The Paranormal Database

Dark Figure

Location: Portsmouth - St Ann's Church, Dockyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2018
Further Comments: Having worked in the building before many times without incident, a member of the chaplaincy team had two fleeting glances of a dark figure standing on the balcony, looking over the edge as if watching the witness. The figure was described as curious and unthreatening.

Looking for Child

Location: Portsmouth - St Mary's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: A ghostly woman in a dressing gown was once said to wander the hospital looking for her baby, who had died of unknown complications.

Actor

Location: Portsmouth - Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A brown coloured figure was once seen sitting in the empty theatre. A piano was recorded playing a single note in the building after closing time when all the doors had been closed and locked. Another story says an actor who cut his own throat here in the 1880's is said to remain earthbound.

Stirring

Location: Portsmouth - Unidentified house, St Mary's Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa December 1964
Further Comments: This entity created a nuisance by ripping buttons off clothing, thumping on the staircase, and creating a rattling which resembled a shaving brush being stirred in a tin cup. One man twice witnessed a white figure on the staircase.

Victorian Barmaid

Location: Portsmouth - White Swan inn, Guildhall Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This unfortunate woman was murdered by her violent husband after he returned from sea.

Children

Location: Portsmouth - Wymering Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The oldest building in the city, Wymering Manor is said to be home to several apparitions and cold spots. The sounds of children whispering have also been reported, although one former resident went on record as saying the phantoms were 'quite nice and quite friendly'.

Helen's Spirits

Location: Portsmouth - 301 Copnor Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1944
Further Comments: Helen Duncan, a materialisation medium famously convicted for conspiring to contravene the Witchcraft Act of 1735 in 1944, used the flat above a drug store here.

Fox Terrier

Location: Portsmouth - 44 Laburnum Grove
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1910
Further Comments: Elliott O'Donnell wrote that a medium who receded here believed her home to be haunted by several cats, which were mistreated by a former owner of the property. The medium also detected the presence of a fox terrier.

Murdered Sailor

Location: Portsmouth - Blue Posts Inn (destroyed by fire in 1870)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1870
Further Comments: This inn was haunted by the ghost of a sailor murdered therein. His corpse was secretly buried in the courtyard, though in 1938 a gravestone was placed in the area thought to house the body.

Angry Man

Location: Portsmouth - Building (since demolished) along Alexandra Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Multiple occupants of this building reported foul smells, scratches, disembodied voices and footsteps, furniture and fixings moving on its own and handprints on walls that would not disappear. Portsmouth City Council are reported to have brought in a medium, although the visit had no effect. Said to have been an angry male, the activity finally ceased when the building was demolished.

Jumping Keyboard

Location: Portsmouth - Cash Converters, London Road, Fratton
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: Two workers in Cash Converters reported seeing an analogue synthesiser fly three metres across the shop floor, hitting a CD rack. The former owner of the keyboard told the manager she had sold the item because of experiencing similar problems at home.

Frog Fall

Location: Portsmouth - Copnor area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa July 1954
Further Comments: Many tiny frogs were said to have fallen from the sky during heavy rainfall.

Buckingham

Location: Portsmouth - Former Greyhound public house, now a private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: The site where John Felton assassinated the Duke of Buckingham was widely believed to be haunted by the tragic figure.

George and Emily

Location: Portsmouth - Groundlings Theatre, Portsea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghosts of two children, Emily and George, are said to be among the nine (or ten) phantoms at home within this Georgian Theatre.

Jack Aitken

Location: Portsmouth - Harbour area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Windy weather
Further Comments: Hanged for attempting to commit arson in a naval dockyard, Aitken's body was then displayed in a gibbet - the chains of which can still be heard clinking in the wind.

First World War Soldiers

Location: Portsmouth - Hayling Avenue
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A woman walking down the road walked by a detachment of soldiers travelling in the opposite direction. She noticed they were wearing an old style of uniform. It was only when she looked back and realised the soldiers had vanished did she know she had witnessed something strange.

Shaking Bed

Location: Portsmouth - HMNB Portsmouth, HMS Nelson, Saumarez block (now demolished)
Type: Other
Date / Time: September 1990
Further Comments: A witness reported waking up after the room fell cold. He could feel something sitting on his legs, but nothing could be seen. After several minutes, the bed began shaking violently, and the witness felt his legs being lifted slightly, before the top half of his body was also lifted at a forty five degree angle.

Flashing Lights

Location: Portsmouth - HMNB Portsmouth, Leviathan Block
Type: Other
Date / Time: Pre-2013
Further Comments: It was reported that journalists working on the Navy News newspaper would see flashes of light emerging from the corridor outside their office. An uncomfortable feeling would accompany the light.

Buster Crabb

Location: Portsmouth - Keppels Head hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of two hotels claiming Crabb spending his final night here, the Navy frogman is said to haunt the building. Crabb vanished while attempting to spy on a Soviet warship which docked at Portsmouth during the Cold War.

Footless Figure

Location: Portsmouth - Portsmouth & Southsea Train Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 January 2016, between 05:00h - 05:30h
Further Comments: Standing alone at the empty station, a commuter suddenly spotted a man wearing a 1940s suit standing at the opposite end of the platform. The slightly transparent figure did not have any facial features and, despite also lacking feet, started to walk towards the commuter, who fled in terror. The commuter refused to return to the site and subsequently used another station to travel.

Clothes Thrower

Location: Portsmouth - Private house along Agincourt Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: At its peak, the entity in the house pushed an occupant down the stairs. It also scattered clothing around rooms and snatched items from people's hands. A blessing performed at the house was said to make things worse.

Landing Figure

Location: Portsmouth - Private residence, Buckland Park area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: The poltergeist activity in this home included items being thrown and pictures falling from the wall. A figure observed on the landing may have also been seen walking up the stairs.

Scratching

Location: Portsmouth - Private residence, Copnor area
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2001-2009
Further Comments: A homeowner was forced to move after experiencing several years of scratching noises, footsteps, and having the duvet removed from the bed during the night.

Chair Thrower

Location: Portsmouth - Private residence, Cosham area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: Figures could be seen walking through the kitchen into the larder, knocks would rattle on the doors, and items thrown or occasionally hidden before turning up in unusual places.

Man in Navy Uniform

Location: Portsmouth - Private residence, Cumberland Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990-1992
Further Comments: A family living in a property here were subjected to kitchen equipment moving unaided, exploding lightbulbs and the smell of cigars, although no-one smoked. A child would talk to a male figure wearing navy uniform with cuts over his face.