The Paranormal Database

Key Hiding Spirit

Location: Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) - The Duke's Head Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 14 Century onwards?
Further Comments: Possibly the spirit of the old local baddie Baron Scarfe, this shade hides various items and plays around with electrical equipment.

Old Ned

Location: Grindleford (Derbyshire) - Stoke Hall (currently a hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Headless woman 1880s, other sightings not known.
Further Comments: Ned hanged himself in a barn close to the hall, though he first tried to tie the rope around the branches of several nearby trees which all broke under his weight. His shade can be seen running around the trees, repeating the search for a suitable hanging location. Author Wayne Anthony says that the hall itself is reputedly haunted by Fair Flora, murdered nearby by persons unknown, and a headless lass who was seen walking down the stairs in the 1880s.

Officer

Location: Guildford (Surrey) - Angel Hotel, High Street
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1970
Further Comments: The spirit of a nineteenth century military man was seen looking back at two witnesses as they gazed into a mirror in room 1. Actor Sir Roger Moore claimed to have watched a misty figure moving towards him as he sat in bed. When Moore change position, the figure vanished.

Little Girl

Location: Gunthorpe (Nottinghamshire) - Unicorn Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A ghostly little girl is said to haunt room number seven, pulling the covers off the bed if she takes a dislike to the occupant.

Ghost or Coat?

Location: Hampton Court (Surrey) - Kings Arms Hotel (public house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2014
Further Comments: A photograph carried in the tabloids showed what could have been a rather tall phantom, or a coat hanging on the wall, in this public house. The building is also said to be haunted by a mother and child, who both committed suicide on the site.

Nursemaid

Location: Harlech (Gwynedd) - Hotel Maes Y Neuadd
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Haunting one of the bedrooms in this hotel, this nursemaid dressed in mob cap and gown will only appear if one of the guests is unwell. A phantom dog is sometimes seen in the garden, while other phantom figures have been seen elsewhere in the building, though only when reflected in mirrors.

Grey Haired Man

Location: Harrogate (Yorkshire) - Cavendish Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1988
Further Comments: Seen sitting on the edge of a bed late at night, the short, aging figure rose and walked towards the window, suddenly vanishing into thin air.

Sleeper

Location: Harrogate (Yorkshire) - Commercial site along Cold Bath Road (was a hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: Although the site has not been an hotel for many years, on one occasion an employee spotted someone in a bed. Another witness has been shoved twice, in a room which is now used for storage, while others have seen a coffee cup move across a desk and an office chair shoot across the floor unaided.

Dragging

Location: Hartlepool (Durham) - Cosmopolitan Public House and Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 2020
Further Comments: Tables were heard being dragged around the pub, but upon investigation, nothing had been moved (although a picture which had previously gone missing was found on the floor). Three ghosts are said to haunt the site - a former employee, a nun, and a little boy.

Anne of Cleves

Location: Haslemere (Surrey) - Lythe Hill Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The fourth wife of Henry VIII was said to walk through bricked up doorways in the building to which she became banished. In the mid 2000s, the hotel charged a premium to stay in a haunted room, to cover additional insurance and ghost hunting equipment hire.

Old Lady

Location: Haslingden (Lancashire) - Griffin Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This spook has been known to play with the juke box and to generally create mischief.

Man in Grey Suit

Location: Hastings (Sussex) - Royal Victoria Hotel, St Leonards-on-Sea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Not seen for many years now, the man in grey is thought to have been a previous manger that died in a fire on site. His dog also died in the blaze and has been seen running about in the corridors.

Dennis

Location: Hay-on-Wye (Powys) - Baskerville Hall Hotel (aka Clyro Court)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Dennis circa October 2005, hound in 1998
Further Comments: Amanda Hyde, writing for the Times Online, documented her less than convincing experiences during a ghost hunt on the site, during which she encountered Dennis (via a medium) and communicated with Edward using a glass. More convincing is the encounter a chef reported in 1998. He reported seeing a shadow the size and shape of a large dog in the kitchen a few minutes before feeling a nip on his right thigh. He cried out, three nearby staff asking what was wrong, although they were disbelieving when he told them what he had seen and felt. The following day a heavily bruised bite mark appeared on his leg.

Hell Stone

Location: Helston (Cornwall) - Angel Hotel, Coinagehall Street
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 08 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil dropped his stone while fighting with St Michael here, and is said to return once a year to view it (the rock now forms part of the building). The hotel also has a resident ghost named Nelly.

Screams

Location: Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire) - White Hart Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed on the stairs while trying to escape an old press gang, this man's screams and cries can still be heard. One report says that when this entity appears, his colours are inverted, rather like a film negative.

Grey Lady

Location: Henley in Arden (Warwickshire) - White Swan hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This phantom grey lady is likely to be the same entity which has been known to whip off the bedcovers covering sleeping visitors.

Spanish Guest

Location: Holford (Somerset) - Plough Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered in the building in the sixteenth century for a large sum of gold (which was never discovered), the Spaniard still makes his presence felt.

Marching Man

Location: Horley (Surrey) - A23, close to the Cambridge Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2007, around 21:00h
Further Comments: A driver braked hard to avoid hitting an elderly man who stepped out in front of him. The man was in his seventies, was slim and walked very upright, as if marching. He wore a flat cap, tweed jacket and petrol blue trousers. The driver thought he had left the braking too late and expected to hit the figure, but when the car stopped, the old man was nowhere to be seen.

Man in Tweeds

Location: Hoylake (Cheshire) - Royal Hotel, and golf course
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1943 onwards
Further Comments: Observed while walking the corridors, this spook wears a cap and tweed jacket. It may be the same entity that has been seen on the golf course, wearing clothing that can be dated to the century.

Footsteps

Location: Hull (Yorkshire) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2013
Further Comments: The new owners of this building reported hearing footsteps in the empty rooms above them and feeling a rush of air as something invisible ran by them.

Furniture Mover

Location: Humberstone (Leicestershire) - Moat Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The presence in this building would move items around the rooms and would occasionally pinch women's bottoms.

Golden Lion Hotel, Hunstanton, Norfolk.

Young Girl with Ringlets

Location: Hunstanton (Norfolk) - Golden Lion Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 July 2005
Further Comments: A female guest at the hotel claimed to have woken up during the night to see a young girl with soft ringlets, wearing a blue and white dress in an 'old fashion style'. She appeared at the end of the witness's bed before skipping over to a wardrobe in the corner of the room.

Lady Lisgar

Location: Husbands Bosworth (Leicestershire) - Bosworth Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Lisgar sightings unknown, 15 June 2023 (shadows)
Further Comments: Lady Lisgar's ghost has been observed walking the corridors of this building - it is said that during her lifetime she refused to let a dying servant receive last rites, and it is for this moral crime her shade walks. The building once had a perpetually wet bloodstain. In 2023 a witness reported disappearing shadows and a child wearing a bonnet.

The Devil's Bed

Location: Inverness (Highland) - Steadings Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: A hotel bed which belonged to Aleister Crowley was purchased by the owner of this hotel; the room where it stands is reputedly much colder than anywhere else in the building, and a couple of times people have reported waking up because they felt the bed moving and shaking.

Screaming

Location: Inverurie (Aberdeenshire) - Pittodrie House hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The cries for help heard only on Halloween emerge from the staircase. They may belong to a maid once caught in a fire which engulfed the building - she fell to her death trying to escape. A ghostly carriage pulled by a single horse haunts the driveway, while another spook has been reported in the library.