The Paranormal Database

Bangs

Location: Chester - Barlow's public house, aka Ye Old Vaults, 28 Bridge Street (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2002
Further Comments: Blamed on a former landlord, the haunting here consisted mainly of banging sounds and loud groans.

An old photograph of the Bear and Billet Inn.

Maid

Location: Chester - Bear and Billet Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom maid, who died of starvation after being locked in a room, is reported to haunt the staircase, and appears only to men. Mild poltergeist activity is also reported at the site, and strange screeching noises have been picked up on a telephone answering machine.

Henrietta

Location: Chester - Blue Bell Inn (currently East Glory Restaurant)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Henrietta waited for her Royalist lover to return from Battle of Rowton Moor, but soon discovered he had been killed. She committed suicide in the cellar. Her phantom is said to emerge from the cellar and walk to an upstairs window to wait for her lovers return.

Face

Location: Chester - Bombay Palace restaurant, Upper Northgate Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2013
Further Comments: Co-owner of the restaurant Aaron Ali claimed to have photographed a strange face in the building after hearing banging on a door. However, the face on the photograph does look very similar to one on a ghost creating mobile phone app.

Dry Man

Location: Chester - Chester Road / Butterbache, Huntington
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1991, a Sunday with heavy rain
Further Comments: Walking home soaked after a paper round, a teenage boy spotted a blonde haired man wearing a white shirt, grey trousers and black boots standing by a gate leading to a cycle path. The teenager passed the man, and turned to have another look at his boots, only to find the figure had vanished. After the event, the paperboy realised that the man was completely dry, despite the heavy rain.

Silky

Location: Chester - Chirton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former mistress of a Duke of Argyll, this white woman has yet to leave the bedroom of this house.

Sliding Ashtrays

Location: Chester - Coach and Horses Public House, Northgate Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Regular drinkers at the pub have seen ashtrays move themselves across tabletops and strange blue light flash from the walls.

Footsteps

Location: Chester - Daisy and Tom Toy Shop (no longer open), Watergate Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003-2006
Further Comments: Former staff from this store reported footsteps, the smell of pipe tobacco, something which rattled the heavy fire door, and a stock room which was blocked by a heavy table from the inside.

Roman

Location: Chester - George and Dragon public house, 1 Liverpool Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: These phantom footfalls can be heard as they take a path that now leads through several partitioned walls - it is believed to be a either a single Roman centurion on guard duty, or several soldiers who march from the front of the cellar to the back.

Romans

Location: Chester - Golden Eagle public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is reported that the pub was built on a former Roman camp, which is why twenty Roman soldiers and an officer have been seen marching through a wall in the cellar.

Landlord

Location: Chester - Marlbororough Arms
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1885
Further Comments: The misspelling of the pub signage is said to be due to a nineteenth century sign writer encountering the ghost of a former landlord who slit his own throat; in the worker's haste to complete the job, the man failed to spot his typographical error. Since this time, the phantom landlord has been heard gurgling in the basement.

Ghost in a brown suit.

Moving Beds

Location: Chester - Old City Hospital (closed 1991)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1991 (noises) and man in brown in 1976
Further Comments: A former member of staff at the site and a colleague heard beds being moved in the ward above them, then realised the floor above was closed and empty. Another time the worker and another person heard voices and footsteps emerging from another empty ward. A man dressed in a brown suit was seen visiting his mother in 1976, although this woman later said her son had died years earlier.

Jack

Location: Chester - Old Fire Station Restaurant, Northdate Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Sporting a beard, this phantom fireman wearing a brass helmet was known only as Jack. A fireman who watched the figure sitting on a ladder was so shocked he rang the emergency bell to summon help. Even though the phantom had vanished by the time other people arrived on the scene, the witness quit his job soon after.

Man in Blue Overalls

Location: Chester - Old lead steel works (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: This ghost, said to be a workman who died after being hit by a train, may never be seen again: the area he haunted was scheduled for demolition and new flats will be built on the former works site.

Meowing

Location: Chester - Overpool Road, near Charter Crescent junction
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: July 2013
Further Comments: Malcolm Pennicard and his car featured in the news in July after reporting a ghostly meowing coming from his car whenever he drove along Overpool Road.

Herbert & Charlie

Location: Chester - Pepper Street garage (no longer operational, was based next to what is now Habitat)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: These two phantom monks were spotted several times by staff working at the garage shortly after it began opening 24 hours a day.

Man in Cellar

Location: Chester - Pied Bull public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The man in the cellar of this pub is said to date from the seventeenth century, while the upper part of the building is haunted by a Victorian-era maid.

Little Girl

Location: Chester - Queen Hotel, Station Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, possibly 2010s
Further Comments: In an area thought to be a former nursery, people are said to have their hair pulled by a phantom female child.

An old postcard showing the River Dee.

Jenny

Location: Chester - River Dee, area known as The Groves
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Jenny is said to wait just beneath the waters of the river, waiting for an unsuspecting man to grab and drown. A Viking warrior is also reputed to haunt the same area.

Legionnaire

Location: Chester - Roman Walls
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This trooper walks along the walls that once protected his garrison. One legend identifies him as an officer who fell in love with a Celtic girl; one fateful day he left his post to meet her, only to let Celtic warriors enter the city and cause chaos. Some have also reported a Cavalier in the same area.

Squeaking Cycle

Location: Chester - Saltney Junction railway station, area of
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early winter mornings (reoccurring)
Further Comments: An old man on a squeaky bike haunt the area around this old station - it is thought that he hanged himself in a shed here.

An old postcard showing St John's Cathedral in Chester.

Grey Monk

Location: Chester - St John's Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, and 2003?
Further Comments: Heard talking in old English, this figure traditionally walks around the cathedral and made several appearances during the 1970s. On Halloween in 2003 a group of children approached the monk thinking he was a man dressed up for the occasion. When a bag was held out at him and one of the children asked, 'trick or treat', he replied 'I'll have a treat' before sticking his head into the container and eating the contents (wrappers and all).

Elizabeth Warburton

Location: Chester - Stanley Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several ghosts are said to reside at the building, including Elizabeth Warburton, a former owner who has been spotted walking through a wall, and a man in Tudor clothing. Other entities observed consist of a Second World War Officer and a grey haired woman sitting by the piano, while bangs, children crying, and disembodied footsteps have been heard.

Lady in a Bonnet

Location: Chester - Taxi Office
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Wearing a white nightgown and bonnet, this phantom was observed walking through a locked door. The witness questioned their sanity before being told that others had seen the entity.

Sighs of Criminals

Location: Chester - The Bridge of Sighs, near Northgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: A man cycling to an appointment along Northgate Street looked up at the bridge and spotted two or three people dressed in old fashioned clothing. They then vanished, leaving the man rather surprised. Prisoners being led to church prior to execution would cross this bridge, and it is believed their sighs can still be heard.