The Paranormal Database

Headless Monk

Location: Chertsey - Thorpe Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 2011
Further Comments: A water ride at the park was moved after staff reported encountering a headless monk, amongst other paranormal phenomena. The foundations of the ride were said to have intruded on an ancient burial site. The park has been accused of holding a publicity stunt, having used another ghost story previously to promote its 'Saw' ride.

Faceless Rider

Location: Chilworth - Between Rices Corner and Percy Arms
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1960
Further Comments: While returning from work in the early hours of the morning, a cyclist became aware of another man on a bike a short distance behind him. The second rider finally caught up to the cyclist, who called out when he realised the man who had just overtaken him had no lights on. The figure on the second bike turned his head, and the witness realised the rider had no face, just a blurry area.

Fleeing Nick

Location: Churt - Devil's Jumps (three hills in the area)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Hills still present
Further Comments: Local witch Mother Ludlam had her cauldron stolen by the Devil. As the Devil ran, every step he took created a great mound of earth.

Field Marshal Lord Ligonier

Location: Cobham - A3 near town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 27 November 1965
Further Comments: The musical group Peter Bs reported encountering a ghostly figure while driving along this stretch of road. They said the entity wore an army greatcoat, emanated a strange glow, and had hollow eye sockets. After conducting research, the band thought the figure could have been Field Marshal Lord Ligonier, buried at Cobham church.

Small Lad

Location: Cobham - Church Stile House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A former owner of the property reported encountering the ghost of a young boy in the building.

Hermit

Location: Cobham - Cobham Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a hermit who once lived in the park is said to still walk around.

Detail from The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, by Richard Dadd.

Uneasy Feeling

Location: Cobham - Darnley Mausoleum, and surrounding woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mausoleum and the surrounding woodland were rumoured to be haunted, with some people experiencing an uneasy feeling when visiting. Folklore places a ghostly bearded figure resembling a hermit, at the Mausoleum, although one 1940s newspaper claimed the entity to be a vampire. As a side note, there is an area nearby called Dadd's hole, where the artist Richard Dadd killed his father.

Blue Donkey

Location: Cobham - St Andrew's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: This strangely discoloured creature is reputed to haunt the churchyard.

Thomas More, Holbein sketch.

Sir Thomas More

Location: Cranleigh - Bayard's (or Baynards) Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Executed in 1535, Sir Thomas had his head hidden at Baynard Hall until the heat died down. Still not happy, he drifts without the object in the nearby park.

Passenger

Location: Cranleigh - Dunsfold Aerodrome
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: Workers on the 007 film Casino Royale reported seeing the ghost of a woman moving along the aisles of a 747 they used as a set. It is believed the phantom is of a female passenger who died from a heart attack at least thirty years previous.

William Mullins

Location: Dorking - 58 - 60 West Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mullins took his wife and child across to the Americas on the Mayflower. He and his family died soon after they arrived in the new lands, and now Mullins has come home to stay.

Rider

Location: Dorking - Graveyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A decapitated rider on horseback follows a road that no longer exists - the figure crosses the gravestones and vanishes through a hedge.

A ghostly butler amongst the books.

Lady in Grey

Location: Dorking - Pippbrook House (currently Dorking Library)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a woman wearing a long grey dress is reputed to haunt the staircase, while a phantom butler has also been reported.

Whirlwind

Location: Dorking - Polesden Lacey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: The original house no longer stands, but the ghosts remain. Nun's Walk is said to be haunted by an apparition which resembles a whirlwind, while the bridge is haunted by a figure dressed in a brown robe and hood which conceals its face.

Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk.

Duke of Norfolk

Location: Dorking - White Horse Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ninth duke of Norfolk remains in the inn, apparently too drunk to depart this plain of existence.

Kiln Worker

Location: Earlswoof - Bull's Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend says this pub is haunted by a lime kiln worker who died during the seventeenth century.

An old postcard of Hampton Court Palace.

Henry's Wives

Location: East Molesey - Hampton Court Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 12 October (reoccurring), 4 November (reoccurring), and other (see text)
Further Comments: Jane Seymour returns every 12 October (the date she gave birth to her son), and Seymour's attending nurse is reported to be seen by other nurses if any other births occur in that room. Anne Boleyn, dressed in blue, is said to walk the passageways of the palace. A silently screaming Catherine Howard has been watched moving towards the chapel (on 4 November), where she begged Henry VIII to save her life. Howard's disembodied hand was spotted and sketched by an artist working in the Guard Watching Chamber in 1900. A photograph taken in December 2003 showing a 'ghostly' hooded figure opening a fire escape has been dismissed as a hoax. In 1989 a figure spotted wearing a Victorian nightshirt vanished in front of a witness. Finally, an Edwardian story says the clock stops unaided whenever someone dies in the palace.

Accident

Location: Effingham - A246
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2015, between 03:00 - 03:30
Further Comments: A motorcyclist spotted a pair of red taillights on the road ahead. Despite changing speed several times, the lights stayed the exact distance away, until they veered off the road into trees. The motorcyclist heard a crash, and fearing an accident, pulled over and looked for the crashed vehicle. Nothing could be found.

Piano

Location: Effingham - The Lodge
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Pre 1964
Further Comments: This building had a piano stored in a locked room which would occasionally be heard to play. Bread would be rolled across the kitchen by unseen hands. Staff also claimed a white lady walked the stairs at night.

Little Man

Location: Egham - Hillside villa
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: The subject of three legal battles (between 1903 & 1907) debating whether the house was haunted, and ergo fit for human habitation, the house was alleged to contain the spirit of a child murderer - a little man whose footsteps could be heard at night.

Phone Call

Location: Egham - Private residence east of M25
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 05 May 2022
Further Comments: While a husband and wife were alone downstairs in this property, the husband's mobile phone that had been left upstairs placed a call to the wife's phone. When the husband went to grab his phone, he realised that his boots had moved from the stairs and had been placed on the bed, where he had previously been.

Thomas Holloway

Location: Egham - Royal Holloway University
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Founded by Thomas Holloway, the man himself is said to haunt the Founder's Building, though he manifests in the form of a black cat. Jane Holloway, Thomas's wife, is said to haunt the fourth floor of the same building.

The Other Mother

Location: Englefield Green - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2000
Further Comments: The residents in this property experienced items being moved, lights which turned themselves on, and doors which slammed shut. One resident also heard whisperings, while a child on the site would talk to someone they described as their 'other mother', an older woman wearing grey. An old man was once also seen on the site, looking out of the empty living room window.

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Englefield Green - Wooded area off Coopers Hill Lane
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: April 2021
Further Comments: While walking through this wooded area, one person heard heavy footsteps approaching along the footpath. No one could be seen, even though there was a disturbance on the ground. Even though it was a bright sunny day, the area felt oppressive, and the witness left the area terrified.

Aged Gentleman

Location: Esher - House lived in by Anna Porter, the author
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Anna Porter claimed to have seen a man known to her enter a room and sit down, before suddenly rising and leaving again. She thought the gentleman looked unwell, and sent a servant over to his house, who discovered that he had died earlier in the day.