The Paranormal Database

Churchill

Location: Outer London: Queensway - Queensway Station, Central Line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Witnessed waiting on the platform, Sir Winston Churchill once lived quite close to the station.

Kate Webster

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Barnes Railway Bridge (original, which was replaced in 1895)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1879
Further Comments: The ghost of murderer Kate Webster was said to appear on this bridge and could be seen dropping the remains of her victim, Julia Martha Thomas, into the river below. The main problem with this ghost story is that Webster threw pieces of her victim into the river from Richmond Bridge...

Figure with Tail

Location: Outer London: Richmond - General area, including near the theatre and close to the river side
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1801
Further Comments: A two-guinea reward was offered to anyone who could catch the ghost which started haunting the area. One description said the entity to be a completely black human-like figure with a tail, another claimed that it appeared white with a black head and hands. A girl who encountered the entity near the theatre became bedridden, while two women had to carry a man to the town after a sighting near the river made him feel faint.

Knight

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Kingston Hill area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom knight upon a white horse was once thought to haunt this area.

A pale figure seen at night...

Blame the Parrot

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Old Cobwebs public house (currently The Duke)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1904
Further Comments: A blue light and a pale figure were spotted by women staying in this building, and knocking heard which could not be traced to a source. The landlord denied his pub was haunted, claiming that he was mistaken as the ghostly figure while walking around at night holding a candle, and that the sounds were caused by rats, owls, and a neighbouring parrot.

Queen Elizabeth

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Richmond Palace
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1603
Further Comments: As she lay dying elsewhere, Elizabeth was observed standing at a window of the palace. A few reports say she still haunts the building. The palace may have been the location where Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England, and Anne Seymour witnessed a 'hand with a bloodied sword' emerge from a wall. Edward was beheaded a short time later. There are also more recent reports of phantom horses' hooves heard clopping around the courtyard.

Ball of Glowing Light

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Richmond Park
Type: Other
Date / Time: 16 February 2003
Further Comments: Two men out of a walk watched a glowing ball of energy ooze over a park wall before bouncing into the park and wipe itself against a tree. The ball then took off again, moving down the park road before dissipating. When the light faded away, both saw a small figure standing where the ball had been - it looked like a young male child, but with a large head. The entity then vanished in a flash of light.

Pillar of Mist

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Roebuck public house, Richmond Hill
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: A guest at the pub reported waking early in the morning to see a pillar of mist floating in the middle of his room - it moved towards the window before vanishing. Earlier the same day, a strange man was seen walking up the staircase, but no sign of him could be found when investigated further.

Cavalier

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Thames, between Richmond and Twickenham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Said to initially rise out of the river, this phantom Cavalier would start moving along local roads in the late afternoon or early evening, before vanishing without trace.

Evil Monkey

Location: Outer London: Richmond - Unnamed vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1948
Further Comments: The vicar living here attempted to exorcise the ghost that had taken up residence. The ghost took the form of a monkey-like creature, although it could only be heard or 'felt', and would drive visitors away. The vicar regarded the entity as evil.

Horse Drawn Carriage

Location: Outer London: Slade Green - Maisonettes, Slade Green
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 or 1977
Further Comments: While sitting in bed in his maisonette on the fourth floor, this witness was startled to see the tail end of a black liveried horse drawn carriage fade through his room and wall. He later learnt that a neighbour had died at exactly the time of his sighting. Soon after this, the now empty flat in which the neighbour had died became the scene of strong paranormal disturbances. Though the windows and doors sealed, items in the building were smashed and thrown around, and it was not until an exorcism was carried out that the apartment fell silent.

Transparent Figure

Location: Outer London: South Ruislip, Hillingdon - South Ruislip Community Association and Community Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 February 2013
Further Comments: Online communities were heavily debating CCTV footage which showed a transparent figure passing through doors and a metal barrier before vanishing. A former chairman of the building is said to have believed the site haunted and would say hello to the ghosts as he entered in an effort to placate them.

Man walking Dog

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - A41
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 13 October 1985
Further Comments: A driver reported to the police that he had just run over a man walking a dog - both pedestrian and animal had gone over his car bonnet in the collision, but when the driver stopped and climbed out of his vehicle, he could not find either man or dog, nor damage to his car.

Combusting Cat

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - Anmer Lodge nursing home
Type: SHC
Date / Time: January 1987
Further Comments: Peppi the cat enjoyed life at the nursing home, before exploding into blue flame with a bang and a flash. If the story is true, then Peppi could be a rare example of Spontaneous Feline Combustion.

Sounds of a Tornado

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - Honeypot Lane area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Nobody has been able to fully describe the entity that races around the area on cold dark nights, sounding like high wind and just as cold. It is speculated that the haunting is connected to a battle in which Roman soldiers fought.

Wanderer

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - Old Church Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid eighteenth century
Further Comments: Once a rectory, the building was said to be haunted by a figure which emerged from a grave and enter the farm, before leaving the building and vanishing back into the grave.

Grey Nun

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 November (reoccurring), although could have last been seen 30 November 2009
Further Comments: Built on the site of a nunnery, the hospital is now visited by a gliding figure that is thought to come from the former building.

Final Battle

Location: Outer London: Stanmore - Stanmore Common
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 61 AD
Further Comments: The common has been named as a contender for the last battle of Boudica, though Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson state this story may have come into being in the nineteenth century.

Scratching Old Lady

Location: Outer London: Twickenham - Ham House
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: According to the story, the spectre of a terrifying old woman was seen picking and scratching at a piece of wall by a child. After the child cried for help, the ghost disappeared. When the parents examined the wall, they found a secret hole containing evidence of a seventeenth century murder. The shade of a drunken cavalier has also been observed, said to have drowned in the nearby river after a night's heavy boozing, while a ghostly spaniel sometimes walks around the building.

Alexander Pope (detail), by Godfrey Kneller.

Alexander Pope

Location: Outer London: Twickenham - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1830 onwards
Further Comments: The ghost of Pope returned to earth once his skull was stolen from his grave in 1830 - his form has been observed limping around the churchyard, chatting and mumbling to himself.

Woman with a Red Scarf

Location: Outer London: Uxbridge - Ickenham Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter evenings (reoccurring), 1950s onwards
Further Comments: This ghostly figure stands at the end of the platform, close to where she fell and was electrocuted. She sometimes waves to attract attention before vanishing.

V

Location: Outer London: Uxbridge - Skies over Hillingdon
Type: UFO
Date / Time: January 1985
Further Comments: Larger than a jumbo jet, this V shaped craft was only spotted for a few seconds before disappearing.

Walter & Liz

Location: Outer London: Wallington - Path between Croydon Road and London Road, Beddington Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend has the ghosts of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh frequenting this area together, dating from when the latter lived at nearby Carew Manor.

Cavalier

Location: Outer London: Wallington - Private house, Mallinson Road, Beddington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1972
Further Comments: A couple were disturbed in their bedroom one night by a ghostly Civil War cavalier.

Older Lady

Location: Outer London: Wallington - Private residence
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1961, late summer
Further Comments: A new mother was hanging out washing in the garden, with her baby in a pram nearby. The older lady next door popped her head over the fence and asked how the baby was doing. The mother chatted with the lady, but after taking the empty washing basket back indoors, suddenly realised the old lady had died before the baby was born.