Lincolnshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Black Lady
Location: Bradley - Bradley Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Said by some to be a phantom nun and by others to be a woodsman's wife, local legend says this woman dressed in black will appear on Christmas Eve if one calls out 'Black Lady, Black Lady, I've stolen your baby!'.
Sow with Litter
Location: Bransby - Bonnewells Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This spectral sow with her young appears along this lane on Halloween. The same stretch of road is also haunted by a woman in a silken dress which rustles as she moves, and there have been reports of a shuck.
White Calf
Location: Brigg - Between Brigg and Wrawby, near a stream
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom white calf (also known as the Lackey Causey calf), sometimes headless, was said to emerge from a tunnel and attempt to lure people into the water, though the creature's entrance may no longer exist.
One of Three Shucks
Location: Brigg - Bridge along Wrawby road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of three bridges in Lincolnshire that is said to be a haunt of the black shuck, this one normally manifesting on a Saturday night.
Footsteps
Location: Brigg - Exchange Coach House Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of disembodied footsteps is said to haunt this hotel, with a phantom headless monk and ghostly little girl also present.
Thrower
Location: Brigg - Former shoe shop
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990-2000
Further Comments: Staff at this shop were said to have shoes thrown at them in the storeroom. Staff also felt the sensation of being pushed while on the staircase.
Lost Lady
Location: Brigg - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: An old lady who left her house to beg for money to buy her Christmas lunch became lost in the snow and fog, freezing to death. Her ghost is sometimes seen, asking for directions home.
Heavy Cart Wheels
Location: Brigg - Queen Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2006, around 04:00h
Further Comments: From their home a witness heard heavy cartwheels and horses' hooves on the road outside, but nothing could be seen. The witness was later told that the road was haunted by a horse and cart which still travelled to the Britannia Brewery, which closed in 1924.
Shades of Lovers
Location: Burgh-le-Marsh - Gunby Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A daughter of a former landlord fell in love with a servant, and they were caught in the act of running away. The servant was murdered, and his body dumped in the nearby pond. Now, many years later, their ghosts are reunited and walk along the path near where his body was hidden.
Future Dead
Location: Burton - Church
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 24 April (St Mark's Eve) (reoccurring), 1634
Further Comments: This church is another site where two men are said to have stayed awake until midnight on St Mark's Eve to see if the legend about the manifestation of apparitions of those due to die over the forthcoming twelve months was true. It was.
Slain Dragon
Location: Buslingthorpe - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A member of the Buslingthorpe family was said to have killed a dragon in this area and was awarded a large amount of land for the act of bravery.
Organ Player
Location: Caister - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1967
Further Comments: Recorded in the 1960s, this entity was heard to play the organ and pace the empty church.
Man Wearing Hessian
Location: Caistor - Corner of Riby Road and A1173
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 15 February 2020, 22:00h
Further Comments: As a driver slowed down to take the sharp corner, he spotted an old man, stooped over wearing dark trousers, old hobnail boots and a jacket. The jacket was made from hessian, not dissimilar to an old grain sack. The man had string holding his trousers up. The driver looked again and there was nothing.
Petrified Sack of Corn
Location: Caistor - Fonaby Top
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The large rock on top of the hill was once a sack of corn owned by a selfish farmer. The farmer refused to give a handful of grain to a passing holy man, who turned the sack into stone as punishment. A curse is said to fall on anyone who tries to move the stone - this was experienced by Gentleman John Walls, who used four shire horses to move the rock to his front door at Corn Sack Farm after taking a liking to it. Misfortune soon befell him, and he moved it back soon after (only requiring one horse for the return trip).
Small Girl
Location: Caistor - Psychiatric hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This hospital may no longer be operational, but still reports of a phantom young girl with blonde hair emerge from the site.
Cammeringham Light
Location: Cammeringham - Area around Ermine Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950
Further Comments: This large white misty shape has been observed as it travels around the village. Some believe this to be the ghost of Boadicea who fought her final battle nearby.
Vanishing Piper
Location: Castle Bytham - Piper's Hole, aka Swallow Hole (may no longer exist)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hole takes its name from a bagpiper sent in to discover if there was a secret passage leading from Park House to a hill. The piper was never seen again.
One Eyed Dragon
Location: Castle Carlton - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Hugh Bardolfe takes credit for slaying this dragon, noted for having a single eye located in its forehead. Man and beast fought during a storm, and when the dragon was blinded by a flash of lightning, Sir Hugh struck a wart on one of its legs, killing it.
Grey Lady
Location: Caythorpe - Holy Cross House (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Writing in the local media, Peter Clawson reported that this house was haunted by a grey female and that the smell of lavender would be a prelude to her manifestation.
Pointy Humps
Location: Chapel St Leonards - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 16 October 1966
Further Comments: Two witnesses reported seeing seven pointed humps coming out of the sea, together with a serpentine head.
Glowing Woman
Location: Chapel St Leonards - Seafront between Trunch Lane and Vickers Point Ingoldmells
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: A glowing woman dressed in white was observed by four people here. The radiant figure walked towards them before turning towards the sea and vanishing. A local legend says the woman had been spurned by her lover and walked into the sea (which before then was further inland) to drown herself.
Aubrey Clark
Location: Claxby - Railway Signal box
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: Aubrey was found dead in the signal box which he had manned for many years. Since then, other railway workers have reported heavy breathing in the area.
Ghost Train Ghost
Location: Cleethorpes - Former Wonderland amusement park (now a market and car salesroom?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Owner of the former Wonderland Dudley Bowers reported a phantom old man haunting the site. Though non-threatening, the ghost would vanish into thin air when spotted. Some workers and visitors to the site would hear their name being called, though no one else would be around. A local legend said that someone had once hanged himself in the ghost train that once stood on the site, and it was speculated that the entity was connected to the suicide.
Footsteps
Location: Cleethorpes - Knoll House, aka The Knoll
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2011
Further Comments: Staff have reportedly heard footsteps walking along empty corridors and the sounds of doors being closed when there are none open. A local legend says the location is home of a phantom woman who floats in the air.
Woman in Green
Location: Cleethorpes - St. Peter's Avenue (opposite St Peter's Church)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2015, 11:00h (approx)
Further Comments: An older lady in a green coat sat on a bench as a car parallel parked next to her. The driver climbed out of the car, checked they were within the parking zone and turned to comment to the older lady about it being a lovely sunny day. Both lady and bench had gone.
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