The Paranormal Database

Hammering

Location: Durweston - Unnamed cottage, Norton
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Winter 1894/95
Further Comments: Two orphan girls moved into a cottage occupied by Mrs Best, followed by an outbreak of poltergeist activity. Gentle raps soon became hammer blows, and stones were thrown through windows. Spirit writing manifested, claiming that money was hidden in the garden, although none could be found. When the girls were moved out, the poltergeist ceased.

Moved Church

Location: East Chelborough - Castle Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A church was in the process of being constructed at the base of this hill when local fairies took exception. They moved all the stones to Lewcombe, where the church was finally built.

Murdered Woman

Location: East Lulworth - Between village and (former?) military base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A woman took to haunting a stretch of road where she was murdered; her killer dumped her body into a pit and carved her face into a stone along a park wall.

Fighting Armies

Location: East Lulworth - Flower's Barrow and Grange Hill
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: December, during wartime
Further Comments: The ghostly figures found here when Britain is at war generate screams, horses and the clashing of swords as they move over the hills overlooking the coast. The apparitions are said to have last appeared during the Second World War.

Mother and Child

Location: East Lulworth - Unnamed road in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1982
Further Comments: A driver passed a mother and child both dressed in clothing from the 1860s; the child was crying, and the mother looked angry. When the driver turned for another look, the figures had vanished. The driver spotted the couple several times in the same area during 1982, but never again after the year ended.

Flying Figures

Location: East Stour - Path between Great Narry Pit and Woodville
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A post office worker with two friends walking along this route spotted two other people on the path. The trio called out 'good evening', but the other two people did not acknowledge them. The postal worker, believing he recognised one of the pair, approached them, only to see them both rise into the air and disappear over some trees. The worker's friends also witnessed the figures rise.

Duke of Monmouth

Location: East Woodyates - Old coaching house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Duke is said to return to the place where he rested while escaping to the coast after the Battle of Sedgemoor. The grounds of the inn are also said to be haunted by the disembodied head of a white horse.

Highwayman

Location: Evershot - Acorn Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sixteenth century inn is said to be home to a phantom highwayman.

Drinking Lions

Location: Evershot - Melbury House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight
Further Comments: The pair of lions that stand by the gates of this house are said to visit the nearby lake and drink their fill once every twenty four hours.

Rocking Lady

Location: Ferndown - Old Thatch public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen in this pub on a rocking chair, this phantom elderly lady caused one former landlord to run out of the building in fear.

Horseman

Location: Fifehead Neville - Dark Lane T-junction close to the bridge and ford crossing the River Divelish
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom horseman has been reportedly seen in this area.

Sailors

Location: Fleet - Churchyard and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Stories perpetuated by smugglers told of phantom drowned sailors walking the roads of Fleet.

Moving Stones

Location: Folke - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: During construction of the church
Further Comments: The construction of the church started in Broke Wood, but every night the work which was done was undone and the building materials moved to where the church now stands. Another version of the story says the Devil moved the stones to prevent any work being done but failed.

The deep waters of the Blue Pool, Furzebrook.

Water Fairies

Location: Furzebrook - Blue Pool
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a clay pit, the hole was left to fill with water. Some say that it has become bottomless, and that fairy folk live within the water waiting to drown those who are too curious. Others say it the Devil who pushes people in.

Coffin

Location: Gillingham - Unknown road in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A motorist is said to have encountered a ghostly coffin as it lay in the road. A local story says that the funerary box accidently fell from a horse drawn cart, and occasionally reappears.

Highwayman

Location: Gussage All Saints - Drovers Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom highwayman is said to haunt this pub's cellar.

Earl of Shaftesbury

Location: Gussage All Saints - Lanes in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This Earl of Shaftesbury, who died in 1683, is said to drive his coach around the lanes in the area, looking for souls to take.

Coffin

Location: Gussage St Michael - Long barrow
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Another barrow that is said to contain a gold or silver coffin.

Saint Juthware

Location: Halstock - Judith Hill (aka Abbots Hill), and area near the Quiet Woman Inn (now a guest house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 November, 01:00h (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The headless phantom of Saint Juthware is reported to walk towards the church with her head in her hands. She was beheaded by her step-brother, tricked into doing so by his mother. The inn was also haunted by a female shadow which vanished as soon as it was seen.

Glowing Windows

Location: Hampreston - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Named as haunted by Elliott O'Donnell, though the ghost hunter admitted that the windows which sometimes glowed at night could just be reflecting the light of the moon.

Battle

Location: Handley Cross? - Exact location unknown
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local tradition says that the Queen of the Iceni fought a battle here, though there is no evidence to confirm this.

Horseman

Location: Hengistbury Head - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: It was said that a phantom horseman was seen in this area during the 1980s. Another story claimed a ghostly woman could also be occasionally seen throwing herself off a cliff.

Table

Location: Hillcombe - Well in the village
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This well is said to contain a table made either of silver or gold that no one has yet managed to recover.

Shadowy Form

Location: Hinton Martell - Old Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about the spook which loiters at the Old Rectory.

Roman

Location: Hinton St Mary - Area around the Roman Villa
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1963 onwards
Further Comments: After the ruins of a Roman villa were discovered in 1963, a phantom figure dressed in a toga began to appear in the area.