The Paranormal Database

A witch standing in snowy woodland.

Witchy Neighbourhood

Location: Acklington - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Circa Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The people from this area had a reputation as being practitioners of witchcraft.

White Lady

Location: Akeld - Small piece of woodland between village and Yeavering (may no longer stand)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A small strip of woodland was said to be home to a white female phantom.

Soldier

Location: Alnmouth - Schooner Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: According to local press, the hotel was named the county's most haunted hotel by the 'Poltergeist Society', although the society appears never to have existed. Putting this potential marketing exercise to one side, the building is reputedly home to a phantom soldier, a small child, a chicken, ghostly whispers, and the sounds of someone screaming.

Creature from the Tomb

Location: Alnwick - Alnwick Castle
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: 1100s
Further Comments: The vampire that once frequented this castle, a former lord of the estate, lived under the site and would emerge at night to attack the local villagers. An outbreak of plague was also attributed to the unholy creature, and this resulted in the villagers digging the monster up from its shallow grave and burning it.

Dancing within Limits

Location: Alnwick - Fairy ring at Chathill Farm (ring may no longer exist)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Children would dance around a fairy circle here, although it was said if they circled the site more than nine times, fairies would spirit the offending child away.

Lancelot

Location: Alnwick - Joyous Gard, possibly Alnwick Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lancelot was laid to rest at his castle, Joyous Gard. Some believe that this fort later become known as Alnwick Castle.

Wishing Well

Location: Alnwick - Pin Well (was in parkland, not known if it still exists)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Tradition said that your wishes would come true if you walk three times around the well before leaping across it and dropping in a pin.

Cursed Bottles

Location: Alnwick - Ye Olde Cross public house
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A collection of bottles on display in the pub are reportedly cursed - the last person to touch them died soon after, and now they are covered up to avoid further mishaps.

Handless Monk

Location: Alwinton - Moorland in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s, 1980s
Further Comments: This cowled entity possessed no visible hands, feet or face. During the 1980s the figure may have twice been seen in a home just outside of Alwinton.

School Boy

Location: Alwinton - Private residence outside of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A young boy, around six years old and wearing a school uniform, was seen in the garden by someone at home here. The child looked solid but disappeared near the garden gate. A local legend says that a young schoolboy had drowned in a nearby river.

Leaping Woman

Location: Amble - Cliffs close to Cliff House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly woman leaps from these cliffs, fading away before she hits the sea below.

Short Woman

Location: Ashington - Private house along Newbiggin Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1960s or early 1970s
Further Comments: A girl reported seeing a short woman in her parent's bedroom, dressed in ancient Egyptian clothing.

An old drawing of Bamburgh Castle.

Olde Knight

Location: Bamburgh - Bamburgh Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This armour clad knight is also often heard stomping about the castle, sometimes rattling his chains. A ghostly woman in a green cloak is sometimes seen falling from the top of the castle, vanishing before she hits the ground.

Free Money

Location: Bamburgh - Rocky outcrop on which castle is built
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Lucky people are said to be able to find money which has been left by the fairies, but if they failed to add a coin of their own to the hoard they had found, everything would slip away.

The Laidly Worm, from the 1895 book English Folk and Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.

The Laidly Worm

Location: Bamburgh - Spindlestone Heugh (aka Spindlestone Crag)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Sixth century?
Further Comments: This area was, for a brief time, home to a large slimy serpent - it turned out to be the daughter of the king, transformed by a curse from her evil stepmother. The king's son discovered the truth, saved his sister, and turned his mother into a toad. Another variant of the story says a dragon held the king's daughter hostage until she was saved by a knight who came from overseas.

Murdered Robber

Location: Bardon Mill - Hardriding Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: This entity is heard engaged in a struggle during which several pieces of furnishings are knocked over - when the sounds are investigated, all rooms appear calm and undisturbed.

Thrown Objects

Location: Barrasford - Stones (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Last stone removed nineteenth century
Further Comments: Before being removed by farmers, the standing stones which stood around the area were thought to have been thrown by giants engaged in combat.

Fairy Home

Location: Beanley - Moors in the area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The moorland in his region was considered a place where the little people could hide.

Horses

Location: Bellingham - Brownrigg school (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: Three girls unable to sleep in their dorm one night all heard the thunderous sound of horses and the clanking of metal pass through the room. One witness said they were so terrified they did not dare open their eyes.

RAF Pilot

Location: Belsay - A696, just outside of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2015
Further Comments: Media outlets reported that Rob Davies and Chris Felton had filmed a figure which resembled a 'RAF pilot' standing on the roadside late at night. Although the footage was poor, the witnesses said the figure was dressed all in beige and held his arm out as if hitchhiking. When they turned the car around and drove back for another look, the figure had vanished.

Waters of Luck

Location: Bertley - Village well (may no longer exist)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Miners would visit this well during the early hours of New Year's Day to fill their flasks, as it was believed any household which housed the water throughout the year would have luck bestowed upon it.

Walking Dead

Location: Berwick on Tweed - Exact area(s) unknown
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former wealthy man who died was said to have returned from the grave and walked the streets at night. A pack of dogs were said to escort him. Finally, a group of local men dug up the grave and incinerated the body, though most of the men are said to have died soon after from an unknown disease.

Green Shark

Location: Berwick on Tweed - River Tweed
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 16 September 1757
Further Comments: A 1.8 metre long shark was discovered in this river, green in colour and no doubt a long way from home.

Scottish Piper

Location: Berwick upon Tweed - Berwick castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghostly Scot plays his pipes while pacing up and down one of the ruined battlements.

Woman in White

Location: Berwick upon Tweed - Churchyard, Tweedmouth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1904
Further Comments: Several locals reported seeing a phantom woman with ginger hair, dressed in white or grey, in the early hours of the morning. It was said to have followed people as they left the area, while one other witness observed it reading headstones.