Channel Islands Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Man in Raincoat
Location: St Helier - Conway Street and New Cut
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A policeman spotted a figure wearing a raincoat walk out of New Cut who looked a little strange. The policeman followed the figure as he walked and turned into Bond Street, but as the policeman turned into the road, the figure had vanished.
Man
Location: St Helier - House along St James Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A widow and her daughter were reported to have experienced some classic polt antics, including objects being thrown across rooms and a cold presence in the daughter's bedroom.
Smells
Location: St Helier - House along St Johns Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s and 1940s
Further Comments: This house was said to be so haunted by strange smells and sounds that no one would live in it for long. German forces took over the property in the 1940s, but once again, soldiers would move out within a few months of taking up occupancy. By the time people moved back in during the 50s, the haunting had ceased.
Teacher
Location: St Helier - House along Winchester Street
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghost of a teacher was briefly seen in the house where she lodged by a family member who had briefly moved back.
Bells
Location: St Helier - Off the Coast, heading towards Minquiers
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that in 1551 all the church bells in Jersey were removed and shipped to France. Unfortunately, they did not make it; the vessel carrying the bells sank shortly after departing. It is now said that anyone who hears the bells while out at sea will not be returning to land.
Old Lady
Location: St Helier - Property along Beresford Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: This property was said to be haunted by an unpleasant elderly woman who perched herself on a chair at the top of the staircase.
Petrified Horse
Location: St John - Bonne Nuit
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Anne-Marie and William were lovers, but a sea sprite had also fallen in love with Anne-Marie and planned to kill William. The creature transformed itself into a white horse and waited in William's stable. William however had dreamt that the horse was dangerous, so when he mounted the creature in the morning, William ensured he had a branch of mistletoe upon himself. Sure enough, as William rode his horse close to the beach, the creature galloped into the sea to drown him. William whipped out his mistletoe and struck the sprite, turning it into a rock which remains to this day. Probably.
Blinded
Location: St John - Lavoir des Dames
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The fairies which were believed to live bathe here would strike anyone blind who spotted them. The area is also said to be home to spooky noises, although the source is unknown.
The Bride
Location: St Lawrence - Waterworks Valley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a year, on an unconfirmed night, a team of six horses draw a coach containing a faceless bride. During her lifetime, the bride is said to have jilted at the altar, resulting in her suicide a short time later. Now in death her ghost drives around the area looking for the man who betrayed her.
Geffroy
Location: St Martin - Geoffroy's Leap (aka Geoffrey's Leap)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Geffroy was thrown off the cliff by a crowd for an unknown crime but survived the fall and swam back to land. The crowd argued whether to throw Geffroy back off or let him go. Geffroy volunteered to jump off, but the second time he died on the rocks below. His ghost is said to haunt the area regretting his error.
William
Location: St Martin - Mont Orgueil castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009
Further Comments: One charity ghost hunt at this castle channelled the spirit of William, who was executed in the seventeenth century for a murder that he did not commit.
Woman on the Edge
Location: St Martin - Private residence in region of St Catherine's Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 07 November 2016
Further Comments: A man sitting on the bed noticed a woman who he assumed was his girlfriend also sitting on the edge, wearing a black dress. A few moments later, his girlfriend walked into the room... The witness was reportedly not scared by the incident, and found it calming.
Sea Sounds
Location: St Mary - Devils Hole
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A wooden devil figurehead from a ship once stood here, and although the first was stolen and burned, a modern replacement exist. Although some modern tales relate the crashing of the sea from the holes to legends, there is little to suggest people ever thought the noise was related to the Devil.
Moaning Children
Location: St Ouen - Greve de Lecq, rocks known as the Paternosters
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Prior to a storm
Further Comments: A ship on route to Sark collided with another boat and sank with all on board drowning. Several of the dead were children, and it is said that these youngsters can now be heard moaning when a storm front is moving in.
White Woman
Location: St Ouen - Rue à la Pendue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1900
Further Comments: La blianche femme, or white woman, is reputed to haunt this road. She gave chase to a local man in 1900, who had to take shelter in a house close by.
Soldiers
Location: St Ouen - Vinchelez Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom soldiers were said to haunt this lane.
Mr Blondel
Location: St Peter in the Wood - Church at St Pierre du Bois and rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Mr Blondel left instructions that on his deathbed the church bell should be tolled to show his passing. However, when Blondel died the bell remained silent, so his ghost took to climbing the church tower and throwing crockery around in the rectory kitchen. Thirteen members of clergy gathered and locked the ghost in a cupboard.
Three Horsemen
Location: St Peter Port - Colborne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1900
Further Comments: Three figures riding white horses were said to gallop loudly down the hill.
Soldier
Location: St Peter Port - Elizabeth College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend says this college is home to a phantom Nazi soldier and, perhaps more tongue in cheek, to a student who was accidently locked in the library over the summer holidays and starved to death.
Floating Shadow
Location: St Peter Port - Flat in the vicinity of Berthelot Street and Lefebvre Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1972-1973
Further Comments: Over a period of nine months, a shadowy entity had manifested six times to one witness. The entity would hover over the witness and touch her right arm before vanishing. Two visiting mediums had said that the entity was either a sailor or pirate who had once lived on the site.
Old Woman
Location: St Peter Port - Former garden at the corner of Berthelot Street and Lefebvre Street (no longer present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This phantom older woman, wearing old fashioned clothing was observed close to the former garden by a nearby house owner, whose own home in turn was haunted by a tall, cloaked man.
Woman
Location: St Peter Port - Hauteville House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: Prior to Victor Hugo moving into the property, this house was empty due to the belief that it was haunted by the ghost of a woman who committed suicide.
Woman
Location: St Peter Port - Havilland Vale
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa late nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man decided to follow a female phantom who was known locally for walking through the area at night, who would stop to wring her before vanishing. The man marked the spot where she disappeared and returned the following day. Digging at the spot with friends, they discovered the skeleton of a baby. When the bones were buried in a churchyard, the ghost never returned.
Cricket Bat
Location: St Peter Port - La Longue Rocque (aka Grande Pierre) (standing stone)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: Children would be told that this 350 centimetre tall stone was a giant's cricket bat, thrust into the earth after another giant refused to fetch the ball during their game. One story says the site is also haunted by an old woman manifesting on moonlit nights.
Headless People
Location: St Peter Port - Lane east of La Longue Rocque (aka Grande Pierre) (standing stone)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark winter nights
Further Comments: Several headless people are said to hurry up and down this lane during the winter months.
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