The Paranormal Database

Last of the Ascott Family

Location: Tetcott - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1780s onwards
Further Comments: This hunter, together with a pack of ghostly hounds, still roams the lands.

Bruising for All

Location: Tiverton - Sampford Peverill house (no longer standing)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1810
Further Comments: Loud bangs were heard throughout the day, coming from the upper part of the house, and the occupiers would wake during the night covered in bruising. The mysterious events stopped once the owners moved away.

One location named as home to the legend of the Mistletoe Bough.

Bride in a Chest

Location: Tiverton - Tiverton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: In a story that appears several times throughout the UK, a newly wedded bride played hide and seek with her guests, only to disappear... A few years later her mummified body was found in a chest in the loft, the spring mounted lid trapping her inside.

Naughty Nancy

Location: Topsham - Bridge Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Nancy is believed to have been a Victorian working girl who has now taken up residence at the inn. She has been observed moving between bar areas.

Satan takes a murderer.

A Woman Scorned

Location: Torbay - Daddyhole (or Daddy Hole) Plain
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Scorned by a knight, a woman invited the warrior and his new love to meet here. The woman murdered the couple, and as a storm developed, the Devil appeared and took the murderess into a nearby hole (presumably to hell).

Changed Landscape

Location: Torbay - Off Coast of Churston Ferrers
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1938
Further Comments: What could have been a mirage, someone reported that the landscape along the coast had totally changed. The witness almost fell over the edge of the cliff, mistaking the phantom landscape as real.

Flying Cigar

Location: Torbay - Over town and coast
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 26 May 2004
Further Comments: Dozens of people contacted the local media with reports of a strange flying cigar which passed over the town. One witness managed to take a reasonably clear photograph of the UFO with his mobile phone.

Henry Ditton-Newman

Location: Torbay - St John's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1959
Further Comments: Henry died in 1883, though he returned to play the church organ up until 1959. The phantom was also heard to walk around the empty building.

Footsteps

Location: Torbryan - Church House Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The disembodied footsteps can be heard moving towards a bathroom, though they fade away if followed. A phantom man in a cloak has been reported in the inn.

Lilly

Location: Torquay - Audrey Court Hotel, Lower Warberry Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Lilly Langtry walked around this old hotel, knocking on doors. Edward VII purchased the building for Lilly at the turn of the twentieth century.

Eyeless Face

Location: Torquay - Barton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1868
Further Comments: The ghost in this building could have been mistaken for a real person, apart from the fact that it had two gaping holes where its eyes should have been. Another report said that the entity possessed a white face that had no features, just smooth skin.

Grey Light

Location: Torquay - Castel a Mere, Middle Warberry Road (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: This misty light transformed into a man-sized shadow and attacked a visitor to the house, forcing him to flee. A neighbour penned a letter to the local newspaper in 1956 and claimed that owls were probably responsible for the haunting.

Pixies at home.

Pixie Home

Location: Torquay - Kents Cavern (aka Kent's Cavern)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of the stories the tour guides share is that the cave was once inhabited by pixies.

Henry Newman

Location: Torquay - Montpellier House (former school)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1885 onwards
Further Comments: At the funeral of Newman, the church organ played itself; since then, his shade has been reported in the vicarage.

Spanish Girl

Location: Torquay - Old Spanish Barn, King's Drive, and seafront in area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dying of illness while being held prisoner immediately after the destruction of the Spanish Armada, this teenage girl now haunts the area near where her life was lost.

Bishop Henry Phillpotts

Location: Torquay - Palace Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1978
Further Comments: A head porter reported seeing this entity dressed in Victorian clothing - it faded from view when approached.

Crying

Location: Torquay - Private residence along Ilsham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003-2007
Further Comments: Spooky occurrences were reported from this property, including the sounds of children crying and furniture being thrown around, a dark shadow moving past the door, the outline of a woman in a cloth cap, and items being moved.

Reverend Hitchcock

Location: Torquay - St John's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: The Reverend Hitchcock died whilst working on a composition - he was heard playing the unfinished piece on the church organ during the 1950s. After a blessing on his grave in 1959, Hitchcock appears to have not returned. Prior to this, the church had a reputation as being haunted by another organist by the name of Henry Ditton-Newman. Henry could be heard walking around and playing the organ. After a service to move on Henry, a third organ playing phantom (Francis Crute) would also be named as haunting the site; he would be swiftly moved on after a blessing over his grave.

Agatha Christie

Location: Torquay - Torquay Museum
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2020
Further Comments: An unseen hand took to throwing Agatha Christie books off the shelves in the museum giftshop, some naming the author as the guilty party (although why she would throw her own work around rather than that of another author is not clear).

Footfalls

Location: Torquay - Torre Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Heard moving around the gallery, the owner of the footfalls has never been seen. A phantom coach, also reported in the area, carries the ghost of Lady Cary who still insists on wearing a ball gown.

Footsteps

Location: Torrington - Black Horse Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2019, and April 1998
Further Comments: According to a TripAdvisor review, a couple staying at this hotel in 2019 heard someone trying their door handle. When they opened the door, no one was present, but footsteps could be heard entering their room, walking towards the bathroom, and then back towards the bed. Another witness encountered a figure wearing what resembled Civil War era clothing in their room in 1998.

An old postcard of Torrington in Devon.

Soldier

Location: Torrington - Castle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed in the Battle of Torrington, this shade still patrols the area.

Former Stationmaster

Location: Torrington - Puffing Billy restaurant and B&B (former station)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2016
Further Comments: Both a former stationmaster and his wife are said to haunt this old station, which (at time of writing) is a guest house and restaurant. The female ghost is said to have been heard walking around, moving towards the room where her children once slept.

Black Dog

Location: Torrington - Torrington/Bideford road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This wish hound has been seen running along this stretch of road.

Black Cat

Location: Totnes - Area around Dartington Hall Estate
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: A farm worker watched a large black cat, the size of a dog, leap over a high boundary fence in a single bound.