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Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Museum Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Lady Vanishes

Location: Abington (Northamptonshire) - Abington Park Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: A woman walked over to a horse drawn carriage on display and leaned in to inspect the interior of the carriage. Inside, a sitting lady suddenly appeared. The apparition stared at the woman then vanished. The witness made a quick exit, without even telling her friend why she was leaving.

RF398

Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - Cosford Aerospace Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The last remaining Avro Lincoln Bomber situated here is said to be haunted by a pilot seen in the cockpit, while a tape recorder left on board overnight picked up the sounds of a busy airport, though the hangar and the area were devoid of life.

Landing Craft

Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - RAF Cosford (now Aerospace Museum)
Type: UFO
Date / Time: December 1963
Further Comments: This ufo report was based on a story made up by two young people returning late from a leave pass. As time went on, the story grew, and it eventually became that an UFO had touched down near a hangar on the base, and was recovered and removed for reverse engineering.

Face in a Coffin

Location: Belfast (County Antrim) - Crumlin Road Prison (now a museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A visitor who lay in a coffin for a photograph later realised that the captured image showed a strange face next to his. It is worth noting that the photograph is likely to be a case of pareidolia rather than the paranormal. The prison is also home to a phantom man seen walking down C Wing, and the sounds of both male and female voices.

Figure in Carriage

Location: Belfast (County Antrim) - Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2017
Further Comments: Local press published a photograph of a spooky looking figure sitting in a train carriage, although the 'ghost' is most likely accidently created using a slow shutter speed.

Jenner

Location: Berkeley (Gloucestershire) - Edward Jenner Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2009
Further Comments: BBC photographer Chris Sandys caught a strange humanoid shape on film while creating a panoramic photo within the museum. Some believe the image to show Jenner himself, while others believe the image to be an illusion caused by shadow and light.

Fred or Mary

Location: Blandford Forum (Dorset) - Royal Signals Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: Once known as Fred, the ghost that moves small objects and creates phantom footsteps and cold spots was renamed Mary. It is believed she was a local woman due to marry a Second World War US serviceman. Mary was murdered just before her wedding day in the area where the museum was later constructed.

Herman the German

Location: Bovington (Dorset) - Bovington Camp - Tank Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The area around the Tiger tank on display is reportedly haunted by the German commander of the vehicle, who has been seen by staff at the museum.

Albert Codd

Location: Bridport (Dorset) - Bridport Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: The otherworldly gentleman observed in a yellow smoking jacket is said to be Captain Albert Codd, a former owner of the building. Staff also named another entity Gladys, and thought she was associated with a Victorian dress in a case on the upper floor.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Location: Bristol (Somerset) - British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Brunel once had his office in the area which was dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The smell of his tobacco smoke and the steady pacing footsteps has unnerved several members of staff.

Vanishing Boy

Location: Bromsgrove (Hereford & Worcester) - Avoncroft Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 March 2013
Further Comments: While at a re-enactment event, one participant spotted a boy standing by a fireplace in the Merchant's House. The boy was no older than thirteen, with shoulder length wavy hair, a red tunic and a brown leather belt around the waist. As the participant approached the boy, the young lad vanished.

Cat

Location: Burton upon Trent (Staffordshire) - Bass museum (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Seen by members of staff and visitors, a ghostly cat lurked around the ground floor and the recreation of an Edwardian bar.


Manor House Museum, Bury St Edmunds.

A Normal Family

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Manor House Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reportedly resembling a 'normal' family visiting the building, this gang of ghosts disappear without trace... Other figures from the buildings past also frequent the corridors and halls, including a couple of servants and a young child.

Oppressive Atmosphere

Location: Calverton (Nottinghamshire) - Folk Museum, Main Street
Type: Other
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: People in the building have reported an oppressive and malicious atmosphere, though nothing is ever seen.


Stone lions outside Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Animated Stone Lions Drink from the Gutter

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Fitzwilliam Museum
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Midnight (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: On the stroke of midnight, the lions that stand outside the Fitzwilliam Museum leave their posts to drink from the gutters a few meters away. Other sources say they disappear inside the building they guard.


National Museum Cardiff, Wales.

Dunbar Smith

Location: Cardiff (South Glamorgan) - National Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Smith unknown, Lord Ninian on election night (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Dunbar Smith designed the museum, and after he died the building became home to his ashes. The ashes were moved from their location to make way for a new public toilet during the 1960s, after which Dunbar was said to have returned, complaining about his post-mortem treatment. Another ghost, that of Member of Parliament Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart, killed in action during the First World War, is said to become particularly active on election night.

Unlucky Art

Location: Carlisle (Cumbria) - Cursing Stone, Carlisle Museum
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 2001 onwards
Further Comments: Since the installation of artist Gordon Young's sculpted granite 'Cursing Stone' inscribed with a 16th century curse in one of Carlisle's museums in 2001, misfortune has plagued the city - local farm stock were wiped out by foot-and-mouth disease, a devastating flood occurred, several factories have closed, a boy killed in a local bakery and Carlisle United football team dropped a league.

Laughing

Location: Chelmsford (Essex) - Essex Regiment Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013?
Further Comments: One witness claimed to have heard the laugh of a child and the slamming of several doors, one after another, in the early hours of the morning.

Bare Feet

Location: Chertsey (Surrey) - Cedars Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The padding of naked human feet has been heard here.


Red House Museum, Christchurch.

Hunted

Location: Christchurch (Dorset) - Red House Museum (was known as Christchurch Workhouse)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former almshouse is often promoted for its ghost hunting events, although what haunts the site is less well publicised.

Older Man

Location: Clapham (Bedfordshire) - Glenn Miller Museum (was RAF Twinwood Farm)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2012
Further Comments: Luton Paranormal Society wrote that spooky occurrences are reputed to have occurred here, including a sighting of a phantom older man in RAF uniform, and the sound of disembodied footsteps. During their own vigil, the group reported several strange feelings and perceptions.

Anne Lisle's Footsteps

Location: Colchester (Essex) - Hollytrees Museum, Gun Room, near portrait of Anne Lisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Quite familiar to the staff, Anne Lisie is often heard running past the Gun Room, though she has manifested before - usually seen by young children. Faces looking out of the windows in the rear of the building have also been reported late at night.

Louis Philippe

Location: Cowes (Isle of Wight) - Sir Max Aitken Museum, The Prospect
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: King Louis Philippe of France stayed at The Prospect after fleeing France. His ghost occasionally appears during parties on the site.

Sarscowe Lady

Location: Croston (Lancashire) - Gradwell's Farm, now a museum, and nearby road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1958
Further Comments: This woman fell in love with a monk from the site and threw herself in the well after being rejected - the forty foot drop into the water below killed her. Her shade was once hit by a bus on the nearby road; the driver was convinced he had hit a real person, though no body was found.

Former Workers

Location: Derby (Derbyshire) - Pickford's House Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A long dead gardener still walks along the lawns he once worked so hard on, while a woman haunts the kitchen. The child seen dancing in the house is thought to be a member of the Pickford family.

Records 1 - 25 of 103

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