reputedly materialised at the foot of a bed. Strange balls of light have been seen drifting around the attic, observed from an outside window.

Robin the Woodcutter

Location: Coggeshall - Near Coggeshall Abbey and Robin's Brook
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1600s onwards
Further Comments: A local hero, Robin the Woodcutter's shade is said to walk the lands around the Abbey and by the brook which takes his name. Ghostly axe blows are said to be occasionally be heard.

Headless Nun

Location: Colchester - Area close to Birch Brook, no longer accessible
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Estimated mid-to-late-twentieth century
Further Comments: A witness reported that, while taking a short cut across the area at night, he spotted a figure dressed as a nun, but with the head missing. The figure stopped and vanished in front of the witness. The witness later told a friend who said that his brother has also encountered the entity.

Colchester Barracks.

Invisible Assailant

Location: Colchester - Barracks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 1911 (unknown force), 1975 (banging)
Further Comments: On different occasions, three soldiers were struck unconscious by an unknown force at night. Many years later, a corporal witnessed a door being banged so hard it shook - he flung the door open moments after hearing the bang, but no one stood behind it. This happened several times in quick succession.

Penny Farthing

Location: Colchester - Boundary Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 1990s, spring
Further Comments: A child travelling in a car with her grandmother spotted, cycling alongside them, a man cycling on a penny farthing. The cyclist wore a light brown shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and dark brown trousers. The cyclist's hair was also brown. The grandmother appeared not to have seen the figure.

Charlotte in White Robe

Location: Colchester - Charlotte's Well, Berechurch Hall (demolished 1952)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977, winter
Further Comments: Located in a hidden part of the grounds, Charlotte's Well was built for a woman after which it took its name. Charlotte is said to have loved the well so much that she could never leave and is said to have been seen since her death around the bathing pool. She may have last been seen walking around a wooded area in a white dress during the winter of 1977, although there are stories that a phantom woman still appears in the area. A phantom coach is also said to ride around the area.

Colchester Castle.

James Parnell, Quaker Martyr

Location: Colchester - Colchester Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1653 onwards
Further Comments: James Parnell, Quaker was arrested in 1652 for the heinous crime of being 'idle and disorderly' after upsetting a local priest. Parnell was imprisoned in Colchester Castle, where folklore says he was placed in a small room and forced to climb a rope each time he wished to eat. After a few months of this punishing routine, Parnell eventually slipped during his daily climb and suffered injuries which killed him. Parnell's ghost was said to haunt the dungeon (although it is worth noting that he was imprisoned in a crevice in the castle wall). There is a story that a foolhardy man once stayed the night in the dungeon as a wager, only to emerge the following morning a gibbering wreck. Another tale states that the castle is haunted by a headless nun, although her story is not known.

Colchester Hospital.

Living Old Woman

Location: Colchester - Colchester Hospital, Ward Eight
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The doppelganger of an old woman in bed was spotted within the hospital.

Figures Pass Through Bedroom Walls

Location: Colchester - Defoe Crescent
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: A few residents living in the crescent were reported as having seen figures in their homes, described as dark shadows with no faces. Sounds of children playing were also reported.

Woman in White

Location: Colchester - Dolcis shoe shop (since closed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1991
Further Comments: A former member of staff reported seeing a woman in a long white dress in the stockroom, hearing footsteps, and witnessing boxes of shoes jump off shelves. The worker eventually refused to work in the room.

East Lodge, Colchester.

Faceless White Lady wearing Perfume

Location: Colchester - East Lodge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possibly twentieth century
Further Comments: There is little to suggest who this white lady is, but those who have witnessed her standing on the staircase have been in shock for some time afterwards. The accompanying smell of perfume is said to be very strong.

Siege House, Colchester.

Cavalier

Location: Colchester - East Street around Siege House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Cavalier 1990s, horse heard September 2017
Further Comments: The ghostly cavalier has been seen walking down East Street, disappearing when reaching Siege House. One of the rooms in the building is said to be so haunted that staff will only work there in pairs. A phantom puritan was also seen in the area, while in 2017 a witness heard a horse and cart pass through the area.

Nun Handing Out Toffee

Location: Colchester - Essex Country Hospital, Children's Ward
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An interesting story, one gentleman has recalled as a child he was visited by a nun one evening, who offered him a toffee. Taking and eating the sweet, he watched as she faded from view a few seconds later.

Sarah and Jack

Location: Colchester - Fox and Fiddler public house (formally the Headgate)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Described as 'friendly', the three ghosts said to haunt this site are Sarah, Jack, and a young child who can be heard running around.