Lincolnshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Rupert Trousers
Location: Grimsby - Shoe Factory Shop, Wellowgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Mary Frost, the manager of the shoe shop, watched a white haired old man wearing yellow tweed 'Rupert the Bear' trousers walk through a wall. Other staff reported doors that opened and closed on their own accord and rows of shoes that fell with no explanation.
Loud Bang
Location: Grimsby - Sky over the town
Type: Other
Date / Time: 18 January 2012, around 19:00h
Further Comments: The RAF denied that any of their aircraft were responsible for a mysterious loud bang heard over the town. The sound was said to have shaken some homes.
Abduction
Location: Grimsby - Tetney Lock
Type: UFO
Date / Time: March 2000
Further Comments: This female abductee reported watching a male human vivisected while she was on board the alien craft. Later the same day, several witnesses reported lights and strange shapes in the sky.
Black Hatted Figure
Location: Grimsby - Weelsby Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1924
Further Comments: Between 1500 and 2000 people were said to have come to the area to 'ghost hunt' after a rumour started that a ghostly figure in white wearing a black hat was spotted by school children.
Gladys
Location: Grimsthrope - Black Horse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost known as Gladys is thought to be that of an old woman who hanged herself. Two more spooks are reputed to haunt here - the phantom sounds of a horse and coach arrives outside the building, while in the same area, a hooded figure wearing a brown cloak haunts.
Lady Winter
Location: Haddington - Lady Winter's Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless figure walks under the trees, awaiting her husband's return.
Old Locomotive
Location: Hallington - Area where the station once stood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1956 onwards
Further Comments: In 1956 the last train travelled along the Louth to Bardney line before it was declared uneconomically viable and closed. Even though the track was removed, people still claimed to hear an old train passing by at night for many years afterwards.
Old Man
Location: Halton Holegate - Unnamed Farmhouse in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1897
Further Comments: Mrs and Mr Wilson and their servant at this property experienced strange rapping on the walls of their home. A few weeks later, Mrs Wilson spotted a phantom old man in the house, rapping at the walls, vanishing and reappearing in different areas. Some six weeks after their initial encounter, the Wilsons' discovered some human bones, silk and a ring buried beneath flagstones in the living room.
Rider
Location: Haugham - Orgarth Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1850
Further Comments: A phantom man upon a shaggy horse was once said to haunt this hill, manifesting to other riders and causing their mounts to bolt.
Neighbours
Location: Haxey - Church
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 24 April (St Mark's Eve) (reoccurring), but year of event unknown
Further Comments: Two men camped out by the porch to see if the legend were true; whether the phantoms of people due to die over the following twelve months would appear upon this night. After one man fell asleep, the other watched as ghostly manifestations of neighbours he recognised, including the man sleeping next to him, walked through the porch. Sure enough, over the following year, everyone he spotted died.
Headless Woman
Location: Haxey - Unknown road in the area (leading to an inn)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown (but said to occur on very dark nights)
Further Comments: A ghostly woman sans head reputedly walks towards an unnamed inn.
Black Dogs
Location: Hemswell - Area between village and Grayingham
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These calf-sized dogs patrol the roads connecting the two villages. A woman who encountered one of the hounds is said to have lashed out at it with her umbrella, only for the object to pass straight through the creature.
Devil Speaking
Location: Hemswell - Devil's Pulpit
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Children would once poke pins into a boundary stone before running around it several times. After this they thought they could hear the Devil speaking from deep underground.
Pilot on Fire
Location: Hemswell - RAF Hemswell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two ghosts have been reported at this former Second World War airbase. A pilot who crashed on landing runs down the runway with his clothes on fire, while an engineer who lost his arm in machinery staggers around screaming. A ghostly rendition of the Missouri Waltz is also reported.
Man in Leather Jacket
Location: Hemswell Cliff - Site of former RAF Hemswell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2011, 23:55h
Further Comments: A dog walker reported encountering a man in a leather jacket twice in one night - the second encounter ended when the figure disappeared without trace. Previously, the witness and his wife had walked their dog through the area and felt someone walking alongside them, the dog periodically stopping to look around for no apparent reason.
Headless Jenny
Location: Hibaldstow - Jenny Stanny Well (current condition not known)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Jenny Stannywell drowned in the waters of this well and now wanders the area holding her head under her arm.
Card Players
Location: Holbeach - All Saint's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small gambling party of men were caught by Satan playing cards in the churchyard. The four shades now glimpsed in the porch of the church remain a warning to any who dare do the same. The ghost of Sir Humphrey Littlebury also haunts the building.
Angry Nun
Location: Humberston - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Built on the site of a nunnery, this house developed a reputation for being haunted by a nun killed for breaking her vows. Loud bangs would wake the family up at night, and a strange light would float along the ceiling in one of the bedrooms.
Woman in Black
Location: Isle of Axholme (aka Isle of Axholm) - Thornholmes Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This phantom, said to wear a black silken gown, had an unknown connection to a religious building that stood here before construction of the farm.
Man in Beige
Location: Keadby - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two people walking close to the bridge spotted a man standing upon it, although the figure vanished 'in the blink of an eye'. The witnesses described the man as six foot tall and wearing a beige raincoat and hat.
Hitching Airman
Location: Kelstern - Road leading to the former RAF Kelstern
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1983
Further Comments: The man dressed in an old RAF uniform tries to hitch a lift to the now ruined airbase. There are also reports of the sounds of an old aircraft in the skies and along the former runways.
Polt
Location: Kelvedon Hatch - Secret Nuclear Bunker
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2010s?
Further Comments: This former nuclear bunker is said to be home to a poltergeist. An unconvincing photograph taken in 2013 showed either a 'portal' or the reflection of flash off a window.
Shuck Home
Location: Kirton - Belle Hole Farm, and nearby stream
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A shuck is said to have set up home in a hole in the stream bank near this farmhouse. The farmer's wife reported seeing the creature enter the kitchen - she dared not move until the shuck left on its own accord.
Victorian Woman
Location: Kirton - Old King's Head
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This public house is reputed to be haunted by a Victorian woman, spotted at the top of the staircase. One version of the story says she may be responsible for pushing people as they descend.
Screaming
Location: Kirton in Lindsey - Former RAF base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War (screaming), pilot spotted 1990-1995
Further Comments: The phantom screams of pain are thought to date from an air raid which killed many French pilots. One of these men has also been observed lurking by an old hangar and may have been spotted during the early 1990s by two witnesses in the clubhouse.
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