Somerset Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Running Boy
Location: A37? - Heading towards Glastonbury
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2001 (?)
Further Comments: While driving fast along a straight stretch of road, a driver his wife and child spotted a young boy holding a goldfish bowl run up an embankment at superhuman speed and into the road. The driver hit the brakes as the boy passed in front of the car, thinking it was too late to avoid collision, but there was nothing. The boy had gone.
Suicide
Location: Abbots Leigh - Old Leigh Courthouse (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: The courthouse was supposed to be haunted by a woman who cut her own throat. The bangs and crashes which her spirit created were so alarming that parts of the building were locked up at night. The courthouse was later demolished. The creative image of the ghost is from 'The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century' (1825).
Dragon Slayer
Location: Aller, Curry Rivel - Exact area unknown
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The village is named after a local hero who slew a dragon but died as the beast released a final breath of flame. In another version of the tale, the hero survives and finds a brood of hatchlings in the dragon's cave, which is subsequently blocked up.
Elizabeth Maronne
Location: Almondsbury - Bowl Inn and other areas in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: Elizabeth was said to have been abused by her father and died young. Her phantom voice has been heard singing nursery rhymes or otherwise sobbing gently. The inn also claims two other female ghosts, though little is known about them.
Redcoat
Location: Axbridge - George House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This property was once thought to be haunted by the ghost of a soldier in a redcoat carrying a musket. A neighbouring shop reported hearing pacing footsteps, as if someone were guarding the site.
Tabby Cat
Location: Axbridge - King John's Hunting Lodge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This feline apparition has been observed padding around on the first floor, vanishing when it sits down. A white Elizabethan lady is also reported to haunt the same floor, seen sitting in a chair.
Trio
Location: Axbridge - Shute Shelve Hill, Hanging Field
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The three ghosts lurking here, two men and a woman, were all hanged for murdering the lady's husband.
Sight and Sound
Location: Backwell - New Inn (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2015
Further Comments: Patrons at this inn would report seeing apparitions, hearing noises and footsteps, and having objects moved around rooms by unseen hands.
Cloaked Figures
Location: Banwell - Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: One witness recalled, as a child, a figure who led him across his bedroom at night and helped him throw up (he was suffering from an illness at the time). There are also reports of phantom footfalls in the hallways and of cloaked figures being seen moving about the abbey.
Beast of Banwell
Location: Banwell - Banwell Hill
Type: ABC
Date / Time: September 2007
Further Comments: While walking her dog, Helen Stokes encountered a large black creature that she described as 'very fast'. Both owner and pet ran away from the creature.
Blown Cross
Location: Banwell - Hillfort
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: It was believed that the villagers tried to erect a massive cross on the hill, though the Devil visited every night and blew it down. Exasperated, the villagers carved the cross into stone, preventing further destruction. It is now thought the cross was the base of a Roman hillfort,
Stubborn Bell
Location: Barlinch - Barlinch priory (now ruins)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the priory bells were removed from the site, the Great Bell did not want to leave its location. Eventually the bell was dragged away (after a single unhappy peal) by man and ox to its new home in Exeter Cathedral, where it promptly cracked once mounted.
Blacksmith
Location: Batcombe - Burn Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A giant blacksmith is said to appear if you call out his name while standing on this hill.
Chained Hound
Location: Batcombe - Gold Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Buried in nearby woodland by an owner, this phantom hound is now reputed to roam the area, a large chain around its neck.
Robinson
Location: Bath - 20 Henrietta Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The disembodied footsteps occasionally heard on site are attributed to Admiral Robinson.
Howe
Location: Bath - 71 Pulteney Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1970s
Further Comments: Dressed in his naval uniform, Admiral Howe has been observed and heard moving around his former home.
Monks
Location: Bath - Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 August 2005
Further Comments: Phantom monks are reputed to haunt this area. A photograph taken by Russ Cribb on Flickr purports to show a ghostly cowled figure standing in front of the abbey's main door.
Naked Roman
Location: Bath - Area around Abbey Church, and other areas within the town centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The figure of a naked Roman soldier (how do you tell without a uniform to assist you?) has apparently been seen running around the centre of the town. On one occasion, a police officer gave chase, but the pursuit abruptly ended when the figure faded into the air.
Admiral Phillip
Location: Bath - Assembly Rooms, Saville Row and 19 Bennett Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, has been seen dozens of times over the past fifty or so years, always wearing the same black hat and long cloak.
Nurse
Location: Bath - Bath Royal Mineral Water Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-twentieth century
Further Comments: Said to have committed suicide on the site, this grey phantom nurse has vanished as of late.
Tiny the Dog
Location: Bath - Beckford's Tower, Lansdown Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: William Beckford's pet dog, Tiny, was once buried by the tower, though the creature's ghost returned after the remains were moved. It is also said that William's ghost haunts the graveyard surrounding the tower.
Bunty
Location: Bath - Beehive public house (currently Grappa's Bar)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A former Victorian worker at the pub, Bunty makes fleeting appearances around the hallway dressed in a blue/grey gown. Her presence was said to be non-threatening.
Monkey
Location: Bath - Brassknocker Hill and surrounding area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1979 / 1980
Further Comments: There was a brief flat of monkey sightings here, the creature said to stand between 3 - 4 feet high (90 - 120cm) and had bright rings around its eyes.
Soldier
Location: Bath - Crown Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Dressed in a First World War uniform, this phantom would appear in a darkened corner sipping his drink. The haunting is said not to have lasted.
Monk
Location: Bath - Crystal Palace public house, 10 Abbey Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure is reported to materialise when building work is carried out inside the property. The ghostly monk is said to be quite transparent.
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