The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Northamptonshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Lady Vanishes

Location: Abington - Abington Park Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: A woman walked over to a horse drawn carriage on display and leaned in to inspect the interior of the carriage. Inside, a sitting lady suddenly appeared. The apparition stared at the woman then vanished. The witness made a quick exit, without even telling her friend why she was leaving.

Crying Baby

Location: Abington - Black Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The flickering and dimming of the electric lights is sometimes accompanied by the cries of a small child. Various items have been reported as being moved by an invisible hand.


A phantom coach and horses.

Coach with Headless Driver

Location: Abington - Pig Lane (lane may no longer exist or has been renamed?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Racked with guilt after deliberately running over his daughter's lover in 1780, this man now continues to drive his coach and horses down the lane, though he has lost his head since death.

Jane Leeson

Location: Abthorpe - Area around ruined Manor House (may no longer be standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Leeson is remembered mainly for donating money to fund a school built in the village, though she hung around for a little while after her death. A monk or friar is also said to have haunted this building.

Red Eyed Dog

Location: Ailsworth - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This huge hound possesses eyes that burn as bright as the sun, making the creature easy to spot if he tries to sneak up on you.

Groom carrying Lantern

Location: Althorp - Althorp Park
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1820s / 1830s (Groom), others throughout the twentieth century
Further Comments: Several entities have been observed here. Seen only the once (though the exact date is not known), the horse groom was seen standing over a bed, a bright lamp in one hand - this was exactly two weeks after his death. Another ghost, that of a child, was seen several times prior to World War I, and a local gentleman named Jack Spencer (who died in 1975) was seen attending a party in the building a few months after his death. Finally, an old servant has been reported visiting bedrooms at night if lights have been left on.

Lady Mildmay

Location: Apethorpe - Apethorpe Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Well known in the neighbourhood for her generosity, Lady Mildmay's shade is said to return to the hall and give money to anyone who approaches.

Robin's Well

Location: Aynho - Spring known as Puck Well
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century, current status unknown
Further Comments: Robin Goodfellow and his friends were thought to frequent this spring.

Queeky

Location: Aynho - Unnamed cottage (and another unnamed house)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1947 - 1953
Further Comments: Alexa Young moved from her home in the village to escape a poltergeist she nicknamed Queeky, only to discover that it had followed her to the new house. The entity would move and hide objects, sometimes returning them several days later. Unlike most poltergeist encounters, Young claimed to have seen the entity on one occasion, describing it as a four-foot figure dressed in grey, with bird-like qualities.


A phantom rider in woodland.

Woman on Horseback

Location: Badby - Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Riding through the forest, the woman travels either to or from her former lover's home - on her last mortal journey her husband intercepted her mid-way and murdered the adulteress.

Tall Woman

Location: Barby - Exact location unknown
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1851
Further Comments: The spirit that harassed a family in the unnamed building only ceased manifesting and creating loud bangs when they discovered a large sum of hidden money and paid off her debts.

Drummer

Location: Barford Bridge - Tumulus (flattened in 1964)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-twentieth century
Further Comments: Before being excavated in 1964, the tumulus was said to be the home of a phantom drummer boy who would appear at midnight. A dozen skeletons, thought to be Roman, were removed in the dig.

Button Cap

Location: Barnack - Former rectory, Kingsley House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: Named after a former vicar who would walk around wearing slippers, a dressing gown, and a night cap with a large button sown on, this ghost could be heard pacing throughout the building, turning the pages of a book, and occasionally creating the sound of rolling barrels in the basement.

Shagfoal

Location: Barnack - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Similar to (or maybe identical to) a shuck, the Shagfoal is reported to resemble a large, black longhaired bear.

Monk with Whip

Location: Barnwell - Barnwell Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The strong gusts of wind that are felt on windless days are blamed on a murdered monk, who walks this area with a whip.

Monk

Location: Barnwell - Graveyard belonging to former All Saint's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Last seen by a man walking his dog in the area, this phantom may be related to a gravestone that features a monk-like figure.

Lady Isabel

Location: Barton Seagrave - River Ise
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Floating high enough so that her feet remain dry, the shade of Lady Isabel passes quietly over the river.

Suffocation

Location: Blisworth - Canal tunnel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: Even though the tunnel is 2,813 metres in length, when first constructed there was only one ventilation shaft. This poor design resulted in two people dying in 1861; one suffocated while the other fell unconscious into the canal and drowned. It is said as travellers pass over the site of this accident, they can hear coughing and the loud splash of someone hitting the water. One witness reported seeing the lights of long dead construction workers in the tunnel on the bicentenary of its opening, and then again about a year later.

Spring Warning

Location: Boughton - Field, exact location not known, but close to Kingsthorpe Road
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century, current status unknown
Further Comments: This spring would mostly be dry, but when it did run, it pumped out vast quantities of water. It was considered an omen of death or of troublesome times.

Video Tape

Location: Boughton - Old cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: It is reported that if the cemetery is videoed at night, a voice of a young girl can be heard on the tape during playback, apologising repeatedly for an unknown crime.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Boughton Green - St John the Baptist church ruins
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This figure, also heard moaning around the same time of year, is thought to be a criminal hanged in 1826. Others speak of a darker tale - that the ghost takes the form of a beautiful man or woman, depending on the gender of the witness, and asks them for a kiss. If it is given, the kisser is doomed to die within a month. This is said to have last happened to a man called William Parker on Christmas Eve 1875; after meeting a red headed girl at the church who faded away shortly after engaging with her, William died exactly one month later.

Animated Figures

Location: Brackley - St Peter's Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The stone figures standing over the west door climb down when the clock strikes twelve, crossing the churchyard to drink from a nearby well.

Shadow

Location: Braunston - Admiral Nelson Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several people over the years have seen a shadowy man dressed in black pass through a bricked up doorway at the inn.

Dog

Location: Braunston - Millhouse Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former manager of this inn reported seeing a phantom dog which reportedly died in the property.


Fairies enjoying the pond.

Water Lovers

Location: Brington - Unnamed pond in the area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: Fairies in this parish could be seen playing on the surface of a pond and within the plants on the banks.

Records 1 - 25 of 125

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