Bedfordshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
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.
Prior
Location: Dunstable - Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former occupier of the priory is still thought to walk around the property.
Stable Boy
Location: Dunstable - Victoria public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This young lad is thought to haunt the rear of the building where the stables once stood. He lost his job after an injury that prevented him from returning to work.
Resting Kings
Location: Dunstable - Five Knolls
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: It was once believed that a king lay under each of these prehistoric barrows, though a female skeleton was discovered during one excavation during the 1920s.
Headless Soldier
Location: Dunstable - Black Horse public house (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A barmaid was left disturbed after encountering a headless man in the bar area. The decapitated figure wore a Civil War uniform.
Shaker
Location: Dunstable - Benedictine monastery, ruins across from the Priory Gates
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: An archaeologist staying on this site in a caravan awoke one night as his vehicle started to shake. Leaping out of bed, ready to face down young hooligans, the archaeologist stepped from the caravan - only to see a ghostly hooded monk.
Two Cricketers
Location: Dunstable - A5 between Markyate and Dunstable
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1958
Further Comments: The lost spirits of two cricketers have been seen walking along this road, heading towards the Pack Horse public house. They are thought to have been killed in a road traffic accident while travelling back from a cricket match.
CCTV Figures
Location: Dunstable - White Swan public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Staff monitoring the security cameras here have seen a figure walk across the bar, even though the area is empty. Video tape has failed to record these occurrences.
Medium Man
Location: Dunton - March Hare public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 June 2008
Further Comments: A ghostly figure of a man, standing around 1.7 metres tall was seen briefly in a doorway before vanishing.
Cat on the Wall
Location: Eggington - White House, an old people's home
Type: ABC
Date / Time: October 1995
Further Comments: Seen sitting on the wall several times during October, residents called the police when the large cat looked like it was going to have a faceoff with their pet cat.
Old Housekeeper
Location: Flitwick - Flitwick Manor Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: One of the ghosts that has taken up residence at the hotel is a former housekeeper. She has been spotted wearing a black Victorian dress and a white cap. One witness said she looked like she was crying. Another suggestion is that the ghost is the wife of former owner John Thomas Brooks, who never really recovered from the premature death of her daughter in 1848.
White Figure
Location: Greenfield - Greenfield Wesleyan Chapel (destroyed by fire in February 1962, subsequently rebuilt)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1962
Further Comments: It was reported that the chapel was haunted by a white figure which would slow disappear if approached, although one author speculated that it was most likely caused by reflections.
Dan Orpin
Location: Harrold - Oakley Arms
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Orpin was the landlord here during the 1930s and 40s. Some people still claim to see him standing by the bar holding a cigarette and a drink.
Mag
Location: Hockliffe - Mag Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity has been nicknamed Headless Mag - she is thought to have been a local witch, and her misty form now drifts along the road looking for people to scare.
Hand
Location: Houghton Conquest - Knife and Cleaver public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A barman's attention was drawn to the bookings diary as the pages began to turn themselves. He quickly left the area after spotting a strange hand that then appeared over his shoulder.
Party Girl
Location: Houghton Regis - Drury Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This phantom young woman in a white party dress is reported to be barefoot.
Sound of Hooves & Screams
Location: Kempston - Kempston Manor (currently office space)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a family home, local legend has it that a child ran out of the manor to meet his mother and father who were returning for Christmas in a horse-drawn coach. The child was hit by the horses and died of his injuries. The anniversary of the event is marked by the reoccurring sounds of the tragedy.
Green Lady
Location: Kempston - Church Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a green lady is reported to appear when the mist rolls off from the nearby river. She is thought to have drowned in the river, though none can say exactly who she is.
Lady Snagge
Location: Kempston - Ladies Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghostly Lady Snagge is said to walk along this lane, as is the phantom of a young woman mourning the death of her boyfriend during the Civil War.
Headless Girl
Location: Kensworth - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area surrounding the church and the hill on which it sits is reputedly home to a phantom milkmaid who has lost her head in an unknown accident, and a ghostly witch. Another story associated with the church is that the structure was supposed to be erected on the common, but each night all construction materials were moved by an unseen hand to the top of the hill.
One Eye
Location: Kenworth - Footpath between Common Road and Hollicks Lane
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom hound that haunts this area is said to be large, black, and in possession of only one eye.
Exorcism
Location: Leighton Buzzard - Ram public house (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: An exorcism was carried out in this pub after staff and customers spotted a ghostly figure and experienced poltergeist-like behaviour, including one member of staff being grabbed.
Hitchhiker
Location: Leighton Buzzard - Peddar's Lane / Station Road area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A van driver who picked up a young, dark haired hitchhiker here reported that a few minutes into their journey the man had vanished.
Noisy Workshop
Location: Leighton Buzzard - Motorbike shop along Lake Street, and surrounding buildings
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: When Sid, the owner of the bike shop, extended his workshop in the early 1960s, he woke this entity from its sleep. Neighbours complained about the noises coming from his building, even though it was devoid of life, and the one night Sid did work late, he witnessed items throw themselves around the room.
Slammer
Location: Leighton Buzzard - Buckingham Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Doors are heard slamming shut, normally before phantom footsteps stomp up and down the staircase.
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