The Paranormal Database

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.

Bells

Location: Cleethorpes - Unidentified church with a well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was once believed that bells could be heard ringing deep within the earth if one placed one's ear on the ground.

Sunken Church

Location: Conisby - Area outside the village called Sanclif or Sancliff
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown, but bells can be heard once a year on an unknown date
Further Comments: An area of rock was known as the Sunken Church, with some people believing it was the place where a church and the congregation were consumed. The bells could be heard pealing once a year.

White Light

Location: Conisholme - Area around wind farm
Type: UFO
Date / Time: January 2009
Further Comments: After a wind turbine was found damaged (one blade bent, another laying on the ground), several theories emerged to explain why the incident had happened. County councillor Robert Palmer reported seeing a round white light which hovered near the area, while the media reported that John Harrison had seen a massive ball of light with something akin to tentacles reaching for the ground. While the 'ufo hit our turbine' stories were popular with the media, there is a high chance that the blade just fell off, hitting the second blade as it fell.

Leaping Horse

Location: Cranwell - Byard's (or Bayard's) Leap
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown, area now indicated by two groups of horseshoes
Further Comments: Bayard was the name of a knight's horse. As mare and master passed through the village they were attacked by a witch; the woman jumped on the back of the horse who, startled, cleared sixty metres in three leaps. During one of these jumps, the witch fell off the horse and was drowned in a pond.

Freddy's Photograph

Location: Cranwell - Runway of post-First World War Naval Airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1919
Further Comments: A group photograph taken here in 1919 shows the face of an engineer who died three days before; Freddy Jackson had tripped and fallen into the blades of an aircraft ready for take-off. Issue 91 of Fortean Times has a good copy of the photograph.

Henry Girdlestone

Location: Crowland - Abbey Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Henry wanted to prove that he could walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours to his peers and managed to do so in 1844. However, even post-mortem he has found it hard to stop, and the phantom footsteps reported in this building are just Henry doing what he did best.

Curse of Crowland

Location: Crowland - Crowland Abbey
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 870
Further Comments: The monks here embraced pagan ideals, and for their sins, the Devil appeared and told them that a new abbey would soon be built on the site, but all present would die before it became so. Soon after, a Viking raid levelled the building, and all the monks died.

Dying Cattle

Location: Crowle - Field containing a large stone (no longer present?)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large stone, known as the Black Stone, on a farmer's field was said to be cursed - if moved, the farmer's cattle would all die. Someone stole the stone, and as forewarned, all the cattle died. The stone, however, was returned soon after.

Little Workers

Location: Crowle - Unfinished road (now likely to be finished)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A farmer met a man who said that he could complete the construction of an unfinished road out of the village if the farmer promised not to watch. The farmer agreed but sneaked a peek, spotting dozens of little men working on the road. In an instant, the little men vanished. It was said that the road could never be finished, although after a quick look on Google Maps, this author was unable to spot an unfinished road.

White Lady with Cat

Location: Deeping St Nicholas - Barn, exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This woman's shade remains earthbound, waiting for her lover who committed suicide in the barn to return.

Lifting Ring

Location: Denton - Welby vault in the church
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1815
Further Comments: The iron ring on the door of the Welby vault was said to raise and fall unaided prior to a death in the family. It was last seen to move by the family's governess, just prior to Sir William dying. The ring was removed shortly after the death.

Grey Pony

Location: Digby - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The churchyard is haunted by a man who rides around on a grey (or white) pony. A local superstition says that anyone who runs backwards around the tomb of Robert Cooke will hear crockery rattling in the grave.

Buried Boulder

Location: Digby - Exact location unknown - somewhere on the edge of the fen, near the Dorrington boundary
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This large stone is said to have buried itself, and underneath is hidden treasure.

Officer on Bike

Location: Digby - RAF Digby
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: Cycling along on an old bike, this phantom RAF officer once stopped and asked two guards for the control tower to be opened for him. When they agreed, the officer vanished. On other occasions, lights were reported moving around the control tower, though it would be locked and empty.

Coach

Location: Digby Fen - Unnamed country road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1950
Further Comments: This road was haunted by two glowing lights that some believed belonged to a coach that was accidently driven into a bog, vanishing without trace.

Screaming Girl

Location: Doddington - Doddington Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to be haunted by the spirit of a girl seen leaping from the roof of the building, one is much more likely to see the other ghost in the building, that of an old lady dressed in brown, or hear phantom footsteps running down the staircases.

Wolf-headed Skeleton

Location: Dogdyke - Langrick Fen, but exact location unknown
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: Unknown, pre-1926
Further Comments: A local archaeologist digging in the peat discovered a human skeleton but with a wolf's head. The man took his discovery home, but during the night he found his house besieged by a werewolf. The archaeologist spent the night barricaded in the kitchen as the beast tried to gain entrance to his house, and as the sun came up and the werewolf left, the man took the skeleton and reburied the bones where they were found.

Head Carrier

Location: Dorrington - Area near Fen House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom reported to walk this area carries his head in his hands (or under his arm).

Humanoid Creature

Location: Dorrington - Area near the Railway bridge
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 1970
Further Comments: A man who spotted a half-man, half-animal entity was so scared he called the police. Various postmen in the village talked of seeing strange things, but it is unclear whether these are the same entity as the November sighting. It has also been speculated that the sighting may be connected to an old Anglo-Saxon burial ground close to the bridge. Reports of the area being haunted by a Shag Foal go back almost one hundred years.

Deconstruction

Location: Dorrington - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The church was due to be constructed in the heart of the village, but after building work was demolished three days running and the largest stone moved to the top of a nearby hill, the workers constructed the building at the site where it now stands. Another legend says that if you peer through the keyhole on certain nights of the year, the Devil can be seen playing marbles. Finally, the ghost of a bride will occasionally walk from the church door and follow the path to the road, where she vanishes.

Charles Murray

Location: Eagle - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: A local thief and murderer, Murray's spirit still lurks around the area of Eagle, carrying the severed head of one of his victims.

Iron Pot

Location: East Halton - Manor Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A ghost, thought to possibly be a monk, was laid in an iron pot contained within the small basement. Household members considered it unlucky to move the container, and its removal would result in the ghost returning. Lord Alfred Tennyson is said to have used the incident as inspiration for 'Walking to the Mail'.

Thomas de Gretham

Location: East Halton - Thornton Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: For the crime of witchcraft, the Abbot Gretham was bricked up alive in the dungeons. He has been seen in the ruins of the abbey and gazing out from the gatehouse.