The Paranormal Database

Road Crosser

Location: Great Milton - Country road
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 30 April 2008
Further Comments: A woman who stopped her car to answer a mobile phone spotted a large black cat cross the road in front. The cat stood three foot high and possessed a long black tail that drooped downwards. The sighting lasted for around five seconds.

Sir Lawrence Tanfield

Location: Great Tew - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Lawrence and Lady Tanfield visited a few places in Oxfordshire in their phantom coach before being banished, this village being one.

Heavy Breathing

Location: Headington - Carpark of Shotover Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2008, early hours of the morning
Further Comments: Stopping at the carpark to have a quick sleep in their car before continuing their journey, a driver was awoken by heavy breathing coming from the backseat. The sound stopped as they turned around to look. Closing their eyes once again, the sound started for a second time. The driver decided it was time to restart the journey and promptly left the site.

Pushing Force

Location: Hempton - Main road through village
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Victimising cyclists more than any others, an invisible force is said to have pushed several people from their bikes while passing through the village.

Hunched Monk

Location: Henley on Thames - Bull Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure, seen standing over a bed, may also be to blame for the strong smell of burning candles that is sometimes detected in the bar.

Bulb Exploder

Location: Henley on Thames - Private residence, Greys Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 1969
Further Comments: Stan and Marica Yarker moved out of their property after a poltergeist became fascinated with lightbulbs, causing them to explode in their sockets, moving loose bulbs between rooms, and throwing them against walls. After being convinced to return home after three days, the strange activity ceased.

Footfalls

Location: Henley on Thames - Stonor Park manor house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Steadily paced footsteps have been heard in the building, and people sleeping in the guest bedrooms have been woken by an invisible force touching their faces.

Mary Blandy

Location: Henley on Thames - Town Hall & Kenton Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: The ghost of Mary Blandy became angered when a play about her life was in production. Blandy would manifest in the two buildings and blamed for the destruction of mirrors and other breakables, and playing with lights.

A Warning to the Superstitious

Location: Heythrop - Heythrop House (original building rebuilt)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1831
Further Comments: One room in this property was said to be haunted, with staff too afraid to enter it after dark. Unfortunately, this belief resulted in an unattended fire spreading out of control and burning the house down. The house was later rebuilt.

Sitting Woman

Location: Highmoor Cross - Witheridge Hill, west of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Perched upon a wall in this area, a phantom woman has worry across her pallid face.

Grey Lady

Location: Horspath - Manor house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1878
Further Comments: Killed by her husband and her body hidden in a priest hole, this phantom grey lady has been seen several times. In 1878 a man armed with a pistol fired three rounds at the ghost, only to find two bullet holes left in the wall behind where the figure had stood.

Small or Far Away?

Location: Idstone - East of area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: February 1985
Further Comments: A pilot and another witness stopped their car to have a better look at an orange oval ufo. The pilot did not recognise the oval as any aircraft that she was aware off, and because of the lack of clouds and landmarks could not determine whether the object was large and very far away or smaller and closer.

Peg Legged Man

Location: Iffley - Road running through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: This ghost would wake the village up night after night with the scrapping of his false leg as he passed through the village. The locals paid an old man to dismiss the noisy shade, but the would-be exorcist consumed so much Dutch courage before facing the ghost that the police took him away for being drunk and disorderly.

Ouseley

Location: Ipsden - Area east of village
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early to mid seventeenth century
Further Comments: Ouseley was once a busy little village, until the day it mysteriously vanished without trace...

John Thurlow Reade

Location: Ipsden - Icknield Way, white memorial stone
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1827?
Further Comments: John's ghost was seen by his mother on the spot now marked by the memorial stone - he had just died in India at roughly the same time of the sighting. The Icknield Way has several more ghosts reported along it, including phantom coaches, shucks, Romans, and Boadicea's legion.

A dream of murder.

Manipulated Dream

Location: Ipsden - Watch Folly Tree (oak), SW of village
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The tree marks the site where a shepherd boy was murdered by a gang of footpads. If slept under, the dreamer witnesses the crime taking place.

Boo!

Location: Kelmscott - Kelmscott Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 2022
Further Comments: A worker at this site felt the urge to look over their shoulder, As they did so, a voice loudly and clearly said 'Boo!' in their ear, although nobody else was present. Author Simon Schama tweeted that he had seen the spectres of Rossetti and Jane Morris here, although it is not clear if his comment was metaphorical or figurative.

The Devil Helps Thrice

Location: King's Sutton - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Fourteenth century
Further Comments: This church is one of three in the area (Bloxham and Adderbury being the other two) that were paid for by three brothers. One of their workers who helped construct this tower never took any pay, never slept and never ate - he vanished as soon as the tower was built. The brothers were convinced that they were helped by Old Nick.

White Lady

Location: Kingham - Langston Arms Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964
Further Comments: Her appearance preluded by coughing and shuffling sounds, staff and customers in the building spotted the apparition of an old woman as she passed down the corridors. A later story would emerge that the owner, Jack Bond, created the ghostly tale, asking a friend to wear a white sheet and pass by the building's windows.

Pilot

Location: Kingham - Woodland near Kingham Hill School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, mid-2000s
Further Comments: In his autobiography, Guy Pratt mentions that he witnessed a ghost while at the school. Although Guy does not go into detail, he wrote that a piece of folklore stated a RAF pilot crashed nearby but had never been found. During the 2000s, stories continued to be told, with the addition of a big cat that had escaped Cotswold Wildlife Park (although no evidence could be found of the creature's existence).

The Blowing Stone

Location: Kingston Lisle - Blowingstone Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The village is said to have taken its name from when King Alfred used the stone to summon an army to fight the invading Vikings - when blown into, the stone can create a loud, deep note. Another legend says whoever can sound a note that can be heard from the Uffington White Horse Hill, shall be king of England. This may not be legally binding.

James Dashwood

Location: Kirtlington - Village pond
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghost that caused a great deal of grief locally, Dashwood was finally bound to the pond, but will be released if the small body of water ever dries up.

Coach

Location: Leafield - Road to Kingstanding
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two women returning home to Kingstanding heard the approach of a fast moving horse-drawn coach behind them so climbed up a bank to let the vehicle pass. The coach, too wide for the road on which it travelled, passed at speed and left the road, falling into a ditch. The coach then promptly vanished.

Disappearing Cyclist

Location: Little Milton - A329, and Rofford Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006, and December 2015
Further Comments: A driver heading towards the village spotted a cyclist who disappeared. The driver stopped to see if the cyclist had fallen off their bike but could not find anyone. Nine years later, in the same neighbourhood, the same driver was travelling with their son. Both watched a cyclist disappear, and despite looking, no trace of the cyclist was found.

Faceless Woman

Location: Little Milton - Country Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: Passing along this country road during the day, a driver passed a tall woman wearing old fashioned dark clothing. Looking back at her through his rear view mirror, the driver realised she had vanished.