The Paranormal Database

Lost Children

Location: Ferryhill - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This manor house featured in Most Haunted and was claimed to be home to a phantom child crying for their mother. A local legend also says there is a secret tunnel on the site, which leads to a cathedral some eight miles away.

Andrew Mills

Location: Ferryhill (Parish of Merrington) - Brass Farm, now known as High Hill House farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 January (or a couple of days either side) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Andrew went on a killing spree at the farm in 1863; he claimed he was talked into it by a devil. The wild cries of Andrew Mills can be still heard near the locality of the farmhouse.

Slew Foot

Location: Finchale - Black Rock Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom monk which passes through the woodland gained his nickname as he drags one leg behind him as he walks. One witness also heard military drumming coming from the woodland.

Passage of Horror

Location: Finchale - Finchale Abbey
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A secret passage is said to run from the abbey ruins to Durham Cathedral, though the journey is so terrifying no one can survive the journey. Above ground, the abbey is haunted by a murdered woman who holds a small child close to her.

Young Boy

Location: Finchale - Finchale Farm House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A workman on the property heard a young boy call out his name. The witness followed the boy and watched him enter a cupboard in a bedroom. Summoning the owners of the property, the newly formed group went to investigate. Opening the cupboard, the workman said he could see the boy peering through a grill, but the owners were unable to see neither boy nor grill. The barn on the site is also rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of a farmer.

Lady in Grey

Location: Finchale - River near Finchale Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After her son was thrown into the river by her husband (having discovered the child was not his), this woman dived in after the boy - both were presumed drowned, although their bodies not found. The bones of a boy were said to have been found in the 1940s by a fisherman who buried the remains near the abbey, although the lady in grey still walks the area looking for her son. The river is also said to be haunted by others who were caught out by strong currents.

Old Man

Location: Fishburn - Private residence, north of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1956
Further Comments: When a new family purchased this property, it required a great deal of work. However, whenever renovations were performed, they were undone by an unseen hand; a newly installed fuse box was wrenched off the wall, and a new fire in the front room was damaged when soot fell from a chimney which had recently been swept. One of the occupants would occasionally spot an old man sitting on the end of their bed, while another family member would hear a man calling out 'Mary', the name of a former occupant.

Humming Woman

Location: Gilesgate - Vane Tempest Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former barracks, now used for ghost hunting events, is reportedly home to a humming woman and a soldier's presence.

Anne Walker

Location: Great Lumley - Mill, Chester le Street (no longer standing)
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1632 (or 1680)
Further Comments: The ghost of Anne, a local lass who had gone missing, appeared to a miller and threatened to haunt him unless he told the authorities that she had been murdered. After Anne appeared a second time, the miller did so, and Anne's killers were soon caught.

Footsteps

Location: Greatham - Social Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This club was once the haunt of disembodied footsteps, unidentified voices and other strange sounds.

Grey Lady

Location: Greatham - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The village is said to be the haunt of a grey lady, though her history is unknown.

The Maid of Rokeby.

Maid of Rokeby

Location: Greta Bridge - Waters where the two rivers meet
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity, dressed in white flowing clothes, patrols the banks of the river after dusk. A monk is also reported to do the same, having taken in own life in the river many years previous.

Woman with Horse

Location: Harperley - Entrance of Harperley Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, 02:00h
Further Comments: While driving by the entrance of the hall, a police inspector spotted a horse being led by a lady with a bonnet and old fashioned clothing. He turned his car around for a second look, but both the animal and woman had vanished.

Home Wrecker

Location: Hartlepool - 18 Dorset Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1967
Further Comments: A presence here was blamed when this family had to spend nights away from their home, after being scared off by the shape of a man's head by the windows.

Shadows

Location: Hartlepool - Athenaeum Club, Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Shadowy figures are seen moving behind rippled glass.

George

Location: Hartlepool - Blacksmith's Arms public house, Stranton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: Although more likely to be home to poltergeist-like antics, this pub is also said to be haunted by an older man dressed in old fashioned clothing.

Blue Spinner

Location: Hartlepool - Brierton Lane
Type: UFO
Date / Time: October 1959
Further Comments: A witness watched a bright blue object 'like a spinning top' cross the sky and quickly fade into space.

Dragging

Location: Hartlepool - Cosmopolitan Public House and Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 2020
Further Comments: Tables were heard being dragged around the pub, but upon investigation, nothing had been moved (although a picture which had previously gone missing was found on the floor). Three ghosts are said to haunt the site - a former employee, a nun, and a little boy.

Beowulf

Location: Hartlepool - Hart Village?
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A handful of scholars believe that the Danish built hall found by archaeologists in Hart village is Heorot, the mead hall that is defended by Beowulf from Grendel's attacks.

Girl in White

Location: Hartlepool - Private residence, A1049 area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003-2005
Further Comments: A property in this area was said to be haunted by a young girl in a white dress, seen by family members and at least one visitor.

Large Man

Location: Hartlepool - The Coble fish and chip restaurant, Tower Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2017
Further Comments: The local press reported that owner Ray Morton and other members of his team had experienced several spooky events, which included watching a large man walk through a wall and having electrical items switch themselves on and off.

Presence

Location: Horden - 4 Eden Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1994
Further Comments: After a failed exorcism, a family fled this property, in 1967, though they were reluctant to explain what they had encountered. More recently another family moved out after enduring cold spots and a feeling on depression which enveloped the building.

Hob Headless

Location: Hurworth-on-Teas - Road between village and Neasham
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Circa Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This brownie-related entity lived along the road until exorcised. He was cast under a stone where he had to remain for ninety-nine years and a day. It was said if anyone sat on the stone, they would never be able to stand again. Needless to say, the ninety-nine years has now expired but the entity appears still to be quiet.

Fairy Royals

Location: Ireshope - Clint's Crags
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The fairy royal family are supposed to live in a palace hidden here.

House Swop

Location: Lanchester - House off Newbiggen Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1970 - April 1971
Further Comments: The Wilson family and the Dent family, who both lived along the same street, exchanged properties after the Dents twice fled their home due to a haunting. Exorcisms performed by local vicars were claimed to have failed. A member of the Wilson family said they needed a bigger home and that they did not believe in ghosts.