The Paranormal Database

Tamed Dragon

Location: Padstow - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Saint Petroc is said to have tamed a horrific dragon by placing a girdle about its neck before taking the beast to the beach and setting it free. The dragon swam away and was never seen again.

Padstow, Cornwall.

Little Horses

Location: Padstow - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two tiny horses and their riders would spring from a rooftop and ride around the streets and old marketplace when the clock struck midnight.

Kelliwic

Location: Padstow - Hillfort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This fort was once King Arthur's Kelliwic. Probably.

Marble Arch, Padstow.

Red Eyes

Location: Padstow - Marble Arch
Type: Other
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: After dropping a box of apples, one local lad was said to have spotted a pair of glowing red eyes staring at him out of the darkness.

Brown Deck Shoes

Location: Padstow - Meltham shoe shop (no longer a shoe shop)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2005
Further Comments: Two shop workers were terrorised by several poltergeist-like incidents revolving around a pair of deck shoes. The footwear would jump off the display stand in front of workers and move around at night. A priest called in to bless the shop failed to prevent the shoes from moving again. The ghost of a butcher who committed suicide in a nearby cattle shed was blamed.

Padstow Harbour, home to a mermaid.

Angry Mermaid

Location: Padstow - Padstow Harbour
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local tale states that the harbour here was silted up by a mermaid, more than a little upset after she was shot at by a fisherman. The area has also been home to sea serpents.

Prideaux Place, Cornwall.

Young Child

Location: Padstow - Prideaux Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small child has been spotted running into the pantry, but never comes back out. A green lady is also said to haunt the wooded area in the garden and a nearby cave. Finally, there is a local belief that if all the deer leave the park, then the house will leave the Prideaux family.

Falling Barrel

Location: Padstow - Rojano's restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, possibly twenty-first century
Further Comments: This location is said to be haunted by a former owner of the property. The ghost was said to have once thrown a barrel down a staircase.

Man

Location: Padstow - Ship Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, possibly twenty-first century
Further Comments: Father Chris was called in to bless the inn after a ghostly man was spotted standing by a bed.

St Petroc's, Padstow.

Annie Rawlings

Location: Padstow - St Petroc's (currently a restaurant)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Rawlings is said to have committed suicide in the nineteenth century when faced with being forced to move out of her home. Her pale, slim form is said to haunt the staircase and kitchen.

The White Hart, Padstow.

Wilfred

Location: Padstow - The White Hart (no longer an operational inn)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The haunting presence at this former inn was named Wilfred and was believed to be a priest who had died there a few years previous. Footsteps could be heard walking down the stairs, and a loud rasping sound came from one of the bedrooms.

Lady in Blue

Location: Par - Menabilly (or Rashleigh Manor)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: This entity was observed gazing out from a bedroom window, seen from the garden below.

Protected Stone

Location: Pelynt - St Nun's Well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A farmer once tried to steal this stone to use on his farm - halfway home with his booty, the chains used to drag the stone snapped, allowing the rock to roll back to its starting location. To further prove a point, the oxen used to move the stone all suddenly died, and the thieving farmer was crippled.

Older Woman in Old Clothing

Location: Pendeen - Route between Boscaswell to Trewellard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: A walker was passed by an older woman in a dark Victorian era dress. The figure looked solid.

Sunken Treasure

Location: Pengersick - Cudden Point
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ship laden with treasure is reported to have been lost in the time of Queen Elizabeth.

White Hare

Location: Pengersick - Former castle (on site of current castle)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former lord of the castle had an affair with a woman in a faraway land, who gave birth to a son. When the lord returned home (and back to his wife) the woman and child followed him. The lord threw his former lover and the child into the sea. The child survived and was picked up by a passing ship, but the woman drowned, returning as a white hare which haunted the lord for the rest of his life.

Children

Location: Penrose - Penrose Estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The estate was haunted by the shades of the victims of wreakers, some of whom were connected to the family.

Captain Martin

Location: Penryn - Church of St Gluvias
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Drowned at sea, the former bell ringer of St Gluvias who became a captain returned from his watery grave and now silently stands in the church. On occasion, he has been heard ringing the bells in the early hours of the morning.

Headless Horses

Location: Penryn - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Christmas Time (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Pulling a coach, this team of headless horses manifests around the season of goodwill. Legend states if stared at, it will whisk the witness away to the nether realm.

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

Witch

Location: Penwith - Hooting Cairn, also known as Carn Kenidjack
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The rocks on this hill are reportedly home to several ancient spirits, which protect the surrounding area from man. There are also stories about the Cairn being haunted by a witch named Old Moll, and another legend concerning two miners who were led to the site by the Devil who forced the men to watch a wrestling match between supernatural creatures.

Smoking Hooves

Location: Penzance - Beach
Type: Other
Date / Time: 15 July 1757
Further Comments: After an earthquake here, an area of the beach was discovered to be covered in small hoof prints, some smoking, and others spouting water. Some blamed the Devil, others a phantom horse and carriage that travels through the town.

An old postcard of Penzance in Cornwall.

Post Mortem Marriage

Location: Penzance - Beach and sea, Mount's Bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A married woman fell in love with a young sailor. Rather than undergo lengthy and unfavourable divorce proceedings, the woman murdered her husband. Not long after, she was arrested, and while awaiting trial, the woman and the sailor promised to marry regardless of the outcome. The woman's court appearance was brief; she was found guilty and quickly hanged. The sailor returned to work on his fishing boat and one night shortly after her death, the crew watched him jump into the sea. Even though his body was never found, the sailor's voice would be occasionally heard in the area whispering, 'I will...'. There are also reports of phantom bells that still peal under the sea.

Buzzing

Location: Penzance - Castle Acton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A priest staying in the castle reported hearing the buzzing of a bell that woke him up several times during the night - he was told that a former mistress had an electric buzzer connected to her maid's room should she require assistance, though this was removed when she had died. The priest had spent the night in the former maid's room.

Lady Margaret Borlase

Location: Penzance - Castle Horneck
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several ghosts are said to haunt the Georgian mansion including Lady Margaret Borlase. Another legend places the Mistletoe Bough story as happening on the site.

Chapel Street, Penzance.

Mrs Baines

Location: Penzance - Chapel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1800's
Further Comments: Baines was accidentally killed by a guard who she had hired to protect her property while away - turning up unexpected one night, Mrs Baines was shot by the surprised sentry as she shook apples down from a tree. Her shade reportedly wore a bonnet covering her face, haunting both her former home and a wall, upon which she would sit. A parson banished the ghost, moving it to nearby sandbanks, where it will remain for a thousand years.