The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Oxfordshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Child in White

Location: Littleworth - Bend on a village road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (year unknown), around 06:45h
Further Comments: Spotted by a driver one dark morning, a child dressed in white riding what appeared to be a scooter disappeared quickly after being seen.


The Rollright Stones, England.

Dancing Fairies

Location: Long Compton (actually in Warwickshire) - The Rollright Stones - the King Stone and the Whispering Knights
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Mist. Grey figure seen pre-1937
Further Comments: The King Stone was once a place where fairies danced around. Legend says that the monolith was once a King who was petrified by a witch (though which ruler is unclear). There are so many other smaller stones that it is said to be impossible to count them all. Another set of nearby standing stones known as the Whispering Knights are thought to be the witch's aids, who conspired against the king but were turned to stone anyway. Finally, a grey female figure would appear on misty days, twisting and moving strangely within the stone circle.

Servant

Location: Mapledurham - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The house is said to be haunted by a servant murdered by his short tempered master.

Lady Arabella

Location: Milton Common - Church of St Michael and All Angels
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1968
Further Comments: Dressed in Tudor clothing, this grey lady has been observed moving across the churchyard.

Grey Lady

Location: Minster Lovell - Mill and Old Swan public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Grey Lady unknown, other activities 2008 - 2011
Further Comments: The grey lady is said to be a former landlady who finds it hard to leave. Another woman haunts this site, after hiding in a chest and remaining undiscovered for several years (a la Thomas Haynes Bayly's The Mistletoe Bough). Staff have also reported a knife flying across the restaurant, footsteps and bangs from a locked room, and a man who stood by the bar after closing time who then vanished. Just outside the pub a black figure with no features other than white eyes was spotted.

The Lovell Family

Location: Minster Lovell - Minster Lovell Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The spirits of two of the Lovell family exist here. The first, Francis, was trapped in an underground room when the rest of the building was pulled down on top of the trap door; his body was found 250 years later. William, the second Lovell, can be heard on blustery evenings crying for his bride, who died in a tragic accident while playing hide and seek on their wedding day.

Rosalind

Location: Minster Lovell - White Hart public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Victorian lady, it is believed that Rosalind took her own life, hanging herself from the staircase. She now sheds tears, though her face is covered by a veil, in remorse for her rash course of action.

Archibald

Location: Moreton - Brook Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: The occupier of the cottage reported seeing the figure of a man wearing a black cape and top hat. After encountering him several times, and learning to live with his knocking, the occupier nicknamed the ghost Archibald.

Ghost in Waiting

Location: North Leigh - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Not as yet!
Further Comments: Two effigies within the church, Sir William Wilcote and his wife Lady Elizabeth Blacket, are said to have once had their hands close together, but now they farther away. When the distance becomes too great, the Lady Blacket will return to haunt the village.

Vanishing Man

Location: Nuneham Courtenay - A4074 / A423, about a mile northwest of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid December, 1969 or 1970
Further Comments: A mother and daughter in their car braked hard to avoid hitting a man who walked out into the busy road from a fence on the right hand side. The man looked quite solid - tall, middle-aged with an early twentieth century hairstyle - but vanished without trace.

Dancing Milk Bottles

Location: Over Norton - Private residence off Choicehill Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1964 - 1965
Further Comments: A poltergeist made milk bottles dance on the windowsill, moved an iron from the living room into the loft, and tossed stones at one of the occupants.

White Figure

Location: Oxford - All Souls College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This robed figure drifts from the rear of the chapel to the library, where it vanishes without trace.

Napier

Location: Oxford - Banbury Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Found guilty of heinous crimes, Napier was executed, and his body cut into segments that were scattered around the city boundaries. Napier's ghost has found all his body but not his head, and now travels along Banbury Road searching for the missing piece.

Sounds of a Pig

Location: Oxford - Black Drummer Inn (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A room here was haunted by 'piggy' sounds, and a leather bag was found partly eaten by something with large teeth. The spirit was destroyed when the corpse belonging to the presence was dug up from a nearby churchyard, hacked to pieces and burnt by a wise man.

Pyre

Location: Oxford - Broad Street memorial
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996?
Further Comments: The site where several Bishops were burnt to death for their beliefs is now said to occasionally bust into phantom fire with shadowy figures within.


An old postcard showing Christ Church College in Oxford.

Charles I

Location: Oxford - Christ Church College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The former king has been observed around the college grounds both with and without his head. A shade belonging to a former royalist commander also lurks here - he was shot for treason on the site.

John Crocker

Location: Oxford - Exeter College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Standing in a yellow jacket and brown breeches, the ghost of John haunts the area of the chapel where his tomb is located.

Spooky Areas

Location: Oxford - Gala Bingo (was Regal cinema), no longer operating
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: This site was said to be haunted, although details are fleeting.

Man with No Face

Location: Oxford - Gardens near Magdalen Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1947
Further Comments: A man walking through the gardens saw a misty figure that had no facial features. He ran when the entity approached him.

Singing Nuns

Location: Oxford - Godstow Nunnery, Wolvercote
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: As dawn breaks on the first of May, phantom singing can be heard coming from the empty chapel. The phantom of Rosamund Clifford has also been reported here, though she is not so fussy as when she should appear.

A Cyclist Vanishes

Location: Oxford - Hinksey Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 05 January 2017
Further Comments: Two witnesses watched a shadowy cyclist travelling at speed. The figure passed behind a tree but did not materialise the other side.

Mr Jenner

Location: Oxford - Jesus College
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1910
Further Comments: Two students claimed to have seen one of their teachers walking around at one night, between the chapel and dining hall, before vanishing through a brick wall - it later turned out he was visiting friends many miles away at the time.

Man with Cap

Location: Oxford - Keble College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early March 1936
Further Comments: A Canadian student spotted a ghostly figure with a cap covering its face huddled at the end of a corridor. The witness initially did not talk about the encounter, until others claimed they had seen the phantom figure on or near a staircase. The apparition was thought to be a man who had been expelled from the college four years previous.


An old postcard showing Magdalen College in Oxford.

Figure in Black

Location: Oxford - Magdalen College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: This dark, stealthy figure was observed several times, but never heard, as it ran about the college. When cornered by staff, the figure would suddenly vanish.

Prudence Burcote

Location: Oxford - Magpie Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The former bank that stands on the corner of the lane is reputedly haunted by Prudence. She died of a broken heart after her Cavalier lover ran away.

Records 76 - 100 of 146

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