The Paranormal Database

Robert Adams

Location: Nelson - Engineers' Arms public house (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa April 1905
Further Comments: After landlord Robert Adams died, his phantom returned. He would be seen drinking behind the bar through a window, although when the new landlord turned up to investigate, the ghost disappeared upstairs and created a great deal of noise.

Coach Master

Location: Nelson - The Coach House, Marsden Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2021
Further Comments: The owner of this property has experienced disembodied footsteps and whispering accompanying a sense of not being alone. Workmen who had tools moved have left after feeling a strange presence. It is thought the old coach master, together with his wife and adopted child, may be responsible for the haunting.

Cavalier

Location: Newchurch - Boars Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The Paranormal Activity Research Team of Lancashire investigated this haunted public house. They picked up the presence of a Cavalier in the attic and a figure in the cellar who created a sharp drop in temperature.

Detail from Salvator Rosa's painting Scenes of Witchcraft Evening.

Evil Eye

Location: Newchurch - Local church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This holy building has a large blue eye built into it, to protect against witches and other evils.

Jinny

Location: Newchurch in Pendle - Jinny Lane and nearby Jinny Well
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The headless ghost of Jinny (or Jennet) haunted the lane which took her name.

Footsteps

Location: Newchurch in Pendle - Lower Well Head Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Saturdays, 18:00h (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps are said to heard as they move through this building each Saturday. Misty figures have also been reported.

Footsteps

Location: Newchurch in Pendle - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 12 June 2024, 16:10h
Further Comments: After spotting a black figure standing over one of the graves, a witness started to walk away, only to realise she was being followed down the pathway towards the entrance. The witness heard footsteps close behind so moved to one side, allowing the person to pass. However, when no one appeared, the witness realised the immediate area to be devoid of life.

Invisible Guardians

Location: Newchurch in Rossendale - Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Invisible workmen, who also guarded over the site, worked on the construction of this church. The entities could only be seen by one woman who provided them with water.

Woman in a Long Coat

Location: Newhey - Bull's Head public house, Ogden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s, said to be more active in December
Further Comments: A ghostly man was seen to walk through a closed by a customer, while the landlord observed a woman in a long coat walk into the bar, only to disappear without trace. A phantom dog was also reported.

Monochrome Woman

Location: Nixon Hillock - Runshaw House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The upper part of the building is reportedly haunted by an old woman dressed in black and white clothing.

Matron

Location: Norden - Wolstenholme Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1950s
Further Comments: While cleaning a staircase, a member of domestic staff spotted the legs and lower gown of the Matron ascend the stairs. The cleaner said, 'good morning' and was surprised that there was no reply. A few minutes later the Matron arrived and spoke to the cleaner, who expressed surprise and said the Matron had already gone upstairs. Both Matron and cleaner then went to investigate but no one could be found on the floor above. Other members of staff had also claimed to have seen the phantom Matron.

William Dutton

Location: Old Langho - The Black Bull Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This typical pub ghost is blamed for stealing little items, though one story states the shade once stopped a little girl from falling down a set of stairs by catching her as she tripped.

Searching Man

Location: Ormskirk - Mossock Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This chap appears in the staircase, always looking around, as if looking for something or someone. A green lady also haunts the building.

Grey Man

Location: Ormskirk - Old Ship Inn, aka Abblets shoe shop, Moor street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This tall male ghost appears quite solid, yet greyish in colour. He stands by the front upstairs window, overlooking the main road. A strong smell of tobacco could also be detected within the building.

Awoken

Location: Ormskirk - Plough public house, Church Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: After a car crashed into this public house in January 2012, landlady Linda Roughley reported that items would move and fly of surfaces unaided. Roughley also reported feeling an invisible hand touch her back.

Old Hitchhiker

Location: Ormskirk - Road between Ormskirk and Southport, Halsall Moss area - Gregory's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1965
Further Comments: At least two drivers along this road have looked at their rear-view mirrors and seen an old man sitting in the back of the car. The uninvited guest was described as in his seventies and wearing a flat cap.

Power Cut

Location: Ormskirk - Southport Road
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1979 or 1980
Further Comments: A witness recalled how bright orange lights had moved across this area and cars stopped, their power drained. Fazakerley Hospital windows were damaged on the same night.

Victorian Gentleman

Location: Oswaldtwistle - Duckworth Hall Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth Century
Further Comments: Dressed in period costume, this chap still pops into his former local for a swift half pint. His ghostly form sits in the corner of one of the public rooms. Another story says the site is home to a Catholic priest who had been held in the building prior to his execution at Whalley Abbey.

Greensleeves

Location: Padiham - Red Rock Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990s-2000s
Further Comments: People in this inn would hear Greensleeves being played, although the source could never be found. Glasses would move around and on one occasion a crystal bowl exploded.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Padiham - Royal British Legion Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure has been seen upstairs, always entering the same room, but never leaving.

Alice Nutter

Location: Pendle - Roughlee Hall (currently private homes)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The hall was home to Alice Nutter, the wealthiest of the Pendle 'witches', and the only one not to be condemned through self-confession.

John Grinrod

Location: Pendleton Moor - Cross Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Executed for poisoning his wife and children, John's body stayed hanging for years. Locals believed it descended at night and went for walks over the moor.

A fairy funeral, from James Bowker's Goblin Tales of Lancashire.

Fairy Funerals

Location: Penwortham - Church Avenue
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fairy funeral processions were said to once have occurred here, always by the soft light of the moon. It is reportedly unlucky for mortals to gaze upon them.

Sliding Sauce

Location: Penwortham - Lollipops sweet shop, Liverpool Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 03 June 2023
Further Comments: Caught on camera, a bottle of sauce repeatedly slid off the top of a glass counter, even though other bottles close by did not move. In the local press, one of the owners speculated that the entity may be the same one which haunted her former home.

Monk at a Desk

Location: Penwortham - Secondary School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 1968
Further Comments: Peter Moss, in 'Ghosts over Britain' mentions the image of a two dimensional monk sitting at a writing desk on a wall in a classroom. The figure was like a white shadow, though some details of the figure could be made out. Several years later, the witness discovered another person who had seen the same apparition during her time at the school.