The Paranormal Database

Fanny

Location: Manchester - Cathedral
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1840s?
Further Comments: A man spotted his sister Fanny standing in the nave of the building - he was quite surprised, as he thought his sister to be many miles away. He called out to the woman, who started to walk but vanished suddenly. The following day, the man received word that Fanny had died in an accident, the timing of which matched his sighting of her in the cathedral.

Headless Hound

Location: Manchester - Cathedral area, & bridge over the Irwell towards Salford
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1825
Further Comments: A tradesman spotted the spectral dog outside the cathedral and the creature jumped up at him. The phantom creature was finally exorcised under the bridge over the Irwell.

Murdered Baby

Location: Manchester - Cheetham, private house (no longer standing)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1964
Further Comments: The house was briefly home to phantom cries, sounding like those of a child, and the apparitions of an older lady and a more sinister black figure.

John Dee, by F Cleyn.

John Dee

Location: Manchester - Chetham School, Audit Room
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1595
Further Comments: Doctor Dee worked from this room, and a scorch mark on a piece of wood is reputed to have been left after Dee was visited by the Devil.

Bill Benny

Location: Manchester - Cloisters Nightclub, Oxford Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The former owner of the club, Bill Benny was said to have appeared on CCTV a few years after his death.

Two Children

Location: Manchester - Entrance alleyway to Chorlton Park, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa March, 1979
Further Comments: A witness sitting near the entrance to the park with their cousin watched two young twins in old fashioned school uniforms whistling and walking towards them. One of the twins smiled at the witness just prior to both siblings walking through the railings and disappearing. The witness screamed and fled the scene, although the cousin did not see the apparitions.

Green Train

Location: Manchester - Fairfield Railway Station, Audenshaw
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: Autumn and winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Said to appear around sunset and visible from Booth Road, an old-looking green train with several carriages vanishes if anyone moves too close. A tunnel that has been filled in is said to be home to a disembodied voice that calls out the name Mary.

Boggart Hole Clough, Manchester.

Hair Puller

Location: Manchester - Farm (no longer standing) located at Boggart Hole Clough (was also known as Blackley Dell)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Likely pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: This entity possessed a split personality - it would sometimes help with the washing and cleaning, while other times throw items around, pull bedcovers from people's beds as they slept, and laugh loudly while banging around at night. When the family threatened to move out, the spirit told them it would go with them, so they stayed.

Bells

Location: Manchester - Feathers Hotel (no longer standing, was near the station)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa June 1869
Further Comments: Over a five week period, the internal bell system would be triggered by an unseen hand, the ringing of fourteen bells waking staff. Replacing the wiring failed to stop the noise. A black figure also manifested on the staircase, unnerving a policeman and two boys.

Manchester's General Hospital.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Manchester - General Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Once seen standing by a television set, this shade is more likely to be blamed for flushing toilets in empty cubicles and throwing bed pans around.

Yellow Dog

Location: Manchester - Godley Green
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This large hound of ill fortune is yellow in colour - one story states it was once mistaken for a lion.

White Lady

Location: Manchester - Golborne, Castle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1960
Further Comments: This female form causes trouble on the roads as she drifts out in front of oncoming traffic. Some witnesses say the entity is more like a monk than a woman and a cyclist who spotted the figure in the road in 1960 said the phantom figure was twice the height of a normal person.

Young Employee

Location: Manchester - Great Western Hotel, Moss Side
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure dressed in grey is often reported in the basement.

Woman

Location: Manchester - Harpurhey Cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1920s
Further Comments: Hundreds of people apparently came to the site to see the phantom woman who appeared here, said to have been a murder or suicide victim. One person who visited the cemetery (but did not see the ghost) speculated the ghost was really a statue and a passing cloud, combined with moonlight, created a spooky illusion.

Old Canky

Location: Middleton - Canky's Ginnel - passageway between Church Brow and Lodge Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Canky was a resurrection man who, with his motley crew, stole fresh bodies from the churchyard and sold them in Manchester to doctors and medical students. His shade still lurks in the shadows of the long dark passageway.

Floating Orbs

Location: Middleton - Charmed Nightclub
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2004
Further Comments: Several strange events resulted in the owner of this nightclub calling in a psychic, including a phantom scream, glowing balls of light which floated around, and reports of a ghostly human form seen in both the basement and in the upper part of the building.

Old Man

Location: Middleton - Council house in Alkrington area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This entity is thought to belong to an old man who died in the house; his body remained undiscovered for several days after he passed away. While the child who lived in the house appeared to like the spirit, the boy's mother was not so keen.

The poet Samuel Bamford.

Burnt Flag

Location: Middleton - Old Grammar School
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Samuel Bamford wrote that the school flag had a hole in the shape of a burnt hoofprint. Students had summoned the Devil and had to be saved by the school's headmaster who managed to exorcise the fallen angel, although the ritual damaged some of the building.

The Thing

Location: Middleton - Private residence, Lorton Close, Langley (since redeveloped)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: November - December 1968
Further Comments: Dorothy Moulton fled her home in November after a poltergeist, referred to as The Thing, ransacked a bedroom. The entity had previously been heard walking around and was blamed for moving cushions. Moulton later returned, but she, her husband, and a lodger claimed that by December the entity had started to manifest, both as a black shadow and a misty white shape. After a blessing, the activity ceased.

Cavalier

Location: Middleton - Ring O'Bells public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The remains of several bodies were found under the floor of the basement, dating back to the civil war. The forlorn ghost seen lurking about the site is believed to be the spiritual echo of one of the corpses. A more contemporary shade is one of a man in a grey suit, of whom little is known.

Ghosts of the Future

Location: Middleton - St Leonard's Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 01 November (All Souls' Day) (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: The souls of all those who will die by the following All Souls' Day walk through the church at midnight. A former member of the clergy is also reported to haunt the church, though his appearance is not date related.

Large Dog

Location: Middleton - Stanicliffe Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This dog was thought to contain the soul of a man named Blomeley, who shot several people on the site. Accompanying poltergeist-like activities made it difficult for anyone to live in the house.

Noisy People

Location: Middleton - Tonge Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003?
Further Comments: Not much is known about these ghosts, other than the current owner claims that they can be a little on the loud side.

Mother

Location: Oldham - Adjoining private residences, Kingsbridge Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: One of these properties was said to be haunted by a mother upset with her children, while the next door site was home to a poltergeist who would turn electrical goods off and throw small items around.

The ghost of Birchen Bower.

Madame Hannah Beswick

Location: Oldham - Birchen Bower (building no longer stands, but replaced by Ferranti Works), Bower Lane, Hollinwood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: clear nights. Last seen 1950s
Further Comments: Though the building no longer stands, the ghost of Beswick was also said to haunt her former lands, watching over the gold that she had buried to protect it from thieves and soldiers. The shade reportedly stands tall, wearing a black silk dress and frilly cap, although sometimes she was headless. According to legend, her presence grows stronger every seventh anniversary of her death (in 1758), and she was also seen on clear nights. During the 1950s it was claimed that 35 Ferranti workers had seen her on different occasions.