The Paranormal Database

End of the World

Location: St Levan - St Levan's Stone, in village churchyard
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: St Levan hit this rock with his bare hands and broke it in two large pieces. He declared that when the gap grew big enough to let a horse through, the world would come to an end. In another part of the graveyard, one can find the tombstone of Captain Wetherel, who can be heard ringing his ship's bell from within his coffin.

A devil hacks a field with a scythe. Woodcut, circa 1700-1720.

Mowing Contest

Location: St Mabyn - Exact location not known
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil and the village smith had a hay mowing contest in the village. Unbeknown to Old Nick, the smith planted obstacles (most likely iron stakes) in the Devil's half of the field, ensuring the Devil's scythe quickly became blunt. Enraged, Old Nick threw his whetstone at the smith - it missed and landed in a field where it remained for some time before being removed.

An old postcard of St Mawgan in Cornwall.

Moved

Location: St Mawgan - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: During construction, the Devil moved the stones each night to where the church now stands.

RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall.

Large Black Puma

Location: St Mawgan - RAF St Mawgan
Type: ABC
Date / Time: April 2004
Further Comments: Military surveillance equipment was set up around the airbase following several reports of a large black cat seen on the site. A spokesperson said that the RAF would make 'every possible attempt to ensure it is captured humanely'. Even though a professional tracker was called in, the creature was never caught.

Four Poster Bed

Location: St Michael's Mount - Castle
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A four poster bed in the castle is reported to be cursed - any child who sleeps in it never wakes up.

Engraving from 1804.

Cormoran

Location: St Michael's Mount - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mount was once home to this legendary beast (named by some as a seven foot giant), thought to have a single eye. It crossed to the mainland at low tide, helping itself to cattle for its food.

Horned Figure

Location: St Neot - Area around Hobbs Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies - see main text
Further Comments: An antlered figure of a man has been spotted in a nearby lane twice, once in 1998 and the other during the mid-1940s. ABCs have also been reported in the area and were last spotted in 2004 (even though sheep were attacked and eaten by a large carnivore in 2005). A pack of dogs were seen in 1992, which metamorphosed into falling leaves, and finally a farmer in the 1960s observed two elderly figures in old fashioned clothing standing by the edge of a field - they disappeared when the farmer climbed out of his tractor to speak to them.

Talking Crows

Location: St Neots - Crow Pound (aka Crowpound) earthwork
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: St Neot impounded irksome crows at this site, some of which learned to speak in human tongue during their imprisonment.

Elderly Lady in Flowery Dress

Location: Stithians - Kennall Vale woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2004
Further Comments: Two people out for a walk in the woods watched an elderly lady bending down ahead of them, appearing to be picking something up from the ground. The witnesses looked away from the woman briefly, during which time she quickly vanished. The area is also said to be haunted by mill workers.

Ranulph

Location: Stratton - Blanchminster Castle (were ruins in a field, current status not known), located at Binhamy grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When this knight returned from the crusades, he discovered his wife had thought him dead, and had remarried. He spent his remaining days living rough in the land around the castle, and his ghost can be seen in the former moat. One version of the story says that his ghost takes the form of a hare.

Black Coach

Location: Talland - Bocaddon Moor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1731
Further Comments: This area of moorland was haunted by a black carriage pulled by two black, headless mares. The entity was never seen again after the Reverend Doidge exorcised the entity.

Moving Stones

Location: Talland - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is reported that construction on the church began further inland, but each night the foundation stones were moved by unseen hands - hence the church now stands here.

Silver Bell

Location: Tintagel - Nathan's Keeve (pool of water and waterfall two miles south of Tintagel, name may have changed since report)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Story circa mid nineteenth century
Further Comments: A silver bell was briefly found in this pool, but as one man blasphemed, the bell fell back in and could not be recovered.

Noah

Location: Tintagel - Old Post Office
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: According to the custodian, a room in the former post office is haunted by a spirit known as Mrs Noah, a name which was spelled out in Morse code by a flickering light. A visitor once fled the building after seeing a ghostly old woman lying in an upstairs bed.

An old postcard showing Tintagel Castle.

Merlin

Location: Tintagel - Tintagel Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A place featuring in Arthurian legend (Arthur is said to have been born here), the cave under the castle is said to be the one time home of Merlin. His spirit now shows a reluctance to leave the place. A ghostly horseman was reported by one witness, who promptly named the spirit as King Arthur.

Young Boy

Location: Tintagel - Wootons Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a boy who died of died from consumption reputedly haunts the inn and may be responsible for disembodied footsteps heard on the site. As a sidenote, a standing stone is visible from the inn's garden.

Sea Serpent

Location: Tintangel - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1907
Further Comments: A student and a chaplain watched a large sea beast swim by while watching from this point.

Helen's Mother

Location: Torpoint - Antony House
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: October 1880
Further Comments: A maid watching over the very sick Helen Alexandra saw the woman's mother enter the room and stand by her daughter's side. The maid turned to measure some medicine, and when she turned back the mother had vanished. Helen died a few hours later, and two days after the death, Helen's mother arrived; the maid was able to point her out, though she had never seen the mother prior to the death of Helen.

Stone Thief

Location: Towednack - Church tower
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The tower's shortness is explained away by the story that Old Nick turned up each night during construction and knocked down the day's work. The builders finally grew tired of the conflict and put the roof on at the height is now.

Spirits

Location: Towednack - Old mine known as Wheal Sperris
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mine had a reputation of being home to spirits, but the finer points of the haunting are not known.

A shipwrecked sailor, sitting on the ruins of his ship while holding a fishing rod.

Shipwrecked Sailors

Location: Trebarwith Strand - Blackways Cove
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The spooks here are thought to have died on the nearby rocks, though one tale states that one of the ghosts is that of a jealous man who burnt down his brother's farm.

Quoits

Location: Tredinnick - Lanivet (or Lesquite) Quoit
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The capstone of this dolmen was thrown into position by the Devil whilst playing quoits.

A pixie, taken from 'The Piskey-purse, Legends and Tales of North Cornwall' by Enys Tregarthen.

Dinky Men

Location: Tregoss Moor - General area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: Named 'Dinky Men' by an older woman who lived in a cottage on the moor, these Cornish piskeys would help the woman and her grandchild when assistance was needed. Other visitors to the moor would be less fortunate; they would be pixie led into the bogs.

Piskie Kidnapping

Location: Treonike (now St Allen, Truro) - Nearby woodland
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young local boy was taken one night by the fairies but found several days later alive and well. He said that a beautiful lady had taken him into a fantastic palace where he had fallen asleep, only to wake up to see his rescuers.

Monk in Brown Habit

Location: Trethevy - Hotel and Old Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Murdered in the area hundreds of years ago, this shade has been mistaken for a 'flesh and blood' person several times.