The Paranormal Database

Turn Around

Location: Hallam Moors (Derbyshire) - Head Stone (also known as Stump John)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown, but stone still stands
Further Comments: This six metre tall stone is reputed to turn over when it hears the crowing of a cockerel.

Red Woman

Location: Hardley (Norfolk) - Small block of stone at the crossing of three roads and a dirt path
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Certain nights of the year at midnight, though exact dates uncertain
Further Comments: On a few select nights of the year, a ghostly woman in red materialises and sits on this small stone.

Dancing the night away.

The Grey Ladies

Location: Harthill Moor (Derbyshire) - Stone circle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: It was reported that these boulders transformed into women at night, who danced until the cock crowed.

Witches' Obelisk

Location: Hartley (Northumberland) - Old Hartley Standing Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A local piece of folklore said that if you ran around the menhir seven times while holding your breath, the witch would appear.

Devil Speaking

Location: Hemswell (Lincolnshire) - Devil's Pulpit
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Children would once poke pins into a boundary stone before running around it several times. After this they thought they could hear the Devil speaking from deep underground.

Treasure Hunter

Location: Higher Combe (Somerset) - The Caratacus Stone, just outside the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy nights
Further Comments: The jutting rock is said to have treasure concealed beneath it, though it is now protected by the ghost of a man who tried to remove the stone to find the hidden wealth - his body was found crushed under the stone.

Devil's Stone

Location: Honiton (Devon) - Church Hill
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This rock is all that remains after the Devil and the locals threw stones at each other.

Reapers

Location: Hownam (Borders) - Standing stones
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: These stones are said to be people who tried to reap their crops on the Sabbath.

Invisible Stone

Location: Ilderton (Northumberland) - Threestoneburn (aka Three Stone Burn)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Even though only a handful of stones can now be seen, it was reported that there were once twelve stones, but only eleven could be seen. If anyone could find the twelfth, they would have been rewarded with riches.

Godstone

Location: Inishkea Islands (County Mayo) - Exact areas unknown
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Godstone pre twentieth century, Crane still present?
Further Comments: The Godstone was said to have granted islanders control over the weather, credited with increasing the speed of potato growth, and could also put out fires. The stone was cast into the sea at some point in the nineteenth century after a religious man took exception to it. The islands were (or are) also home to an immortal crane - the bird is said to have sat alone from the dawn of time, waiting until the end of the world.

John Thurlow Reade

Location: Ipsden (Oxfordshire) - Icknield Way, white memorial stone
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1827?
Further Comments: John's ghost was seen by his mother on the spot now marked by the memorial stone - he had just died in India at roughly the same time of the sighting. The Icknield Way has several more ghosts reported along it, including phantom coaches, shucks, Romans, and Boadicea's legion.

Dead Horse

Location: Kerris (Cornwall) - Kerris Roundago (Iron Age hill fort, no longer present)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several stones from the hill fort were taken to Penzance by horse, to repair the pier. Despite being healthy, the horses all died soon after.

The roadside grave at Dobbs Lane, Kesgrave.

Dobbs

Location: Kesgrave (Suffolk) - Dobbs Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Haunted by the ghost of a suicide, the crossroads here is where Dobbs is buried; a young shepherd who took his life after losing a sheep. Youths out for some fun in the 1960's started to dig up the grave, only to be scared off by 'something'.

Uncountable Stones

Location: Keswick (Cumbria) - Castlerigg Stone Circle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: These stones refuse to give up their number, always tallying differently if counted (but I make it 33).

Headless Monk

Location: Kilchrenan (Argyll and Bute) - Road between village and Ardanaiseig, stone by the road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is idly speculated that this ghostly monk may have been sacrificed on this old stone by pagans.

The Blowing Stone

Location: Kingston Lisle (Oxfordshire) - Blowingstone Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The village is said to have taken its name from when King Alfred used the stone to summon an army to fight the invading Vikings - when blown into, the stone can create a loud, deep note. Another legend says whoever can sound a note that can be heard from the Uffington White Horse Hill, shall be king of England. This may not be legally binding.

Thirsty Stone

Location: Kingstone (Herefordshire) - Large whetstone in the village
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: This rock submerges itself in a nearby river to cool itself down on particularly hot days.

Apron Leakage

Location: Kirkby Lonsdale (Cumbria) - Casterton Stone Circle
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: This stone circle was created while the Devil used his apron to carry rocks - the strings snapped, the stones fell, and the devil just let them lie.

An old postcard of Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria.

Mustard Grinders

Location: Kirkby Stephen (Cumbria) - Skinkrith Bridge and River Eden
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: According to local legend, anyone who places an ear in an opening to the rock can hear a low grumbling that was thought to be employees of the Devil crushing mustard seeds. Jingling Annas also haunts the bridge - her hands reduced to stumps by the manacles she was forced to wear.

Dragon from medieval bestiary.

Dead Dragon

Location: Kirkton of Tealing (Angus) - Martin's Stone
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A stone in the area marks the place where a local man named Martin killed a dragon which had eaten nine sisters who had gone to fetch water for their aging father.

Drinking Cross

Location: Langton Herring (Dorset) - Ancient cross
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This stone hewn cross moves to the nearby Fleet lagoon to drink.

Bridget

Location: Levisham (North Yorkshire) - Bridestones (standing stones)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: The stones scattered across the moors are named Bridestones, not because of marriage, but after a pagan deity known as Bridget.

A circle of witches dance around a central figure, from an old woodcut.

Meg & her Daughters

Location: Little Salkeld (Cumbria) - Long Meg stones
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still standing
Further Comments: A collection of standing stones, these are said to have been a coven of witches turned to stone for their sins.

Solid Gold

Location: Littlebredy (aka Little Bredy) (Dorset) - The Grey Mare & Her Colts (long barrow)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: Hidden under the Grey Mare is reputedly a coffin made from solid gold. There is also a local legend that connects the barrow to a phantom horse that runs around the area.

Bridge Builder

Location: Lizard (Cornwall) - Loose, rough stones in the area (was known as the Apron String), Rill Point
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An evil spirit wanted to build a bridge to France to aid smugglers, however the spirit's apron string broke as it moved the stones required for the task, so gave up.