The Paranormal Database

Female

Location: Coventry - 160, 166 & 167 Spon Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The same female shade was reported to haunt all three of these buildings, witnesses claiming that the short woman wore black and white with her hair up in a bun. The owner of 160 said the ghost would turn on and off electrical appliances, while in 166 the occupier said that the entity smashed glasses and threw stones.

Lorry

Location: Coventry - A4028 road (now A428?) eastbound, connecting Coventry and Rugby
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This phantom HGV travelling at speed vanishes just before hitting the vehicle travelling in front of it.

Cats sneaking away at night.

Escaping Cats

Location: Coventry - Area bombed during World War 2
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Second World War
Further Comments: Locals say that prior to the blitz which levelled a large part of Coventry, all the neighbourhood cats disappeared as if they knew what the future held.

Anti-Cleaning Cleaner

Location: Coventry - Aston Court Hotel, Holyhead Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several ghosts are thought to be at home here, including a former cleaner who disliked her job so much she now hides the cleaning equipment in the hotel! A slightly younger ghostly girl is blamed whenever men are hurt on the site - it is stated that she was beaten by a former master and is now extracting revenge.

The ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

Droning of Aircraft

Location: Coventry - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War (aircraft), January 1893 (torchbearer)
Further Comments: Since the city was levelled by German bombers during the Second World War, some people have reported hearing 'old' aircraft over the ruins of the cathedral. In 1893, witnesses spotted a human arm holding a blue torch in the north aisle. The arm vanished when one man grabbed a poker and approached it, although manifested again a short time later.

Raining Apples

Location: Coventry - Coundon, area around B4098
Type: Other
Date / Time: 12 December 2011
Further Comments: An eighteen metre stretch of the B4098 was left covered in smashed apples after the fruit fell from the sky. One witness watched the apples rain down onto the bonnet of her car, while a man living along the road discovered his garden covered in pulp. A mini tornado was blamed for removing the apples from an orchard and dropping them close by, although the orchard remained unnamed.

Girls in White

Location: Coventry - Gibbet Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 1908
Further Comments: A teacher and clergyman travelling by the old gibbet spot watched twenty girls dressed in white pass by.

Banging

Location: Coventry - Golden Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2016-2017
Further Comments: During renovation work, the landlady of the pub reported banging on the doors, open of which would always open itself.

No Ghost Here?

Location: Coventry - Gosford Books
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: While a local ghost walker/storyteller says that the bookshop was haunted by children who would stack books in the aisles, the current owner of the establishment says he has not encountered anything during his 36 years of running the shop.

Three Bangs

Location: Coventry - Hairdressing Salon
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: October 2009
Further Comments: A visitor to this quiet salon was using the upstairs bathroom. The door would not close properly so was left slightly ajar. Suddenly there were three loud knocks and the door was pushed open with force, but no one could be seen and nothing more was heard, even though the area was covered in creaky floorboards.

Do you want to go blind? Because that's how you go blind.

Peeping Tom

Location: Coventry - High Street
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1200s
Further Comments: The original 'Peeping Tom', Tom was a tailor who looked out on the naked Lady Godiva as she rode through the city to protest at her husband's tax increase. All the town's inhabitants stayed in their houses and did not look; Tom was too curious for his own good, and gazed out as Godiva rode passed, and was stuck blind for doing so.

Unclear

Location: Coventry - Manor house (demolished 1964), Wilsons Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1964
Further Comments: Known locally as a haunted house (before being destroyed), but the exact nature of the phantoms at work is not clear.

Galloping Horses

Location: Coventry - Moat House Lane, Canley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown - late twentieth or early twenty-first century?
Further Comments: Walking along the lane, one man heard wheels moving along the road followed by the sound of galloping horses - the witness had to jump out of the way. Other people have reportedly heard farm animals in the area, although none are around.

Art Student

Location: Coventry - Old railway building (currently Horizon Recording Studio?), Warwick Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This building is haunted by both an art student who died of a drug overdose and by a former rail employee. People recording at the studios have felt something brush past them or breathe heavily down their necks. Disembodied footsteps run down the corridors, while lights also turn themselves on and off.

Former Landlords

Location: Coventry - Old Windmill public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: According to the Spirit Team UK website, this pub still contains the memories of former landlords and staff. One entity tried to push someone into the fireplace.

Laughter and Music

Location: Coventry - Prince William Henry public house, Foleshill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2004
Further Comments: The basement of this pub has recently been subjected to phantom music, laughter and a dark shadowy stranger.

Woman in White

Location: Coventry - Private cottage, Wall Hill Road, Allesley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s - 1960s
Further Comments: Occupants in this cottage witnessed three ghosts, one a woman in white who resembled a nun, a woman in black, and a man wearing a nightshirt, handing a candle, descending the staircase Doors would open unaided and footsteps crossed the upstairs landing. The family would also hear rattling chains several times a week; when renovation work took place on the roof, a secret room was discovered that chains hanging from a wall.

Videoed Polt

Location: Coventry - Private residence in Holbrooks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2011
Further Comments: The Daily Mail reported that the family here were being terrified by an entity which threw things around the kitchen and opened and closed drawers. Video evidence, of a chair moving and cupboard doors opening, was less than convincing. The paper later stated that Derek Acorah had banished the phantom.

Chair

Location: Coventry - Private residence, Kenilworth Road
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown if still present
Further Comments: The artist John Heritage-peters lived at this site and threatened to haunt anyone who removed a chair from the gallery. The artist died in 1965 and subsequent house owners honoured his wish. When offered for sale in 1988, the house featured in the local press, complete with chair and associated folklore.

Piano

Location: Coventry - Private Victorian House, Humber Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: An occupier of a house along this road reported hearing the twangs of a piano, as if an unseen hand plucked the strings rather than hit keys.

Falling Items

Location: Coventry - Purdy's Pet Shop
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2020 - 2022
Further Comments: CCTV showed items falling from shelving and customers reported something tugging on their clothing. A ghost hunting group conducted a seance on the site to raise money for charity and claimed to have contacted a former male occupant.

Thomas Wildey

Location: Coventry - Ryton Bridge, River Avon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wildey murdered a mother and her daughter, for which he was hanged. His body was then placed in a gibbet by the bridge where it slowly rotted for many years. The strange patchy mist that hangs over the area is blamed on the ghost of the man, as are the lights seen to flitter nearby.

Photogenic Monk

Location: Coventry - St Mary's Guildhall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1985
Further Comments: Caught on film at an official function, a figure in a hooded gown can plainly be seen standing a few meters from the head of the table. A good image of this photo can be found in 'Haunted Britain and Ireland' by Richard Jones.

Flying Dustpan

Location: Coventry - Swanswell Gate, Hales Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: June 2003
Further Comments: Three men decided to spend the night here to raise money for charity after they saw a dustpan unhook itself from a wall and fly across the room.

Unknown Force

Location: Coventry - Terry Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: April 1994
Further Comments: A 'very transparent ripple' hit a person walking their neighbour's dogs, chilling the person with such dread they screamed out loud. It was a week before they were about to sleep properly.