The Paranormal Database

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

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Bedfordshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Hanging Man

Location: Ampthill - Hairdressers along Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Not known
Further Comments: An exorcist was called to the hairdressers after a customer reported seeing a man hanging from the upstairs room. While the ceremony appears to have banished the hanging man, the ghost was soon replaced with that of a small child.


Shadowy figures stand in the ruins.

Shadows

Location: Ampthill - Houghton House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: From the ruins of this once proud house come reports of shadowy figures that quickly vanish if seen. The sound of several galloping horses pulling a coach have also been heard on the site.

Housekeeper

Location: Ampthill - Private residence, Chandos Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A property here was haunted by a phantom housekeeper. The entity was spotted a couple of times and blamed when items were moved around.

Man in Old Fashioned Clothing

Location: Ampthill - Queen's Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pub is said to be haunted by a man wearing clothing dating from the Eighteenth Century.

Knight in Armour

Location: Ampthill - Road from Ampthill to Millbrook, and Ampthill Great Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This glowing ghostly knight appeared in front of several witnesses along the road in the early twentieth century. Soldiers at a nearby barracks also reported the figure around the same time, observing the ghost from a distance as it descended a hill. At least one local man reports seeing the ghost several times around the park; on this site it is said to depart the site of a castle (now marked by a cross) and move towards a brook where he vanishes. A phantom woman in white has also been reported in the park.

Coachman

Location: Ampthill - White Hart Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A caped coachman is rumoured to haunt the bar, while in a room elsewhere, doors and windows open unaided.

Dark Figure

Location: Aspley Guise - Gypsy Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 09 September 2008, 21:30h
Further Comments: While out running, a witness spotted a dark figure around one hundred metres ahead of him. As the distance closed to around twenty metres, the figure vanished. A friend of the witness said that his uncle had encountered a phantom woman along the same stretch of road.

Imprint

Location: Astwood - Astwood Court
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A table on site reportedly contains the imprint of a ghost's hand - the female phantom once hit the table creating the indent, before vanishing forevermore.

Elderly Woman

Location: Barton le Clay - Waterside Mill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A former owner of this mill reported encountering an old lady with long grey hair on two occasions; each time she waved a bony finger at him, as if wanting the witness to follow her. He did not.

Monk

Location: Battlesden - Battlesden Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s or 1960s
Further Comments: This church was said to be home to a phantom monk or lay friar and was spotted a couple of times during the mid-twentieth century.

Steward

Location: Battlesden - Battlesden House (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The steward overcharged his customers when selling milk and was condemned to haunt this area. The ghost appears to have vanished since the destruction of the building.

Arms

Location: Battlesden - Lane near the battlefield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn 1982
Further Comments: Two witnesses out cycling saw a disembodied pair of arms throw a small log over a hedge - one of the pair swerved to avoid the piece of wood.

Knocking on the Door

Location: Bedford - 38 Mill Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Many times has the sharp rapping at office doors been heard in this building, only for the door to be opening and nothing found beyond. Invisible feet have also been heard padding along the corridors.

Gliding Girl

Location: Bedford - Bedford Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972, 2010
Further Comments: In 1972 two nurses watched an attractive girl in a long dress and coat glide into a toilet on the south wing of the hospital. They followed, only to find the room empty. The same entity may have been observed 28 years later when three members of staff reported seeing a lady in a long dress walk through the wall of a storeroom. The Shand Ward is said to be haunted by shuffling footsteps.


An old picture postcard of the grammar school.

Samuel Whitbread

Location: Bedford - Bedford School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghost of the 1903 headmaster Samuel Whitbread is reported to wander the corridors of the higher floors of the main building (which he commissioned) at night. On numerous occasions he has asked people who enter the building at night for directions out; one boy when leading him to the exit found he suddenly disappeared.

Man in Bowler Hat

Location: Bedford - Cecil Higgins Art Gallery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This building is thought to be haunted by several entities, including a man wearing a bowler hat dressed in 1930s clothing, another man but this time wearing a dark suit, and a stable boy who walks around the library. Minor poltergeist activity is also reported.

Monk

Location: Bedford - Cineworld
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Both Screen 4 and the toilet area are reputed to be haunted by a hooded figure. Cold spots and strange sounds have also been reported. The cinema stands on the former site of Newnham priory.

Black Tom

Location: Bedford - Junction of Tavistock Street, Union Street and Clapham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around Christmas, 1990s
Further Comments: A nineteenth century highwayman, Black Tom was executed and buried at this junction with a stake driven through his heart to prevent his return. The ritual failed, and both he and another unknown ghost were seen countless times for years following his death. A 1960s sighting of Tom took place in broad daylight, with witnesses stating they saw a gruesome figure with a broken neck staggering down the road, vanishing into thin air seconds later. The witness who spotted Tom during the 1990s thought he was just a drunk man in fancy dress, until he suddenly disappeared.

Young Man

Location: Bedford - King's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Built on the site of a morgue (!), there are any number of contenders who could be the source of this young looking spectre. An older looking man is reported to haunt the cellar.

Creeping Man

Location: Bedford - Methodist Church, along Newnham Avenue
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A witness reported seeing a well-dressed man creeping along the back of the church. This figure walked through a wall, leaving a thin veil of smoke in his wake. A few years prior to this, another entity had been seen around the same place, though the witness said the ghost had worn tweed clothing.

Soldier

Location: Bedford - Park public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The ghost of a Second World War soldier who died when this building was used as a hospital is said to occasionally appear to staff. The ghost also has been known to open doors.

Record Player

Location: Bedford - Private flat along Tavistock Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A man using the flat came home after work to find a record playing on his music system. Furniture would also rearrange itself.

Nan

Location: Bedford - Private flat, Ram Yard
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 September 1999
Further Comments: Awaking to see her grandmother sitting by her bed, this witness briefly forgot that her grandmother had died a couple of years previous. The witness then noticed an orange glow outside. The window - a car outside was on fire, blocking the exit and filling the building with smoke. The fire brigade soon had the blaze under control, although the witness was convinced that her grandmother had saved her from dying of smoke inhalation.

Black Tom?

Location: Bedford - Private residence along Gladstone Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1985 or early 1986
Further Comments: A man at this property awoke to find what he thought was an intruder in his bedroom. The man's shouts awoke his wife, and they both witnessed a dark shadowy figure in a black cloak and floppy hat move to the opposite side of the room and vanish. A few months later they heard the legend of Black Tom, the local horse rustler hanged close to their home.

Hand

Location: Bedford - Private residence, Chaucer Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: A baby's screams awoke the mother, who spotted a shadowy hand cross the wall of the room and come to rest on the baby's face. The baby screamed again. The mother quickly grabbed the child, and from that day, they shared the same bed.

Records 1 - 25 of 114

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