The Paranormal Database

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.

Beer Thrower

Location: Penzance - Co-op store, Queen's Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2003
Further Comments: Mysterious footsteps have been heard moving around the store, while power cuts and items on the shelves moving after closing time have plagued management. Video footage showed a pack of beer moving itself from the shelves, landing on the floor below. The entity was thought to be an old woman, who has been seen by one staff member, though it was later said the reports were hoaxed by an employee after media attention.

Dolphin Inn, Penzance.

Captain in Tricorne

Location: Penzance - Dolphin Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This old seadog is said to have been hanged for a petty crime, and now puts in the occasional appearance in protest of his treatment.

Morrab Road, Penzance.

Shadowy Man

Location: Penzance - Former retirement home along Morrab Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid to late twentieth century
Further Comments: This building was once a doctor's surgery, and the ghostly figure observed within is thought to be the General Practitioner who once worked here.

Penzance Harbour.

Black Dog

Location: Penzance - Harbour area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hound makes itself known only to those who will soon die.

Previous Servants

Location: Penzance - Kenegie House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: The disembodied voices and laughter coming from the kitchen could be the Victorian maids having a moment of jolly, while the woman in black who drifts along the corridors resembles a former housekeeper. It's not clear if these hauntings predate the visit from Parson Polkinghorne, Vicar of Lelant, as it was said that he banished all ghosts from the property.

Mermaids

Location: Perranuthnoe - Cudden Point, off the coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area is another haunt for the Cornish merfolk.

Missing Teeth

Location: Perranzabuloe - Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An old woman who found a set of false teeth in this churchyard took them home. She was awoken while sleeping the following night by a phantom voice which demanded 'give me back my teeth!' - she threw the dentures out of her bedroom window, and never heard from the ghost again.

Wet Man

Location: Phillack - Buck of Blood inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This building is said to be haunted by a monk and a man dressed in wet ripped clothes. The latter ghost's body is said to have been discovered in a well on the site.

Old Car

Location: Pillaton - Lane leading to the Weary Friar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: Four people driving towards the Weary Friar pub encountered a 1900s car heading towards them. Two of the witnesses shouted a warning to the driver of the old car, but the vehicle vanished in front of them.

Friar

Location: Pillaton - Weary Friar public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: It was said that a phantom friar would appear on the staircase of the building. Ornaments would also swing behind the bar and sometimes guests complained of the loudness of the church clock - there was on clock.

Young Woman

Location: Polperro - Crumplehorn Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The inn is home to a young phantom woman and an elderly gentleman, although other accounts say the male phantom is a young soldier and the woman was his lover.

Lost Fisherman

Location: Polperro - Willy Willock's Hole (cave system)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: A local fisherman once died in the maze of caves located here - he can still be heard crying out for help when the atmospheric conditions are right.

Bloody Horse

Location: Pool - Road and tunnel close to South Crofty mine
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa October / November 1995, around 22:30h - 23:00h
Further Comments: Driving past the mine in bad weather, a driver and his passenger felt a strange negative sensation wash over them. The driver slammed on the brakes and as the car stopped, they spotted a bloody horse standing in the lights. The driver started to climb out of his car to move the horse out of the road, but the creature had gone - there was a steep drop to one side of the road and a wire fence to the other side.

Victorian Woman

Location: Port Isaac - B3314 towards Tintagel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: Pulling over after fearing she had hit an animal which had darted out in front of her car, H Talbot looked in her rear view mirror. In the middle of the road stood woman wearing Victorian-style clothing who stared at the driver before vanishing. Shaken, Ms Talbot drove away.

Madgy

Location: Porthgwarra - Madgy Figgy's Chair (rock formation)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local witch by the name of Madgy Figgy would fly through the area and land on this rock formation, using a lamp to lure ships towards her and their doom.

William's Return

Location: Porthgwarra - Off coast
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A regional story tells of a man whose lover gave him three years to try to make a living overseas, before returning home and taking her with him to his newfound fortune. Three years later he did return and take her away - however, locals soon found out that he had drowned some time before, and his ghost had returned to ensure her body joined his in the deep blue sea.