The Paranormal Database

Grey Man

Location: Colchester - Friday Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom grey man is said to leave a nearby church and enter this woodland.

Tall Stalking Man

Location: Colchester - Greenstead woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1983
Further Comments: A witness stated that when she was a child with a friend in the woods, they both had seen a tall man with a wide brimmed hat, but he lacked facial features - even when they ran away the entity stayed behind them for a while.

George

Location: Colchester - Hippodrome (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Cleaners would say hello to George, a former worker at the site said to have fallen to his death many years previous. He would appear to one of the cleaners, while others would hear voices and knocking.

Anne Lisle's Footsteps

Location: Colchester - Hollytrees Museum, Gun Room, near portrait of Anne Lisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Quite familiar to the staff, Anne Lisie is often heard running past the Gun Room, though she has manifested before - usually seen by young children. Faces looking out of the windows in the rear of the building have also been reported late at night.

Mysterious Noises

Location: Colchester - Hostel of the Good Shepherd, East Hill (closed 1984)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Footsteps and shuffling sounds would be heard coming from empty rooms in the hostel, and although an exorcism had been performed at the site, the noises were still heard.

Triangle

Location: Colchester - Maldon Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 15 January 2023
Further Comments: A strange white triangle briefly appeared to one driver along this road. Three years previous, the same witness had spotted a white bike pass by in the same area.

Cavalier

Location: Colchester - Mermaid public house (no longer operational, Mersea Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This man was executed, shot in the back garden of the pub, and was since seen standing at the top of the stairs in the building.

Mersea Road, heading out of Colchester.

Teenage Boy

Location: Colchester - Mersea Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Through the rear view mirror, a driver spotted a teenage boy sitting in the backseat of her car. She turned her head to see who was sitting there, but the seat was empty. Turning back to face the road, the figure was once more visible in the mirror.

Black ABC

Location: Colchester - Mersea Road
Type: ABC
Date / Time: January 1996 to 1999
Further Comments: A large black cat was spotted along this Colchester road at different times by multiple witnesses.

The Phantom nurse along a corridor.

Nurse in Old Fashioned Uniform

Location: Colchester - Military Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Second World War
Further Comments: A nurse wearing a Victorian uniform was seen by several people walking down a corridor, vanishing once she had reached the end. One of the patients was convinced that she had helped change his dirty bandages.

Soldier

Location: Colchester - Mill Street
Type: SHC
Date / Time: 19 February 1888
Further Comments: The body of a soldier was discovered in a hay loft, much of his corpse charred by fire, but the surrounding area untouched by the flames. His legs and boots were also undamaged.

Fred

Location: Colchester - O'Neill's public house (was the Waggon & Horses)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wearing a peaked cap, this old man is said to occasionally walk through walls and turn taps off in the cellar.

Strange Reflections

Location: Colchester - Private house along Maldon Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1994-2000
Further Comments: A family were eventually forced to move from the property after enduring four years of paranormal activity which included the sounds of footsteps running through the house, strange reflections glimpsed in windows and mirrors, a door held shut by a shadowy figure, and one particular night when all the electrical appliances in the building were unplugged.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Colchester - Private residence, Duffield Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2008
Further Comments: One witness in this home reported seeing a black shadowy figure standing in a bedroom - it subsequently vanished through a wall. Other events on the site include strange smells, tapping on peoples' shoulders, items being moved around, and the sound of a woman's voice.

Black Smoky Shape

Location: Colchester - Private residence, St Anne's estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s/1980s
Further Comments: The black smoky shape seen by one witness was preceded by the sounds of groaning and heavy boots. Keys and cutlery would vanish, only to reappear a few days later in strange places, and a decorative plate displayed on a wall hovered in mid-air before falling and breaking into four perfect segments.

Alice Mellor

Location: Colchester - Red Lion Hotel, Lion Walk Shopping Precinct
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1972
Further Comments: Killed in 1633, Mellor's ghost is said to have been so terrifying that her old room was sealed up and forgotten about. Now part of the hotel, no sightings have recently occurred, though the building is also home to a monk who died in a fire.

Two Men Working on Flower Beds

Location: Colchester - Severalls Hospital (now closed)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1960s (?)
Further Comments: Two gardeners reported seeing a couple of featureless characters working in the garden one rainy afternoon. The gardeners went to investigate, only to see the figures fade away.

Darting Light

Location: Colchester - Sky over Titania Close
Type: UFO
Date / Time: September or October 1976
Further Comments: A group of children playing football watched a light dart around the sky at incredible speed. It momentarily stopped moving before darting off once again in the direction of the A12 road. The light later returned to the area and was seen by other witnesses.

St Botolph's Priory, Colchester.

Dark Smiling Figure

Location: Colchester - St Botolph's Priory
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1993
Further Comments: A young girl reported that while playing with her friends around the gravestones, she saw a dark figure by a tomb that smiled at her before disappearing into thin air.

Legs

Location: Colchester - Three Cups public house (no longer operating), Trinity Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: While working in the office, this witness looked at the CCTV and spotted a disembodied pair of legs walking through the bar area, seemingly changing direction to follow people. A review of the recording showed a light rather than legs, although the action it performed remained the same.

Victoria Road, Colchester.

Fairies Playing around Trees

Location: Colchester - Victoria Road
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: An inhabitant of the road watched a group of fairies dancing around an old tree trunk.

Footsteps, Rapping and Choir

Location: Colchester - Wilson Marriage Community Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Hospital radio staff based at the centre have often heard a choir singing, footsteps running across the loft, and a voice that seems to call out the listener's name.

Evil Victorian Woman

Location: Cold Norton - House called 'De Laches'
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02:00h
Further Comments: A petite woman appears dressed in Victorian clothing, an aura of evil surrounding her. Animals are said to hate entering the house.

Figure

Location: Coopersale - Theydon Oak public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An unidentified entity is said to occasionally pass by the inglenook fireplace and quietly venture down to the cellar.

Footsteps

Location: Copford - Copford Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A cleaner reported hearing footsteps and the movement of books in the empty church.