The Paranormal Database

Mr Jenkins

Location: Poole - 71 High Street (original shop no longer stands)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964 and 1976
Further Comments: Since the old shop was replaced by a new building, the phantom of Mr Jenkins has not been seen. He was regarded as a rude ghost, pushing past people as he descended the staircase. Witnesses who spotted him said Jenkins was a young man wearing a suit with a high white collar.

Child

Location: Poole - Baiter Park (former site of an isolation hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possible late 1990s
Further Comments: A ghostly figure of a small thin child standing by a bench was spotted by one witness. The entity and entity locked eyes before the ghost faded away.

Dark Shape

Location: Poole - Bowling Green Alley
Type: Other
Date / Time: 23 February 2019
Further Comments: After saying to his girlfriend 'I wonder if we'll see any ghosts', Mark Goddard photographed a black shape along an alley. He believed it showed a cloaked old lady, although it is more likely to be roughly hewn brickwork on the corner of a building.

Oppression

Location: Poole - Byngley House, Market Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Some visitors to the building have reported a strange repressive feeling or the sensation of being suffocated in one upstairs bedroom.

Cat Calls

Location: Poole - Canford Heath
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 20 August 2005 (cat heard)
Further Comments: A woman with her elderly mother crossing the heath heard a growling noise followed by a loud roar from behind bushes. As they ran off, the roar was heard again. A cyclist and her son have also reported seeing a ghostly woman wearing a grey Victorian dress on the heath, close to the bomb crater used by mountain bikers.

Screaming Children

Location: Poole - Crown Hotel, Market Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Piano in 1989, other sightings unknown
Further Comments: Two children were once locked up in this building by a parent who was too embarrassed to let them run around and play in front of other people. They now let their protests be heard in the form of crying and yelling. The tinkling of a piano has also been heard in the hotel, as has the sound of a body being dragged around in the upper part of the structure.

Carter

Location: Poole - Customs House (currently a restaurant)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Carter was a gang member who sold several of his smuggling friends out - when the remaining members discovered Carter's betrayal, they murdered him. Carter is now thought to haunt the upper part of the building.

Slamming

Location: Poole - Former mill and forge on the quay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This old building is thought to have once been used for smuggling, and a hidden tunnel exists connecting it to St James Church. The strange sounds and the opening and closing of doors late at night may relate to the illegal activities that once occurred here.

Clerk

Location: Poole - Guildhall (former museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1991
Further Comments: A clerk who hanged himself during a state of depression in the guildhall is thought to linger on and is sometimes heard walking around the upper regions of the building.

Whistling

Location: Poole - Hamworthy House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early eighteenth century
Further Comments: This whistling was said to come from the ghost of a man shot dead after he was found in the arms of another man's wife (she was also shot and killed).

Ringing Bells

Location: Poole - Harbour waters
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to occur at night
Further Comments: Eight bells were lost, as were the entire crew, when a storm sunk the ship carrying them. The bells are still said to peal at night, together with the wails of the drowned sailors. The harbour is also named as one of many places where Arthur threw Excalibur.

Young Boy

Location: Poole - High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2008
Further Comments: Heading towards the quay, a witness spotted a young boy wearing loose fitting knee length trousers and a tweed cap run past. When the witness reached the place where the boy ran, the route was blocked by a high brick wall with no possible exit.

Elsie

Location: Poole - Hospital and Grey Towers Hall (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1990s
Further Comments: The hospital here had a reputation as being haunted by a ghost named Elsie.

Captain Jolliffe

Location: Poole - Jolliffe House, West Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: This ghostly presence is said to tease the cleaning staff by leaving handprints in freshly polished places and turning equipment on and off. Footsteps have been heard in empty parts of the building. A former occupier at the building, who lived in the wing no longer standing, reported feeling a silhouette of a face that manifested on a bedroom wall, and a hand that tugged at her ankles.

Young Woman

Location: Poole - King Charles Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps were heard by staff and customer alike. One person detected a young female voice. Items have also been known to disappear and electrical equipment malfunction.

Older Woman

Location: Poole - Lighthouse Arts Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s?
Further Comments: A few ghostly figures are said to haunt this arts venue, including an older woman sitting in the cinema, a man in t-shirt and jeans standing close to Sherling Studio, a Victorian Lady who haunts the studio, and a woman who hums a tune in a dressing room.

Mover

Location: Poole - Private house along King's Avenue
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1960s - present
Further Comments: This property was believed by neighbours to be haunted for many years. When finally sold to a woman who did not know the area, she reported finding ornaments and other small items that she placed on shelves to be on the floor the following morning.

Children Playing

Location: Poole - Private residence, Market Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: A babysitter, watching over a one year old and a three year old, was disturbed several times by the sound of children talking and moving around on the floor above, and of something heavy being dragged across the floor. Each time she investigated, the sounds stopped as she reached the top of the stairs, and the children she was minding were asleep.

George

Location: Poole - Private residence, Mossley Avenue
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1957
Further Comments: A poltergeist that the family christened George was deemed by investigators to be nothing more than rainwater running under the house and expanding air pockets caused by opening and closing doors. This did not immediately explain why windows opened unaided and taps and lights which would be turned on.

Agnes Beard

Location: Poole - Scaplen's Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Agnes unknown, CCTV September 2008, 'feeling' Summer 2013
Further Comments: It is believed that a maid, Agnes Beard, and her mistress were both murdered during a robbery here in the late sixteenth century. The man accused of the crime was found not guilty (even though most people thought that he did carry out the killings), and Agnes still protests the miscarriage of justice by making her presence felt in the building. A lone male figure also haunts the building, though is said to be non-hostile. CCTV apparently caught a ghostly figure wearing a bowler hat which remained on the screens for just over two hours, and a few years later, a visitor to this site had a suffocating feeling in one room.

Lamps

Location: Poole - United Reformed Church, Skinner Street
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It has been said that sometimes one can see box pews and brass lamps within the church, even though the items were removed in the nineteenth century.