The Paranormal Database

Classic illustration of a woman in white (public domain).

White Lady

Location: Derby - Derby Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen on the steps behind the structure, this white lady is known to make brief appearances. A woman in tears has also been seen near the cathedral, carrying a young child. The same location is home to a man wearing old fashioned clothing, not forgetting the former executioner who killed his father and brother who jointly haunts the area.

Joseph Moss

Location: Derby - Derby Fish Market
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: In 1859 PC Moss became the first police officer to be shot and murdered in Derby. His ghost haunted the police station, and when it was demolished and replaced by the fish market, Moss remained in the area.

The Condemned

Location: Derby - Derby Gaol (former prison), Friargate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: An Australian tourist who decided to spend the night in this haunted building, a former jail, reported hearing strange sounds during the night. She also reported that her pillow moved by itself.

Ghostly Presences

Location: Derby - Eagle Centre (no longer operating under that name)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards (peaked late 1970s)
Further Comments: Members of the council and local clergy were called in to help after a few paranormal occurrences occurred in the centre. It was said that three exorcisms or blessings were carried out in various shops - one in December 1983, another during the Summer of 1984 and finally during August 1992. Other people who did not experience any paranormal phenomena directly reported the site, prior to renovation, had a strange and uncomfortable atmosphere.

Figure

Location: Derby - Etches Park Rail Depot
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2014
Further Comments: A certain Class 222 train was reputed by workers to be haunted by a shadowy figure which would move around on board, though the engine was known to be empty. The 222 was said to have been involved in several incidents that had resulted in deaths.

An old woodcut of fish raining down from the sky.

Fish Fall

Location: Derby - Exact location unknown
Type: Other
Date / Time: 8 July 1841
Further Comments: A mixture of fish, some 50 mm in length, and ice fell on the city.

Irish Bare Knuckle Fighter

Location: Derby - Falstaff Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This pub claims to be haunted by four separate ghosts: a young boy, an ex-landlord, an Irish prize-winning bare knuckle fighter and a sergeant major. In addition to these spooks being seen, items are moved and hidden, electrical appliances are switched on and off.

Slamming Doors

Location: Derby - Former Howard Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once housing prisoners in the basement, the cell doors can still be heard being slammed closed - even though they were removed years previous. People have reported seeing an apparition that could be a former guard or a prisoner, though why the shade of a little child heard crying is here is anyone's guess.

An old postcard of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

Monk with White Face

Location: Doe Lea - Hardwick Hall grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1978
Further Comments: Seen by several people, this phantom monk was almost hit by a car before it vanished into the grounds. A light has also been reported floating around the courtyard, containing a strange face, while inside the hall itself a phantom cat and a woman in blue have been reported.

Marriage Tree

Location: Doveridge - Churchyard
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Maid Marian and Robin Hood are said to have been married under the old yew tree which stands in the churchyard.

Violence

Location: Drakelow - Drakelow Hall / Dracan Hlawe (no longer standing)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twelfth Century
Further Comments: The Gresley family were reputed to have fled the site after something 'knocked things apart' in their home.

Coffin Carrying Returners

Location: Drakelow - General area
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Circa 1090
Further Comments: Several servants fell ill and died after taking seed corn from the Abbey barns. The servants soon returned, their coffins carried on their backs while running across fields and knocking on doors. More villagers fell sick, and the pestilence only ceased when the dead were dug up and burned. The survivors fled the village and left it to fall into ruin.

Buried Wyrm

Location: Drakelow - Winlatter Rock
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Circa 772?
Further Comments: A dragon is mentioned in a document dating to 772 as being buried in a prehistoric tumulus.

Those to Die

Location: Dronfield - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 24 April, year not unknown
Further Comments: On St Mark's Eve, the spirits of those doomed to die over the forthcoming twelve months enter the church at midnight.

Headless Woman

Location: Dronfield - Place 'where three roads meet' between village and Coal Ashon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Not much more is known about the phantom headless woman who haunts the junction.

Skeleton

Location: Dronfield - Unidentified house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1906
Further Comments: Knocking and footsteps were heard in the house, worrying the married couple who had moved in to such an extent that they refused to sleep without a light in the bedroom. One night the wife awoke to find the lamp had extinguished. Striking a match, she briefly spotted a skeletal figure that moved towards the bedroom door. The couple left the property.

Thyme

Location: Drunfield - Footpath between Stubley and Drunfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A woman murdered by her partner along the path was carrying a bunch of thyme. The smell of the herb was said to denote her presence.

Relocation

Location: Duffield - St Alkmund's Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Church still standing
Further Comments: Wayne Anthony, in Haunted Derbyshire and the Peak District, writes that St Alkmund's was going to be constructed next to Duffield castle, but every night for a week the building materials were moved by the Devil to the current site where it was eventually erected.

Chatty Landlady

Location: Earl Sterndale - Quiet Woman public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former landlord, tired of the 24/7 chattering of his wife, ended up decapitating her. Even though death has kept her silent, her ghostly form remains.

White Rider

Location: Eckington - Moss valley, between town and Ridgeway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 August 2002 (rider), 16 May 2022 (grey lady)
Further Comments: Two women out walking their dogs watched a white female figure on horseback in the woods. The entity vanished as it rounded a non-existent corner. A local piece of folklore says the area is haunted by a white horse, although traditionally riderless. In 2022, witnesses spotted a hooded grey lady carrying a basket who disappeared into bushes.

Infrequent

Location: Eckington - Seldom Seen Engine House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2022
Further Comments: It is not particularly clear how this former colliery engine house gained its name, but one theory says that it comes from the site being haunted by a seldom seen entity. One visitor to the site had the feeling of being crushed.

Big Animal

Location: Edale - Area around The Tips
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A large, black ghostly dog is reputed to walk around The Tips area.

Runaway Horses

Location: Edale - Crossroads between church and railway station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: Three farmers walking home from a village meeting heard horses running towards them. The men made ready to stop the runaway but were amazed when the sounds passed straight through where they stood and they could see nothing.

Werewolf or just a large dog?

Howl like a Foghorn

Location: Edale - General area
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: 1925
Further Comments: A large black creature of unknown origin caused havoc here in the 1920s when it killed dozens of sheep. Though rarely seen, the creature was said to have a howl like a foghorn. Locals allocated the blame on a lycanthrope.

Fading Figure

Location: Edale - Path from Ringing Roger towards Edale
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 14 June 2014
Further Comments: Two people in a group of four watched a person-shaped shadow fade in and out of existence along a footpath. The experience lasted between 15 - 20 seconds, although the other two people in the group were not aware of the entity.