The Paranormal Database

St John the Baptist church, Brighton.

Woman in a Bonnet

Location: Brighton - St John the Baptist church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: The church is said to be the haunt of a woman wearing a white bonnet.

St Nicholas' Church in Brighton.

Knight in Armour

Location: Brighton - St Nicholas' Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Moonlit Nights (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing on horseback, this knight clad in armour appears around the church neighbourhood.

Medieval Girl

Location: Brighton - St Peter's Church, Preston Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 2001
Further Comments: This figure was first (?) observed by two people walking through the churchyard in the 1970s - she was so lifelike they tried to talk to her, but she faded from view. The same entity was seen by a female photographer early in the twenty first century.

Brighton's Stanmer Park.

Priest

Location: Brighton - Stanmer Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom priest was reported to haunt this site. Legend says he was shot by custom officers after being caught assisting the local smuggling operation some 200 years ago.

Maria Fitzherbert

Location: Brighton - Steine House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend says that this house was connected to the Royal Pavilion by way of secret tunnel, to ensure Maria Fitzherbert could secretly meet George, Prince of Wales (later George IV). Maria is reputed to continue haunt the site; a female form wearing a long flowing dress is said to vanish into a wall along the basement corridor.

George

Location: Brighton - Supermarket north of the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: An out-of-hours manager at this store spotted the fuzzy figure of a tall man in a blue top near the checkouts after the store had closed. The manager initially thought the figure was the security guard or a lorry driver, but soon realised he had encountered 'George', a ghost said to haunt the building after dying during an accident in the factory that previously stood on the site.

Brighton's Sussex Arms pub.

White Lady

Location: Brighton - Sussex Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Nothing is really known about this phantom white lady, and it is questionable whether she still exists.

The Brighton Centre, formally known as Alhambra Opera House.

Billy

Location: Brighton - The Brighton Centre (was the Alhambra Opera House)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This building has been reputedly haunted since its time as the Alhambra. A young boy named Billy is said to have died in the lobby area having walked to the site from a nearby orphanage to see the bright lights and music up close.

Brighton's The Coal Shed restaurant.

Jemmy Botting

Location: Brighton - The Coal Shed restaurant, and Boyce's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Dark, windy nights
Further Comments: Botting was a hangman who claimed to have executed 175 during his career. He died in October 1837 after falling out of his wheelchair - he was so despised locally, no one came to help him up. His ghost is said to haunt the Coal Shed, while the sound of his wheelchair is heard passing along Boyce's Street when the weather is right.

Brighton's Ghost Train on Palace Pier.

Footsteps

Location: Brighton - The Ghost Train, Palace Pier
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps are said to be heard around the ghost train site in the early hours of the morning, while torch batteries die at an alarming rate.

The Lanes of Brighton, Sussex.

Grey Nun

Location: Brighton - The Lanes of Brighton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Captured by her Order after running off with a soldier, this nun was bricked up alive in one of the buildings in The Lanes - her ghost now makes the odd appearance throughout the area.

The Stag Inn in Brighton.

Albert

Location: Brighton - The Stag Inn, Upper Bedford Street, Kemp Town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The locals named him Albert; this tall man once made frequent appearances wearing a large apron, though it would now appear he has disappeared for good.

Theatre Royal, Brighton.

Sarah Bernhardt

Location: Brighton - Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1982
Further Comments: This nineteenth century French actress has a habit of walking down corridors, pushing people out of the way if they step in front of her. The wall into which she disappears is reportedly a bricked up doorway where her dressing room once stood. The site is also reputed to be haunted by a doorman and the former owner Ellen Nye, who manifests as a grey lady.

Black Skull

Location: Brighton - Toronto Terrace
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A resident here reported waking at 3am to find a small skull levitating in front of her - it was so black that it stood out from the darkness of the unlit bedroom.

Unease

Location: Brighton - Unnamed flat in Kempton area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: A couple reported moving from their flat after a six month period, during which they experienced dread, anxiety and the presence of something evil.

Blind Beggar

Location: Brighton - Victoria Gardens
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: The figure of a man in rags with empty eye sockets has been seen shuffling around this neighbourhood.

Volks Tavern in Brighton.

Blonde Woman

Location: Brighton - Volks Tavern, Madeira Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen dancing within this tavern, the blonde woman was speculated to once have haunted the ruined West Pier.

The Wahoo Bar in Brighton.

Mr Webster

Location: Brighton - Wahoo Bar, West Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Mr Webster, nicknamed Claude, hanged himself in 1903, when the building was an hotel. His ghost, wearing chef garb, was reportedly seen by members of staff in the late twentieth century.

Cheltenham & Gloucester, Brighton.

Unseen Presence

Location: Brighton - Was a Vision Express shop, now Cheltenham & Gloucester bank
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2000
Further Comments: Several staff experienced something that brushed past them on a landing leading to the top floor of the building. Another person reported feeling something tap him on the shoulder in the same area.

The Windmill pub in Brighton.

Ransacked Room

Location: Brighton - Windmill public house, Upper North Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Glasses are reported to fly from shelves and one room which was left tidy was found a short time later ransacked.

The YMCA in Brighton.

Woman in Long Dress

Location: Brighton - YMCA, East Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009
Further Comments: A guest at the site reported seeing a woman in a long dress drift along a hallway before vanishing through a wall.