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Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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West Midlands Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana


A burning manor house.

Burning

Location: Baginton - Manor House (no longer standing)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1900s onwards?
Further Comments: This manor house was consumed by fire around the start of the twentieth century. Ten years after the fire, a witness reported seeing a house burning where the manor had stood, and again another witness reported the same occurrence a few years later.

Grey Lady

Location: Baginton - Old Mill House hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: This phantom is said to be more likely heard than seen, her voice has been detected in the restaurant. The ghost is reputedly that of a woman murdered by her husband, and remains on this mortal plane looking for her child. Another story says the site became home to the ghost of a man murdered over a debt and would occasionally manifest on the staircase.

Baby Killer

Location: Birmingham - 32 Coxwell Road, Ladywell
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: This entity was blamed for killing a month old infant found suffocated. The family's four year old son claimed he witnessed a 'white dog' sitting on the child's face prior to the body being discovered. Soon after the death, the building became plagued by whisperings and unexplained tapings at started promptly every night at 10:20..

Leon Salberg

Location: Birmingham - Alexandra Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Having managed the theatre for over twenty five years, Leon died within the building, and is thought to still walk here. The ghost of an unknown woman has also been spotted.

Mrs Holt

Location: Birmingham - Aston Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Holt and servant boy unknown, green lady in Summer 1991
Further Comments: A former Mrs Holt (or Halte) was suspected by her husband of having an affair - he locked her in the loft where she lived for several years before dying. Another version of the story says Miss Mary Holt became locked in the loft by her father after she tried to elope. Either way, the phantom grey or white lady haunts the upper floor. A ghostly servant boy is said to hang from a beam on the property (he committed suicide after being caught stealing), while finally a green woman, a former housekeeper named either Mrs Whitaker or Walker has been seen in various areas of the site. A member of staff spotted her in the nursery room, briefly mistaking her for a real person before realising the area had been closed off and that the figure wore seventeenth century clothing.

Maroon Woman

Location: Birmingham - Aston Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: A woman with her hair tied in a bun and wearing a maroon dress could be seen sitting by the tennis court. When approached, the lady vanished.

Grey Figure

Location: Birmingham - Birmingham & Midland Eye Centre, City Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: During the building's construction, CCTV picked up the image of a strange grey figure - dispatched security sent to the scene found no one. A ward sister was encountered along a top floor corridor, only visible from the knees upwards. Around the same time, a crew of workers found themselves locked in a room after investigating cries heard from within; as before, nothing could be found. Someone finally summoned a priest to bless the area.

Screaming

Location: Birmingham - Brightstone Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 03:00h (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Screams can be heard coming from an unknown point along this road in the early hours of the morning. Some people have also claimed to have seen a pale young boy in tears.

Engines

Location: Birmingham - Castle Vale housing estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: The housing estate was partly built over the site of the Second World War Castle Bromwich Aerodrome, and during the 1970s there were several reports of ghostly airmen manifesting around the area. In 1987, one man reported being virtually deafened by the sound of an old aircraft engine that came out of a thick fog that surrounded his house. The following evening, the fog and the engine sound returned, but this time also reported by a mother and her children who lived two miles away.

Wilfred Barwick

Location: Birmingham - Coleshill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1975
Further Comments: The ghost of Barwick, a local butcher murdered in 1780, is said to haunt the road where he was killed. The entity may have last been seen stepping out in front of a Securicor van, vanishing as the driver tried to talk to him.

Wine Smashing

Location: Birmingham - Court Oak public house, Harborne
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: Nicknamed Corky by visitors to the Court Oak, this phantom is said to smash bottles of cheap wine in the cellar. Corky is also said to manifest behind the counter, appearing in the form of a male in his sixties.

Overturned Cars

Location: Birmingham - Drews Lane (between 175 and the corner shop), Ward End
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Quoted in the Tarmac report on haunted roads, former Drews Lane resident Jackie said 'I used to hear cars that used to roll over while driving. Hundreds of cars have been heard and seen upside down with no reason or rhyme. There were a couple a week sometimes, nothing to explain it. There were never any other cars involved, just that when they came down our road, they would turn over.'

Family

Location: Birmingham - Fountain Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A family of five is said to haunt this area - two boys aged 9 and 12, a 7 year old girl, and their parents. The mother is said to have died during childbirth, and the rest of the family died mysteriously soon after.


Falling stones are sometimes associated with poltergeists.

Raining Stones

Location: Birmingham - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 12 June 1858
Further Comments: Hundreds of thousands of little stones rained down on the city, smashing greenhouses and littering the streets.

Strange Antics

Location: Birmingham - General area of Erdington
Type: Other
Date / Time: November / December 1902
Further Comments: An unknown figure would appear along dark roads around the area when a village in its own right and perform 'strange antics' before vanishing. The press claimed several witnesses were left in nervous shock and blamed a 'Spring Heeled Jack'. Groups of armed men started to patrol the roads, but it would appear they failed to locate the figure. Some believed the entity was created by a joker using a magic lantern.

Vampire Attacks

Location: Birmingham - Glen Park Road (Ward End) and Saltley, Small Heath and Alum Rock areas
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: A gentleman, described as black and in his twenties, bit another man walking along the street before pouncing on neighbours who came to the victim's aid. One woman present was said to have had a chunk bitten out of her hand. Police, however, stated that they had received no reports of such an incident and dismissed the story as an urban myth.

Orange Man

Location: Birmingham - Gunter Road, Erdington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 1970, 07:30h
Further Comments: A young lad on his way to school spotted a glowing orange man. The entity's features were not clear, and it remained for around twenty seconds before vanishing. The figure is also said to have appeared along other streets in the area.

Jumping Grey Thing

Location: Birmingham - Icknield street, Hockley
Type: Other
Date / Time: April 2014
Further Comments: A couple in their car watched as a grey humanoid creature jump across the road, kangaroo-like, although seemingly gaining momentum by swinging its arms. The entity stopped in the road and looked at the car before turning and moving back into the grounds of a cemetery.

Floating Lolly

Location: Birmingham - Kang's Discount Store
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: There were supposedly several witnesses who watched as a lollypop floated up and moved itself out of this shop.

Bangs

Location: Birmingham - Key Hill Cemetery, Icknield Street, Hockley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006 onwards
Further Comments: Reported by Birmingham Investigators of the Unknown, activity in this location includes banging or clanking sounds, dark shadows, feelings of heaviness and sickness, and a lantern light moving across the rear of the cemetery.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Birmingham - Kings Norton Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: The dark shape of a man has been reported crossing the park. A swing in the playground is also said to rock itself at night, even though there is no wind.

Small Pickup Truck

Location: Birmingham - M6 near Birmingham
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Author Paul Devereux reported overtaking a phantom pickup truck along this stretch of motorway, apparently with no driver. The truck disappeared once Mr Devereux had finished overtaking.

Mary Littleton

Location: Birmingham - Maxstone Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mary was pushed down the staircase here after a furious argument with her husband - her shade lingers on.

Face

Location: Birmingham - Nokes'z Hair, Church Road, Northfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009-2013
Further Comments: Several incidents have been reported coming from this hairdressers, including the manifestation of a face in the darkness, appliances switching themselves on, objects being thrown, and a black mist forming at the rear of a room.

Misty

Location: Birmingham - Old Crown public house, Deritend
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 21 August 1999
Further Comments: A couple staying here reported a strange white mist in their room. One witness felt compelled to move towards the window. Two ghosts are said to haunt the inn, though who or what form the second one takes is unknown.

Records 1 - 25 of 66

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