The Paranormal Database

Cursed Chest

Location: Morwenstow - Stanbury Manor
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The chest is supposed to contain an evil presence that moves furniture around. Two old women who owned the chest prior to its delivery at the Stanbury are said to have been struck deaf when they first opened it and released the spirit hidden inside.

Short Balding Man

Location: Morwenstow - Tonacombe Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This short man, dressed in black and lacking in the hair department, is only one of several apparitions found in this manor house. A phantom woman in Elizabethan clothing carries a large bunch of keys, another ghostly woman is more mist than substance, and the sound of something (or someone) can be heard being dragged around along the floor.

The Wizard's Stone

Location: Mousehole - Merlyn's Rock
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This rock is named after Merlin the Wizard, who also predicted that the town of Mousehole would be burnt to the ground (it was, by the Spanish in the late sixteenth century).

The Ship Inn, Mousehole.

Moving Pint

Location: Mousehole - The Ship Inn
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 05 October 2012, around 16:00h
Further Comments: While sitting around a table with four other people, one witness said their pint and mobile phone both moved five inches across the table unaided. A phantom modern dressed man was said to have once appeared during the twentieth century, vanishing when a member of staff tried to talk to him.

Giant Quoit

Location: Mulfra - Dolmen
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The pile of rocks is said to be the discarded remains of stones used by giants during a game of quoits.

Short Pink Lady

Location: Mullion - Bochym Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This petite figure lost her potential husband after her father killed him in a duel, her distressed ghost being unable to leave the earth until this wrong is put to right. The duel itself is also reported to be replayed on the driveway.

Summoned Spirits

Location: Mullion - Vicarage
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1630s
Further Comments: A maid at Thomas Flavel's vicarage opened one of his books on necromancy and was instantly 'seized by spirits'. Flavel was fetched from the church where he was conducting a service - the Reverend grabbed the book and read aloud (in reverse) the words the girl had looked at, freeing the maid from the spirits' grasp, although the girl displayed evidence of the spirits' abuse. Ironically, Flavel returned to the area in 1682 - another vicar had to lay his ghost.

Emerald Eyed Cat

Location: Mylor Bridge - Between Mylor Bridge and Carclew
Type: ABC
Date / Time: February 2000
Further Comments: A large cat walked over to a stationary car and stared into the driver's eyes, face to face, through the side window. The creature then took off into the night.

Giant's Home

Location: Nancledra - Cottage (no longer standing) by the brook
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown, but cottage ruins said to visible in early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This giant was said to eat to occasional child and pass time by throwing rocks at other giants who lived nearby.

Young Woman

Location: Newquay - Area between Towan beach and Belushi's public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a woman was killed when an old smugglers' tunnel collapsed while she was exploring it during the 1930s. Now people in the area hear a woman crying and occasionally glimpse her floating apparition.

Flying Horse

Location: Newquay - Barrowfields
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This barrow is home to a headless horseman who travels several metres above the ground.

Doctor Pusey

Location: Newquay - Crantock Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: A theologian in life, the ghost of Pusey has been reported sitting by a window deep in thought. A guest at the house tried to speak to him, mistaking the phantom as a real person. It was only after she complained to the owner about the 'rude man' that she was informed he was only a ghost.

Older Lady

Location: Newquay - Fistral Backpackers (no longer present)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An employee spotted the reflection of an older woman wearing a flowery dress walk past behind them. The witness spun around, but no one else was there. At a different time, the same witness also heard their name whispered when cleaning an empty room.

Smoking Man

Location: Newquay - Golf Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cleaners in the bar report the smell of smoke, although the site is non-smoking and no one is present. A former owner of the site was also spotted in the bar - he vanished from a locked room, leaving a shattered glass and broken bottle of scotch for a rather confused member of staff to clean up.

Newquay Harbour.

Vanishing Boat

Location: Newquay - Harbour
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009 (last encountered?)
Further Comments: Late on a calm evening, a fishing boat came across an old boat close to the harbour. The crew of the fishing boat pulled alongside the vessel and found it empty. They called the harbourmaster, believing the craft to have broken free of its moorings. The crew were told the vessel had been lost at sea eighteen years previous, and when the men left the cabin to double check the old boat, it had vanished. I was told that most locals know about the boat, but do not mention it, believing the vessel to be cursed.

Ringing Bell

Location: Newquay - Headland Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-twenty-first century, at 02:00h every Sunday
Further Comments: Workers in the basement at the hotel would hear a servant's bell ring at the same time early Sunday morning, even though the bells were disconnected. Other workers would hear a little girl calling out their names, and a child would occasionally be seen running around. It is also claimed that phantom nurses haunt the site, from the time during the Second World War when the RAF used the building as a hospital.

Blinding Light

Location: Newquay - Old Headland area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A floating light is said to unnerve local fishermen as it moves along the path before vanishing neat the old lifeguard and boatyard. One story is that the light belonged to a smuggler, trying to wreck unsuspecting craft.

Fisherman

Location: Newquay - Red Lion
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2003
Further Comments: A visitor to the pub claimed to see an old fisherman cross the courtyard of this building. Staff were left mystified when three sets of shutters unclasped themselves and closed over the windows, with CCTV picking no one in the area.

Misty Ladies

Location: Newquay - Trerice manor house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These indistinct figures have been reported around the building, sometimes trailing the scent of perfume.

Abbey House, Padstow.

Elizabethan Woman

Location: Padstow - Abbey House, North Quay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sad spectre drifts around the house, travelling up the staircase from the basement and vanishing in the oldest part of the building.

Haunted beach of Padstow.

Rowing

Location: Padstow - Beach north of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, possibly twenty-first century
Further Comments: The sound of oars passing through the water has been heard after sunset, although the rowing boats creating the noise are never seen.

Animated Statues

Location: Padstow - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Stone statues of a lion, unicorn, and knight gave chase to a young girl after she chanted the rhyme, 'Reefy, reefy rum, without teeth or tongue; if you'll have me, now I am a-come'.

Cross House Hotel, Padstow.

Snoring

Location: Padstow - Cross House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, possibly twenty-first century
Further Comments: Snoring was heard coming from an empty bed, while others have reported footsteps and bangs coming from empty rooms late at night.

Mother Ivey's Curse

Location: Padstow - Field near the Hellyer's farmhouse, Harlyn Bay
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Sixteenth century
Further Comments: Mother Ivey (or Ivy), a local wise woman, cursed this land after pilchards that could have been used to feed starving villagers were used to fertilise the field. She reportedly said if the soil were broken, death would soon follow. Whoever digs up any of the field is reputed to suffer soon afterwards. The story was carried by the popular UK press once it emerged that Conservative leader David Cameron had booked a holiday on the 'cursed' land.

Selling Point

Location: Padstow - Former Livery Stable (exact location not known)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown - 1967?
Further Comments: A 1967 estate agent advert for a former stable in the town centre claimed the site had a 'mischievous poltergeist', although offered no further information.