The Paranormal Database

Lady in Raincoat

Location: Alcester - A435, road near Coughton Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: A couple driving along past the court spotted a pale middle aged woman standing by the roadside wearing a beige raincoat. She stepped into the road before vanishing. The figure has also been seen pushing a bike; another motorist reported hitting her as she stepped out of nowhere and crashed his car as he spun after trying to avoid her. A villager first on the scene reassured the driver that he was one of several people to have encountered the ghost that month. Separately, a phantom coach has also been reported along the road.

Pink Lady

Location: Alcester - Coughton Court, the Tapestry Bedroom area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reportedly exorcised in the early 1900s, the pink lady, nor the sounds of her footsteps echoing down the nearby corridors, has been detected in recent years.

Secret Tunnel

Location: Alcester - Lord Nelson public house (as of May 2019, closed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local rumour said that this public house had a secret tunnel running to a nearby religious site. It was also said the place was haunted, although details are sketchy.

Lady in White

Location: Alcester - Ragley Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight
Further Comments: A woman in white is said to appear at midnight, sit for a while, and move off to a nearby stream to drink.

Thrown Table

Location: Alcester - Town Hall
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A table was reported to have been thrown at a visitor, and sounds heard from empty rooms.

Tutting Lady

Location: Alcester - Whispering Witch shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: As well as the tutting lady, this show is reputedly haunted by something in the basement which pushes and pokes visitors.

The demonic cockerel of Warwickshire.

Cockerel

Location: Alcocks Arbour - Area around the hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A demonic cockerel stands guard over a hidden treasure hoard within the hill - the last man to discover it was eaten by the bird.

Can

Location: Alscot - Parkland and roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghost-like entity said to be part calf, part man, was said to haunt this area.

Black Dog

Location: Alveston - Exact location not known
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late Nineteenth Century
Further Comments: Charles Walton (the man murdered in Lower Quinton (see Quinton database entry for further information)) claimed to have seen a phantom black dog for several successive nights when he was younger - on the last night, instead of the dog, he saw a ghostly headless woman. He soon heard that his sister had died at roughly the same time as the last sighting.

White Dog

Location: Alveston - Exact location not known
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered alongside his peddler master, this glowing white hound was said to haunt the lanes close to Alveston.

William Hirons

Location: Alveston - Hiron's Hole, close to Littleham Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: After November 1820
Further Comments: William Hirons was murdered and left on the roadside, with his head concealed in a hole. His murderers were found and executed, but William was still heard to call out for help at night. The hole where William was found was said to be unfillable.

Singing

Location: Alveston - Mill lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: A father and son out camping close to the River Avon were woken at around 03:00h by singing. The voice sounded like plainchant and was just outside the tent. After a while, they opened the tent and the singing stopped - nothing could be seen, other than empty open fields surrounding them.

Pilot

Location: Ansty - Ansty Aerodrome
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996, 19:00h
Further Comments: A figure wearing a Second World War pilot's suit walked past one witness as he stood by a photocopier. The figure then passed through a pair of closed doors leading outside and disappeared in a field. The pilot is rumoured to be a Polish airman who hanged himself.

Smashing

Location: Ansty - Ansty Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1998 (crockery), other incidents not known
Further Comments: A guest in the hall reported hearing crockery being smashed in a nearby room, although on investigation, nothing could be found. Footsteps and voices without a discernible cause are also heard.

Duke of Suffolk

Location: Astley - Astley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Father of Lady Jane, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, had his head lopped off and now haunts this building (headless, of course).

Willie

Location: Astley - 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.

Farmer, Farmer, Farmer

Location: Atherstone - A34, between Atherstone and Alderminster
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a farmer haunts this area - he was killed after hitting a low tree branch while riding his horse at breakneck speed. Legend says if seen once, it can be guaranteed that the wraith will be seen two more times.

Teenage Face

Location: Atherstone - Private house along Royal Meadow Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1981
Further Comments: This house was said to be haunted by the ghost of a teenager who committed suicide. One occupant in the building watched the phantom face of an adolescent youth hover around their living room for several hours.

Dead Farm Animals

Location: Austrey - General area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: Attacks on animals, including a dead pregnant sheep which had been stripped to the bone, convinced many farmers in the area that a large cat prowled the area.

Sheet Puller

Location: Barford - Westham House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1961
Further Comments: A guest at the house, staying in the former maid's quarters, lay in his bed half asleep when he heard someone enter his room. The covers of his bed were whipped off and thrown across the room; the man quickly turned the light to see who had removed the covers, but no one was there.

Floating Firelighters

Location: Bearley - Private residence close to Snitterfield Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: While sitting in front of the fire, a couple watched as a pack of firelighters lifted into the air and silently passed in front of them, setting itself down nearby. No other activity was reported after this event.

Bags of Gold

Location: Bearley (was Bearly) - Windmill (current status not known)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a former miller would hold down a flagstone, under which several bags of gold were said to be hidden. The hoard was only said to be accessible at the stroke of midnight during a full moon, when the phantom miller would take his ghostly horses to a pond to water.

White Lady

Location: Bedworth - Bedworth Road, aka Rabbit Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Seen 2005, 28 May 2012, 16 December 2012 (01:15h)
Further Comments: A woman left traumatised after being attacked along the road later committed suicide. Her phantom is said to stand by the roadside, waiting for a lift. One witness who spotted her said she wore a long white dress, possibly a nightdress, and had long black matted hair. Another driver heading towards Astley in May 2012 said she spotted a figure on the roadside with her hands against her face which was holding a dreadful expression. Two more witnesses in December 2012 described a figure standing by the road with long black matted hair, although this time the figure was dressed in black.

An illustration of a nun holding a cross, by Wayne Lowden.

Nun

Location: Bedworth - Bellairs Avenue and Dowty Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 1996
Further Comments: Walking down Bellairs Avenue with his brother, this witness could see a nun walking towards them in the middle of the road. He commented on the figure to his brother, who could not see her. As a car drove up the road, she vanished. The same witness said he spotted the same figure a few weeks later in Dowty Avenue.

Short Swordsman

Location: Bedworth - Coal Pit Fields, exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1950s / early 1960s
Further Comments: A young girl witnessed a man of short stature and dressed in Cavalier clothing carrying a sword. The phantom was surrounded by a green glow and beckoned the child to approach. Her reaction to this is undocumented.