The Paranormal Database

Anne Boleyn

Location: Leigh-on-Sea (Essex) - Bellhouse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former hunting lodge, local legend says Boleyn occasionally returns as she favoured the site.

Mary of Guise

Location: Linlithgow (Lothian) - Linlithgow Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: Accompanied by a slight smell of perfume, this phantom lady in a white dress has on occasion been mistaken for a real person. Mary Queen of Scots is also reported to frequent the chapel, and Margaret Tudor haunts Queen Margaret's Bower.

An old woodcut of a pig.

Black Pig

Location: Lydford (Devon) - Lydford Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This creature is said to be the ghost of Judge Jeffereys. Another ghost seen in the vicinity is that of Lady Howard.

Charles II playing card games.

King Charles II

Location: Manningford Bruce (Wiltshire) - Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1934
Further Comments: A woman sleeping in the room where Charles II was reputed to have stayed awoke during the night to see a man resembling the king playing cards with several other men.

Headless King Charles

Location: Marple (Cheshire) - Marple Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The headless ghost of King Charles has been seen here, though he never visited the place. The nearby river Goyt is haunted by a wailing woman who once lived at the hall - her lover was drowned in the river, and she waits and cries near the spot.

Catherine Parr

Location: Masham (Yorkshire) - Snape Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost dressed in blue is believed to be a wife of Henry VIII. The former queen is said to radiate a sense of calm and peace.

King William II

Location: Minstead (Hampshire) - New Forest, the Rufus Stone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Murdered (allegedly) on this spot by a close friend, William II is now doomed to rise on the anniversary of his death and walk to Winchester.

An old photograph of Muncaster Castle.

Headless Carpenter

Location: Muncaster (Cumbria) - Muncaster Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered by a jester on the orders of the then owner Sir Ferdinard Pennington, the carpenter (who made the mistake of falling in love with Sir Ferdinard's daughter) was beheaded in the garden, where he now haunts. The jester has also been reported on the site, holding a severed head. The ghost of King Henry is another reported to haunt the castle, hiding from those who took him to London to be murdered, and finally the shade of Mary Bragg, hanged by the front gate as a joke turned tragedy, manifests as a white woman.

King Charles?

Location: Newport (Isle of Wight) - Youth Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The room where this king once stayed is reported to experience cold spots and the sound of footsteps.

Pool of Water

Location: North Tawton (Devon) - Cottle's Wood
Type: Legend
Date / Time: When the country is threatened
Further Comments: A normally dry ditch near the wood is said to mysteriously fill with water whenever Britain is threatened or a major public figure dies. Another version of the tale says the water appears prior to the death of a prince, and then quickly vanishes once the man has died.

An old postcard of Nottingham Castle.

Regent Mortimer

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Nottingham Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard pacing in his former cell, Mortimer appears not to understand that he was executed in 1330. Queen Isabella has been heard screaming, the way that she may have done when they dragged Mortimer off to his death. A phantom child is also said to haunt the site, and finally the gallery is reputedly haunted by the Countess of Nottingham, who only appears to people who will die within a year.

Platform 10 of King's Cross Station, London.

Boudica's Grave

Location: NW1 (Greater London) - King's Cross Station, Platform 10
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The final resting ground of the warrior queen is reported to be under this busy platform.

An old postcard of Okehampton Castle.

Lady Howard

Location: Okehampton (Devon) - Okehampton Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This large black dog is reportedly the ghost of Lady Howard, who walks from here to Tavistock. Some say it is a separate entity, and Lady Howard really travels by a coach made from the bones of her dead husbands.

Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots

Location: Oundle (Northamptonshire) - The Talbot Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This hotel contains the staircase from Fotheringay Castle, Mary's place of execution. Her ghost is rumoured to have come with the staircase; pictures move on their own accord, one guest was awoken by 'something' sitting on their bed, and the gaunt face of a woman can be seen staring from out the hotel's windows.

Edward Benson

Location: Outer London: Addington (Greater London) - Addington Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former Archbishop still drifts around the building where he listens to the church music. It is said he is only seen by choirboys.

Lady Constance

Location: Outer London: Bexley (Greater London) - Hall Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Ghosts unknown, poltergeist 1950
Further Comments: One of three ghosts reported here, Lady Constance watched her husband die as a stag gored him, and later killed herself. Her pale white shade now frequents the grounds. Edward, the Black Prince, has also been observed in the area, while the spirit of a servant haunts the loft. A poltergeist outbreak in 1950 resulted in furniture being tossed around.

Queen Elizabeth

Location: Outer London: Richmond (Greater London) - Richmond Palace
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1603
Further Comments: As she lay dying elsewhere, Elizabeth was observed standing at a window of the palace. A few reports say she still haunts the building. The palace may have been the location where Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England, and Anne Seymour witnessed a 'hand with a bloodied sword' emerge from a wall. Edward was beheaded a short time later. There are also more recent reports of phantom horses' hooves heard clopping around the courtyard.

Walter & Liz

Location: Outer London: Wallington (Greater London) - Path between Croydon Road and London Road, Beddington Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend has the ghosts of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh frequenting this area together, dating from when the latter lived at nearby Carew Manor.

Queen Margaret of Anjou

Location: Owlpen (Gloucestershire) - Owlpen Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: Last seen by a group of children during the Second World War (who mistook the phantom for someone in fancy dress), the wife of Henry VI pines for her dead son Edward. More recently, poltergeist like effects and the sounds of phantom footsteps have been reported, as have the sounds of phantom children.

A portrait of Anne Boleyn, also thought to haunt this site.

Jane Seymour

Location: Owslebury (Hampshire) - Marwell Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Seymour family once owned this property, and Jane is thought to haunt the surrounding grounds. The shade of Anne Boleyn has also been reported loitering near a row of nearby yew trees. Finally, the hall is reputedly the location where the Mistletoe Bough bride story originated, with the chest still (?) being present today.

An old postcard showing Christ Church College in Oxford.

Charles I

Location: Oxford (Oxfordshire) - Christ Church College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The former king has been observed around the college grounds both with and without his head. A shade belonging to a former royalist commander also lurks here - he was shot for treason on the site.

Phantom Coach

Location: Oxnead (Norfolk) - Oxnead Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Red Water

Location: Papa Westray (Orkney) - St Tredwell's Loch
Type: Other
Date / Time: Prior to royal event
Further Comments: The waters of the loch are said to turn red just prior to news that will greatly affect the royal family.

Lost Princess

Location: Pembroke (Dyfed) - Carew Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This wandering shade, thought to be Princess Nest, known as the Helen of Wales, travels around the castle grounds as if looking for something. Another legend says that the great hall is haunted by a former owner and his pet ape, both of whom were found dead and on fire.

Messy Bed

Location: Pencaitland (Lothian) - Penkaet (or Pencaet, or Pencait) Castle, also known as Fountainhall House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1950s
Further Comments: The ghost of Charles I is blamed for disrupting the bedding in the room that contains his death mask. John Cockburn, who committed murder here, can be heard dragging the body along various parts of the building. Finally, the castle is also haunted by a beggar, falsely accused of using witchcraft against another former owner.