The Paranormal Database

Headless Page Boy

Location: Stowford - Hayne Manor
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death of owner
Further Comments: The boy was murdered by a butler on the site after he caught the older man stealing some plates - the young shade now appears with his head under the arm, warning of impending death. A wish hound has also been reported around the area.

Betsy Grimbal

Location: Tavistock - Bedford Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: The spectral female form which haunts this hotel is believed to be the same Betsy who haunts another part of the town. Wearing a dark dress and bonnet, she was once spotted by a chef on the ground floor, and other staff have heard the rustling of her clothing.

Betsy

Location: Tavistock - Betsy Grimbal's Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by a soldier on the tower's staircase, Grimbal's shade can be seen staring out from one of the windows of the tower.

The Devil would often lose fights against saints.

St Michael saves the Day

Location: Tavistock - Brent Tor
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The church was to be built at the base of the hill, but the Devil came every night and moved the foundation stones to the top. Even though St Michael appeared and scared Old Nick away, the church was built where the Devil wanted it to be.

Those that will Die

Location: Tavistock - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The spirits of those who will die during the following year come to the church on Midsummer's Eve - they were last seen by a pair of brothers who saw themselves in the crowd.

Treasure Guardian

Location: Tavistock - Down House Farm
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Legend says this house was haunted - the farmer's wife met the ghost on the stairs, who told her that a great deal of wealth was concealed under the water pump. After she had found it, the ghost never troubled anyone again.

Lady Howard

Location: Tavistock - Fitzford House driveway, heading towards Okehampton
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Howard is said to have poisoned two of her four husbands, and now takes the form of a large black dog with a single eye which departs the driveway of Fitzford House, followed by a carriage pulled by headless horses, heading towards Okehampton Castle. Once they reach their destination, Lady Howard plucks a single blade of grass and then returns home, doomed to repeat the action until there is no grass left and she is released.

Judge John Glanville

Location: Tavistock - Kilworthy House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ruthless man, Judge Glanville condemned his own daughter to death for murdering her husband. Her ghost is also reported to appear in the building and its grounds, headless.

Drake

Location: Tavistock - Road between town and Plymouth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pulled by black headless horses, Sir Frances Drake drives a dark hearse down these roads whenever his drum is heard to beat (see Yelverton (Devon) entry).

Queen of the fairies.

Built by Fairies

Location: Tavistock - South Down Bridge
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: It is said that the Queen of the fairies helped build this bridge by turning some of the water below into boulders.

Moving Items

Location: Tavistock - Standon Farm
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Likely 1800s
Further Comments: The farm is mentioned briefly in an old guide to Dartmoor, as being briefly haunted by an entity which moved items around the property.

A haunted secret tunnel.

Pair of Monks

Location: Tavistock - Tunnels under Bedford Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The passageways under the square once linked the abbeys and churches of the area - these monks have yet to leave.

Hugger

Location: Tavistock - Whitchurch Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1979
Further Comments: Feeling someone hugging her, the landlady turned to see who it was - but found no one there. The spirit is also blamed for moving bottles and personal items.

An old postcard of Teignmouth, Devon.

White Lady

Location: Teignmouth - Cliffs and beach
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said this woman was once washed up dead on the beach - locals removed her expensive rings and threw the body back into the sea. She is seen standing on the coast, looking into the sea, whenever stormy weather takes a life.

Three Dreams

Location: Teignmouth - Dawlish Road
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1810
Further Comments: During a storm, a servant of Colonel Templer was awoken three times in succession from a dream in which someone was close to death and calling out for help along Dawlish Road. The servant took a horse and rode out, discovering a woman who had been swept into a flooded ditch. He managed to save her.

Exploding Bulbs

Location: Teignmouth - Hawthorn Cottage (likely a pseudonym)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1988-1993
Further Comments: According to the documentary 'Britain's Most Terrifying Ghost Stories', after cottage owner Fiona dug up several dead cats in the garden the property experienced a poltergeist-like outbreak, including electrical items which blew up or misbehaved and the apparitions of children in Fiona's bedroom. A priest carried out an exorcism which calmed things down until Fiona married and strange events started again. Local ghost hunter John Parker finally rid the site of the entity.

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.

Breathing

Location: Tiverton - Lodge close to Ashley Court
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December 1964
Further Comments: As the church bells could be heard ringing in the new year, the occupier of the lodge heard heavy breathing which lasted for several seconds. The pet cat cried out and fled through the cat flap. The owner of the property later found out that a previous occupier, who had suffered breathing difficulties, had died a few days prior to the encounter.

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.

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.