The Paranormal Database

The Toll

Location: St Annes on Sea - Off Coast
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ringing of church bells from a church taken by the sea many years ago can be heard prior to a storm.

Sir Ralph Longworth

Location: St Michaels on Wyre - Old Hall (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Dressed in his officer's uniform, this former commander was reluctant to give up his house even after death; he would bang and crash around the building and materialise outside the front door. He was finally exorcised.

Washing Folk

Location: Staining - High Cross way
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These fairies would arrive in the area at midnight to make use of the stream water to wash their clothing.

Black Haired Child

Location: Stalybridge - Country park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A phantom child with black hair has been reported as haunting the park. Others have heard disembodied voices in the area.

Elderly Lady

Location: Stalybridge - Q public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Short in stature, this ghostly, elderly figure wears Victorian clothing. A labourer is also said to haunt the premises.

Shaking Tree

Location: Stalybridge - Unknown farm
Type: Other
Date / Time: Prior to a death in the family
Further Comments: The leaves in this tree would shake violently just prior to a family member dying, regardless of wind and weather conditions.

Charles Hutton

Location: Standish - General area of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1963
Further Comments: The last witness to see the ghost of the Reverend Hutton fainted - the figure was seen floating half a metre from the ground, dressed in early twentieth century clothing and wearing a scarf.

Lady Mabel

Location: Standishgate - Mab's Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mab's ghost still walks around the cross and surrounding area, her punishment for remarrying in the mistaken belief her first husband died.

Devil

Location: Stony Hurst - Cromwell Bridge
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil is reputed to cross the bridge once a year - if he looks you in the eye, he'll take your soul!

Running Child

Location: Thornton - River Wyre Country Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2016
Further Comments: Walking the footpath near the site of the demolished Cockle Hall, this witness heard a child's footsteps running up behind. The witness stepped out of the way and turned - the footsteps ceased, and nothing was there.

Sheet Stealer

Location: Thornton - Unknown house along Windsor Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: A local councillor agreed to spend the night in the house after those living there reported a phantom figure which would remove bedcovers from a toddler's bed.

Baker's Van

Location: Thornton - Unknown road in the area
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1939
Further Comments: A phantom baker's van was reported by two people out cycling at dusk shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Misty Figure

Location: Thornton Cleveleys - Skipool Creek
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn 2008
Further Comments: Four people stopped in the car park here for a few minutes to chat. Three of the four glanced out of the windscreen, just in time to watch a white mist, the height and rough shape of a person, pass the front of the car at a hurried walking pace.

Horsemen

Location: Thurnham - Just off main road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A cavalcade of ghostly horsemen would ride through this area.

Galloping Horses

Location: Tockholes - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A ghostly herd of horses is said to haunt this area.

Fleeting Shadows

Location: Tockholes - Ruins of Hollinshead Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Maybe not surprisingly, several reports exist of strange shadows and shapes being seen here after dark.

James Bair

Location: Torisholme - Torisholme Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This shade would pass the time by looking through a wardrobe, examining clothing, and resting on an armchair.

Ugly Man

Location: Tranmere - General area
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story relays the tale of a floating entity with a deformed face which, in the space of a week, managed to terrify a huge number of people in this area before vanishing never to be seen again.

Little Girl

Location: Tyldesley - Private house along Manchester Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1993 onwards
Further Comments: A family along this road share their home with the ghost of a young girl, who was spotted on the staircase. She is a playful spirit and is said to cause electrical interference with the television, music system and lights. The little ghost has also been felt as she tugs on people's clothing while they sit at the dining table.

An old woodcut, coloured red, of a fire breathing dragon.

Hungry Dragon

Location: Unsworth - Exact location unknown
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local dragon which feasted on the local women and children was killed by the local landlord who fired a dagger at the creature using his musket.

Knocking

Location: Upholland - House next to the White Lion Inn (house demolished during 1930s)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1904
Further Comments: This noisy haunting centred around two boys who lived at the site and consisted of strange sounds and knocking which emerged in the corners of rooms. Lights would also flash in some of the rooms, although the property had no electricity.

Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper.

Oliver Cromwell

Location: Walton le Dale - Pinocchio's Restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2003
Further Comments: Cromwell's shade is reported to haunt this property and may have appeared in a photograph taken in the restaurant in 2003.

John Dee and Edward Kelly summon the dead in St Leonard's Churchyard, Walton le Dale.

Summoning the Dead

Location: Walton le Dale - St Leonard's Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: 12 August 1560 (possible date)
Further Comments: John Dee, together with Edward Kelly, attempted to raise a dead man to discover the location of his hidden treasure. The dead man is supposed to have made several predictions about his former neighbours before returning to his grave. The 1825 publication 'The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century' contains the most famous image of the event.

Impending Pregnancy

Location: Warton - Bride's Chair
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A local rocky outcrop known as the Bride's Chair is said to bestow child to any newlywed woman who sits on it.

Sailors

Location: Warton (near Wrea Green) - Boggart House (no longer standing), on the road leading to the riverside public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights (pre-Second World War)
Further Comments: Before the house was demolished to make room for landing strips for wartime aircraft, locals believed it to be a haunt for dead sailors who lost their lives in the nearby Irish Sea. It was also reported that a murder occurred in the house, and the screams of the victim could still be heard.