The Paranormal Database

Animated Queen Anne

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a year the statue of the Queen becomes animated and walks around the neighbourhood. Until recently, the statue was believed to be Bloody Mary, until a clean-up operation revealed an inscription pointing out the error.

Walking Stone Knights

Location: Ingham (Norfolk) - Trinitarian Priory
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 01 August or 02 August (reoccurring) - stone knights, dancing monks unknown
Further Comments: Chas Sampson wrote that the two stone knights in the church are said to wake once a year and go for a walk to the water's edge. Here they fight an Asian soldier in uniform, before walking back. Other stories claim that phantom dancing monks can occasionally be seen in the area.

King William II

Location: Minstead (Hampshire) - New Forest, the Rufus Stone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Murdered (allegedly) on this spot by a close friend, William II is now doomed to rise on the anniversary of his death and walk to Winchester.

Tom Crocker

Location: Burgh Island (Devon) - Pilchard Inn, and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A smuggler by trade, Crocker met his match outside the pub, where he was shot dead (by customs or by rivals, we do not know). He returns on that fateful day. Other sources state that he was hanged.

A phantom woman.

Misty Lady

Location: Rock (Northumberland) - Area between Rock and South Charlton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 15 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This mournful spirit makes the journey between Rock and South Charlton once a year, marking the death of her husband.

The ghost of Bertha Rosaca.

Pregnant Nun

Location: Clophill (Bedfordshire) - 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.

Old Man Bern being Chased

Location: Reedham (Norfolk) - High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 21 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Chased through the village by an angry ghostly mob, the shade of Bern is said to reach the river before jumping into a boat and making his escape.

Figure of a Hooded Person

Location: Maldon (Essex) - Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 22 August (reoccurring) (some sources say 11 August)
Further Comments: Just one of many spooky happenings at Beeleigh Abbey, this spook has been observed standing in a corner of the James Room. The entity could be a monk or the ghost of John Gate, executed in 1553 for supporting Lady Jane Grey. Either way, the ghost can be heard screaming and crying throughout the building. A poltergeist has also been reported opening a trapdoor and vibrating beds.

Waiting Woman

Location: Belaugh (Norfolk) - Riverside
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 24 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A woman in a white dress is said to wait for her Viking lover by the riverside.

Monk, Betrayer of the Abbey

Location: Ludham (Norfolk) - St. Benet's Abbey, ruins close to River Bure
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 May (reoccurring) (monk), 10 August 2019 (dog)
Further Comments: Now little more than rubble, the site of the old abbey is home to the ghost of the monk who betrayed his brothers to Norman soldiers - the troops later hanged him anyway. Two people out investigating the ghostly monk spotted a large black dog-like creature, the size of a small horse, running towards the church. The two witnesses quickly left the area.

Spontaneous Combusting Rat Catchers

Location: Beccles (Suffolk) - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: To remove the rats and the Black Death from their village, three men sold their souls to a group of witches. The men played musical instruments as they walked down the road, the rats followed them, and all disappeared into hell. They are allowed a brief respite once a year.

Waving White Lady in a Coach

Location: Hockley (Essex) - Road outside the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August (possibly) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: After losing control of the horses, a coach driver and his female passenger died. Now, the phantom vehicle is seen outside the church; the white woman in the carriage waves at witnesses before the coach pulls away and the accident is repeated.

Hanging Highlanders

Location: Newton le Willows (Merseyside) - Hermitage Green Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Caught by Cromwellian troops, these Highlanders were immediately hanged on the surrounding trees. The sound of running can be heard around the anniversary of the executions. A couple of people here in January 1990 heard loud drumming which moved down the lane, though nothing could be seen.

Large Black Dog

Location: Halesowen (West Midlands) - High Street area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A local legend says that the area where the Saxon church once stood is home to a large black dog which glides around. Its howls are prevalent throughout August.

Joseph Bexfield

Location: Thurlton (Norfolk) - Marshes
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Bexfield drowned in August 1809, after following a Jack O'Lantern (now known to be burning marsh gas). His ghost is said to be still out on the marshes, looking for the way home.

Screaming

Location: Colwinston (South Glamorgan) - Pwyllywrach Manor
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: August, first Monday of the month (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Cries and screams can be heard from a man torn into small pieces by hell hounds. The echoes can be heard once a year.

A folklore favourite - the phantom funeral procession.

Funeral and Piper

Location: Auchtertool (Fife) - Pathway once known as Lady's Walk, heading towards the kirk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Exact date not known, but one night in August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Carrying a shrouded coffin at shoulder height, a phantom funeral procession led by a tartan clad piper crosses a field, heading towards the church from the direction of Hallyards Castle.

Tall Man with Fire for Eyes

Location: W6 (Greater London) - St Paul's Churchyard, Queen Caroline Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 03 August or July, prior to midnight, every fifty years (next in 2055)
Further Comments: First seen in 1805, the original witness is said to have died of shock shortly after seeing the towering figure whose eyes gleamed with fire. Since then, no further reports have emerged, other than mistaken identities.

Healing Waters

Location: Loch Monar (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Varies: first Mondays of February, May, August and November
Further Comments: If entered on certain days of the year, the waters of this Loch would heal the sick on the proviso that the Loch was entered three times at midnight and the water then sipped, before a coin was thrown in. The sick would then have to leave the site before the sun came up.

Victorian Woman

Location: Sudeley (Gloucestershire) - Sudeley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: reputedly during August & September, but last seen May 1983
Further Comments: It is always around these two months that a ghostly housemaid is seen cleaning and dusting, dressed in Victorian working garb. A visiting American Professor reported encountering her during a visit to the castle. Other reported ghosts here include a woman in a green dress and a man with a hawk perched on his arm.