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Church Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Great Cry

Location: Ashingdon (Essex) - Lane winding past church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The story goes that two men walking past the church had a heated argument which resulted in the murder of one of them. The killer, in turn, killed himself in an asylum; the haunting scream in the area is said to be his, rather than his victims.

Bloodstained Hill on which No Grass Grows

Location: Ashingdon (Essex) - Saint Andrews Church, Hill on which it stands
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that an incredibly vicious battle was fought on this site, the blood running so thick that no grass could ever grow here again. The hill is currently grassy...

Shadowy Forms

Location: Ashmanaugh (Norfolk) - Council house along Church Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This house is haunted by a female form that has been heard talking and seen only fleetingly.

Mrs Towndrow

Location: Ashover (Derbyshire) - Church and churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1890
Further Comments: The headless entity spotted in this location was believed to be the Mrs Towndrow who was murdered in 1841 by her husband John shortly before he killed himself. A local legend states that of you thrice circumambulate an empty stone coffin found in the churchyard before sitting in it, you can hear the restless dead.

Figure in Black

Location: Ashwell (Hertfordshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shadow of a shambling headless person reportedly stalks the churchyard here.

Lord Lonsdale

Location: Askham (Cumbria) - Area around St Peter's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Driving a phantom coach, the ghost of Lord Lonsdale passes through this location.

Willie

Location: Astley (Warwickshire) - Church of St Mary the Virgin
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to be the ghost of a monk, this phantom vanishes so quickly after being spotted that witnesses have problems describing what he looked like.

Upper Torso

Location: Aston Flamville (Leicestershire) - Grass next to St Peter's Churchyard
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Seen by a witness in the passenger seat of a passing car, this male phantom only materialised from the torso upwards.

Former Vicar

Location: Aston Sandford (Buckinghamshire) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: Thought to be a nineteenth century vicar, this ghostly apparition manifests by the pulpit just before evening prayer. There he remains for a few minutes before fading from view.


Phantom horsemen cross a river.

Roundheads

Location: Attenborough (Nottinghamshire) - Riverside, and church area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Readying themselves to cross the body of water, these troops still ride on their phantom steeds.

Halliwell Boggle

Location: Atwick (Yorkshire) - Between village and Bewholme, pool of water at the bottom of the hill where the church stands (pool may no longer be present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Story circa nineteenth century
Further Comments: This entity was said to terrorise anyone foolish enough to walk this area.

Grey Lady

Location: Auckley (Yorkshire) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: This restless spirit was said to have made an appearance at many church events over a period of four hundred years, before she finally departed this plane of existence late in the nineteenth century.


The churchyard in Avebury, Wiltshire.

White Figure

Location: Avebury (Wiltshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1970s
Further Comments: A witness on a bicycle spotted a large white figure in this churchyard. Other stories tell of phantom monks, a female form, and a ghostly young boy dressed in Victorian garb spotted in the same area.

Organ Plays

Location: Avenbury (Hereford & Worcester) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1919
Further Comments: Several times, late at night, the church organ was heard to burst into tune, stopping as investigators reach the churchyard.

Granite Stones

Location: Aviemore (Highland) - Rothiemurchus churchyard
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A legend says that five cylinder shaped stones mark the spot where the last of the Comyns family is buried. The stones vanish and reappear depending on how the House of Rothiemurchus is fairing, but if moved or taken by a human hand, that person is doomed to die. One story says the stones where stolen by a group of people who were later found dead in a car, the stones discovered standing upright nearby.

Victorian Woman

Location: Aycliffe (Durham) - Near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A father walking with his brother and son spotted a female entity wearing Victorian dress. The figure did not have any feet and was not in contact with the ground. The entity looked at the three people before moving off 'faster than a greyhound'.

Jane

Location: Balderton (Nottinghamshire) - St Giles Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to haunt the belfry, Jane may also be the grey ghost spotted outside the church late at night.

Family Friend

Location: Ballingarry Thurles (County Tipperary) - Old Church graveyard
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1999
Further Comments: Two brothers, aged eight and ten years old, noticed a man peering over the wall of this graveyard. His head and shoulders were visible, and the figure wore a white shirt with dark glasses and had curly hair. The man also looked like he had been crying and ignored the children when they spoke to him. The children told their father, who pointed out the wall was eight feet high; upon hearing the description of the figure, the father recognised it as being a friend of his who died four years previous.

Chatty Fellows

Location: Balsham (Cambridgeshire) - Churchyard
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend tells of talking skulls found in this graveyard, though what became of them is not known.

Monk with Smallpox

Location: Baltonsborough (Wiltshire) - St Dunstan's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This monk was supposed to have travelled from France to see meet his dying father at the church, however he contracted smallpox and himself died before completing his journey. His ghost now haunts the church, regretting his failing.

Grey Victorian Lady

Location: Bangor (County Down) - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006/7
Further Comments: A site worker walking up the main path to the left of the church spotted a grey lady in Victorian clothing twenty-five metres away. The witness shouted to her that the gates were closed and that she would not be able to pass through. The lady ignored the worker and continued walking, passing behind the witness's work van where she disappeared. The worker searched the area; there was no way the lady could leave without passing or being seen by the worker.

Stagecoach

Location: Barham (Suffolk) - Lane near Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Observed during daylight hours, a coach is said to travel along a lane here.

Death's Scythe

Location: Barnard Castle (Durham) - St Mary the Virgin's church
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to the death in the family
Further Comments: The stone statue of Death stands above the grave of George, son of Humphrey Hopper. To see Death's scythe wave is an indication that the witness or a close family member will soon die.

Shag Foal

Location: Barnoldby le Beck (Lincolnshire) - Church of St Helen's
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A black dog the size of a donkey, this entity was said to let loose the most unearthly cries.

Monk

Location: Barnwell (Northamptonshire) - 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.

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