The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Hertfordshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana


The (former) monks of Braughing.

Five Monks

Location: Braughing - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1921
Further Comments: The ghosts of five monks who died after food poisoning would appear every five years; locals believed that this brought great prosperity to the area. However, when the phantoms failed to turn up in 1926 and subsequent years, many people thought that the lucky streak had ended.

Piers the Dragon Killer

Location: Brent Pelham - Exact location unknown, but buried in St Mary church
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Piers Shonks is a celebrated local dragon slayer, whose tomb in the village church is decorated with his battle. One story says he died after Satan came to seek revenge for the death of his pet, another that Satan tried to claim his soul many years later when Piers lay on his deathbed; the Devil said that he would take Piers' soul whether buried inside a church or not, so the man was buried in the north wall of the local church, denying the Devil of his prize.

Possibly Piers

Location: Brent Pelham - St Mary church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Piers Shonks, the fabled dragon slayer, may haunt the church where he was buried. A tall figure is said to haunt the churchyard, appearing to those who are in the area to cause mischief. When Piers' tomb was opened in 1835, the bones which were contained within were so large that witnesses said the person must have stood at least nine foot (2.74 metres) tall.

Staring Woman

Location: Broxbourne - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 15 August 2014, around midnight
Further Comments: Dressed in old fashioned clothing and hair style, this woman was spotted by a couple of witnesses as they drove past in their car. The figure stood motionless staring into the water.

Hannah and Hugh

Location: Buntingford - Bell House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: A few unhappy spirits haunted this house (according to the results of a 1940s seance); Hugh was thought to be the ghostly man in black spotted on the staircase, while Hannah killed her child in the house and remained there in the afterlife to grieve. While other spirits were unwilling to speak during the seance, they marked their presence in the building by banging, scraping, and attempting to strangle a tenant in his sleep.

White Horses

Location: Burnham Green - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Galloping around the neighbourhood at night, these creatures are thought to be connected to a battle fought more than a thousand years ago.

Headless Horse

Location: Burnham Green - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The result of a Danish skirmish over a thousand years ago, this decapitated horse runs along the lanes surrounding the area.

Flying Glasses

Location: Bushey - Horse and Chains public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early to mid-1990s (polt), 1970s (former landlord)
Further Comments: Over a period of a couple of years, one witness thrice observed a glass fly off a shelf and smash on the till, about 150 centimetres away. The building was once said to be home to the ghost of a former landlord, although he was not been seen recently.

Cyclist

Location: Bushey - King George Recreation Ground
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: A phantom cyclist is said to haunt this Green Flag Award winning parkland. The ghost was seen in 1997 as it accelerated up a frosty hill before vanishing.

Fiddler

Location: Bushey - Lanes around heathland
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown, but on moonlit nights
Further Comments: Old Nick visits the area to play his fiddle on moonlit nights.

Lulu

Location: Bushey - Location that was once Bushey Film Studio, sound stage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: The Blue Lady, Lulu (wife of Baron von Herkomer), that haunted the film studio once lived in the house that stood on the site.

School Girl

Location: Bushey Heath - Private residence, Allard Crescent
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: A couple living in this house found the atmosphere to be unpleasant, with each hating to spent time alone there. A guest to the house reported waking during the night to see a young girl dressed in school uniform, sitting on a chair. The girl stared at the guest before slowly fading away. Previous occupants at the property also reportedly disliked the feeling of living there.

Pedlar

Location: Bygrave - Bygrave House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Three ghosts are said to walk this property. A pedlar murdered in the house has found it difficult to leave, and a woman and her child who were buried under the drawing room floor also haunt the site.


A ghost at a window.

Woman with Long Hair

Location: Cheshunt - Former Meux House (private house, no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: This pretty girl dressed in silk was seen many times looking out a window, waiting for someone who never came. An older lady was also seen on site, supposedly quite scary in appearance. She vanished when the house was knocked down and rebuilt.

A Few

Location: Cheshunt - Old Palace House, Theobald's Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was claimed that this building was haunted by a several ghosts, though details are sketchy.

Human-Shape

Location: Chorleywood - Chenies Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December 2014, 23:30h
Further Comments: A shadowy, human-shaped figure was spotted in a rear view mirror by the occupant of a car. The figure disappeared, blending' into the shadows of a fence.

Man in Long Coat

Location: Chorleywood - Chorleywood Common
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 January (2015?), between 00:30h - 01:00h
Further Comments: Two witnesses watched a shadowy figure in a long coat walking across the common in the early hours of the morning. The figure disappeared and reappeared, the distance travelled much greater than he should have been able to traverse. One of the witnesses decided to run up to the figure shouting 'Happy New Year!', but he had vanished.

Huge Cat

Location: Chorleywood - M25, between Junctions 18 & 19
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 29 January 2009
Further Comments: Driving along the M25, Karen Thomas reported seeing a large black cat on the edge of a field. The creature was described as ten times larger than a dog.

Headless Horse

Location: Chorleywood - Near J29 on M25
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 28 March 2010
Further Comments: A woman and her daughter reported seeing a headless horse in a field close to Junction 29.

Powerful Noise

Location: Chorleywood - Woods at the top of Berry Lane area
Type: Other
Date / Time: July 2018
Further Comments: A dogwalker reported a strange 'powerful' noise which silenced birds and moved branches as it travelled around in circles. The person said their dog stayed close, which it normally did not do, and did not act normally until they had left the area.

Lion

Location: Cuffley - Sutherland Way
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 16 May 1983
Further Comments: Several people, including a policeman, reported seeing a cat resembling a lion or lioness near woodland in the area. Public warnings were issued, and a helicopter dispatched, but no big cat was found.

Clibbon

Location: Datchworth - Area around the station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Found guilty of highway robbery, Clibbon was tied to the back of a horse and dragged around the town until he was dead. His screams are sometimes heard. The same area is also home to a headless horse, though it may not be the same creature associated with the highwayman.

Little Old Lady

Location: Datchworth - Hawkins Hall Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in black, this petite elderly woman can be spotted quite easily as she walks down the road - her head is missing.

Cart Without Horse

Location: Datchworth - Rectory Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom horse-drawn cart without a horse propels itself down the lane, a pair of human legs hanging from the rear.


An old woodcut of a jester.

Unfunny Jester

Location: Datchworth - The Tilbury
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a jester who failed to receive a single laugh from one harsh crowd was tied to a whipping post (still standing) and beaten to death. His cries can still be heard.

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