The Paranormal Database

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

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Bedfordshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

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.

Locked In

Location: Beeston - The Cross public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Customers have reported being trapped in the toilets after an unseen hand locks them in. Bottles of spirits have been known to fall off the shelves for no reason, and the taps on beer barrels are turned off.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Begwary - Public footpath between Begwary and Colesden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: First half of December 2020
Further Comments: A man walking alone along this path felt something behind him. Turning to look, the man spotted a male figure wearing a black cloak hurrying towards him. No one had been on the path previously, and the man felt a sense of menace from the figure who seemingly emerged from thin air. Breaking into a jog, the man reached a fork in the path. Quickly choosing a route, the man continued to jog before turning once more to see the figure had gone.

Singer

Location: Biggleswade - Golden Pheasant public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Singing has been reported coming from an empty bar, and footsteps have been heard in other vacant areas.

Stable Boy

Location: Bletsoe - Falcon Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dying after falling from a hayloft, this young stable lad is now thought to haunt the kitchen area. He is blamed when small items go missing, often reappearing a short time later.

Thrown Objects

Location: Brogborough - Roundhouse
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 2012
Further Comments: The site has picked up a spooky reputation, most likely influenced by its ruined state. The Luton Paranormal Society claimed to detect spirits on the site, while other groups have experienced poltergeist-like activity.

Sir Lewis Dyve

Location: Bromham - St Owen church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Lewis Dyve is said to walk within the church, ensuring his boots and sword remain inside. The churchyard is also home to the phantom laughter of children.

R101 Airman

Location: Cardington - Cardington Hangars
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The old airship sheds from which the R101 departed, are reputed to be haunted by at least one airman from the ill-fated airship which crashed in France.


Ghostly horses in Bedfordshire.

Galloping Horses

Location: Chellington - Carlton Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A pair of galloping horses are said to charge down the hill, vanishing as they approach the bottom.

Horseman

Location: Chicksands - Woods and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: A driver passing through the woodlands encountered a horseman who passed through their car. When the Luton Paranormal Society investigated the area in 2015, they reported no evidence of a haunting, though noted the site had an 'odd feeling'.

Older Man

Location: Clapham - Glenn Miller Museum (was RAF Twinwood Farm)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2012
Further Comments: Luton Paranormal Society wrote that spooky occurrences are reputed to have occurred here, including a sighting of a phantom older man in RAF uniform, and the sound of disembodied footsteps. During their own vigil, the group reported several strange feelings and perceptions.

Hooded Monk

Location: Clophill - Between Haynes Church End and Clophill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: A hooded monk on horseback holding a lantern was seen by a man delivering newspapers in the early hours of the morning. He said that the horse passed straight through his car.


The ghost of Bertha Rosaca.

Pregnant Nun

Location: Clophill - Chicksands Priory (currently owned by the Ministry of Defence)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 17 August (reoccurring), last seen 1960
Further Comments: After a secret liaison with a male superior, Bertha Rosaca became pregnant - her spirit now appears once a year in protest of her subsequent treatment. The spirit, when last seen, wore black and disappeared through a wall.

Sophie

Location: Clophill - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A woman named Sophie is thought to be one of the ghosts that haunt this church. Her coffin was discovered hidden in the nave. A First World War air force mechanic named George is also thought to wander around the headstones, looking for his friend's grave. The church was heavily vandalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with a grave being opened and the human remains placed in a ritual circle - maybe because of this activity, many people report the church has an oppressive atmosphere.

Vanishing Car

Location: Comworth - Honeydon Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa late 1980s / early 1990s
Further Comments: Five occupants of a car driving along this road spotted another car a short distance in front of them. The vehicle ahead followed the winding road around a cutting; as the car behind did the same, the occupants realised that the other car had vanished, with nowhere to turn off or pull over.

Sailor

Location: Cople - Five Bells public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Smoking a pipe and wearing his hair in a pigtail, the ghost of a sailor was seen several times by a former landlady as he sat by the fireplace.


The strange shape wearing a hat.

Floating Hat

Location: Cranfield - Buttercup Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: Two men walking along the lane watched a legless and armless shape wearing a large hat drifting along. They stated the entity stood just over two metres in height and changed colour from white to black.

Lady Snagge

Location: Cranfield - Wood End Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While riding her horse, Lady Snagge was decapitated by a thin piece of rope pulled across the road by robbers who plundered her body before leaving it. Snagge's ghost is still reported as it repeats her final journey, sometimes with head intact, and sometimes without.

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