Birmingham Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Samuel Greatrex
Location: Birmingham - Private house along Garrison Lane, Small Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1963
Further Comments: Identified by a medium as Samuel Greatrex, this ghost created loud knocks, rattled chains, and generated footsteps day and night. It was later discovered that Greatrex had been arrested for stabbing someone and had died during his time in prison. When occupier Mrs Keogh moved away, Greatrex followed her
Samuel Greatrex Returns
Location: Birmingham - Private house along Upper Thomas Street, Aston
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964 onwards
Further Comments: Mrs Keogh fled her previous residence to escape the phantom Samuel Greatrex, but the ghost accompanied her, as did the loud raps it created Through a medium, Greatrex apologised to Mrs Keogh and promised to quieten down.
Flying Dog
Location: Birmingham - Private residence, Barrows Lane, Yardley
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth / early twenty-first century
Further Comments: Footsteps walking up a hallway were heard by a witness and her dog in a room. The footsteps stopped outside the room and the door handle started to turn. The dog ran to the door barking, and the witness grabbed a poker. Opened the door, the witness was surprised to find no one there, although the dog continued to bark at empty space. A short time later the family watched the dog barking at the air in the garden, when the hound was picked up and thrown into the door of a coal house by something unseen. There were also reports of loud crashes within the house, but nothing was ever found tipped over.
Lady Bagot
Location: Birmingham - Pype Hayes Hall, Erdington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story says that Lady Bagot committed suicide after being caught having an affair with a member of the household staff. It is unclear whether Bagot is the ghost in a yellow dress reported here. A caped man has been spotted and mild poltergeist behaviour is also said to have occurred.
Grasper
Location: Birmingham - Queen's Arms public house, Charlotte Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: Staff at this public house named their resident spook Grasper after a series of incidents where their bums were pinched by an unseen hand. Other activity is said to include chairs moving and footsteps heard in empty parts of the building.
Sandwell Vallygator
Location: Birmingham - Sandwell Valley
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: An American snapper which had either escaped or been set free was first spotted at a valley lake in 1999, though it took a further two years to catch the creature.
Henrietta's Maid
Location: Birmingham - Saracen's Head Inn, Kings Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When Queen Henrietta Maria visited Kings Norton, an influenza outbreak ravaged her troops. For her safety, the troops set up camp by the stream while the Queen stayed at the Saracens Head. Queen Henrietta had her maid run messages to and from the camp, but the young girl caught the illness. When Henrietta set off, the maid stayed behind and died shortly after. She still walks the upstairs corridor looking to serve her mistress.
Young Girl
Location: Birmingham - Sheldon Hall public house, Gressel Lane, Tile Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Caught on film by a group of party goers, this shade is one of the two ghosts that haunt the property, the other taking the form of an old woman. In 1993, when the pub was known as 'Baldie's Mansion', a masked white apparition was spotted, accompanied by nearby trees and bushes violently shaking.
Old Paper Man
Location: Birmingham - Sherburne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to occur around 03:00h
Further Comments: Wearing a top hat and old fashioned clothing, this phantom man is said to walk along picking up papers.
Gypsy Curse
Location: Birmingham - St Andrews, Birmingham City Football Club
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a community of gypsies were evicted from the land many years ago, enabling the construction of the stadium. St Andrews is one of several football grounds around the country that claims this gypsy curse is responsible for any bad luck they encounter.
Melting Woman
Location: Birmingham - Telephone Box, Station Road, Erdington (box no longer standing, replaced by a sculpture)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: September 1975
Further Comments: One of the more unusual haunted places in the database - a priest wanting to use the phone box was kept waiting by a woman chatting away on the line. When he opened the door to see how much longer she would be, the figure melted away. The figure is reported to have continued haunting the phone box until the mid-1990s; the ghost was said to be a distressed woman who had lost her children in a house fire and had used this phone to call the emergency services. She later killed herself.
Crawling Cordial
Location: Birmingham - The Old Crown public house, Digbeth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2015
Further Comments: This pub appeared in the national press after a video was released showing a bottle of blackcurrant cordial moving unaided across the bar. The ghost has also been blamed for pinching female staff's bottoms and forcing one member of staff to quit after he spotted a female entity walk through a door.
Stone Throwing
Location: Birmingham - Thornton Road, Ward End
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1981-1982
Further Comments: The jury is still out to whether the dozens of stones which rained down and smashed windows of numbers 32, 34 and 36 along this road were thrown by human or paranormal hands. Despite hundreds of police hours spent investigating and observing the area, no arrests were ever made.
Henry Skinner
Location: Birmingham - Trocadero public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: Murdered in the late nineteenth century, former landlord Henry Skinner is held accountable for throwing around small change and beer mats. A former landlord claimed to have encountered Henry. Two other phantoms, girls who fell to their deaths on a staircase are also reputed to haunt the site.
Frilly Woman
Location: Birmingham - Victoria Road, Aston
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This shade dressed in green is reported to just 'appear' in the middle of the road or on the kerb before drifting across the street before vanishing again.
Giant's Stone
Location: Birmingham - Warstones Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A giant who lived at Birmingham castle was killed when the Giant of Dudley threw a stone at him (launched from Dudley!). The rock also demolished the castle. The stone was erected as a memento, and the lane named after the War Stone used as a weapon. The rock is now on a plinth within the cemetery.
White Lady
Location: Birmingham - Warstones Lane Cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Though seen wearing several different sets of clothing over the past fifty years, this young girl with blonde hair is thought to be Victorian and has a habit of passing through parked cars.
John Wentworth
Location: Birmingham - White Swan public house, Harborne
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: John went mad with grief when he found out his secret love had died in a coach accident - he shot his dog before turning the gun on himself. He has been heard moving around the building and has been known to tap people on their shoulder.
Hit and Vanish
Location: Birmingham - Witton Cemetery, Moor Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1995
Further Comments: A driver was convinced that he had run over a figure outside the cemetery (he felt and heard the 'bump' of the body on the car's bonnet), but the 'victim' vanished without trace. A police search of the area also failed to find any evidence of the accident.
Pale Woman
Location: Birmingham - Witton Lakes Park, Erdington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s / 1970s
Further Comments: This female phantom who lurks at the edge of the lakes is said to dress in modern clothing, though her skin is frightening pale in colour.
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