The Paranormal Database

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 featured 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 identified the phantom 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 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 it 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.

Rapping

Location: Townshend - Unidentified house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early 1930s
Further Comments: A 1934 newspaper referenced a property in the village that had become haunted by loud raps.

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.

Giant's Home

Location: Treen - Treryn Dinas Cliff Fort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Fort still present
Further Comments: The exact details vary from story to story, but most agree that three giants lived at the fort, a husband, wife, and younger giant; the latter eventually murdered the husband. Folklore also places fairies in the area, and witches would use the edge of the rock as a launching point.

Maidens

Location: Tregeseal - Dancing Stones
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Folklore says these stones were once maidens who were transformed to stone.

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.

Cliff Dancers

Location: Trevone - Newtrain Bay
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before the cliffs eroded away, fairies were said to dance on the edge so often that the grass never grew, and tiny footprints could be seen in the dirt.

Tom

Location: Truro - Armoury and Sergeant Major's house (no longer present), and house along Charles Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1821
Further Comments: A poltergeist became the main suspect when windows and crockery in the armoury and sergeant major's family home were smashed. The military investigated and were beaten back by stones. The family moved to Charles Street but the breaking of the windows followed them. Local surgeon Dr Potts investigated the case and accused Tom, the son of the Sergeant Major, of the activity. Tom confessed.

Raining Stones

Location: Truro - Carlow Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: April 1821
Further Comments: A house along this road was bombarded with stones that fell from the air. Neighbours and the town mayor were so alarmed that the army was called out to protect the house from the 'people' who were throwing the missiles, but the source of the projectiles was not found.

Shadows

Location: Truro - Comprigney field (outskirts)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: In this field once stood a gibbet - some say that the rattling chains of the device can still be heard late at night, and shadowy figures dart around the area.