The Paranormal Database

Susan Peacock

Location: Reeth (Yorkshire) - Tan Hill Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Skull photographed November 2019, other sightings not known
Further Comments: The inn featured in local press after an unconvincing skull was photographed in a smoky fireplace. The site is reputed to be haunted by former landlord Susan Peacock, who may have manifested at the foot of a bed dressed in 1930s clothing. The smell of pipe smoke has also been reported.

Hopping Bottles

Location: Ringmer (Sussex) - Ringmer Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1977
Further Comments: The landlord here claimed that he would be disturbed at night by incredibly loud banging from the walls. Bottles would hop off shelves, doors would open, and lights would go out without warning.

Exploding Bottles

Location: Robertsbridge (Sussex) - Johns Cross Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: This entity smashed glass bottles, unlocked secure doors and windows, turned lights on, and moved furniture.

Hole Cutter

Location: Robertsbridge (Sussex) - Seven Stars Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1980s, 2013
Further Comments: During the 1980s, this noisy ghost cut holes in bed sheets, played with the connectors on barrels of beer, and pushed items off shelves. A new landlord who took over in 2013 called a paranormal group to investigate what his family had experienced, including items that moved unaided. The pub is also said to be haunted by a red monk.

Cavalier

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - The Rake Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Grinning merrily, mostly likely through copious amounts of beer, this soldier has been mistaken for a real person.

Screams from Roundheads

Location: Romsey (Hampshire) - Swan Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two Roundheads were hanged from the pubs outside sign. They have since been heard gasping and crying for help.

White Landlady

Location: Ropley (Hampshire) - Watercress Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: A former landlady of this pub mysteriously vanished at the start of the twentieth century, though on occasion her ghostly form is seen in the pub.

Mabel

Location: Roxton (Bedfordshire) - Chequers Inn (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1980s
Further Comments: A former maid on the site, Mabel was blamed when a member of the bar staff felt a hand on their shoulder when they were alone. Footsteps would also be heard in the cellar, and a white shape was spotted disappearing through a wall. Another entity was described as a man who held his cap in his hand.

Mr Boulton

Location: Royal Leamington Spa (Warwickshire) - Jack & Jill Inn, Newland Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: Seen sitting on the patio roof and moving around the cellar, this former pub owner has the consistency of a 'reflection in a window'.

Popping Bottles

Location: Rugeley (Staffordshire) - Ash Tree Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1998-2000
Further Comments: Poltergeist-like tricks were reported from the inn, including the tops popping out of bottles, sounds of smashing glasses, till trays full of cash flying off the bar, and flickering lights.

Hound

Location: Rugeley (Staffordshire) - Britannia Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom black dog, unlikely to be a shuck, has been reported to walk around the corridors of the inn.

Shadow on Stool

Location: Rusper (Sussex) - Star Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1988
Further Comments: This ghostly shadow has been observed sitting by the bar - its history is unknown.

Old Man

Location: Ruthin (Clwyd) - Three Pigeons Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the inn was put up for sale in 2016, one of its USPs came in the form of two ghosts. One was said to be an old man who sat in an armchair, the other a teenager.

Sounds of Dragging

Location: Ryde (Isle of Wight) - Solent Inn, Monkton Steer
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Phantom voices, footsteps, and the sound of heavy items being dragged across rooms have all been reported coming from this public house.

Duel

Location: Rye (Sussex) - Mermaid Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 October (duel) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Several shades haunt this public house. A pair of ghostly duellers have been seen engaging each other with rapiers (the victor then drags the body through the hotel and drops it through a trapdoor), while a female figure dressed in grey haunts the upper part of the building. Room 5 is one of her haunts, while in rooms 10 and 18, a fading man has been seen entering and leaving (often through a wall).

Little Girl Lost

Location: Rye (Sussex) - The Union Inn, East Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1990s
Further Comments: Seen walking in the restaurant and kitchen of this old building, this little ghost is often mistaken for someone real.

Little Girl

Location: Saddleworth (Yorkshire) - Cross Keys Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: This phantom little girl appeared briefly in one bedroom before vanishing. The sound of horses' hooves and of something being dragged have also been reported.

Cromwellian Soldier

Location: Saffron Walden (Essex) - The Old Sun Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A noisy fellow, blamed for moving furniture about, and banging on the walls. Some people have reported feeling uneasy on entering the building.

The Boston Tea Party in Salisbury.

Moving Tools

Location: Salisbury (Wiltshire) - Old George Inn (currently Boston Tea Party)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that when work was carried out on the site, construction tools were moved around the building every night. When locked up on one occasion, the building was found completely open the following day. Although a former manager disliked being on the site alone at night, as it was 'too scary', nothing out of the ordinary has even been seen.

Trapped Shade

Location: Saltersgate (Yorkshire) - Saltersgate Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The peat fire is said to have burnt continuously for two hundred years, with successive landlords upholding the tradition - the body of a murdered man is hidden under the spot, and it is told that his shade will escape if it ever goes out. The moorland nearby is haunted by the sound of sobbing.

Tom

Location: Sand Hutton (Yorkshire) - Busby Stoop Inn, road outside
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Tom Busby murdered his father with a hammer - an event which resulted in the public house in which the crime was committed being named after him. Hanged for the crime, his shade now comes back complete with noose, and any who see it are doomed. The shade was once thought to be centred on Tom's favourite chair, though when the chair was removed to Thirsk Museum, Tom stayed pub-bound. The chair itself was thought to be cursed, anyone sitting on it would die soon after.

You

Location: Sandbach (Cheshire) - Lower Chequer Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The only thing known about this spooky entity is that is named only 'You'.

Thomas Otter

Location: Saxilby (Lincolnshire) - Sun Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 03 November, 1806-1811?
Further Comments: Thomas Otter was hanged for the murder of his wife, the most damning evidence coming from John Dunkerly who witnessed the crime. The murder weapon was displayed in the Sun Inn, but disappeared twice, each time on the anniversary of the killing. Dunkerly later said he had taken the murder implement, but only because the ghost of Thomas had forced him to do so.

Headless Woman

Location: Scarborough (Yorkshire) - Three Mariners (formerly an inn)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless phantom would appear as a warning to any sailors staying in the building not to go to sea - those who did see her but ignored the warnings normally drowned.

Highwayman's Girlfriend

Location: Scole (Norfolk) - The Scole Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This woman was murdered by a jealous partner after he discovered that she was having an affair with a highwayman; the ghostly lady in white now walks the staircase and the first floor.