The Paranormal Database

A ghostly policeman returns.

Policeman

Location: Eton (Berkshire) - Waterworks, Tangier Island
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Second World War
Further Comments: The local policeman would stop and share a cup of tea with the night watchman every night. However, for two consecutive nights, the watchman heard the policeman arrive on his bike and walk towards the office, but the officer did not actually appear. The watchman mentioned this to a co-worker the following day, who informed him the policeman had died a couple of nights previous.

Cell Bell

Location: Eye (Suffolk) - Police station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 onwards
Further Comments: It was reported that the cell bell would ring when the cell was empty. In other empty areas of the building, a typewriter and moving chairs would be heard. There was no pattern to the frequency of the sounds, which could be heard day or night by individuals or groups of staff.

Officer Jones

Location: Grays (Essex) - Fire Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A former Divisional Officer, Jones appears sporadically in the dorm of the building.

Henry

Location: Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) - Fire Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s and 2000s
Further Comments: Built upon an area that housed bodies, the fire station has developed a reputation for being haunted, particularly by a monk nicknamed Henry. Footfalls have also been heard down empty corridors.

Whistles and Bells

Location: Halifax (West Yorkshire) - Former police building, Prescott Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: When in use, some police officers reported strange occurrences in the building, including whistling, doors opening and closing themselves, cold spots, and ringing bells that were connected to empty cells.

Former Patients

Location: Hatton (Warwickshire) - Former Central Hospital, was known as Warwick County Lunatic Asylum, now Hatton Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before modernisation, this hospital was said to have rooms haunted by former patients.

Slamming

Location: Haverhill (Suffolk) - Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1960s / 1970s?
Further Comments: Heavy doors were heard to slam, though they were locked, and typewriters could be heard being used late at night in empty offices.

Man in Black Cape

Location: Hindley (Lancashire) - Police station, Castle Hill Road (closed 2007)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2004, midday
Further Comments: An Education Welfare Officer asked to leave this police station after spotting a ghostly male figure in a black cape along a corridor. A police officer, the only other person in the building at the time, who questioned her about the sighting, reported the building was 'uncomfortable' for people working there.

Bedtime for Children

Location: Kincardine (Angus) - Tulliallan Castle; Tulliallan Police College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1978
Further Comments: A witness staying at the police college recalled hearing children laughing along the corridor outside her dorm, before the sounds moved into the room. Although alone in the dorm, the witness heard all the beds squeak as if people were climbing into them, including her own. A chair also in the room moved slightly across the floor.

Lift Travellers

Location: Leeds (West Yorkshire) - St James's University Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A member of staff would often use a lift in the building, sharing with occupants who would travel upwards only to vanish just before the doors opened.

Architectural design for Leeds Infirmary.

Running

Location: Leeds (West Yorkshire) - Leeds General Infirmary
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn 2005
Further Comments: An employee at this hospital heard five voices and footsteps rushing down a corridor but could see nothing - there was a gust of wind as the invisible people passed.

Chief Inspector

Location: Lewes (Sussex) - Lewes Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 2003
Further Comments: This ghost's rank was determined after one witness was so close to the phantom that he could see the shoulder pips. The shade appears to be in his late forties, wearing police uniform with glasses, and has been seen by officers since the 1960s.

Footsteps

Location: Liverpool (Merseyside) - Former police and fire station, Lark Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: Footsteps have been reported on the rear staircase and a heavy door opens and closes unaided, according to the Night Vision Investigations team.

Footsteps

Location: Manchester (Greater Manchester) - Bootle Street Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Footsteps have been heard by officers on the nightshift and an old timecard machine occasionally clangs as people walk past. A former female prisoner is said to haunt the corridor outside her cell.

Victorian Lady

Location: Market Deeping (Lincolnshire) - Fire Station
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: A photograph taken of the crew outside the front of the station showed a woman in Victorian dress standing in the doorway. A second photograph taken moments later showed no such figure.

Heathland at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk.

Long Dead Airman

Location: Martlesham Heath (Suffolk) - Police HQ, heathland, and shopping area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978, 1981 (police station), 2004 (shopping area)
Further Comments: The site of a major airfield during the Second World War, the Police Headquarters and the surrounding heathland has a reputation of being haunted by long dead pilots. Several police officers have seen such shades, while more recently, owners of a shop reported seeing a detached human shadow outside their establishment.

William

Location: N1 (Greater London) - Whittington Hospital, Islington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Ghosthunter Leonard Low claimed to have taken a photograph in the hospital of 'William', a ten year old boy from the fifteenth century who suffered from leprosy. Leonard said that the ghost stories he was told from nurses concerning the haunted hospital date back at least forty years.

Fireman

Location: N7 (Greater London) - Euston Fire Station, Euston Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: A ghostly white figure that was caught on someone's mobile phone camera was named as a former firefighter. Though the footage has been dismissed as nothing more than a trick of the light, some firefighters remain sure their station is haunted.

Matron

Location: Norden (Lancashire) - Wolstenholme Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1950s
Further Comments: While cleaning a staircase, a member of domestic staff spotted the legs and lower gown of the Matron ascending the stairs. The cleaner said, 'good morning' and was surprised that there was no reply. A few minutes later the Matron arrived and spoke to the cleaner, who expressed surprise and said the Matron had already gone upstairs. Both Matron and cleaner then went to investigate but no one could be found on the floor above. Other members of staff had also claimed to have seen the phantom Matron.

Wet Prints

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - 1 Queens Street, British Transport Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977 and 2007
Further Comments: An officer who was working alone at night in 1977 heard a heavy door slam. Going to investigate, he found a set of wet footprints leading to the toilets, even though the weather was dry outside. Following the prints into the toilets, he found the room empty. Thirty years later, another officer spotted a man walk into the toilets - realising that he and his colleague should have been the only people on site, the officer investigated the room and found it empty.

Footsteps

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Ambulance Station, Wilford Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: This station was home to phantom footsteps and opening doors. Two witnesses watched a shadowy man enter the toilets; concerned he was a trespasser they followed him in, only to find the area empty.

Moaning

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Former Police Station, Canal Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976
Further Comments: This building, while being used by a private company, was said to be haunted by moans and groans, banging and by a light being switched on by an unseen hand. The manager of the firm was not impressed with the stories and discovered that all strange activity (except the moaning) could be stopped by changing the electrics.

Pacing

Location: Outer London: Ealing (Greater London) - Greenford Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Footsteps 1960s onwards, figure spotted summer 1984
Further Comments: Heard from time to time walking along the upper floor, these phantom footsteps start at midnight and continue until dawn. One night duty station officer reported seeing a figure in an old fashioned police uniform sitting in the tearoom. When the sighting was mentioned the following morning, the witness was told the ghost was probably that of an inspector who hanged himself upstairs in the 1930s.

White Light

Location: Outer London: Redbridge (Greater London) - Barkingside police station, Ilford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: A white light was seen hovering over the custody desk by one officer, while the same area was known to create a feeling of unwelcomeness.

Screaming Woman

Location: Outer London: Redbridge (Greater London) - Former Wanstead police station (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This police station was said to be haunted by a woman who screamed as she descended the staircase.