Salisbury Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
William Boulter
Location: Salisbury - A30
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A highwayman by trade, Boulter was hanged for his troubles. His phantom is said to run along various parts of the A30.
Noose
Location: Salisbury - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Noose
Further Comments: Convicted of murder and executed, Lord Stourton was hanged in the marketplace and buried within the cathedral. A noose was left over his grave. The noose was removed at some point during the eighteenth century, but it is said to occasionally reappear.
Duke of Buckingham
Location: Salisbury - Debenhams' department store
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Executed in the fifteenth century, the headless apparition of the Duke terrified a British Telecom employee who was working on the site - he refused to re-enter the building.
Phantom Footfalls
Location: Salisbury - Haunch of Venison public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Random days between 11.30 & midnight (footfalls), white lady unknown
Further Comments: The footfalls may belong to the owner of a severed hand which was discovered behind a secret panel within the pub. This ghost is also held responsible for moving dirty glasses in the bar. The hand was stolen from the pub in March 2004. Another phantom, that of a white lady, is said to appear at windows.
Catgarookey
Location: Salisbury - Laverstock area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 2005
Further Comments: This sixty centimetre tall creature, christened 'Catgarookey' because it looks like a cat-kangaroo-monkey hybrid, was spotted several times in the region. The fact that the animal possessed a black and yellow tail with a white tip suggests the 'beast' is little more than an escaped racoon family member.
Moving Tools
Location: Salisbury - Old George Inn (currently Boston Tea Party)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that when work was carried out on the site, construction tools were moved around the building every night. When locked up on one occasion, the building was found completely open the following day. Although a former manager disliked being on the site alone at night, as it was 'too scary', nothing out of the ordinary has even been seen.
Playful Spirit
Location: Salisbury - Private flat along St Edmunds Church Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: An entity in a flat along this road occupies the bedroom, playfully pinning the inhabitants to the floor or wall (and letting them go when they ask it to).
Horrible Man
Location: Salisbury - Private property, Netherhampton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002-2016
Further Comments: Several strange events occurred on this site fourteen years, including the manifestation of upper torso of a man under a table (which caused a witness and a pet dog to flee the room), bad smells and cold spots.
Crying
Location: Salisbury - Private residence, Balmoral Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s-1990s
Further Comments: Crying would be heard from the loft in this property, while at other times something would be heard crashing down the staircase, although nothing would ever be found. An upstairs toilet would also flush itself and on one occasion the chime of a cuckoo clock was heard, one day after the clock had been removed from the site.
Koi from the Sky
Location: Salisbury - Salisbury & South Wilts Golf Club
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: Four golfers emerged after sheltering from a downpour on the second hole only to find the fairway covered in Koi carp and goldfish. It was speculated that the fish were removed by strong winds or a small whirlwind from a neighbourhood pond, even though no such location was found.
The White Birds
Location: Salisbury - Salisbury Plains
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death of Bishop of Salisbury
Further Comments: These large white birds, seen moving through the air but never flapping their wings, appear hours before the death of the Bishop. Another story says that the same event is foretold if two of the strange birds are seen on the roof of the cathedral.
Woman in Grey
Location: Salisbury - St Michael's Church, Car Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2018, 22:30h
Further Comments: A man walking his dog through the area spotted a female figure wearing a long grey dress slowly heading towards the church hall, with her back to him. Passing back the same way a short time later, the man spotted the woman now standing at the top of the car back. As he approached, the woman walked through the fence and vanished.
Grey Lady
Location: Salisbury - St Thomas's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s?
Further Comments: When last seen, this tearful woman in grey looked so real that the witness approached her to see what was wrong - the figure promptly vanished.
Dr Baker
Location: Salisbury - The Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Several of the buildings which make up the close are reputedly haunted. A property near St Anne's Gate is said to still be the home of former canon Dr Baker who passed on many years previous. In another property, two men heard banging, footsteps and a massive crash from a room above them - on investigation, of course, the room was empty and undisturbed.
Grey Lady
Location: Salisbury - The Wardrobe (currently a museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1970s?
Further Comments: A phantom grey woman was said to haunt this building prior to renovation - it is unclear whether she has remained.
Wild Man of the Woods
Location: Salisbury - Woodland near the town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1877
Further Comments: A wild man who lived in the woods was shot at when he attacked and tried to kidnap a local farmer's wife. The creature was never seen again.
Records 1 - 16 of 16
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