The Paranormal Database

Hoddesdon's strange superhero.

Winged Person

Location: Hoddesdon - Various areas around town
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown - pre mid twentieth century?
Further Comments: Possessing a man-like face and body, but with dark wings, this ghostly entity has been known to prevent suicides and intervene during attempted murders.

Groaning Wood

Location: Ivinghoe - Gallows Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of a wooden gallows groaning and creaking has been reported here. Chains have also been heard and a man dressed in grey spotted, though he never remains long.

Jenny

Location: Kings Langley - King's Lodge public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1981
Further Comments: Visiting mediums told the landlady of this pub that the strange occurrences (lights being turned on and off, unexplained tapping) here were caused by a woman named Jenny, who is buried somewhere within the walls.

Monks

Location: Kings Langley - Priory Orchard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Ghostly monks have been reported drifting around the orchard.

Edwardian Chap

Location: Knebworth - Brickmaker's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: The front room of this pub was once room to an Edwardian figure who sat on a sofa. He was exorcised by a local man.

Jenny Spinner

Location: Knebworth - Knebworth House
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: This ghostly clothes maker was renowned for waking the household with the grinding of her spinning wheel, normally heard before a death in the family.

Lord Palmerston

Location: Lemsford - Brocket Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The shade of former Prime Minister Lord Palmerston is thought to be one of those who are yet to find rest here.

Dog Scaring Footsteps

Location: Letchworth - Scudamore, Letchworth Corner
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1947
Further Comments: A family pet was constantly terrified whenever the phantom footsteps were heard stomping around the building.

Jarman

Location: Little Gaddesden - Village pond and Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Jarman, a churchwarden living in the village, drowned himself in the pond after his relationship with a member of the Bridgewater family fell apart. His entity reportedly lurks by the pond and, once a year, travel around the manor house extinguishing candles and dimming any electrical lights.

Monks

Location: Little Wymondley - Priory (only long barn exists)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The priory is reputedly home to several phantom monks. As a side note, a chestnut tree at the location is said to have been planted by Julius Caesar.

Catherine Ferrers

Location: Markyate Cell - Area around the priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen riding her horse topless, and swinging around tree branches without a stitch on, the ghost of the highwaywoman Ferrers continues to create the same amount of havoc that she did whilst living.

Monk

Location: Nettleden - Roman Lane (aka Spooky Lane)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom monk is thought to be connected to the nearby Ashridge House.

Geoffrey De Mandeville

Location: New Barnet - Pymms Brook, bottom of Northfield Road and Castlewood Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1992 / 1993
Further Comments: A child ran home after encountering a ghostly figure wearing a red habit with a hood covering the head. Many years later, the child believed the figure to be Sir Geoffrey De Mandeville.

White Lady

Location: Panshanger Woods - Area near an abandoned decoy air shelter
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1990?
Further Comments: This area is rumoured to be haunted by a woman who committed infanticide.

Lady

Location: Pirton - Fox Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2011
Further Comments: Makers of the pilot programme Greatest Haunts claimed this pub was haunted by a woman who had two children.

Soldier

Location: Pirton - High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2011
Further Comments: A medium working for the programme Greatest Haunts said that she had encountered a phantom solider walking along the high street.

Old Lady

Location: Potters Bar - The Old Manor Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s?
Further Comments: A phantom elderly lady is said to walk through the restaurant, while the staircase in the same area is haunted by a little girl who plays there. Staff report a strange atmosphere in the area after closing.

Grey Lady

Location: Redbourn - Bull Inn (closed 2015, now a Co-op store)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s - present
Further Comments: The Blue Room of the inn housed the ghost of a pneumonia victim, which manifested as a grey lady, disembodied voices, and bedclothes being pulled from the bed at night. Landlord Howard Upton was aware of these occurrences and allegedly became part of them after his own death in a traffic accident in 1978; moving objects and unexplained ''touching' in the former bar and cellar areas are attributed to Upton, rather than the occupant of the Blue Room.

Overflow

Location: Redbourn - Womere Brook
Type: Legend
Date / Time: When danger is imminent
Further Comments: This body of water is reported to overflow when famine threatens the area.

Running

Location: Rickmansworth - Private detached house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006-2009
Further Comments: A child's disembodied footsteps could be heard running around the master bedroom of this property - an attempt to record it using a video camera failed when the equipment turned itself off. The young child of the occupant said he could see a man in the corner of a room, although his mother could see nothing, while the cleaner said she could feel a friendly male presence.

Green Light

Location: Rickmansworth - Skies over the town
Type: UFO
Date / Time: February 2010
Further Comments: Two police officers watched a bright green light quickly pass over the town and disappear over the horizon.

Shattering Mirrors

Location: Royston - Henrick's Hairdressing salon
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Mirrors have been known to fly from the walls and the radio changes stations at will, in this haunted salon. A psychic blamed the former owner of the building who slit his own throat.

Shadows

Location: Royston - Royston Cave
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Shadowy figures have been briefly spotted in this cave.

The Devil moving bricks.

The Old Brick Mover

Location: Sarratt - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Eleventh century
Further Comments: The Devil was said to have moved the bricks from the church's original build site just as quick as the builders could lay them. The builders finally gave up and constructed the church where it stands today.

Well Dressed Man

Location: Sarratt - Rose Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A figure seen in a bedroom had a good quality blue coat, but sadly missed his head.