The Paranormal Database

Headless Hound

Location: Beetham - Between village and Milnthrope, and surrounding countryside
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that if this large creature follows you, death is not far behind.

Capelthwaite

Location: Beetham - General area near the river Bela
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Circa 1820s
Further Comments: Also known as a Cappel, this spirit is said to be able to transform into any four legged creature, though it prefers the form of a dog. A local vicar is said to have banished the Capelthwaite into the River Bela, even though it would help some locals drive their sheep.

Small Staircase

Location: Beetham - The Fairy Steps
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Too small for normal human use, the stairs are believed to have been designed for fairy use. A local legend says if you can climb them without touching the stone cliffs on either side, you will be granted a wish.

Drowning

Location: Bennethead - Maiden Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Legend says this hillfort to have been built by a king to protect his daughter after being told at her birth she would die by drowning. The princess lived in the fort until reaching her teenage years, when she stumbled and drowned in a barrel filled with water.

Church Stones

Location: Binsey Fell - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: misty nights
Further Comments: The Fell came into being when a giant accidentally dropped an apron full of rocks being used to build a church (to redeem himself from his life of sin and violence). A large ghostly figure wearing an apron is said to appear when the mist grows thick.

Sleeping Place

Location: Blencathra (aka Saddleback) - Concealed under the peak
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Blencathra is another location that may contain King Arthur and his troops, ready to be awoken when Britain requires them most.

Smartly Dressed Male

Location: Bolton - Eden Grove (former school, closed 2013)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The man who reputedly haunted this site had a whiff of tobacco and sweet flowers about him, with a smart wardrobe consisting of sports coat and flannel trousers.

Charles I awaiting execution, from a chapbook.

Flowing Blood

Location: Bothel - Bothel Spring (unknown if currently active)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 30 January 1649
Further Comments: On the day of King Charles I execution, the spring ran red with blood.

Rebels

Location: Brampton - Capon Tree (a memorial stone now marks the location)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1746 onwards, said to occur once a year in October, but exact date unknown
Further Comments: Six of Bonnie Prince Charlie's supporters were hanged from the tree that once stood here. Their ghosts were said to appear once a year on the date of their deaths.

Headless Woman

Location: Branthwaite - Exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This decapitated entity moves through the area moaning and crying, according to a local rhyme.

Joseph Wilson

Location: Brigham - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid Eighteenth century to mid Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Wilson's occupation of hangman ended after he took his own life. Benefactors placed an engraved stone rope on his headstone as a tribute to his career choice, but after someone stole the marker, Wilson started to haunt the area. The ghost disappeared after the desecration of Wilson's grave.

Cursed Cranium

Location: Brougham - Brougham Hall
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cursed skull created havoc whenever removed from the property, so a solution-focused individual finally walled it up in a room of the hall.

Bele Sheephead

Location: Broughton Moor - Moor and roads in the area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story recounts how a young girl found her pet lamb killed by a fox - instead of mourning, she drank the blood of the lamb and turned into a human/sheep hybrid (humeep?). This entity has now achieved urban legend status, preying on unsuspecting motorists and killing them if given the chance. The moor is also said to be haunted by a figure known as Bible John, as he carries a bible in which is hidden a pistol.

Scalded Woman

Location: Broughton Moor - Wood House (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman died in in the boiler room of a house which once stood here - her shade returned and screamed so much that the occupiers fled. The haunting (or at least the associated story) may have prevented the sale of the house.

Large Cat

Location: Bullgill - General area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Circa 2009
Further Comments: Sighted in fields around this area, this cat appeared to be too large to be a normal feline, and too small to be anything else.

Corpse Candle

Location: Caldbeck - Bushay House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: On several occasions a ghostly light could be seen flickering around the garden.

Spinning Balls

Location: Caldbeck - Crossroads at Goose Green
Type: UFO
Date / Time: March 1998, approximately 20:00h
Further Comments: Two witnesses watched three large white spinning balls holding equal distance from each other for around twelve minutes. The balls eventually moved at speed; one flew left, one right, and the third straight up, all vanishing from sight within a couple of seconds.

The British Roswell?

Location: Caldbeck - Cumbrian fells - exact area not known
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 04 March 1954
Further Comments: A disc shaped alien spacecraft crash landed in this area. Three people witnessed the event; a farmer and son who were held by military personnel for two weeks, and a poacher who claimed to have seen two bodies, with 'faces like the Devil's' (the poacher had a breakdown soon after). The RAF (?) removed all evidence of the incident from the area.

Black Dog

Location: Caldbeck - Lane leading to Branthwaite
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Very little is known about the hound that is said to have frequented this area, other than appearing black and large.

Chained Person

Location: Caldbeck - Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While never seen, this ghost can be heard rattling its chains, trying to escape from unknown bounds.

Camlan

Location: Camboglanna (aka Castlesteads) - Roman Fort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Camboglanna was named as a contender for the site of King Arthur's last battle, with a belief that the site's name could have evolved to Camlann over time.

Black Tom

Location: Camerton - St Peter's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Black Tom may have had the title of 'lord', but as a folk hero some compared him to Robin Hood. Tom is said to have constructed secret tunnels around Camerton, where the lord and his whippet now haunt.

Voices

Location: Cark - Victorian farm, Quarry Flats
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1967
Further Comments: Harry Wood told the local press that he had become too afraid to go up to his bedroom as voices would keep him awake at night. Harry's sister reported seeing a white shape which pushed open a door - it floated around for a bit before leaving.

Whitfield

Location: Carlisle - A6, Barrock Hill near Carlisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An infamous highwayman, Whitfield's capture resulted in his hanging for murder - but the rope, not tight enough, did not kill Whitfield outright. Several days later a passing coachman heard Whitfield crying and moaning, still dangling from the noose. To end the suffering, the coachman shot the hanged man; Whitfield's ghost can still be heard today crying for help.

Margery Jackson

Location: Carlisle - Botcherby area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Folklore said that a farm cottage, long since demolished, on top of a hill to be haunted by an old woman. In life, Jackson always wore old clothing and wooden clogs and while considered poor by locals, after she died it became apparent that she had hidden away fifty thousand pounds. It is thought her ghost manifested in one of the houses since built on the site of her home.