The Paranormal Database

Petrified Thief

Location: Llandyfrydog (Gwynedd) - Just outside the village - Carreg Lleidr (Robber's Stone)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 25 December, midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Legend has it that an oddly shaped stone here was a thief who stole a bible, and while carrying it over his shoulder, was turned to rock. Every Christmas the stone runs three times around the field in which it stands.

Carreg Ateb

Location: Llandyrnog (Clwyd) - The Carreg Ateb stone (currently buried)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When it stood on the road between the village and Moel-y-Parc, the area around the stone was said to be haunted by a man murdered by his brother. However, a farmer has now buried the boulder and it is unknown whether the ghost will be affected.

Grabbing Stone

Location: Llanfaes (Gwynedd) - Church (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Circa twelfth century
Further Comments: A boy who tried to raid a pigeon's nest for its eggs was caught and held fast by a stone. After his parents prayed for three days and nights, the boy was released. The boy's handprint remained on the stone.

Malaria Cure

Location: Llangan (South Glamorgan) - Canna's Stone (aka St Canna's Chair)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This small stone had the power to cure malaria and fever. All one had to do was sit upon it, drink water from a nearby wall, and continue the process for up to three weeks. Bedrest may have been quicker.

The farmer, an abuser and part-time stone

Abuser

Location: Llangattock (Powys) - Stone known as The Lonely Shepherd (aka Peaky Stone)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The stone is said to have once been an abusive farmer who drove his wife to commit suicide in the nearby river. A witch who witnessed the abuse turned the farmer into a stone, permitting him to move one day a year, when he wanders the area calling out his wife's name.

Carreg Bica

Location: Llangrannog (Dyfed) - Ordovician rocks on the beach
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Rock still present
Further Comments: After suffering from toothache, the giant Bica spat his tooth out and it landed on the beach, where it still stands today.

Thirsty Stones

Location: Llanrhidian (West Glamorgan) - Arthur's Stone (cromlech)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark stormy nights
Further Comments: The stones here are said to animate when the weather is right and there are no human witnesses, to head off and drink from the nearby waters. A ghostly knight in glowing armour also haunts the area; drifting out from under the rocks and heading north on nights of a full moon.

Llia's Stone

Location: Llethr on the Hoel (Powys) - Llia Valley
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Morning (reoccurring)
Further Comments: On every morning that the cock crows, this huge monolith walks over to the River Nedd for a quick drink.

The Rollright Stones, England.

Dancing Fairies

Location: Long Compton (actually in Warwickshire) (Oxfordshire) - The Rollright Stones - the King Stone and the Whispering Knights
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Mist. Grey figure seen pre-1937, gnome during summer 2001
Further Comments: The King Stone was once a place where fairies danced around. Legend says that the monolith was once a King who was petrified by a witch (though which ruler is unclear). There are so many other smaller stones that it is said to be impossible to count them all. Another set of nearby standing stones known as the Whispering Knights are thought to be the witch's aids, who conspired against the king but were turned to stone anyway. In the early twentieth century, a grey female figure would appear on misty days, twisting and moving strangely within the stone circle. During the summer of 2001, one witness spotted a sixty centimetre man with a red pointed hat standing by a stone. The figure beckoned for the witness to approach, but fear kept them away.

The Devil gives chase across a field.

Cheated Devil

Location: Longdendale (Derbyshire) - Devil's Elbow (rock formation)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Rock still present
Further Comments: This rock formation is said to be made from the Devil's arm, which was turned to stone after he failed to catch a maiden on the run from her father.

The headless woman, from James Bowker's Goblin Tales of Lancashire.

Long Stone

Location: Longridge (Lancashire) - Written Stone Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still visible
Further Comments: Local tradition states that this stone was laid to rid the Radcliffe family of a ghost. This may be the case, though the lane is still felt by many to be a place of evil, with a black shape moving around in the darkness. One account says the lane is still haunted by a decapitated old woman who keeps her head in a basket under one arm.

An old woodcut of a cockerel.

