The Paranormal Database

Cries of the Trapped

Location: SE13 (Greater London) - Lewisham Station, & St Johns area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A crash in 1957, caused partly by fog, killed ninety people and injured over one hundred. It is their cries which can be heard on the anniversary on the accident. Another version of the story says the phantom screams date to the Second World War.

Emily

Location: Haworth (West Yorkshire) - Haworth Parsonage, surrounding moor land, the path to Bronte waterfall, and former Weaver's Restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The famous abode of the Bronte Sisters, it is Emily who now haunts the grounds, her head bowed as in deep thought and meditation. She suddenly vanishes if anyone who comes too close. The apparition may appear several days either side of the date given.

Footfalls Down the Stairs

Location: Great Baddow (Essex) - White Horse Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 20 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The site of a murder on a distant December day has resulted in ghostly footsteps coming down the attic stairs once a year.

Woman with Child

Location: Neville's Cross (Durham) - Lane in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 21 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The lane is home to a phantom woman murdered on the site. She is said to be sometimes accompanied by a strange looking child who possesses an oversized head. During the nineteenth century she was said to appear in or on waggons and carts passing through the area.

Meeting Point

Location: Bishops Castle (Shropshire) - Stiperstones (aka Stiper Stones)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 21 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: It is a curious local legend that states that once a year all the ghosts in the UK meet at the stones, one assumes for their AGM. Another story says that if the stones ever sink into the earth, England shall be ruined; the Devil occasionally sits on the stones to speed up the process.

White Lady

Location: Lower Boscaswell (Cornwall) - Pendeen Vau, aka Pendeen Fogou
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 21 or 22 December (Winter Solstice) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This figure in white holds a red rose in her mouth and turns and walks into the fogou once spotted. Some say to see her will bring misfortune, and anyone foolish enough to follow her... well, no one as yet has followed her.

Battle of Edgehill Repeating

Location: Kineton (Warwickshire) - Edgehill Battle site
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 October (reoccurring), also 23 December 1642, lasting several nights
Further Comments: A bloody battle of the English Civil War, the fighting repeated itself for several successive nights in 1642, in front of dozens of witnesses. More recently, sounds of battle have been reported, though the visuals are not forthcoming. The date of the more recent battle sounds is said to be 23 October.

Sound of Hooves & Screams

Location: Kempston (Bedfordshire) - 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.

Coach and Horses

Location: Wokingham (Berkshire) - Bill Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing at midnight on Christmas Eve, a phantom coach pulled by four ghostly horses travelled along this road. Another story (or a variant of the first) states a spectral horse would charge along the road dragging chains which bounced along the ground.

The Eloped

Location: Abbey West (County Clare) - Corcomroe Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Poet Cearbhall O' Dalaigh eloped with Eibhlin Kavanagh, the King of Scotland's daughter, and they tried to marry at midnight on Christmas Eve. The King followed the pair, catching up and murdering the couple in the Abbey, where their ghosts now appear once a year.

Farmer on Pony Back

Location: Egremont (Cumbria) - Tarpot area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This old man vanished without trace when returning home from an inn on a long forgotten Christmas Eve - both he and his ride are occasionally seen on the anniversary of the mystery.

Farm Girl

Location: Brough (Derbyshire) - Traveller's Rest public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The pub is haunted by a local farm girl who died after falling down the stairs trying to escape a drunken labourer on Christmas Eve. A phantom woman in black has also been seen drifting around the inn holding a large set of old fashioned keys.

Harp Player

Location: Stubley (Derbyshire) - Stubley Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing once a year, the shade of Fatima gently pucks her harp strings. A Roundhead has been reported less regularly, while a young girl skips around the fields outside.

Abigail in her Carriage

Location: High Laver (Essex) - Main road through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Abigail Masham spent her remaining years in the village. Her residence is now gone, and Abigail passes through the village in a carriage once a year to have a quick, sad look at where her house once stood before disappearing.

Grey Monk

Location: Salford (Greater Manchester) - Kersal Cell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The misty shade of a monk appears but once a year.

Gilbert

Location: Marden (Kent) - Road to Hawkhurst
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Gilbert, an eighteenth century highwayman who tried to rob a coach, was stabbed to death by one of the occupants after she recognised him as having killed her brother. The killing drove the woman mad. The scene was said to silently re-enact every Christmas Eve.

Ringing Bells

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Site of old monastery (estimated to be A59 / Friargate area)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Local legend says that a church which once stood here sunk into the earth and its bells can be heard to ring on Christmas Eve.

Devil

Location: Stony Hurst (Lancashire) - Cromwell Bridge
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil is reputed to cross the bridge once a year - if he looks you in the eye, he'll take your soul!

A painting of Lady Jane Grey.

Lady Jane Grey

Location: Newtown Linford (Leicestershire) - Bradgate Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: Raised here as a child, Lady Jane's tormented shade now haunts both the mansion and the grounds surrounding the building. One ghost story says that she arrives in a coach pulled by four black headless horses at the ruins of Bradgate on Christmas Eve.

Black Lady

Location: Bradley (Lincolnshire) - Bradley Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Said by some to be a phantom nun and by others to be a woodsman's wife, local legend says this woman dressed in black will appear on Christmas Eve if one calls out 'Black Lady, Black Lady, I've stolen your baby!'.

Lost Lady

Location: Brigg (Lincolnshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: An old lady who left her house to beg for money to buy her Christmas lunch became lost in the snow and fog, freezing to death. Her ghost is sometimes seen, asking for directions home.

Radley

Location: Halam (Nottinghamshire) - Valley southeast of village
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The buried village of Radley is hidden somewhere in this area, and long vanished church bells can be heard on Christmas Eve.

Coach & Four

Location: Sandford on Thames (Oxfordshire) - Fields around the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Driven by a headless horseman, a coach moving at breakneck speed pulled by four horses tear around fields near the village on the night before Christmas.

Lost Bell

Location: Shrewsbury (Shropshire) - Bomere Pool
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Several stories surround this pool. In one, a village once stood here, but the villagers mocked God, He sent forth a storm that flooded the area. The church bell can now be heard peeling once a year. Another story says the pool is home to a massive fish - it was caught only once, but escaped, taking the sword of the fisherman (or knight) with him. He now uses the sword to cut any net which falls near him. The final story says the pool is bottomless, and that when any attempt to drain the pool is made, the waters always return overnight.

Coach

Location: Holford (Somerset) - Normansland driveway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing on the stroke of midnight, this coach pulled by a team of black horses circles the driveway before mysteriously vanishing again.