The Paranormal Database

Priory Cottage, Christchurch.

The Verger

Location: Christchurch - Priory Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Seen milling around the garden, this phantom verger was nicknamed Old Joe.

Red House Museum, Christchurch.

Hunted

Location: Christchurch - Red House Museum (was known as Christchurch Workhouse)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former almshouse is often promoted for its ghost hunting events, although what haunts the site is less well publicised.

Regent Centre, Christchurch.

Watchers

Location: Christchurch - Regent Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A couple of ghosts were said to sit in the stalls and watch the stage.

Sam Hookey

Location: Christchurch - Ship in Distress public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sam Hookey was an old smuggler who pushed his luck too far and drowned in the nearby river. Loud unidentified sounds and unpleasant odours in the pub are attributed to his ghost.

The River Stour.

Rower

Location: Christchurch - Site of a former plantation on the River Stour, around a mile north of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1931
Further Comments: The sound of oars were heard emerging from a marshland, even though the shallow water made it impossible for any boat to traverse the area.

Off the coast of Christchurch - one of the sites of a dragon attack.

Sea Dragon

Location: Christchurch - Skies above and off coast
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Circa 1113
Further Comments: The third abbot of Saint Martin of Tournai documented the arrival of a five headed dragon in Christchurch. The dragon was said to have emerged from the sea and taken flight towards the town, destroying the church and many of the surrounding houses (but not those occupied by the abbot and his entourage). The dean of the destroyed church tried to escape by boat, but the vessel was also incinerated (although the dean escaped harm).

The railway bridge of three arches over the River Avon.

Alma

Location: Christchurch - Three Arches Bend (railway bridge of three arches over the River Avon)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June evenings (reoccurring)
Further Comments: After being acquitted of murdering her husband, Alma Rattenbury walked to this area, wrote a suicide note, and stabbed herself to death. Her tragic figure is still reported to sit in the long grass by the water's edge.

Singing

Location: Christchurch - Town Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sounds of singing, pipes and drums are said to be occasionally heard from the bridge.

Ye Olde George Inn, Christchurch.

Grey Lady

Location: Christchurch - Ye Olde George Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A priest hole found during repair work on the building contained a skeleton and old clothing. This discovery may explain the phantom grey lady seen around the site. It is also said that wine bottles which have been left on different tables have been found collected and moved to a single area.

Lady Banks

Location: Church Knowle - Stone Bridge along Knowle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Banks held nearby Corfe Castle against the Roundheads during the English Civil War. The defences were only broken after a treacherous Royalist officer opened the gates. Lady Banks has been named as the lady in a white flowing dress who haunts the bridge.

Romans

Location: Compton Valence - Roman road from Dorchester to Eggardon Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This old Roman road is still said to be the haunt of those who built it. A legend attached to the location says the road was built by Old Nick in a single night.

Corfe Castle, Dorset.

Headless Woman

Location: Corfe Castle - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Woman and horse unknown, male figure seen 15 May 2009, around 01:30h
Further Comments: The terrifying shade of the headless woman walks the hill near the gateway of where this castle stands. The same ghost may also be responsible for the lights that flit across the ruins at night, or they could be caused by phantasmal Royalists that used the castle in 1643. The sound of a galloping phantom horse has been heard at the bottom of the castle hill. A cloaked figure with a brown floppy hat was observed by a local man in 2009 while he was picking worms for fishing. The figure was in the middle of a field but vanished after the witness took his eyes off the man for a few seconds.

Peter Tate's Ghosts

Location: Corfe Castle - Curatage Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2019
Further Comments: Although author Peter Tate never encountered a ghost in his former home, his wife and son both believed the house to be haunted, and this inspired Tate to write a book based on the haunting. Voices were said to have been heard in the cellar, although the source of the sounds was never determined.

Roman Soldiers

Location: Corfe Castle - Kingston Down
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: These phantom Roman soldiers have been reported twice, both separate incidents by young witnesses.

Thrown

Location: Corfe Castle - Rempstone Stone Circle (private property)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Accidently created by the Devil as he tried to hurl boulders at Corfe Castle, these stones fell in a rough circle shape.

Lavender Lady

Location: Corfe Mullen - Corfe Lodge and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s-1960s
Further Comments: This gentle ghost of a girl was seen several times over a twenty year period, always wearing her hair in plaits. A maid in Corfe Lodge encountered the ghost on three different occasions, always standing above her as she lay in bed. Around the mid-twentieth century there were other reports of a phantom coach and horses and a man resembling John Bull in the area.

Woman in Black

Location: Corfe Mullen - Coventry Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This public house is said to be haunted by a woman in black, children in white, and the normal pub poltergeist pranks.

Inn Lurker

Location: Corfe Mullen - Holme Bush Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local tourist guide indicates that the inn is haunted, but the origin and nature of the phantom are unknown.

Ethel

Location: Corfe Mullen - Lambs Green Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost who has established itself in this inn has been named Ethel.

Troops

Location: Corfe Mullen - Soldier's Clump
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area was said to be avoided after dark, to avoid an unintentional encounter with the long dead soldiers.

Horse Worrier

Location: Corfe Mullen - Unknown former inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century, certain nights at two in the morning
Further Comments: A stable on this site was the scene of a smuggling related murder. Horses placed in a stall would cry out at two in the morning, and when checked on, would be found covered in sweat.

The Devil's Chair

Location: Corscombe - Corscombe standing stones
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Named after a belief that the Devil would once sit here, the stones are also called Granny's Armchair (which is not quite as frightening).

Soldiers

Location: Corscombe - The Red Post, on the boundary of Corscombe, Chelborough and Rampisham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local tale says that Civil War soldiers were executed and cut into chunks at the post. Their ghosts remain.

Failed Roadblock

Location: Corscombe - Toller Down standing stones
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: The Devil threw these stones into position while trying to block the road.

Monks

Location: Cranborne - Grim's Ditch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ditch falls on the Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire borders, and is thought to be Bronze or Iron Age. The ghostly hooded figures observed in the area are thought to be monks.