Turning Stone

Location: Looe (Cornwall) - Cock-Crow (or Cockcrow) Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This hunk of rock rotates three times on hearing a cockerel crowing in the morning. The treasure under the stone should be accessible during this time but hampered by the fact that only one particular cockerel will animate the rock.

Rain Stone

Location: Lough Nahanagan (County Wicklow) - Stone by the waters
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A rock here could cause sudden rainfall if hit with a stick. If the person who struck the rock apologised, the skies would quickly clear. The lough itself is the traditional home of a water horse.

Stone Spirit

Location: Lumsdale (Derbyshire) - The Wishing Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Rock still present
Further Comments: Wayne Anthony, in Haunted Derbyshire and the Peak District, writes the wishing stone was once thought to be the home of a benevolent spirit who would grant wishes to strangers who walked around it three times, on the condition they were not selfish or self-centred.

Robin, from an eighteenth century chapbook.

Robin Hood's Peniston

Location: Lunedale (Durham) - Stone along the road between Nettlepot and Wenmer Gill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown if still present
Further Comments: This large stone was thrown into position by a bored Robin Hood while entertaining his men on top of Shacklesborough, a nearby hill.

Cow, from a chapbook.

White Cow

Location: Lydham (Shropshire) - Michell's Fold stone circle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-eighteenth century
Further Comments: During times of drought or hardship, a white cow would appear in the middle of the circle and allow everyone in the neighbourhood to fill one bucket with milk. Michell, a local witch after whom the circle was later named, milked the cow into a sieve until the creature vanished.

Gaming with the Devil is risky.

Vanishing Leapfroggers

Location: Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) - Devil's Stone, also known as Devil's Jump Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A stone marks the spot where the Devil played a game of leapfrog with three local lads - when they jumped over his back, a hole to hell opened, and they were never seen again.

Loser

Location: Melcombe Horsey (Dorset) - Giant's Grave
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This earth mound is said to contain the body of a giant who lost a stone throwing contest against another of his ilk. The two stones are close by and are said to rotate when a cockerel is heard to crow.

Rockin'

Location: Melcombe Horsey (Dorset) - Giant's Grave, Cross Lanes
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Two large stones near this round barrow are said to move when they hear the cockerels crow in the nearby village of Chesilborne.

No Treasure

Location: Meldon (Northumberland) - Unnamed field containing standing stone
Type: Other
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: James Gillies had three dreams which involved discovering a hoard of treasure buried under a stone. Alas, he told several people of his dream, and when he finally found time to go and look under the stone, all he found was a hole and evidence that the hidden treasure had recently been taken.

Swimming Stone

Location: Michaelstone-y-Fedw (Gwent) - The Druidstone, on the grounds of Druidstone House
Type: Legend
Date / Time: When a cock crows during the night
Further Comments: This stone, standing over three metres in height, goes for a swim in the nearby river if woken up at night.

The Long Stone

Location: Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire) - Large stone along the Avening road
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This large rock is said to walk around the field in which it stands at midnight, and occasionally wander to the spring at Minchinhampton to have a drink. Mothers were said to have passed their children through the gap in the stone to cure them of rickets or smallpox.

Petrified Hurlers

Location: Minions (Cornwall) - Hurlers stone circle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: For playing the ancient sport of hurling on a Sunday, these men were transformed into stone as a warning to others. As hurling had a habit of radically reducing life expectancy, it is rarely played today.

The Rufus Stone.

King William II

Location: Minstead (Hampshire) - New Forest, the Rufus Stone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Murdered (allegedly) on this spot by a close friend, William II is now doomed to rise on the anniversary of his death and walk to Winchester.

Milking Witch

Location: Mitchell's Fold (Shropshire) - Stapeley Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: A fairy gave the villagers a white cow that could yield enough milk for everyone in the area. A local witch named Mitchell attempted to fool the cow, placing a bucket under the creature filled with holes. Mitchell milked the creature until it could produce no more milk and ran off, never to be seen again. Mitchell did not escape punishment - she was transformed into rock.