The Paranormal Database

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.

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.

Footsteps

Location: Bedford - Private residence, George Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1968
Further Comments: A former occupant reported experiencing loud breathing, disembodied footsteps and items which would fall over unaided.

Handle Rattler

Location: Bedford - Private residence, Rothsay Place
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Pre 1939
Further Comments: For five consecutive nights, door handles in this house would violently rattle, terrifying all occupants. The sounds would suddenly cease if candles were lit. After the fifth day, the handles never shook unaided again.

Brainy Dobbs

Location: Bedford - RAF Henlow
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1982
Further Comments: Returning to the barracks, one witness was hit by a cold wind which pushed him back. The witness found his room trashed, so called the police, who disbelieved his story. An officer later told him that the barracks was haunted by a parachute designer nicknamed Brainy Dobbs, and that there had been many other reports identical to that which the witness experienced.

Nun

Location: Bedford - Sister's House (former nunnery adjacent to St Luke's church), owned by Pilgrim's Housing Association
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: A male member of staff was woken as someone sat on the end of their bed. Raising their head to see who had entered the room, the man saw a nun sitting at the end of his bedcovers. The nun then stood up and walked through the bedroom wall.

Cat

Location: Bedford - The Square public house (was the Bullnosed Bat)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A member of staff once reported seeing a ghostly cat that appeared in his bedroom.

Ball of Light

Location: Bedford - Two private residence, Fenlake area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: A mother and daughter watched a glowing ball of light move down the path towards their property. The mother later discovered that her niece and niece's boyfriend had also seen a glowing ball on the same day outside their home (once again, moving towards the front door), which was around half a mile away.

Whispering

Location: Bedford - Union Workhouse (demolished 2007)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: After site security reported strange happenings, the Luton Paranormal Society investigated the site. They reported the sounds of whispering, a scream, and smells with unidentifiable sources.

Chime

Location: Bedford - Willington Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The sounds of footsteps and the soft ringing of a bell haunt this old building.

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 to leave; one boy when leading him to the exit found the phantom had 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.