The Paranormal Database

Footfalls

Location: Sale - Eyebrow Cottage
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: Staff at this kitchen showroom have reported hearing footsteps in empty rooms, heavy items moving themselves, and doors and drawers opening and closing without human intervention.

Lights On

Location: Sale - Private residence, Brooklands area
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1993-1994
Further Comments: A couple experienced a poltergeist outbreak here, with activities including dimming lights, bell ringing and cracked or moved kitchenware. On one occasion, the couple left the site after the electricity was switched off at the mains - once outside they looked back and all the lights in the residence were switched on.

Footsteps

Location: Salford - Adelphi Building, University of Salford campus
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: A member of the facility said that some security guards would not enter parts of this building because they could hear disembodied footsteps at night.

Flying Coin

Location: Salford - Black Lion Public House, Chapel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008 (and ongoing)
Further Comments: Figures of men, women and a child have been reported in this public house, as well as disembodied voices, opening doors, furniture and glasses moving unaided, and a coin which threw itself across an empty room.

A phantom policeman.

Policeman

Location: Salford - Church of Saint Thomas, locally called Pendleton Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s onwards?
Further Comments: This church is reputedly haunted by a policeman who died ringing the bells on the Queen's coronation.

Scratching

Location: Salford - Flat along Lower Broughton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977
Further Comments: This flat was haunted by a scratching sound from the floor, walls and ceiling - one former resident described it as 'a dog slipping on lino'. Sheets would be pulled off the bed, and the sensation of hands or paws would be felt moving up the body when lying down in the bedroom.

Blurred Figure

Location: Salford - Irwell Castle Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This dark figure has been seen at the back of the hotel, seemingly slightly out of focus with the rest of his surroundings.

Grey Monk

Location: Salford - Kersal Cell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The misty shade of a monk appears but once a year.

The ghost in a black cloak.

William Douglas

Location: Salford - Old factory behind Cromwell Bridge on Littleton Road (factory no longer stands)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A phantom figure in a cloak was glided silently from a balcony to the maze of factory machinery below. The entity is said to have been seen by a few staff in the building, and one night guard fled after encountering a ghostly face staring at him through a window. A local story says that the ghost is of William Douglas (also known as Black Bill) who owned a workhouse on the site and exploited child labour.

White Lady

Location: Salford - Ordsall Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Some people believe that this phantom figure is Margaret Radclyffe, Queen Elizabeth's favourite Maid of Honour. She died of a broken heart in 1559 shortly after the death of her brother.

Dark Figure

Location: Salford - Private residence along Eccles New Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999-2007
Further Comments: As well as a shadowy figure spotted in the hallway, there have been minor poltergeist like activity, such as items moving and rapping.

Coded Knocks

Location: Salford - Private residence along Tully Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 24 December 1959 - February 1960
Further Comments: For a two month period a family living here were plagued by knocking which would carry on throughout the nights. Psychical researchers realised that the knocks were spelling out messages for neighbour Mrs Roberts, and they appeared to be from her recently deceased father-in-law. After a special service was conducted in the house the knocking ceased.

Black Bill

Location: Salford - River Irwell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s / 1960s
Further Comments: Local villain William Douglas, aka Black Bill, is said to be the figure clad in black upon a black horse who rides along the river bank before vanishing.

Dwarf Attack

Location: Stockport - Abney Hall, Cheadle
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1998
Further Comments: A small group of students reported being attacked by a dwarf-like alien wearing martial arts clothing. Some believed that the entity was trying to drain their life-force.

Scarlet Rider

Location: Stockport - Bramall (also known as Bramhall) Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This figure on horseback, dressed in an unmistakable red, appears once a year - in 1630 he is said to have taken the life of the owner of the hall.

Drummer

Location: Stockport - Dukinfield Chapel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1646
Further Comments: During a service in the chapel, an invisible entity moved around the church, drumming so loud the sound drove all the congregation away.

John

Location: Stockport - Gardener's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A former member of staff claimed the pub's cellar was haunted by a ghost named John - failure to say 'good morning' to the ghost would result in him wolf whistling in your ear. The phantom would also object it the cellar was rearranged and would move things around and turn taps on.

Open the Window

Location: Stockport - Private flat, central Stockport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2016-2019
Further Comments: The people who lived in this flat had several experiences. One person heard a man whisper 'open the window' close to their ear, leaving them terrified. Another person felt down the stairs, convinced that they had been pushed by small hands. EVP picked up the voice of a teenage boy.

Glowing Lady

Location: Stockport - St Thomas's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death
Further Comments: This radiant woman appears dressed as either a nurse or a nun, and always just before the death of a patient on a certain ward.

Escapee

Location: Stockport - Staircase Cafe (currently Staircase Museum), the Market Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 1956
Further Comments: Workmen discovered a hidden staircase which led to an additional three rooms being found in this cafe. The tenant of the building reported hearing strange sounds, 'as if someone is trying to get out', according to a contemporary press report.

George

Location: Stockport - Star and Garter public house and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young boy murdered nearby in 1861, George is still said to play with living children.

Figure in Hat

Location: Stockport - Stockport Grammar School, Victorian convent house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964 and onwards
Further Comments: A group photograph taken at the school in 1964 shows a figure in a hat standing at the rear of the group, at an angle otherwise impossible to be caught on film. Witnesses say that the convent house is haunted by footsteps coming from empty parts of the building.

Woman

Location: Stockport - Thatched House public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lurking in the cellar, this female shade is said to horrify anyone who encounter her. Another ghost, Doctor James Briscall, is said to sit at the bar - the doctor set the building up as the town's first infirmary.

Back Slapper

Location: Stockport - White Lion public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: A DJ reported feeling someone slap his back and head, although there was no one close by. Reporting it to the landlady, he was told that other DJs had told her similar stories.

The phantom attacker is likely to have been much less dramatic than this.

Horned Man

Location: Stretford - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early 1886
Further Comments: Several women reported being attacked by a figure in 'a covering of skin, with two horns on the top of his head'. The man would leap from behind hedges, and lightly shake his victims before running off. During the same period, the figure was also reported in Gorton and Cheetham Hill.