The Paranormal Database

Man in Jeans

Location: Leeds - Copperfields College School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997 onwards
Further Comments: Students and a dinner lady watched a man in a checked shirt and jeans sitting in the main hall wave and vanish without warning. Minor poltergeist-like activity has also been reported.

Reputation

Location: Leeds - Devil's Bridge (aka Bogeyman's Bridge), Richmond Hill area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: It is unclear whether this bridge took the varying forms of its name from any real legends or if it just had a bad reputation.

Dark Figure

Location: Leeds - Devonshire Hall, University of Leeds
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 09 March 2025, around 04:30h
Further Comments: This witness awoke to see a shadowy man standing by the doorway who then started to approach. As the figure reached the foot of the bed, the witness kicked out, the figure vanishing just before the kick made contact. The witness later asked around the hall to see if anyone else had seen a ghost, but no one had.

CCTV Figure

Location: Leeds - East Ardsley Conservative Club
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: September 1993
Further Comments: This apparition materialised by the doorway of the club - it could be seen quite clearly on the CCTV network, but not directly by human eyes. The entity vanished after several minutes, though made a very brief reappearance a month later.

Gabble Retchets

Location: Leeds - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These local devil dogs were believed to be the souls of those who were not baptised as children and have returned to haunt their parents.

Man in the Cellar

Location: Leeds - Golden Lion public house, North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Dressed in Victorian attire, this gentleman was often seen walking around under the pub. The upper part was said to be haunted by an old woman who appeared in the children's bedroom at night.

An old photograph of Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds.

Abbot

Location: Leeds - Kirkstall Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1935, 1970s
Further Comments: The former Abbot of the abbey walks the area that has been converted into a museum. It is more usual to hear the spirit moving around than see him. Traditionally the entity is said to wear white robes, although the sighting in the 1970s reported the ghost's robes as being brown/red. The abbey grounds are also home to a white female entity named Mary who witnessed her lover committing murder and turned him in.

Grey Figure

Location: Leeds - Kirkstall Forge railway station (since relocated)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1904
Further Comments: The station porter and a passenger both spotted a figure in a long grey sheet with a long streak of red running through the cloth, standing on a shed roof. A booking clerk also witnessed the entity, which soon disappeared. Prior to this, lights had been seen flickering around the station.

Architectural design for Leeds Infirmary.

Running

Location: Leeds - Leeds General Infirmary
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn 2005
Further Comments: An employee at this hospital heard five voices and footsteps rushing down a corridor but could see nothing - there was a gust of wind as the invisible people passed.

Long Arms

Location: Leeds - Unidentified property in Church Street area, Hunslet
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa January 1920
Further Comments: A woman warming herself by a kitchen fireplace watched as a pair of long white arms emerged from the flames. Unable to move, the woman fainted as the phantom's hands grabbed her above the elbows. When the woman gained consciousness, she realised the fire had not been lit, although she did have burn marks on her arms.

Tall Figure

Location: Leeds - Unknown property, Fieldhead Terrace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1932
Further Comments: The knocking sounds from the attic occurred for several nights before a phantom six foot tall man in a long coat started to appear. The owner and all her tenants moved out in November 1932.

Armoured Man

Location: Leeds - York Road near Killingbeck
Type: Other
Date / Time: Summer, mid 1990s, around 04:30h
Further Comments: Two occupants of a car spotted an armoured figure riding a horse towards Killingbeck. The witnesses were unclear whether it was a 'real' person heading towards the Royal Armouries Museum.

Knelling Woman

Location: Lydgate - St Ann's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2009
Further Comments: A freelance photographer caught an image of a misty woman kneeling by a gravestone at this churchyard. He later returned to the location and found that the grave at which the woman was photographed belonged to a child who died in the 1800s.

Annie

Location: Meltham - 9 Colders Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 March 1961(encounters ended by end of year)
Further Comments: A family here were left terrified by a tall misty woman entity until they discovered it would sit by their young son as he lay in bed, stroking his legs which were affected by meningitis. A medium told them that the phantom was a family member named Annie, who had died a few years previous. After a couple of years, the son regained the use of his legs.

Banging

Location: Meltham - Colne and Holme Isolation Hospital (closed 1960s and demolished)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January - April 1909
Further Comments: The hospital became plagued by tapping on windows and banging doors over a four-month period. It was suspected a human agency was involved, although guards, police (who spent sixteen nights watching the area) and a private detective were unable to capture anyone.

Faceless Man

Location: Meltham - Coulters Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1959
Further Comments: A local man, Peter Compton, ran after encountering a faceless male figure around 190 centimetres tall, which gave chase.

Black and Stocky Cat

Location: Meltham - General area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Spring 2005
Further Comments: The local newspaper offered five hundred pounds to the first person to photograph the large black cat which had been spotted locally dozens of times over a ten year period.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Meltham - Golf Course
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999, (possibly summer) evening
Further Comments: Observed from a shed on the golf course, this cloaked figure had no visible feet and made no sound while passing through the grass.

Wave

Location: Menston - Staff canteen at High Royds Hospital
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Early evening, early 1990s
Further Comments: A witness said hello to a long-term patient who, known for hardly ever speaking, waved back. The witness later found out the patient had died a week prior to the encounter. The patient had looked completely 'normal'.

Joan

Location: Midgley - Milk Churn Joan (standing stone)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A few folkloric stories exist concerning the stone, based around Joan going to fetch milk for her family (or fellow villagers) during winter before freezing to death. Another says Joan was turned to stone by the devil, while a third states the name is a corruption of Churnmilk Peg, a fairy-like entity who protected the area. One custom says leaving a coin on top of the stone is lucky. Finally, the stone turns itself over three times at the end of the year.

Force

Location: Midgley - Two adjoining cottages, Town Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1955
Further Comments: Mr Quain, a water diviner, claimed to have been pushed against a wall and his rods broken by a powerful force while investigating this haunting. Quain returned with a doctor and another man a week later but could not detect anything untoward. The doctor blamed the haunting on loose floorboards.

Servant?

Location: Mirfield - Hollybank (was Roe Head School)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom is said to be at home behind an attic door, close to the spot where a servant may have fallen to their death.

Glowing Light

Location: Mirfield - Northorpe Home for Boys
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: September 1965
Further Comments: Footsteps could be heard walking around in the early hours of the morning, while the director of the hall witnessed a strange light, the source of which could not be found, illuminating a chair. The press reported the hall was considered haunted by locals, although the housekeeper was quoted as saying the phantom 'added character'.

Prioress of Kirklees

Location: Mirfield - Three Nuns public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1985 onwards, investigated by GCUK in 2013
Further Comments: Doors have opened unaided and shadowy figures spotted in this building. Ghost Chasers UK reported that the building was haunted by two spirits; a nun named Katherine Grice who killed herself on site, and the Prioress of Kirklees, who bled Robin Hood to death.

Lady Julia Barwick

Location: Nether Yeadon - Low Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was said that a large slab of slate was used to cover up a window to prevent the phantom Julia from entering and exiting. After that she took to using the priest hole.