The Paranormal Database

Golden Men

Location: Anlaby - Anlaby school, playing ground
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 18 January 1978
Further Comments: A youngster playing in the grounds of the school watched a round craft land and three figures dressed in golden clothing climb out. The child ran off to find friends to tell, and when he returned with someone the craft was already back in the sky - it quickly flew off.

Halliwell Boggle

Location: Atwick - Between village and Bewholme, pool of water at the bottom of the hill where the church stands (pool may no longer be present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Story circa nineteenth century
Further Comments: This entity was said to terrorise anyone foolish enough to walk this area.

Headless Highwayman

Location: Atwick - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This decapitated spectral bandit remains lurking in the shadows of his old ambush area. One version of the story says he remains on his horse.

A Man

Location: Barmby Moor - Private garden, was known in nineteenth century as the Quakers' Burial Ground
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 24 April (St Mark's Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A nineteenth century piece of folklore says that by turning around seven times in this garden on St Mark's Eve would result in a man appearing just behind you...

The Running Lady

Location: Beeford - Road between Beeford and Brandesburton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This woman in white is said to run along the road between the two villages, close to the North Frodingham junction.

Simmon Beeather

Location: Beverley - Gaol (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1880, before gaol ceased operation
Further Comments: This ghost was said to be a prisoner who committed suicide while incarcerated.

Strange Haired Man

Location: Beverley - Old Friary (currently a private house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The jolly old man haunting this building apparently has an unusual hairstyle and is believed to be several hundred years old.

Jocelyn Percy

Location: Beverley - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Jocelyn has been reported driving his coach and four headless horses around the streets of this otherwise quiet neighbourhood. Another version of the legend says he flies above the street, pausing briefly over an unnamed house.

Something Felt by Dogs

Location: Bridlington - Bessingby Fields
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 2014
Further Comments: Dogs are reported to behave strangely in a specific part of the park where it is speculated a Roman road once ran.

Harold Hill

Location: Bridlington - Bessingby Road, private house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1998
Further Comments: This bearded old man, once a former owner of the property, still occasionally returns even though the current family have had the house blessed.

Falling

Location: Bridlington - Bridlington Spa
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s, August and November 2024
Further Comments: The Spa complex is rumoured to be haunted by someone who fell to their death from a balcony. Robert Eastwood, a former worker at the Spa, reported a jammed storeroom door that opened after an unseen hand lifted the latch and gave a hard push. Twice in 2024, one witness spotted a semi-transparent figure leaning on the guardrail of the balcony.

Red and Orange Spheres

Location: Bridlington - Dotterel junction area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: March 2007
Further Comments: Witness David Hinde reported two spherical lights in the sky, glowing red and orange. He watched them for ten minutes while they darted around, defying the movements of conventional aircraft.

Old postcard showing Bridlington's sea front.

Woe Waters of the Wold

Location: Bridlington - General area of the Wold, ending in Bridlington
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Periodically
Further Comments: Every so often and rather erratically, springs of water emerge and make a twenty mile (or so) journey to Bridlington, where they disappear into the sea. It was once thought that the appearance of the water would be a prelude to disaster, but even in the nineteenth century, people were struggling to recall a tragic event which followed the so-called Woe Waters.

Lady of Avenel

Location: Bridlington - Harbour
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: Locals claimed that a schooner by the name of Lady of Avenel, which remained in the harbour for three years, had a ghost of a murdered woman on board.

Drone-Like UFO

Location: Bridlington - Off South Beach
Type: UFO
Date / Time: September 2017
Further Comments: A witness watched a small drone-like UFO above the ocean before it vanished without trace.

Plate Stacking

Location: Bridlington - Old Star Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2016
Further Comments: Staff reported hearing plates being stacked in the early hours of the morning, though nothing had been moved.

Flying Apples

Location: Bridlington - Private residence along Fortyfoot
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: October 1967
Further Comments: All members of a family of four, and a neighbour, reported watching small red apples leap into the air before being propelled across the room. Strange noises were also heard on the site.

An old postcard showing the shoreline of Bridlington in Yorkshire.

St John

Location: Bridlington - Sea and general area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: St John was the Prior of the local church, with several miracles attributed to him during his life. He once spotted a fishing boat in trouble in Bridlington Bay - he walked out on the sea and pulled it to safety.

An old postcard showing Bridlington's south beach.

Ship

Location: Bridlington - South beach - sea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early December 2014, morning
Further Comments: A couple walking their dog spotted an old sailing ship anchored off the coast. One of the witnesses, a ship enthusiast, thought it to be a modern replica. Periodically looking back at the vessel while walking away, as the witnesses stepped off the beach, they realised the ship had vanished. The enthusiast used ship tracking websites to try to identify the ship, but no such vessel was in the area.

Willie Sled's Dog

Location: Brigham - Brigham Lane, at a crossroads
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The crossroads was home to a phantom white hound known as Willie Sled's dog, named after a local sandpit worker.

Anne

Location: Burton Agnes - Burton Agnes Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Seventeenth century?
Further Comments: Falling in love with the hall, Anne decreed that upon death her head should be severed and stored within the house. Immediately after she was murdered, the house was plagued by crashes and bangs, which ceased when her head was removed from the coffin and brought inside. Her skull has since been bricked up to ensure it never accidentally leaves the homestead.

Anvil

Location: Burton Pidsea - Nancy Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Once a blacksmith, this public house still has an anvil within which, it is said, if removed causes strange things to occur. One member of staff moved the anvil, only to see it rise and fall again on its own accord. Talking, laughing and the clink of glasses can be heard coming from an empty room.

Lady de Bevere

Location: Driffield - B1249 between town and Beverley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pitiful shade walks the area in want of a person who will find her grave and say Mass. Her body is reputed to be concealed under castle ruins in the area, hidden by her husband who lost his temper once too often.

Saxon

Location: Driffield - Private residence, Woldholme Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1970s/early 1980s
Further Comments: A member of the family witnessed a large figure wearing a tunic with a large belt buckle, a helmet, and carrying a spear. The witness was later informed by a psychic that the ghost was that of a Saxon.

Wet Footfalls

Location: Driffield - Sunderlandwick Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The passageways of this building are haunted by the sounds of wet feet quickly pacing along their stonework. The sounds may relate to a murder that occurred at the hall in the eighteenth century.