The Paranormal Database

The site of the old ballroom at the former Butlins camp, Clacton.

Soldier Killed in a Fight

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old ballroom at former Butlins camp, near Martello Tower (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: On 11 June 1938, Butlin's Clacton opened its doors, although it was briefly closed and used as a training base when the Second World War broke out. A local legend says that a soldier was stabbed and killed in a fight which occurred at the ballroom and took to haunting the area. The camp, which stood close to the Martello Tower, was demolished and the area redeveloped in the mid-1980s; it appears that the ghost left at the same time.

Stamping and Slamming Doors

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old Kinema - currently a Homecare shop?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After a 1940's suicide, this cinema gained a reputation as being haunted. The sound of stamping feet has been heard, and doors have opened and closed on their own accord. A few have reported seeing an old man dressed in a 1940's suit.

The Old Lifeboat House in Clacton, Essex.

Moving Stock

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Old Lifeboat House
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A shopkeeper who hired a room to store surplus stock reported that items would rearrange themselves overnight.

Plough Inn, Clacton.

Hand Holder

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Plough Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The landlady of the inn reported feeling someone take her hand as she went to open a door. Believing it to belong to her husband, she turned to talk to him, but found no one there. Many visitors to the building also feel as if someone is watching them.

Singing

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Private house along St Osyth Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975-1978
Further Comments: Until the building was exorcised in 1978, a family living here reported phantom singing, a little girl which all could hear but only their four year old son could see, and ghostly footsteps.

Young Girl

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Private residence, Thornbury Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: After a period of experiencing disembodied footsteps, doors opening and closing and electrical items switching themselves on and off, the occupier finally witnessed the manifestation of a young girl. Other incidents included the occupiers being dragged across the floor by their ankles and the appearance of an old woman in the bed in the box room of the house.

Falling Items

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Ship Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The inn is occasionally troubled by minor outbreaks of poltergeist activity.

St Johns Road, Clacton.

Monks

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - St Johns Road and surrounding area, Great Clacton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: There have been several reports of phantom monks drifting along the roads in this area of Clacton.

White Lady

Location: Clacton-on-Sea - Wilson House, Leas Road (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-to-late-twentieth century
Further Comments: The white lady was said to have been seen by several schoolgirls when this building was a dorm. Sounds of heavy footsteps could also be heard walking along the corridors late at night.

Miss Holland Playing on the Piano

Location: Clavering - Moat Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The site of a murder in 1899, victim Camille Holland occasionally returns home and plays on the piano. She has also been blamed for poltergeist activity in the area.

Presence, Opening Doors, Smell

Location: Coggeshall - 47 Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Once an inn, people in the building have reported doors that open and close without cause, odd smells, and a strange mist that crosses the base and top of the stairs.

Monk with Lit Taper

Location: Coggeshall - Coggeshall Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pallid wrinkled monk walks silently around the Abbey with a lit taper, before leaving and making its way along the old lanes towards the Blackwater river.

White Monks

Location: Coggeshall - Cradle House, near Markshale Old Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cradle House was once a haven for monks who held meetings in secret rooms within the building; it is believed that these figures sometimes return to dance in the garden.

Old Man

Location: Coggeshall - Guild House, Market End
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This little old man has reputedly materialised at the foot of a bed. Strange balls of light have been seen drifting around the attic, observed from an outside window.

Robin the Woodcutter

Location: Coggeshall - Near Coggeshall Abbey and Robin's Brook
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1600s onwards
Further Comments: A local hero, Robin the Woodcutter's shade is said to walk the lands around the Abbey and by the brook which takes his name. Ghostly axe blows are said to occasionally be heard.

East Lodge, Colchester.

Faceless White Lady wearing Perfume

Location: Colchester - East Lodge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possibly twentieth century
Further Comments: There is little to suggest who this white lady is, but those who have witnessed her standing on the staircase have been in shock for some time afterwards. The accompanying smell of perfume is said to be very strong.

Siege House, Colchester.

Cavalier

Location: Colchester - East Street around Siege House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Cavalier 1990s, horse heard September 2017
Further Comments: The ghostly cavalier has been seen walking down East Street, disappearing when reaching Siege House. One of the rooms in the building is said to be so haunted that staff will only work there in pairs. A phantom puritan was also seen in the area, while in 2017 a witness heard a horse and cart pass through the area.

Nun Handing Out Toffee

Location: Colchester - Essex Country Hospital, Children's Ward
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An interesting story, one gentleman has recalled as a child he was visited by a nun one evening, who offered him a toffee. Taking and eating the sweet, he watched as she faded from view a few seconds later.

Sarah and Jack

Location: Colchester - Fox and Fiddler public house (formally the Headgate)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Described as 'friendly', the three ghosts said to haunt this site are Sarah, Jack, and a young child who can be heard running around.

Grey Man

Location: Colchester - Friday Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom grey man is said to leave a nearby church and enter this woodland.

Tall Stalking Man

Location: Colchester - Greenstead woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1983
Further Comments: A witness stated that when she was a child with a friend in the woods, they both had seen a tall man with a wide brimmed hat, but he lacked facial features - even when they ran away the entity stayed behind them for a while.

George

Location: Colchester - Hippodrome (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Cleaners would say hello to George, a former worker at the site said to have fallen to his death many years previous. He would appear to one of the cleaners, while others would hear voices and knocking.

Anne Lisle's Footsteps

Location: Colchester - Hollytrees Museum, Gun Room, near portrait of Anne Lisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Quite familiar to the staff, Anne Lisie is often heard running past the Gun Room, though she has manifested before - usually seen by young children. Faces looking out of the windows in the rear of the building have also been reported late at night.

Mysterious Noises

Location: Colchester - Hostel of the Good Shepherd, East Hill (closed 1984)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Footsteps and shuffling sounds would be heard coming from empty rooms in the hostel, and although an exorcism had been performed at the site, the noises were still heard.

Triangle

Location: Colchester - Maldon Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 15 January 2023
Further Comments: A strange white triangle briefly appeared to one driver along this road. Three years previous, the same witness had spotted a white bike pass by in the same area.