The Paranormal Database

Woman in White

Location: Berwick upon Tweed - Churchyard, Tweedmouth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1904
Further Comments: Several locals reported seeing a phantom woman with ginger hair, dressed in white or grey, in the early hours of the morning. It was said to have followed people as they left the area, while one other witness observed it reading headstones.

Victorian Woman

Location: Berwick Upon Tweed - Gate House, Sandgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It has been reported that a Victorian woman haunts beneath the gatehouse, ascending the stairs before vanishing. Some people have seen her peering out of the attack window.

Hoof Marks

Location: Birtley - Devil's Stone
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A standing stone at this site was said to feature marks where the Devil had jumped and landed upon it (by mistake, as he was aiming for a building some half mile away).

The Woman in Black.

Woman in Black

Location: Black Heddon - Roads around village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly girl forlornly drifts around the village - it is thought that she was accidentally trampled to death by horsemen many years ago. This ghost should not be confused with the other Black Heddon spirit; familiarly known as Silky, it jumps on the backs of passing horse riders, scaring them and often causing the horse to bolt.

Murdered Monks

Location: Blanchland - Abbey grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by a group of bandits, the monks of this abbey can occasionally be seen drifting across their land. The phantom pealing of the abbey bell accompanies them.

Dorothy Foster

Location: Blanchland - Lord Crewe Arms Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: Dorothy's brother escaped to France in 1715, and her ghost looks for someone who will take a message to him. The ghost of a monk dressed in white has been seen and heard moving things around in the Radcliffe Room.

Dorothy Forster

Location: Blanchland - Old Hexham Road, and Lord Crewe Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom Dorothy is still reported to drift down the road, heading towards the pub where she also haunts.

Living Elsewhere

Location: Blanchland - Vicarage on the moor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1933
Further Comments: Although the details are fleeting, this vicarage received a mention in a 1933 newspaper as a place where the occupants 'suffered weird inconveniences'.

Soldiers

Location: Blyth - Blyth Battery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Built in 1916, this defensive structure is reputedly haunted by nine British soldiers who drowned during the First World War.

Shaking Bottles

Location: Blyth - Croft Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 20 August 1962
Further Comments: Having broken a lamp in the nearby Railway Hotel, an unseen entity moved to this pub and violently shook the bar, rattling bottles and sending a couple of glasses smashing to the floor. Discussing the incident in the local press, the owner also claimed that an unearthly tune occasionally emerged from the cocktail cabinet in the upstairs flat.

Footsteps

Location: Blyth - Flower shop, town centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1962
Further Comments: Two employees claimed as they began their morning duty of making wreaths, loud footsteps would start stomping around in the storeroom above. When investigated, the room would be empty.

Pianist

Location: Blyth - Fox and Hounds Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 21 August 1962
Further Comments: The owners of this pub heard the piano playing in the back room as they were tidying up. When investigated, no one could be found, and the piano keyboard remained covered. The event occurred a day after two other nearby pubs reported poltergeist-like incidents.

Older Woman

Location: Blyth - Private residence, Coburg Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s-1970s
Further Comments: A witness stated that, when a child playing with toys in their room, a peaceful older woman would sit at the end of the bed and watch. The witness assumed the woman lived with the family at the house, although no one else in the family ever saw her. Many years later, the witness heard that a latter tenant had reported seeing an older woman standing by the foot of their bed.

Shadows

Location: Blyth - Private residence, docks area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009-2011
Further Comments: A former resident at this property described watching unexplained shadows in a room and hearing someone walking around on the landing when no one was in that area.

Flying Lamp

Location: Blyth - Railway Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 20 August 1962
Further Comments: After an unseen hand threw a lamp from a shelf and smashed it on the ground, Bar staff blamed Peter, a poltergeist which occasionally caused mischief.

Edwardian Man

Location: Blyth - St Cuthbert's Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa Winter 1996
Further Comments: At least two witnesses have observed a man in Edwardian dress walking through this churchyard, vanishing into thin air when reaching the edge of the church itself. It is said the road outside the church is haunted by a man on a penny farthing bicycle.

Tall Monkey with Glowing Eyes

Location: Bolam - Bolam Lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: A late night fishing party reported seeing an eight foot creature standing upright, with radiant eyes.

The lake's treasures.

Excalibur

Location: Broomlee Lough (also referred to as Bromley Lake) - Waters of the lake
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The lake is another contender for the claim for being the resting place for King Arthur's sword. Another legend says the lake is home to a treasure that can only be retrieved by chain made by seventh generation blacksmith that is pulled by a team of twin horses, twin oxen, and twin youths.

Grizelda the Highway Woman

Location: Buckton - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: At the end of every month (reoccurring), last seen 1987
Further Comments: Dressed as a male highwayman, this girl has been seen still riding her midnight black horse. She reportedly held up a stagecoach carrying an execution order condemning a friend of hers, which bought him enough time to escape the noose.

Warning Voice

Location: Callaly - Callaly Castle, old foundations
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: During the castle's construction on the planned site, the walls collapsed and a disembodied voice announced that the structure should be built elsewhere - the advice was taken, and the building work went uninterrupted. Another version of the story has a more prosaic slant and suggests a lady requested her servant dress in a boar skin and knock down the construction at night; the superstitious builders reported the figure to be monstrous, which forced the construction to move to the site the lady preferred. The new castle is plagued by mysterious sounds, thought to be created by a phantom priest.

Dark Figure

Location: Carrshield - The Dodd
Type: Other
Date / Time: 10 April 2022
Further Comments: While walking their dog, a witness spotted a dark figure with a smaller object, which was initially thought to be another dog. Each time the witness looked away and then back, the dark figure was much further along the path until, in the blink of an eye, the dark figure vanished.

Dunnie

Location: Chatton - Hazelrigg area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A troublemaking entity, the Dunnie was said to take the form of a horse and allow itself to be ridden, only to disappear when the rider was above a muddy puddle.

Resting Warriors

Location: Chesters - Roman Fort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: At one time, the entrance to the Roman strong room in this fort was believed to contain five hundred spectral horsemen who woke each night and rode out.

Reiver

Location: Cheviot Hills - Amongst the crags
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The ghostly figure said to haunt this range of hills was thought to be a Border Reiver, a raider who hid their treasures in the crags.

Fairy Home

Location: Cheviot Hills - Beaumont Water
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As with Elwin Stream near Melrose, this small body of water was once thought to be the home of the fairies, the circular pebbles within considered elf plates.