The Paranormal Database

Shadowy Figure

Location: Marldon - Compton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in clothing named as seventeenth century, this figure has been reported near the tower.

An ape from antiquity.

Ape

Location: Marwood - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area is haunted by the ghost of an ape, which was killed after kidnapping its master's son and climbing a tree.

Glowing Lights

Location: Mary Tavy - Private house
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Early 1970s
Further Comments: Sharing a bedroom with his brother, this witness awoke to see several small bright lights enter the room and dance around before landing on his brother's bed. The lights changed to small people who walked to the head of the bed. They were all dressed in very colourful clothes, singing and playing musical instruments. They finally disappeared the way they had entered.

Daimler

Location: Modbury - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Several roads in and around this area have provided witnesses with a ghostly black car, which has vanished without trace.

Vanishing Dane

Location: Molland - Road leading into the village
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 31 October 1984
Further Comments: While heading towards the village, a driver was forced to break when a Great Dane ran into the road. As the car stopped, the hound walked up to the car and then vanished.

Petrified Quoits

Location: Moretonhampstead - Hel Tor and Blackingstone hills
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: According to legend, King Arthur stood on Hel Tor, the Devil on Blackingstone, and a game of quoits ensued. They threw discs at each other until Arthur finally won - the Devil, disgusted with the outcome, turned the last two quoits into stone.

Maxi Major

Location: Moretonhampstead - Hunter's Hill?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The highwayman Maxi Major is said to have been buried at Hunter's Hill - he can sometimes still be heard in the area.

Car

Location: Moretonhampton - B3212
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This phantom car soon vanishes after being seen.

Unmoving

Location: Mortehoe - Morte Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A nineteenth century legend says that no man can move this rock unless he is 'master of his wife', although another version says the rock can only be moved by a team of women who 'rule their husbands'.

Faceless Coachman

Location: Muddiford - Muddiford Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities are said to haunt this inn, including a phantom coachman with no face and a young girl carrying a baby.

Jewish Peddler

Location: Newton Abbot - Bridge over River Bovey, Stover
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1961
Further Comments: While people can only guess that the shade here is that of a murdered peddler, the entity was seen running alongside a witness, waving its arms wildly.

Fading Monk

Location: Newton Abbot - Church House Inn, Tor Bryan
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A monk has been seen in the bar area, quickly fading away. It may be his footfalls that sometimes echo around the building once everyone is tucked in for the night.

William II

Location: Newton Abbot - Forde House, near Newton Abbot
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The heavy, nervously pacing footsteps are said to belong to William II, who stayed here during his first night in England.

The ghostly fox of Newton.

Fox

Location: Newton Abbot - Golf Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A creature so cunning that it was never caught by the local fox hunting group, it now gloats by sitting on the golf club walls.

Blue Woman

Location: Newton Abbot - Old Smuggler's Inn, Coombe Cellars
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: This elderly ghost is thought to be a woman robbed and murdered in the hotel in the eighteenth century.

Highwayman

Location: Newton Ferrers - Guernsey Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly highwayman in a tricorn hat haunts this lane, possibly a robber hanged from a tree in a nearby field.

Bearded Monk

Location: North Huish - Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: This Cistercian monk, dressed in his brown outfit, was seen several times during the 1920s.

Pool of Water

Location: North Tawton - Cottle's Wood
Type: Legend
Date / Time: When the country is threatened
Further Comments: A normally dry ditch near the wood is said to mysteriously fill with water whenever Britain is threatened or a major public figure dies. Another version of the tale says the water appears prior to the death of a prince, and then quickly vanishes once the man has died.

Soldiers

Location: Northam - Morwenna Park estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid / late twentieth century
Further Comments: Strange entities sprung up in several buildings on this estate soon after it was finished - a child reported seeing soldier like figures, while others saw a tall figure dressed in a black cloak.

Downed Devil

Location: Northlew - General area
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Old Nick is said to have died from the cold as he passed through this area.

Ringing Vicar

Location: Oare - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The bells are said to be rung occasionally by the ghost of a former vicar, who has also been seen on site.

Clare

Location: Okehampton - Bearslake Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A crying child has been heard in the building after staff have locked up for the night. She is thought to be a young girl named Clare, who died after falling down the staircase.

Frozen Maidens

Location: Okehampton - Nine Stones, Belstone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This set of nine stones are said to be maidens who were caught dancing on the Sabbath. They sometimes come back to life and continue dancing.

An old postcard of Okehampton Castle.

Lady Howard

Location: Okehampton - Okehampton Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This large black dog is reportedly the ghost of Lady Howard, who walks from here to Tavistock. Some say it is a separate entity, and Lady Howard really travels by a coach made from the bones of her dead husbands.

Peter

Location: Okehampton - White Hart Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Named Peter by staff and locals, this entity fulfils the normal noisy spirit behaviour pattern.