Most Not Haunted?

Location: Ryhope - Cherry Knowle Hospital, Laurels Block
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: Ghost hunters were said to be putting their lives at risk by breaking into this former hospital, and local newspaper Sunderland Echo named it 'the most haunted hospital in the UK'. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of ghost stories relating to the structure, and one can not help but to think a modern myth is in the making.

Ada Harrison

Location: Ryton - Private building off Main Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2011
Further Comments: Ada is said to have died of tuberculosis in 1907. Her ghost was reported to have been seen in a residence, sitting on a bench during a dinner party. She is also blamed for opening cupboard doors, turning on taps and moving objects around.

Anne Isabella Milbanke

Location: Seaham - Along the cliffs
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: During stormy nights a grey lady is reputed to walk along the cliff tops, pausing close to Seaham Hall. She has been named as Byron's former wife.

Chained Figure

Location: Seaton Moor - Petermoor Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The bottom of the hill was haunted by a semi transparent figure that would wave his chains at passers-by.

Shadows

Location: Shotton Colliery - Private residence (new build)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008 - 2009
Further Comments: A former occupier of this property moved out after his dog chased a shadow out of the living room and up the stairs. They also reported hearing horse's hooves and experiencing poltergeist-like behaviour.

Elizabeth Bessie Hewitson

Location: Spennymoor - Whitworth Hall County Park Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in black, Elizabeth is still said to walk around the building even though she died in the 1800s. Another ghost here, this time male, is reported to have died of a broken heart.

Bloody Horseman

Location: Staindrop - A688 between town and Raby Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom rider on a white horse has his face covered in blood. The entities are said to slowly descend into the ground.

Party

Location: Stanley - South Causey Inn
Type: Other
Date / Time: 15 October 2009, around 23:45h
Further Comments: While in this pub with her friend, this witness heard a large group of people enter the building, she turned and saw the group were wearing bright clothing, and one woman in particular possessed a turquoise coloured outfit with lots of feathers. The witness turned to her friend briefly with the intent to point to the crowd, but when she turned back they had vanished.

Girl

Location: Stockton on Tees - Stockton railway station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post 1937
Further Comments: This station is reputedly haunted by a girl who was killed on the site in 1937.

Ada Holmes

Location: Sunderland - Crowtree public house, Crowtree Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: A very popular landlady, Ada died in 1965, though her ghost wearing a colourful dress has been seen since.

Mrs Johnstone

Location: Sunderland - Empire Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A violinist who died on the site, Johnstone has been seen by the manager, drifting along the dress circle before vanishing. There are also rumours that Sid James haunts the Empire, and that Barbara Windsor (and several others) now refuse to work there.

Cauld Lad

Location: Sunderland - Hylton (or Hilton) Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1400s
Further Comments: This little brownie caused havoc in the kitchen after hours - the staff disposed of it by creating a distraction until the sun came up, the light of dawn dismissing the creature. Another story blames the kitchen disturbances on the ghost of a groom who was murdered by his master. More recently, one witness who lived nearby reported seeing the cauld lad in 1969, when he was a child.

George & Co

Location: Sunderland - North East Aircraft Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities are reputed to haunt this museum. The bottom half of a man has been seen walking around the hangers, wearing black trousers but no shoes. A phantom hound reputedly remains here, and poltergeist activity has also been reported - one witness watched an old fashioned gramophone, part of a static display, start to play unaided.

Strange Black Shape

Location: Sunderland - Stadium of Light training grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2005
Further Comments: Players from this soccer club stated that they were concerned that their chances for promotion in the football league were under threat by a ghost which haunted their grounds. One player stated that the phantom was an eighteenth century wreaker called 'Spottee'.

Andrew Mynarski

Location: Teeside - Teeside International Airport (was Middleton St George airfield ), hangers and nearby St George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Mynarski died after trying to save a trapped pilot in a Lancaster bomber as it dived towards earth, and was awarded the VC for his efforts. His restless spirit currently walks the area he was stationed during the war, and was seen outside the control room and hangers in the 1950s. Another version of the story names the phantom as a Canadian pilot named Mullen.

Woman's Face in a Window

Location: Thornaby - Private house along Lockton Crescent
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1990s
Further Comments: A wedding photograph taken in front of an empty house revealed the image of a middle aged woman staring out of the window from inside the building. The owners of the house did not recognise the strange figure, and have no explanation to who she is (or was).

Black Shape

Location: Thornley - Unnamed council house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1947 - 1963
Further Comments: A family living in this newly constructed house encountered a 'black shape' dozens of times over this period, often accompanied by a horrible presence. The family eventually informed the local vicar who prayed in the house - the haunting ceased.

Barguest

Location: Throstlenest - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about the Throstlenest shuck, which patrols the area between Darlington and Houghton.

Captured Sea Serpent

Location: Tynemouth - Coastline off Cullercoats, and 57 Grey Street
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1849
Further Comments: Though a good description of the creature is lacking, fishermen from this area chased and killed a sea monster, the body of which they brought back to land. The carcass was taken into a shop along Grey Street, and entry was charged at several shillings per view.

Long John

Location: Washington - Havelock Arms
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man who loved his evening drinking sessions, this former landlord, a tall man wearing a waistcoat, sometimes returns at evenings to his favourite watering hole.

Annie

Location: Washington - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Shortly after moving in to this property, one of the residents awoke to find an old lady standing over their bed. The phantom woman was described as having grey hair in a bun and wore an old fashioned dress with an apron. A couple of days later the visitation was described to a neighbour, who said the description matched that of a former occupier, Annie, who had lived at the house many years previous.

Female in Long Dress

Location: Washington - Washington Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to be a member of the Washington family, this woman has been seen on the upper floors, her dress trailing on the ground.

Screaming

Location: Weardale - The North of England Lead Mining Museum - formally the killhope lead mine
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: Three ghost hunters wanting to raise money for charity tried to spend the night here, only to be scared off by a the screaming of a ghostly woman from a nearby wood.

Child

Location: West Auckland - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 March 1873
Further Comments: A local postman named Barker passed the church and spotted a phantom child dressed in white clothing. The postman fled home, with the ghost in following close behind. Entering his home, the man ran upstairs, but still the ghost followed, the panicked postman then running back downstairs and grabbing his wife from the parlour, fled the house. This time the ghost did not follow, but remained inside the property, along with the couple's young child. Such was their fear, they found an old woman and sent her in to recover their offspring.

Monk

Location: West Auckland - Manor House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several ghosts have been reported here. Room 34 has a locked wardrobe door that opens by an unseen hand, while a member of the public has claimed to grabbed by the throat by a man dressed like a monk. Room 18 has had reports of people being pushed and séances in the Knights Hall have resulted in a child's voice being heard on a walkie talkie and a possession.