The Paranormal Database

An old postcard of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire.

Petrified Snakes

Location: Whitby - Whitby Abbey
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Snakes unknown, St Hilda's ghost during summer months 10:00h - 12:00h
Further Comments: The abbey was besieged by snakes, until St Hilda turned up and drove them all off the edge of the cliff, where they turned to stone on the beach below. Her ghost is also reported to still gaze from the windows of the abbey. A few people have heard a choir singing in the empty building and one local legend says a team of headless horses pulling a hearse was once spotted by a man and boy walking in the area. Finally, treasure hidden in the abbey's grounds is protected by a headless figure in white.

Rustling

Location: Whitby - Aislaby Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard moving around in a silken dress, this figure has never been observed with human eyes; quite unlike the large phantom coach seen being driven outside the hall.

Browne Bushell

Location: Whitby - Bagdale Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: More often heard stalking the staircase than seen, Bushell was a pirate (so says legend, though the truth is probably quite different) who once owned the building. Children have also been heard playing just after midnight, in rooms devoid of life.

Horse?

Location: Whitby - Esk Terrace
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 02 September 2011, 00:20h
Further Comments: While staying in a house along this road, a witness heard a horse walking outside on the gravel - when they looked from the window, nothing could be seen.

An old postcard of Whitby in Yorkshire.

Wade

Location: Whitby - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wade, his unnamed wife, and their son, were giants who possessed fantastic size and strength and are credited with creating the surrounding landscape by throwing and dropping boulders.

Gladys Saxton

Location: Wigglesworth - Plough Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1945 onwards
Further Comments: Gladys Saxton and her maid Margaret Harrison were killed in a fire at the building in 1945. Since that date, a woman wearing a long black dress has been seen by guests at the building. There is also a report of a phantom highwayman being spotted standing in a doorway.

Traffic Dodger

Location: Wigglesworth - Road leading to Tosside
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early winter mornings (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A couple of car accidents that occurred along this road were blamed on a flitting female form which ran out in front of the vehicle before disappearing. Locals say it is a girl who drowned nearby.

Murderer

Location: Wintringham - Crossroads near Place Newton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely nineteenth century
Further Comments: A murderer who killed a Place Newton caretaker was caught and caged at a crossroads, where he was left to starve to death. A member of the victim's family would visit each day and leave a loaf of bread just out of reach. The site would be avoided at night.

Young Girl

Location: York - 18-20 Stonegate (currently Jack Wills)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local report says that a teenage girl using the changing room looked in the mirror and spotted another young girl. Believing that the girl had accidentally walked into the changing room, the teenager turned and asked the girl to leave. The girl turned and walked through the wall. Staff later found out that a doorway once existed in the wall where the girl disappeared.

A building along Stonegate, York.

Young Girl

Location: York - 41 Stonegate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A six-year-old Victorian girl who fell to her death on the staircase was said to have haunted this building during the twentieth century. The girl could be heard ascending the staircase and was reputedly seen sitting upon a shop counter when a tearoom operated on the site. One story says the ghost is a doctor's daughter and dates to when the building was a private residence. During one of the doctor's dinner parties, the curious girl emerged from her top floor bedroom and tried to peer over the banister to see who was in attendance. She lost her balance.

Number 5 College Street, York.

Crying Girl

Location: York - 5 College Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: During one of the outbreaks of plague in the city, a married couple contracted the disease and died. Their only child, a young daughter, remained uninfected. She shouted to passersby for help, but no one would believe that she was clear of the disease; the doorway was bricked up to prevent the plague from spreading, with the young girl and her dead parents still inside. The girl's crying could be heard for days, until the house grew quiet - the girl had eventually starved to death. Now she can be seen looking from the window, and the cries of a young girl heard emerging from the building, even though it is empty.

Rustling Woman

Location: York - Netherby Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A female clad in a silken dress was once said to move noisily around the hall.

Old White Swan Inn, York.

Laughing Figures

Location: York - Old White Swan Inn, Goodramgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The haunting is said to be centred around one of the fireplaces and is variously described as a presence or a group of shadowy figures who laugh amongst themselves. One theory is that the entities are a group of catholic priests planning to escape to France, although whether their escape plan was successful is not known. The pub also featured in the local press in November 2018 after an unconvincing ghost photograph came to light.

The Good Musician

Location: York - Passageway once known as Beedham's Court, off Skeldergate
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small band of musicians were performing around the city when they found themselves joined by another unannounced member. He played the violin particularly well, and as the band completed a song standing by Beedham's Court, their new-found violinist vanished, leaving only the strong smell of brimstone.

Grey Lady

Location: York - Path towards Bootham Bar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, and 26 November 2016, 22:00h
Further Comments: While nicknamed the Grey Lady, all the stories associated with this phantom nun place her in a brown habit, although her hair was said to be grey. Seen in daylight hours during the 1970s, her more recent encounter occurred at night, where the witness and the nun locked eyes before she faded away.

Grey Nun

Location: York - Petergate Bar area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Bricked up alive for her sins, this ghostly nun has been seen in a few buildings in the area including the York Arms (where she appeared in the male toilets).

The Principal's House, York.

Lady in Green

Location: York - Principal's House and the King's Manor, Exhibition Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The female ghost which haunts the Principal's House is said to be either Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard, dressed in a green dress and carrying roses. The ghost of a monk frequents the King's Manor. The sounds of wounded men can sometimes be heard here - the building was used as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War.

Priest

Location: York - Private residence along North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978-1986
Further Comments: If a lamp were placed in the corner of a particular room, it would switch itself off. A pet cat would stare into the corner also. A neighbour said that as the resident left the property, a man dressed like an old fashioned priest would appear and follow them as they left the site and walk down the lane.

Scratching

Location: York - Private residence, Long Close Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2017
Further Comments: Several news outlets reported that a mother and her child were driven out of this property by something that scratched them and hid their belongings.

Punchbowl pub, York.

Burnt Landlord

Location: York - Punchbowl public house, Micklegate Bar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A landlord who burnt to death in a fire haunts one of the bedrooms and the cellar, while the shade of a woman who died of a broken heart has also been observed on site.

Old Fashioned Cyclist

Location: York - Road outside York Minster
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Easter 2008
Further Comments: Three children witnessed two adults narrowly avoid being hit by a cyclist wearing old fashioned clothing on an old fashioned bicycle. However, the cyclist was not seen at all by the adults.

Roman Bath pub, York.

Splashing

Location: York - Roman Bath public house, St. Sampson's Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: From the old baths located below this pub, phantom splashing can sometimes be heard.

Footsteps

Location: York - Shop along High Ousegate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 November 2015
Further Comments: While in the stockroom, a worker heard faint knocking and footsteps coming up the staircase. The door handle turned but the door did not open, as if someone behind the door was going to enter but had changed their mind. The worker immediately opened the door, ready to make the person on the other side jump, but no one was there.

The Shrine of Margaret Clitherow, York.

Unearthly Peace

Location: York - Shrine of Margaret Clitherow, The Shambles
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Margaret Clitherow was a Catholic tortured to death for refusing to renounce her religious practices. This building, now a shrine, is said to be remarkably peaceful, even though it stands along a busy road. It is worth noting that this building is not Margaret's former home - her house is on the opposite side of the road.

The snickleways of York.

Barghest

Location: York - Side roads and snickleways in city
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This large black hound with red glowing eyes, known as Barghest, Barguist or Barguest, is said to prey on humans alone along the snickleways in the city. The creature has also been spotted in the old castle area.