The Paranormal Database

Headless Hound

Location: Aberystwyth (Dyfed) - General area of Penparcau
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless dog was said to have once belonged to a young giant who ran so fast that he decapitated the dog by pulling too sharply on the leash.

A phantom coach and horses.

Coach with Headless Driver

Location: Abington (Northamptonshire) - Pig Lane (lane may no longer exist or has been renamed?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Racked with guilt after deliberately running over his daughter's lover in 1780, this man now continues to drive his coach and horses down the lane, though he has lost his head since death.

Black Dog

Location: Alveston (Warwickshire) - Exact location not known
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late Nineteenth Century
Further Comments: Charles Walton (the man murdered in Lower Quinton (see Quinton database entry for further information)) claimed to have seen a phantom black dog for several successive nights when he was younger - on the last night, instead of the dog, he saw a ghostly headless woman. He soon heard that his sister had died at roughly the same time as the last sighting.

Headless Man

Location: Ashbourne (Derbyshire) - Hanging bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wayne Anthony, in Haunted Derbyshire and the Peak District, writes that the bridge is said to be haunted by two ghosts. A headless figure is sometimes seen standing on the bridge, while another ghost is seen leaping off the edge into the River Henmore.

Twelve Pallbearers

Location: Ashford in the Water (Derbyshire) - Shady Lane, near Thornbridge Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These twelve men carrying a coffin are said to be headless. The coffin is also empty, the space reserved for any witnesses to the spectral sight.

Mrs Towndrow

Location: Ashover (Derbyshire) - Church and churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1890
Further Comments: The headless entity spotted in this location was believed to be the Mrs Towndrow who was murdered in 1841 by her husband John shortly before he killed himself. A local legend states that of you thrice circumambulate an empty stone coffin found in the churchyard before sitting in it, you can hear the restless dead.

Figure in Black

Location: Ashwell (Hertfordshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shadow of a shambling headless person reportedly stalks the churchyard here.

Duke of Suffolk

Location: Astley (Warwickshire) - Astley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Father of Lady Jane, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, had his head lopped off and now haunts this building (headless, of course).

Headless Highwayman

Location: Atwick (Yorkshire) - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This decapitated spectral bandit remains lurking in the shadows of his old ambush area. One version of the story says he remains on his horse.

Phantom Coach

Location: Audley End (Essex) - Audley End Road & Chestnut Avenue.
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The coach departs the Lions Gate and is driven along the local streets until it reaches the B1383. As normal, the coach driver is said to be headless.

Silbury Hill, Avebury.

Burial

Location: Avebury (Wiltshire) - Silbury Hill
Type: Other
Date / Time: Hill still present
Further Comments: The largest man made mound in Europe, no one can say for sure why the hill was built, though one group has alleged that it was the only way the builders knew of immobilising a great evil. The ghost of King Sil is also said to ride around the base of the mound on moonlit nights, which is likely to be connected to the belief that a horse and rider of solid gold are contained within. Finally, another ghost, this time headless, is said to haunt the base.

Thomas Boleyn, as pictured on his tomb.

Phantom Coach

Location: Aylsham (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

A ghostly figure standing in a lake.

Headless Figure

Location: Ballyfin (County Laois) - Lake
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom man who haunted the area was banished into the lake by a local priest. At some point during the banishment, the ghost lost his head.

Headless Horseman

Location: Ballymena (County Antrim) - Road leading to the White Gates, Crebilly Road area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A robber escaping from a house rode into a thin piece of wire tightly pulled between the gateposts here, losing his head in the process. His decapitated shade is either seen or heard at Halloween, still on horseback.

Old Blunderhazard

Location: Barsham (Suffolk) - Between Barsham and Norwich
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once per year, just before Christmas, a ghostly member of the Blennerhassett family leaves the village in a coach pulled by headless horses. The phantom would travel to Hassett's Tower in Norwich before returning home before sunrise.

Headless Man

Location: Baschurch (Shropshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but may have been heard 17 October 2009, around 22:30h
Further Comments: Having hanged himself, this headless gentleman is reported to still drive his horse and trap around the neighbourhood. One witness heard a horse passing close to her late at night, but nothing could be seen.

Monk

Location: Bawnboy (County Cavan) - Exact area not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possibly twentieth century
Further Comments: An area of the village was said to be haunted by a headless monk.

Roos Hall, Beccles, Suffolk.

Headless Horseman

Location: Beccles (Suffolk) - Roos Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Christmas Eve is marked by the arrival of a coach driven by a headless horseman and pulled by headless horses, which travel down the driveway and vanish as they arrive by the front door. Close by, an oak known as Nelson's Tree is reputed to have been used as gallows and is haunted by a woman in white, although it is not clear whether she was one of the tree's victims or mourns the loss of a loved one. In the hall itself, on a wall within in a bedroom cupboard, there is the imprint of the Devil's hoof branded into solid brick. Finally, another tale says there is a window at the hall which always opens itself, even if locked shut.

Headless Woman

Location: Beer (Devon) - Bovey House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While the smell of lavender is often reported, without any apparent source, the headless ghost, dressed in blue silk, has not been observed for years.

Headless Hound

Location: Beetham (Cumbria) - Between village and Milnthrope, and surrounding countryside
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that if this large creature follows you, death is not far behind.

Phantom Coach

Location: Belaugh (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Eoghann a' Chin Bhig

Location: Ben Buie, Isle of Mull (Argyll and Bute) - General area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to disaster in the MacLean family
Further Comments: Eoghann, while living, tried to kill his father - he was decapitated for his efforts. Now he appears before personal disaster or a death in the family.

Headless Monk

Location: Bentley (Suffolk) - Bridge on road linking Brantham and Bentley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once based at Dodnash Priory that once stood nearby, this monk now haunts the road between two villages. A single stone remains at the site of the priory, and it is said treasure is concealed underneath.

Jocelyn Percy

Location: Beverley (Yorkshire) - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Jocelyn has been reported driving his coach and four headless horses around the streets of this otherwise quiet neighbourhood. Another version of the legend says he flies above the street, pausing briefly over an unnamed house.

Laughing

Location: Bickleigh (Devon) - Fisherman's Cot public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The soft laughter of an invisible female has been heard around the bar, which is unrelated to the headless horseman who lurks outside.