The Paranormal Database

Irish Wolfhound

Location: Shapwick (Dorset) - Road surrounding Badbury Rings
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large phantom dog that has been reported running along the road is thought to be an Irish Wolfhound looking for his master.

Heron

Location: Sonning (Berkshire) - Maiden Erlegh House (demolished 1960)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two animal ghosts were once said to roam here; a phantom heron would fly down into the lake and a spectral horse roamed the surrounding area.

One Man and his Dog

Location: Souter Fell (Cumbria) - Exact place unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1745
Further Comments: Two men witnessed a man with a hound, pursuing several horses along a steep rocky ridge. Man and beasts suddenly vanished - the witnesses were at first concerned that they had all fallen over the edge of a cliff, though were unable to find any bodies.

The phantom cow returns.

Cow

Location: South Tawton (Devon) - Hamlet just outside the village, exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa late nineteenth century, said to appear at midnight
Further Comments: A Guernsey Cow said to haunt this location was once a woman who committed a 'terrible deed' and was transformed into this animal for 4,900 years as punishment.

Lady with Dog

Location: Southwold (Suffolk) - Shuck's Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Late at night, a phantom woman is alleged to appear walking about the hill with her dog.

Black Dog

Location: St Giles In the Wood (Devon) - Lanes in the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late nineteenth / early twentieth century
Further Comments: A large black dog was said to haunt the lanes and the farms in this area, as far down as Copplestone.

An old woodcut of a boar.

Snorting Boars

Location: St Leonards (Buckinghamshire) - Uphill and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of running boars is reported here, snorting loudly as they go.

This Little Piggy...

Location: St Pierre du Bois (Guernsey) - House at Le Lorier
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A sow and her litter were said to pass through the house, in protest of food to the poor being withheld.

The Birds

Location: St Pierre du Bois (Guernsey) - Les Jaonnets Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A flock of screeching invisible phantom birds apparently attacked a witness walking along this lane.

Horse and Cart

Location: St Saviour (Guernsey) - De Garis house (no longer present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sounds of a horse and cart unloading stone have been heard around this former house. Another story says it is haunted by a sow and her piglets.

Running Dog

Location: Stevenage (Hertfordshire) - Saint Nick's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Upset by the continued yapping of the gravedigger's dog, the bellringer poisoned the pet pooch. The animal died an agonised death, and some people claim the dog now runs around the church, floating slightly above the ground.

The White Rabbit of Etruria

Location: Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire) - Etruria suburb
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa late eighteenth century
Further Comments: This ghostly white rabbit appeared after the phantom cries and scream of a young boy. It was thought that the rabbit was the ghost of a fourteen year old lad murdered by another teenager while arguing over a wager.

A medieval cat.

Piano Cat

Location: Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire) - New Inn, Basford (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: When the piano keys could be heard striking without human intervention, a ghost cat would be blamed. The phantom feline was said to be appeased when a small amount of beer would be left out for him.

Early Morning Rider

Location: Stoke Trister (Somerset) - Field in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 June 2007, between 10:00h - 11:00h
Further Comments: While walking his dog, this witness heard horse's hooves walking alongside him for several minutes, never becoming louder or quieter, nor changing pace. The witness thought the sound may have been coming from behind a nearby hedge, though there was nothing visible.

Horseman

Location: Stokesley (North Yorkshire) - Broughton Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A horseman with his caparisoned horse was said to travel over this bridge, the sound of his jangling armour causing unease to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.

Flaming Carriage

Location: Stokesley (North Yorkshire) - Tweddell's Stripe
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: Surrounded by fields, this narrow path would have been quite spooky, especially if one encountered the entity which was said to haunt it. A phantom flaming carriage containing a headless woman would move at breakneck speeds, drawn by a team of six greyhounds. Why? No one knows.

Dog That Still isn't There

Location: Stourpaine (Dorset) - Village square, heading out towards the hills
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Heard dragging chains as it ran, this phantom hound is never seen. It is thought the dog died while escaping from a master who mistreated it. A similar story is told in Pimperne, Dorset.

Old Woman

Location: Stourton (Wiltshire) - Brook House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early to mid twentieth century?
Further Comments: This house is reputedly haunted by the ghost of an elderly lady and her black dog.

Ranulph

Location: Stratton (Cornwall) - Blanchminster Castle (were ruins in a field, current status not known), located at Binhamy grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When this knight returned from the crusades, he discovered his wife had thought him dead, and had remarried. He spent his remaining days living rough in the land around the castle, and his ghost can be seen in the former moat. One version of the story says that his ghost takes the form of a hare.

Pale Donkey

Location: Studland (Dorset) - Newton Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around Christmas (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A small white donkey haunts the area where its master was robbed and murdered while travelling across the heathland. While the owner's body was found, the donkey vanished without trace, now only appearing briefly before Christmas once a year.

Bjorn

Location: Styhead (aka Sty Head) Pass (Cumbria) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to be a thirteenth century outlaw, the ghost of Bjorn wanders the area carrying a bag of living cats. He is easily recognisable, having lost his head.

Old Man Marriott

Location: Sutton Lane End (Cheshire) - Rossendale wood (known locally as Marriott`s Wood)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, said to occur around midnight
Further Comments: A ghostly figure of Old Man Marriott is said to walk down the road with his sheep dog and his gun.

Jeremiah Abershaw

Location: SW19 (Greater London) - Wimbledon Common
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: late nineteenth / early twentieth century
Further Comments: No wombles here, only a ghostly padfoot looking for victims after being hanged for his crimes two hundred years ago. On two occasions the ghostly entity has been seen wearing convicts clothing. Abershaw is sometimes heard on horseback, hooves heard thumping on the ground, yet the animal never appears.

Market Cross pub, Swaffham.

Cat

Location: Swaffham (Norfolk) - Market Cross public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early July 2007
Further Comments: A cat has been seen in the building running across the bar area. A member of staff who spotted the animal in July 2007 mistook it for a real creature, only to be told otherwise when she mentioned her encounter to others. There are also stories of a phantom man who sits by the fireplace with a beer.

Black Cat

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Private residence, Liden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1986-1989
Further Comments: A ghostly black cat was spotted by the occupants of this property.