The Paranormal Database

Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland.

Little Girl in Plain Brown Dress

Location: Stoke-by-Nayland - Thorington Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The young girl has been seen along one of the passages upstairs and on the stairs landing. Phantom footsteps have also been attributed to the ghost, heard in the upper part of the building.

Unknown Woman

Location: Stonham - Magpie Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: Newly arrived owners Mark and Belinda Rudderham reported windows opening themselves and the television switching itself on and off. A figure was spotted by Belinda and a member of the bar staff, who at first thought it was Mark, though he was asleep upstairs at the time. A former landlord had previously encountered a phantom woman on site.

Shuck with a Monk's Body and Dog's Head

Location: Stowmarket - Clopton Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This strange entry in the 'shuck' category stands guard over a hidden hoard of gold. A legend states that St Felix instructed a monk and a dog to guard the buried treasure, and over the years the entities merged into a single presence.

Dozen Dancing Fairies

Location: Stowmarket - Exact area unknown
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1842
Further Comments: Whilst walking one night, a gentleman watched a dozen doll-like figures dancing around in a ring. He reported them as being more like little ghosts than solid creatures, making no sound and wearing sparkling dresses, standing no more than three feet high. Fairies were once quite common (as common as fairy sightings are) in the meadows surrounding the town.

Young Girl

Location: Stowmarket - Old Churchyard, Bury Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2004, between 09:00h - 09:30h, 2014
Further Comments: While taking a shortcut after dropping her daughter off at school in 2004, this witness noticed a young girl with platted hair and wearing a red Victorian style dress standing by a grave. The entity may have been spotted again in 2014 by a concerned member of the public.

Whitish Figure Running over Brambles

Location: Stowmarket - Pauper's Graveyard (near Stowlodge Hospital?)
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, and July 2018
Further Comments: The witness said this figure appeared quite normal but drew attention to itself by running a couple of inches over the foliage in this area. The witness speculated the ghost is one of the poor buried in the nearby graveyard. The entity may have been spotted again in 2018 by a woman leaving the graveyard, when a fast moving figure disappeared into brambles.

Long haired Man

Location: Stowmarket - Royal Oak public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: This figure, wearing a nightshirt, has always given a wave to witnesses before disappearing.

Tavern Street, Stowmarket.

Tiny Frolicsome People

Location: Stowmarket - Tavern Street
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Appearing only at night, tiny people were often seen dancing and singing along Tavern Street, disappearing only after becoming aware that they were being watched.

Four Figures Standing around Gallows

Location: Stratford St Mary - Four Sisters Crossroads, along A12
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As well as the mysterious four figures, an evil presence has been felt here.

Floating Shadow

Location: Stratford St Mary - Tenterfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984-1994
Further Comments: During her ten years of occupancy, this witness stated that shadows would float through consecutive rooms, unnerving those who witnessed them. The building is reputed to have once been a makeshift hospital for injured soldiers.

Blond Haired Alien

Location: Sudbury - A1092 between Long Melford and Haverhill
Type: UFO
Date / Time: September 1982
Further Comments: Rosalind Reynolds was abducted from her car by a tall alien with messy blond hair accompanied by several classic greys. She claims that after the event she developed a psychic talent for foreseeing disasters.

Woman in Satin

Location: Sudbury - Brundon Hall, near Sudbury
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late eighteenth / early nineteenth centuries
Further Comments: This ghost could often be seen knocking (or stamping) on a blue slab on the floor in the house before disappearing. Curious owners removed the stone - it led to a vault containing two skeletons laying side-by-side, the remains of several children, and gold artifacts, though no one could explain why the site existed.

Large Black Cat

Location: Sudbury - Henny Road
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 28 September 2010, 05:30h
Further Comments: While driving home this witness watched a large black cat, 'as large as a Boxer dog', run from out of a hedge into the car headlights. The creature continued to run along the road for a short distance before vanishing into another hedge.

Mummified Feline

Location: Sudbury - Mill Hotel
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: If removed, this cat is said to bring ill fortune to the building and the occupiers. When the cat was first discovered (before the mill became a hotel), it was sold to a nearby shop. The shop burned down, so the cat came back has stayed ever since.

Water Dragon

Location: Sudbury - River Stour
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Early 1400s
Further Comments: This crested monster came from out of the local river and terrorised Sudbury and the neighbouring villages. Eventually, all the townsfolk gathered and chased the beast back into the river.

St. Gregory's Church, Sudbury.

Simon

Location: Sudbury - St. Gregory's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1381 onwards?
Further Comments: After Simon was murdered in 1381, the former archbishop of Canterbury's head was removed and buried here after being displayed in the Tower of London. He has reportedly been seen in the church. Simon's shade could also be to blame for the disembodied footsteps that also haunt the church.

Procession of Warriors

Location: Sutton - Sutton Hoo
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: Once making a frequent appearance, early Anglo-Saxon fighters had been seen on what later turned out to be a large burial mound. A Spiritualist, Mrs Pretty, attended a seance where a black phantom warrior on a black horse with a drawn sword appeared, telling her to dig at the mounds.

Syleham Lights

Location: Syleham - Marshes in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: The area around this village was once home to ghostly lights (most likely combusting marsh gas) that danced around at night.

Priest

Location: Syleham - Monks House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1953
Further Comments: The family believed the phantom priest who appeared in the drawing room to be the last person who knew the location of King Edmund's body.

White Lady

Location: Tangham - Forest
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Late nineteenth or early twentieth century
Further Comments: A man driving a horse and cart through the woods was startled by the appearance of a white lady on the seat next to him - she vanished as he drove past the last tree of the forest. This story could be an early version of the phantom hitchhiker tales.

A field in Thornham, Suffolk.

The Pink Lady

Location: Thornham - Field near the camp site
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Returning from a penny reading in the reading room, Emma Berry drowned in the village stream. Her shade walks her final route...

Lord Henniker's Gravel Driveway in Thornham, Suffolk.

Horse & Cart on Driveway

Location: Thornham - Lord Henniker's Gravel Driveway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The present Lord's father told stories of hearing horses and wheels on the gravel driveway; on investigation, there was nothing ever seen.

Old Lady with Young Daughter

Location: Thornham Magna - The Four Horseshoes Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown when last seen, last activity reported 18 March 2006
Further Comments: Stories of the pair of ghosts in this building date back hundreds of years, though their personal history is unknown. A witness sleeping at the inn reported strange banging waking them up, just prior to their TV set switching itself on.

Mr Perkins

Location: Thornham Magna - The Walled Garden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1900 onwards
Further Comments: The head gardener at the site in 1840, Mr Perkins is now often seen walking around the garden, mainly when significant changes are happening. He is blamed when items are moved, although will occasionally open and hold doors for people. Witnesses have described Perkins as wearing a large black coat and a hat, whistling as he approaches. Some have said the figure has criticised their work before walking and fading away.

Two Monks

Location: Thornham Parva - Road heading towards the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: A male witness reported cycling home towards the village at one night when he passed by two hooded figures in monks' garb and a white dog. The two figures raised a hand and wished the man goodnight, but when he directly looked at the pair, the witness realised the inside of the hoods were empty - the monks had no heads.