The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Cornish Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Woman Speaking Old English

Location: Veryan - Unstated road in village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 January 2004, midnight
Further Comments: This witness was chased by two strange characters: a man waving a flaming torch, and a woman groaning, and shouting about the end of the world. They appeared to be arguing, but when his presence was known, the figures chased him for several hundred metres - they made no sound while moving, but the witness stated that he could hear howling wolves.

Treasure Boat

Location: Veryan Beacon - Barrow
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A golden boat with silver oars was once believed to be buried in the area. The craft was used by the Cornish giant Gerennius. The barrow was opened in 1855, and no treasure found.

Tapping

Location: Veryan Green - Unidentified property
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2024
Further Comments: Knocks and taps have been heard in the house and a figure seen in windows.

The Devil Can't Hide

Location: Veryan in Roseland - Round cottages in the village
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The round cottages found in the village were built thusly so the devil could not conceal himself in the corners. A cross was also placed in all the roofs, guaranteeing that he could not carry them away either.

White Rabbit

Location: Wadebridge - Egloshayle church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nights of the full moon (reoccurring)
Further Comments: When the moon is brightest, the ghostly rabbit bolts across the churchyard and vanishes into the boundary wall. Another entity that haunts the churchyard is that of a man who tried to shoot the rabbit with a shotgun but managed to kill himself with the weapon instead!


An old postcard of Wadebridge.

Wallaroo

Location: Wadebridge - Exact location not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: September 2007
Further Comments: This medium-sized marsupial was spotted in Cornwall.

Cold Hand

Location: Wadebridge - Lower Treneague Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom hand which tries to grab the hand of anyone who tries to settle down for the night may belong to a young girl who died nearby.


Molesworth Arms Hotel, Wadebridge.

Coach and Four

Location: Wadebridge - Molesworth Arms Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Materialising in the courtyard, this phantom coach driven by a decapitated coachman leaves via the hallway. While some people are said to have seen the apparition, others can only hear it pass by.

Male Voice

Location: Wadebridge - Pengenna Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A relative of an owner once had her named called out by a male voice. Upon searching the house, she found it to be empty. The site has been used by ghost hunting events teams, and it is claimed shadowy figures have been seen and disembodied footsteps heard.

Drunken Monks

Location: Wadebridge - Treneague Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small group of ghostly monks gather in the cottage to consume their home brew.


An old postcard of Wadebridge.

Coach and Horses

Location: Wadebridge - Trewornan Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Once per year, on a night of a full moon (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Moving at breakneck speed, a phantom team of horses pulling a coach race across the bridge before vanishing on the other side.

Giant Grave

Location: Warbstow - Warbstow Bury hillfort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A local giant, murdered by another large fellow, is said to be buried here. A storm is reputed to blow up if the grave is disturbed.

Reverend F W Densham

Location: Warleggan - St Bartholomew's Church, pathway leading to the vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s onward
Further Comments: The Reverend Densham was not a popular man within the local community, and after dying in 1953, it could be that his ghost is seeking redemption with the villagers.

Buried Treasure

Location: Wendron - Bodilly Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The original building which stood here was haunted by three ghostly figures, though they departed after one old lady spoke to them. Before leaving, as a reward for her kindness, the ghosts informed the woman that a wealth of treasure was buried under the farmhouse. Unfortunately, a series of accidents prevented the hoard being discovered, and now the area has been concreted over.

Crossroad Ghost

Location: Wendron - Crossroads about 800 metres from village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Buried at this junction after he committed suicide, this shade (named Jan Tucker by some) came back. The ghost would compel one local farmer to visit every night and would leap upon the farmer's horse. The Rev Mr Jago soon laid the ghost to rest.

Young Couple

Location: Wendron - Unnamed lane in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young couple were seen by many walking along the road, but could never be reached - no matter how fast witnesses ran or drove their horses after them. Two parsons heard the story, took a pony and trap along the road and, when the ghostly couple appeared, managed to catch up and run the phantoms over.

Doctor John Pussey

Location: West Pentire - Manor House guest house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 April 2004
Further Comments: A former vicar, Dr Pussey now looks from the lounge window overlooking the garden. He also has a habit of moving items around the guest house and causing unexplained banging, as a married couple discovered while staying in the building while on holiday - the entire household was woken by a huge crash from the kitchen, though on investigation nothing was found broken or moved.

Officer on Horseback

Location: Wheal Vor - Godolphin Area
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two hunters reported seeing a locally known Captain riding his horse over the warren, even though several months had passed since the officer's death.

Wild Hunt

Location: Yeolmbridge - Village bridge
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local man once crossed the bridge as the wild hunt was coming the other way - he was warned that if he ever passed that way again, he would die. For many years he avoided the area, until the day he grabbed a lift from a stranger who crossed the bridge... He was found dead soon after.

Footsteps

Location: Yeovil - Chicago Rock nightclub
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: The staff at this nightclub claimed that footsteps could be heard in empty parts of the building and small kitchen items would move unaided.

Bobby Griglans

Location: Zennor - Area referred to as Trendraen Hill, although likely to be Trendrine Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1869
Further Comments: A man cutting gorse on the hill discovered a thirty centimetre long fairy. The man took the fairy home and allowed his children to play with it, who named the creature Bobby Griglans. After a few days, the fairy's parents came to take it back, referring to the fairy as 'Skillywidden'.

Serpent

Location: Zennor - Cairn which was known as 'Burning 'Mountain', on the road between Zennor and St Ives
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A serpent took up residence here and prevented people travelling to the St Ives market. The scrubland around the cairn was set ablaze, either killing the serpent or driving it away.

Mathew Trewhella

Location: Zennor - Church and Sea
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1400s?
Further Comments: A son of a church warden, Mathew Trewhella one day disappeared without trace. A sea captain later told the village folk that Mathew was with a mermaid, living under the sea.

Giant Ammunition

Location: Zennor - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The massive granite boulders which covered the area were thought to have been summoned by giants, who could call them out of the earth. As a side note, the tin works in the hamlet was once believed to have predated the biblical flood.


An old illustration of witches dancing with demons.

Witch Haven

Location: Zennor - General area of Trewa (aka Trewey)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring), although activity ceased 1800s
Further Comments: Robert Hunt wrote that once a year the entire local witch population would meet in Trewa and travel around the surrounding area to light fires on all monoliths and standing stones in the area. One stone was known as the Witches Stone and anyone who touched it nine times at midnight was warded against ill-luck. The stone was removed at some point in the nineteenth century.

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