The Paranormal Database

Stone Shower

Location: Oakham (Rutland) - Oakham School
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1971
Further Comments: Matthew Manning claimed in his book The Link that the school had a poltergeist outbreak which focused on him, resulting in moving bunkbeds and showers of stones and pieces of concrete manifesting from nowhere.

Wolves

Location: Ogmore Vale (Mid Glamorgan) - Forest near the former Abba school
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1990 onwards
Further Comments: A local has claimed that several people in the area have spotted wolves stalking the forest. There is an unsubstantiated report that a boy disappeared in the woodland and was eventually found torn apart.

White Robe

Location: Outer London: Brentford (Greater London) - New Brentford National School (rebuilt 1905)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 September 1835
Further Comments: A schoolmaster, soon after discovering writing slates scattered around the floor, found himself questioning ten children who reported seeing a tall white shape in a robe which may have disappeared into the cellar. Volunteers ventured into the cellar but found nothing, not even footprints in the wet mud contained within.

Elizabethan Handmaiden

Location: Outer London: Croydon (Greater London) - The Old Palace (currently a school)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost is said to date back at least two hundred years and is followed by an aura of sadness whenever seen or felt.

Man in Bowler Hat

Location: Over Alderley (Cheshire) - School Lane, close to abandoned school
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 2015
Further Comments: After feeling uneasy and experiencing a sensation of being watched, a witness turned to find that she was being followed by a man wearing a bowler hat which cast a shadow over his face. The only sound the witness could hear was her own footsteps in the snow. Terrified, she fled.

White Figure

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - All Souls College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This robed figure drifts from the rear of the chapel to the library, where it vanishes without trace.

An old postcard showing Christ Church College in Oxford.

Charles I

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Christ Church College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The former king has been observed around the college grounds both with and without his head. A shade belonging to a former royalist commander also lurks here - he was shot for treason on the site.

John Crocker

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Exeter College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Standing in a yellow jacket and brown breeches, the ghost of John haunts the area of the chapel where his tomb is located.

An old postcard showing St John's College in Oxford.

Bowling Archbishop

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - St John's College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Beheaded in London in 1645 and his body returned to St John's in 1663, Archbishop William Laud now haunts the building - his ghost is renowned for pulling his head from his neck and rolling it at any witnesses. He is also said to drift a couple of centimetres from the ground, where the pavement has worn down since his death.

Twins

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - St Peter's College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This college was founded by the Bishop of Liverpool, and the ghostly male twin undergraduates who haunted the building are thought to be his sons.

An old postcard of Trinity College in Oxford.

Mother in Black

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Trinity College
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1959
Further Comments: Appearing to her son only once, this shade made an appearance to the verger as he was patrolling the grounds at night. There is another report of the New Court being haunted by a ghost dressed in hunting kit.

Obadiah Walker

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - University college
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Walker was a master at University three hundred years ago, and is said to continue to haunt the room he resided in. His footsteps can also be heard walking the eighth staircase.

White Monk

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Wadham College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 December 1968
Further Comments: Often heard moving around, this ghostly monk has been seen a couple of times, most recently by a night porter at the chapel doors.

Mr Jenner

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Jesus College
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1910
Further Comments: Two students claimed to have seen one of their teachers walking around at one night, between the chapel and dining hall, before vanishing through a brick wall - it later turned out he was visiting friends many miles away at the time.

Man with Cap

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Keble College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early March 1936
Further Comments: A Canadian student spotted a ghostly figure with a cap covering its face huddled at the end of a corridor. The witness initially did not talk about the encounter, until others claimed they had seen the phantom figure on or near a staircase. The apparition was thought to be a man who had been expelled from the college four years previous.

An old postcard showing Magdalen College in Oxford.

Figure in Black

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Magdalen College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: This dark, stealthy figure was observed several times, but never heard, as it ran about the college. When cornered by staff, the figure would suddenly vanish.

An old postcard showing Merton College in Oxford.

Bedroom

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Merton College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s?
Further Comments: Now part of the library, a bedroom that once stood on campus was reportedly so haunted that no one could sleep soundly while staying in it. The library here is also thought to be haunted by Colonel Francis Winderbank, shot after surrendering to Cromwell in 1645.

An old postcard showing New College in Oxford.

Pale Faced Man

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - New College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1962
Further Comments: The chapel is haunted by a figure, possibly a priest, with an unnaturally pallid white face.

Mr Bonnell

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Queen's College
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 18 November 1750
Further Comments: Bonnell's ghost appeared in the college a couple of hours prior to his death, his face bloated and red. He had been bed ridden for several days, and it was impossible for him to move. The upper library is said to be haunted by a clergyman known as Cuthbert Shields - he believed himself to be the reincarnation of Saint Cuthbert.

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Paisley (Renfrewshire) - Art College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Two teachers at the college heard heavy footsteps walking in a locked room. When investigated, they found nothing, but the footsteps repeated their movements twice more over the following half hour. Whispering in empty rooms was also common, and one teacher found heavy clays moved around his work area - it took three people to lift the clay back to its original position.

Monk at a Desk

Location: Penwortham (Lancashire) - Secondary School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 1968
Further Comments: Peter Moss, in 'Ghosts over Britain' mentions the image of a two dimensional monk sitting at a writing desk on a wall in a classroom. The figure was like a white shadow, though some details of the figure could be made out. Several years later, the witness discovered another person who had seen the same apparition during her time at the school.

Cloaked Man

Location: Porterstown (County Dublin) - Old schoolhouse (may no longer be standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former school building is reputed to be haunted by a figure dressed in a cloak.

Silent Vulcan

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Sky near to the university campus
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: Christened the 'Silent Vulcan' by students because of its similarity to a Vulcan bomber (but without any sound), this large aircraft was seen by a student in the skies of Preston. He stated the object shot off towards the dock area, moving at incredible speed.

Knocking

Location: Rawdon (West Yorkshire) - Rawdon Baptist College
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: August 1909
Further Comments: The handful of summertime residents were disturbed during the day and night by knocking from within the walls. Items such as potted plants were moved without explanation.

Woman

Location: Reagill (Cumbria) - Former School House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1959
Further Comments: After moving in, Mr and Mrs Anderson both spotted a female figure wearing a stiff necked top with her hair pulled up in their bedroom. The figure walked around the bed before vanishing at its foot.