The Paranormal Database

Moved Materials

Location: Holnest - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: During church construction
Further Comments: The first choice location of the church was ruined night after night, when the building materials were taken to the place where this church now stands. A variation of the story has the Devil moving the stones while trying to prevent any construction from occurring.

Coach

Location: Holnest - Hunter's Bridge, heading towards Broke Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An accident resulted in a team of horses and their coach crashing into the stream - their phantom forms are said to remain.

Large Eyes

Location: Holt - Unnamed farmhouse (unlikely to be standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As well as the traditional disembodied footsteps, this area was also haunted by a pair of eyes as large as 'basins'.

Caesar's Stag

Location: Holwell - River Lydden, Vale of Blackmore
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A white hart killed by Sir Thomas de la Linde was said to be a magical, immortal creature which carried a golden ring around the neck placed there by Caesar.

Flying Cross

Location: Holworth - Skies over Moigne Down
Type: UFO
Date / Time: October 1967
Further Comments: Two police officers chased a large cross-shaped UFO in this area as it flew low overhead. Another witness observed the craft later in the evening hovering and spinning on the spot.

Red Eyed Dog

Location: Horton - Bagman's Lane and Pot Lane
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lane is home to a local shuck; with red eyes and fur black as coal, his passing is to be taken as an ill-omen.

Shawled Woman

Location: Horton - Horton Hollow area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December 1920
Further Comments: A shawled woman was mistaken for a real person until she drifted through a hedge and vanished into a muddy pit. Another witness claimed to have seen a nun-like figure at the same spot. A local farmer was said to have been frustrated by the belief in the figure, as it prevented workers using the road after dark.

Lad

Location: Horton - Road leading north-west from village, close to Horton Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young boy, thought to be from the time of the English Civil War, plays in the lane. His darting in front of incoming traffic is said to unnerve drivers.

Nun

Location: Horton - Site of former abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The field where an abbey once stood is now home to a ghostly nun.

Duke of Monmouth

Location: Horton - Woodlands - Monmouth Ash Tree
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 16 July (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Even though the Duke was executed at the Tower of London, his ghost now frequents the area he was captured after his failed rebellion. The ghost is said to carry his head in his hands.

Thirsty Bells

Location: Ibberton - Church and village pond
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Midday
Further Comments: At midday, the church bells were said to grow thirsty and cross the lane to drink from the village pond.

Isle of Portland, hunting ground of the Tow Dog.

Tow Dog

Location: Isle of Portland - All over Island
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shaggy dog that stands six-foot tall has an unusual trait for a shuck - it only blocks people from passing, never injuring them. The hound is also known as the Row Dog.

Murdered Smuggler

Location: Kimmeridge - Worbarrow Bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nights of a waning moon (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Killed on the beach by a revenue man who liked the shooting part of his job a little too much, the screams of the smuggler can be heard at night. Sometimes a shadowy figure is seen waste deep in the ocean.

Old Woman

Location: Kingston - Scott Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub is thought to be the haunt of an elderly female character.

Protective Ditch

Location: Knowlton - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The legends state that this building, constructed in the middle of a pagan temple, is haunted by dozens of spirits. The ditch which surrounds the building is not to keep intruders out, but to rather keep the ghosts in.

Tormented Nun

Location: Knowlton - Road between village and Hinton Martell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The shadowy figure of a nun is reported to walk along the road between two villages.

Drinking Cross

Location: Langton Herring - Ancient cross
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This stone hewn cross moves to the nearby Fleet lagoon to drink.

Headless Figure

Location: Langton Long Blandford - White Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lane was once believed to be haunted by a male figure who carried his head under his arm.

Pistol Cracks

Location: Langton Matravers - Dunshay Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Various knocks and sounds have been reported at this building, the most dramatic being the sound of gunfire - it is said that a former occupier shot himself.

Coachman

Location: Langton Matravers - Road passing the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly coachman is said to drive past the church.

Gold

Location: Langton Matravers - Wilkswood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A golden hoard is said to be concealed around this area. It is unclear whether this treasure relates to the phantom Romans said to walk the area.

Hound

Location: Leigh - Bailey Ridge
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This is another site in Dorset reported to be home to the large, black devil dog.

Headless Women

Location: Leigh - Pool in the area, exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Having drowned in the pool when their horse and coach fell in, these four headless women (still in their coach) rise from the water at midnight and travel around the area.

Little Folk

Location: Lewesdon Hill - General area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Cat and fairies unknown, headless horseman during late 1970s
Further Comments: The second highest peak in Dorset is said to be home to an extended family of fairies. In recent years, there have been reports of a large black cat living in the area. In the late 1970s, a woman and her two children all witnessed a headless horseman emerging from a fog bank.

Headless Hound

Location: Leweston - Junction north of Stokebridge Farm
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom dog with no head is reputed to cross a country lane close to the farm.