The Paranormal Database

CCTV Figures

Location: Leicester - Belgrave Hall Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 December 1998
Further Comments: Recorded by CCTV, two ghostly figures were briefly seen in the grounds. Though the image was later explained as being 'leaves caught in the light', the building is reportedly haunted by a middle aged woman in a pale dress, who gives off a friendly aura.

Headless Men

Location: Leicester - Between Leicester and 'Bambury, upon Dunmothe' (ed note - latter place cannot be located on modern maps)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possibly fifteenth century?
Further Comments: An old account states that several men encountered a headless phantom crying out 'Bowes! Bowes!'.

May

Location: Leicester - Braunstone Hall and Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several phantoms are reported to haunt this area, including a young woman in white who walks the corridors. She is named May, who died aged eighteen of tuberculosis. Other phantoms are said to be carriages pulled by black horses which vanish into the trees, a groom who hanged himself in a room above the stables, and a sad looking boy who glazes from an upstairs window.

Richard III

Location: Leicester - Car park (and surrounding area)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005-2013
Further Comments: Philippa Langley felt a strange sensation crossing this car park, on a location marked by an 'R', and virtually on top of the location where Richard III's body was later found (the 'R' has been in the car park since the eighties and was painted by an attendant). The offices of Denham Foxon & Watchorn which overlook the car park were reported to be home to mysterious noises, also (now) blamed on the king.

Cat Anna

Location: Leicester - Castle ruins
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The bogeyman-like witch known as Cat Anna was said to live in the cellars of the ruined castle. It is likely that this legend and the story of Black Annis are connected.

Hooded Figure

Location: Leicester - Cathedral Church of St Martin (aka Leicester Cathedral)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Figure unknown, bells circa 1800
Further Comments: This hooded phantom was said to glide around the churchyard and periodically kneel with its head on the ground, as if listening to the earth. Around the start of the nineteenth century, two houses on the site became home to bells which would ring without visible cause.

Sir Herbert Marshall

Location: Leicester - Central Library
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Former Lord Mayor of Leicester, Sir Herbert, was said to be heard playing a piano in the library after his death, the site where he owned a piano shop in the nineteenth century. Books would occasionally fly from shelves, with the ghost of Marshall blamed.

Pools of Water

Location: Leicester - Council house on Netherhall Estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1991
Further Comments: A family living in an unnamed council house on the estate reported mysterious pools of water which would form before quickly disappearing again. The liquid was said to be 'silky' when touched. A woman with dark hair was reportedly seen when an exorcist came to visit. It is unknown whether this report is connected to the Bell Lane haunting.

Hooded Monk

Location: Leicester - Crown & Thistle public house, Loseby Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Secret tunnels supposed to connect the pub to the cathedral and castle are reputedly haunted by a man who quickly vanishes if seen. More recently a witness reported observing a hooded monk kneeling as if in prayer, with a small posy of flowers laying on the floor, in the residential lounge above the public bar.

Water Games

Location: Leicester - Private house along Bell Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: August 1933 - December 1933
Further Comments: The haunting presence at Bell Lane made the occupier's lives hell. It flooded rooms, squirted water from walls and ceilings, drenching the family every time they sat down to eat. When the family moved next door, the water followed them. After a few months, the water activities lessened and finally ceased by Christmas.

Gnomes

Location: Leicester - Private residence, Highfields area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: October / November 1924
Further Comments: For several weeks, explosions were heard in the Highfields area, although no source could be found. One man, rushing to investigate a loud bang, spotted several, grotesque gnome-like entities dematerialising.

An old postcard of Leicester's Rail Station.

Post Man

Location: Leicester - Rail Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: More often felt than seen, the phantom which haunts the station is reputedly a postman. The ghost is said to be non-threatening and has been nicknamed Henry.

An old postcard of Leicester.

Spit Fire

Location: Leicester - Skies over town
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: April 1389
Further Comments: Seen flying and spitting fire, the dragon passed over the town many times during the month.

Balls of Fire

Location: Leicester - Skies over town
Type: UFO
Date / Time: November & December 1388
Further Comments: These balls of flame were seen many times during the winter months, spinning like wheels.

Woman

Location: Leicester - St Margaret's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1964
Further Comments: One 1960s psychical researcher claimed the church tower to be haunted by a woman who had fallen from the structure.

Tall Cloaked Man

Location: Leicester - St Margaret's Vicarage (demolished April 1964)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: Spotted at various times by the verger, a curate and the maid, this ghostly figure would also be heard walking around an empty room. Small items such as teaspoons and gloves vanished, and closed and barred doors would be found open.

Seated Child

Location: Leicester - The Talbot public house, Thurcaston Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Several shades have taken up residence here. A young child sits on a bar stool, a phantom woman vanishes into the wall, an old man in a large raincoat walks towards the bar before disappearing, and shadowy figures lurk in the car park.

Mrs Smalley

Location: Leicester - Unidentified house near East Gates (likely to be no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After Mrs Smalley died in 1727, her ghost took up residence in her former home. The entity was banished by the vicar of St Martin's.

Footfalls

Location: Leicester - Unidentified house, Friar Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1820
Further Comments: An invisible person with heavy boots was said to have taken up residence in a home along this road.

Not Known

Location: Leicester - Unidentified house, Sanvy Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1860
Further Comments: It was reported that a house here became haunted, although the finer points are not known.

Veiled Lady

Location: Leicester - West Chapel at Crematorium, Groby Cemetery
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: June 2008
Further Comments: Wearing Edwardian or Victorian mourning dress, a shadowy veiled woman was spotted by two witnesses. The figure disappeared into a hearse, and when the witnesses checked the vehicle, it was empty.

Headless Person

Location: Leicester - West Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1965
Further Comments: This headless shade was watched by witnesses as it drifted down the middle of the road.

Red Globe

Location: Leicester - Wigston district
Type: Other
Date / Time: 29 July 2002, around 18:30h
Further Comments: An eleven year old girl, Jade Greenwood, was struck on the head by a red glowing ball, most likely ball lightning. A red mark was left on her forehead, and the girl experienced an electrical shock and a burning sensation in her leg.

Cavalier

Location: Leicester - Wygston House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely pre twentieth century
Further Comments: A ghost would appear at the window of this building once a month; one writer suggested the phantom to be an optical illusion created by the moon. Another story from the site placed a headless Cavalier here, although the figure never returned after being shot at by a visitor.

Black Annis lurks within a cave.

Black Annis

Location: Leicester - Dane Hills
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local monster, this old hag possessed iron claws that were used to skin children. She lived in a cave hidden somewhere amongst the hills, now thought to be buried under the city. Some believe the myth to be a continuation of Danu, an entity so old that stories no longer exist about her.