The Paranormal Database

Silent Woman

Location: Slaithwaite (West Yorkshire) - Silent Woman public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub is named after the headless ghost that resides between the canal and a viaduct that carries the railway.

Headless Man

Location: Sneem (County Kerry) - Blackwater bridge, between village and Kenmare
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This bridge was the traditional haunt of a headless male figure. One legend says that the headless phantom was attacked by another ghost, although the outcome of the fight is not known.

Headless Man

Location: South Mimms (Hertfordshire) - Field close to the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: The area where a dead man was found quickly became known as being haunted by a headless man and the occasional glowing light.

Gun Hill, Southwold.

Headless Gunner killed by Exploding Cannon

Location: Southwold (Suffolk) - Gun Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After losing his head when a cannon backfired, the soldier is reported to return occasionally to stand by the old guns that face the sea. There are also reports that fairies once camped in little tents on the hill.

Headless Raiders

Location: Spanish Head (Isle of Man) - The Chasms
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Twenty four soldiers sent to kill the king met their demise at this location. Their headless ghosts were said to have encountered and attacked a farmer looking for a lost sheep. The farmer passed out as the spirits' daggers touched his neck, and when he awoke, he found a red mark on his neck that remained with him for the rest of his life. Another, older, version of the story says the farmer heard his sheep being slaughtered and fled before the same thing happened to him.

Headless Kidnapper

Location: Spurstow (Cheshire) - Dead Man's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A member of the Spurstow family was beheaded when a kidnap attempt that he had masterminded went wrong. The headless phantom now walks along the appropriately named road.

Chapel

Location: St Andrews (Fife) - North Bell Street (now Greyfriars Garden)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A slightly dubious source claimed that as a man named Allan turned the corner of this street, he could see the large chapel (which had not existed for many years). Allan entered the building in time to see a monk being decapitated by an assailant. Allan then found himself sitting on a nearby wall with a grinning skull by his feet. The skull briefly gnashed its teeth before flying into the sky and vanishing.

Headless People

Location: St Peter Port (Guernsey) - Lane east of La Longue Rocque (aka Grande Pierre) (standing stone)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark winter nights
Further Comments: Several headless people are said to hurry up and down this lane during the winter months.

Headless Dog

Location: St Peter Port (Guernsey) - Ville-au-Roi
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large black headless dog was said to patrol this road at night. Those brave enough to strike out at the hound hit nothing but air.

Headless Horseman

Location: St Saviour (Guernsey) - Road between Le Gron and Les Piques
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Moonlit nights
Further Comments: The reason for this horseman dashing along the road is long forgotten.

Lady Matthias

Location: Stackpole Elidor (Dyfed) - Stackpole Court (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A headless coachman driving headless horses pulling a headless lady in a coach would travel around the former court building. The woman in the coach, identified as Lady Matthias, was exorcised many years prior to the demolition of the building.

Headless Lass

Location: Stainmore (Cumbria) - Stainmore Pass
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1937
Further Comments: A driver stuck in snow on this pass went for a quick walk on the moorland while waiting for help. He reported seeing a headless woman sitting upon a white horse. A legend claims this to be a Norman landowner's daughter. She was kidnapped and killed by a Saxon chieftain.

Hannah Grundy

Location: Staithes (North Yorkshire) - Boulby Cliff
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This young woman was killed in April 1807 when the cliff path gave way, a large, heavy rock landing on her head or neck. Her headless shade still walks the path as it once was, several metres out from the current one. Another version of the tale says the entity crosses a bridge over a brook near the beach on Christmas Eve.

Headless Nectan

Location: Stoke (Devon) - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The church is built on the location where St Nectan had his head chopped off - he bent down and stuck it back on his neck before walking off!

Headless Woman

Location: Stokesley (North Yorkshire) - Lady Cross (road where a junction leading to Broughton/Ayton forms)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: This junction was once thought to be a place which drew evil from all around. One witness was followed by a headless woman who burnt bright with fire, while another man came across a pale woman upon a white horse; she rode alongside him for a while before vanishing.

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.

Headless Horseman

Location: Stourton (Wiltshire) - Road in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 January (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This headless horseman travels with a large black hound. The man is said to have broken his neck after being thrown from his horse, trying to travel from Wincanton Market to Stourton in less than seven minutes.

Headless Page Boy

Location: Stowford (Devon) - Hayne Manor
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death of owner
Further Comments: The boy was murdered by a butler on the site after he caught the older man stealing some plates - the young shade now appears with his head under the arm, warning of impending death. A wish hound has also been reported around the area.

Outline of Coach

Location: Stroud (Gloucestershire) - Road running alongside Rodborough Common, and apartments built near Rodborough Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, September 2013
Further Comments: A couple out walking in the 1970s watched in amazement as the ghostly outline of a horseless coach passed them. In 2013, a group of friends watched as an old fashioned car silently moved by. No driver could be seen and as they tried to follow, it vanished. Other witnesses have seen the phantom, and others have reported headless horsemen or of hearing galloping.

Steam Engine

Location: Stroud (Gloucestershire) - Woodchester Mansion, near the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2001, and 14 December 2019
Further Comments: A film crew spending a night in the building in 2001 reported loud disembodied banging that climaxed as if the sounds of a stream train charged through the house. The house is also reported to be haunted by a white lady, and the park surrounding the building is home to a Roman soldier, a figure resembling a monk, two American servicemen in Second World War uniforms, a headless horse and a dwarf which somersaults along the driveway. In 2019, a witness watched a horse and carriage driven by a man wearing a tall Victorian hat pass through a locked gate.

Lancaster Pilot

Location: Strubby (Lincolnshire) - Second World War RAF base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This decapitated shade nicknamed 'Strubby' is the result of a Lancaster bomber crash near the hangar area during the Second World War.

Headless Man

Location: Sutton Coldfield (West Midlands) - New Hall Hotel and Wylde Green Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1820s onwards
Further Comments: This headless figure is thought to have been a local man mistakenly found guilty for being a Jacobite spy. The man was executed, and his head left in an oak tree where it remained until the 1820s - the tree was cut down and the skull rediscovered. Since then, the headless phantom is said to walk around the area (or the head rolls around looking for its body, depending on the source).

Headless Woman

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Cockspur Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: A taxi driver watched a decapitated woman cross the road in front of him, vanishing once reaching the pavement. The figure is thought to be the same entity that haunts St James's Park.

Nellie Melba

Location: SW4 (Greater London) - Bingo hall along Clapham High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: Nellie fell from the roof of this former theatre, after climbing to the roof in a drunken haze. Her shade, headless, was reportedly seen by some staff members near the area of the former stage.

Headless Dog

Location: Swaledale (North Yorkshire) - Humpback bridge leading to Ivelet
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The appearance of this headless hound denoted a forthcoming tragedy.