The Paranormal Database

Silver Ball

Location: Devizes - A361 heading towards Avebury
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Spring 2023, midday
Further Comments: From the passenger seat, a witness watched a silver ball bearing-like object hovering in the sky. The large, stationary object hung quite low and did not move for two minutes, despite the windy conditions.

Ambrose Sainsbury

Location: Devizes - Black Swan hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Ambrose was named by the Paranormal Site Investigators team as one of the ghosts that haunts the hotel, one of the other entities being a murdered woman. Shadowy figures have been reported in the building, as well as cold spots and strange tapping.

Smashed Glass

Location: Devizes - Castle Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 15 March 2011
Further Comments: It was reported that a glass flew from a shelf and landed in pieces on the ground. Staff have had objects vanish only to reappear in different locations and have heard music coming from the old ballroom.

Crop Circle Creation

Location: Devizes - Fields around Oliver's Castle, aka Roundway Castle, aka Rundaway Castle
Type: Other
Date / Time: 11 August 1996
Further Comments: Video footage of small balls of light flying over a field here and creating a crop circle came to light in August 1996, though the authenticity of the footage has been called into question.

A cloud of hay.

Shower of Hay

Location: Devizes - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A cloud made from hay drifted over the area before showering down, covering the town centre.

Drop Dead

Location: Devizes - Market place
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1753
Further Comments: Ruth Pierce swore in the name of God that she had not just cheated her business partner, and that she would be struck dead if it were so. She immediately dropped dead, and so a monolith was erected as a warning to other corrupt businesspeople.

Isabella of Valois

Location: Devizes - Moat Cottage, Devizes Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: Surveyor Mike Crawshaw photographed a strange shape while working and believed it to be the ghost of Isabella of Valois, once imprisoned within the castle. Dennis Clements, owner of the cottage, reported that Lady Isabella's ghost had not been seen for 'many years'.

Mrs Cunningham

Location: Devizes - Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Cunningham family donated their family home to the local council for adaptation into a museum, and since then an elder Cunningham matriarch has manifested in the building. It is unclear whether this is in protest or approval of their charitable act.

Weighty Footsteps

Location: Devizes - Old Cinema
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These eerie footsteps have been heard pacing in empty rooms on the first floor.

Sketch by Franz Marc.

Runaway Horses

Location: Devizes - Oliver's Castle, aka Roundway Castle, aka Rundaway Castle - Bloody Ditch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said eight hundred men died at the Battle of Roundway Hill in 1643, after a battlefield manoeuvre which trapped cavalry in a slopped area. The men and horses were slaughtered, and since the battle ghostly horses have been seen galloping around the area. A headless ghost was once also said to walk the area, possibly linked to a barrow on the site, as is the phantom hound which drags a chain from its neck.

Figures

Location: Devizes - Riverside (or Canal) Forge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This building is reputedly haunted by various figures who are responsible for the strange banging and voices also reported here.

Older Woman

Location: Devizes - Royal Oak public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: A former landlady at this pub reported disembodied footsteps, strange shadows and voices coming from the kitchen. A photograph taken during a DJ session was said to show the phantom woman.

Maria Heathcote

Location: Devizes - Southbroom House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Some believe the ghost of Maria Heathcote once haunted this building, now a school.

Bride Dressed in White

Location: Devizes - Three Crowns Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The bride committed suicide in the building after being jilted at the altar, and her pallid form has existed since.

Smoker

Location: Devizes - Upstairs Downstairs Antiques, Market Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: The Paranormal Site Investigating team were called to this shop after reports of phantom footsteps after hours and the inexplicable smell of smoke.