The Paranormal Database

White Lady

Location: Dailly (Ayrshire) - Dalquharran Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One newspaper claimed this ruined building to be haunted by a woman who fell from the battlements holding her child. Despite being referred to as a legend, the story appears to be a more recent tradition.

Whispers

Location: Runcorn (Cheshire) - Tricorn Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: Customers at this site would hear whispering close to their ear and footsteps walking across the ceiling. One story claimed that a farm once stood on the site; a mother locked her daughter in a barn for punishment. The barn burnt down, killing the daughter and driving her father mad with grief - he locked his wife in the farm's attic for a decade.

Horse Dog

Location: Alloa (Clackmannanshire) - Inglewood Pond
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1975 and circa 1996
Further Comments: Previously spotted in 1975 by two women, the 1990s witness reported seeing a strange horse with the legs of a dog prancing around the woods in broad daylight. The entity quickly vanished.

Modern Day Youth

Location: Burbage (Derbyshire) - Mill Dale
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: July 2025
Further Comments: A witness spotted a 'modern day youth' wearing a blue hoody and jeans, riding a bicycle down a steep public footpath from Green Lane. Upon reaching the road, the figure instantly vanished.

Legs

Location: Colchester (Essex) - Three Cups public house (no longer operating), Trinity Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: While working in the office, this witness looked at the CCTV and spotted a disembodied pair of legs walking through the bar area, seemingly changing direction to follow people. A review of the recording showed a light rather than legs, although the action it performed remained the same.

Glowing Woman

Location: Gloucester (Gloucestershire) - Grange Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late summer 2005, 22:00h
Further Comments: A glowing older woman wearing a Victorian-style nightgown crossed the grass and approached a jogger, who promptly sprinted away terrified. The jogger recalled that people walking their dogs behind the phantom seemed oblivious to the entity.

Helen's Spirits

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - 301 Copnor Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1944
Further Comments: Helen Duncan, a materialisation medium famously convicted for conspiring to contravene the Witchcraft Act of 1735 in 1944, used the flat above a drug store here.

Seath Mor's Stones

Location: Rothiemurcus (Highland) - Churchyard (aka Old Doune Church Burial Ground)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The stones resting on Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach's grave are said to be cursed, with misfortune befalling anyone who touched them. An iron cage now covers the grave and stones; while some say it is to protect against people accidently invoking the wrath of the curse, the cage's placement may be due to the stones being stolen (and later recovered) in the 1980s.

Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach

Location: Rothiemurcus (Highland) - Woodland
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A fierce warrior in his lifetime, the imposing ghost of Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach occasionally appears in the forest and challenges visitors to a dual. If the visitor accepts, the phantom allows safe passage through the woodland, but if the person attempts to run, they are never seen again.

No Mermaid Here

Location: Peel (Isle of Man) - Sea off Peel
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1964
Further Comments: A Canadian newspaper reported that the Mayor of Peel and others had seen a mermaid off the coast and were offering a reward for the creature's capture. The story turned out to be a fake.

Bearded Man

Location: Rutherglen (Lanarkshire) - Royale Snooker Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: A ghostly older man with a beard would be seen on CCTV. The entity would also turn lights on and the beer taps off.

Gathering

Location: Skelmersdale (Lancashire) - House (since demolished) near church
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown, pre-1974
Further Comments: Once word spread that a poltergeist had made its home in a house owned by the Winstanley family, hundreds of people would gather outside waiting to see something.

Thrown Sisters

Location: Liverpool (Merseyside) - Private residence, Anfield area
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s - 1980s
Further Comments: A four-bedroom house became home to a prolonged poltergeist occurrence which threw two sisters from their beds and moved upstairs furniture when the family were all downstairs. On one occasion, the eldest sister was locked in the bathroom and engulfed by the shower curtain. Animals refused to go to the upper part of the building.

Flower Throwing

Location: East Rudham (Norfolk) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: A worker at the church reported that their dog would become hysterical near the door, although nothing could be seen, and cut flowers would be thrown to the floor.

Moving Child

Location: East Rudham (Norfolk) - Unnamed house, Eye Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown, circa 1973?
Further Comments: A local newspaper reported that an unseen hand moved a baby and cot from a bedside to the window.

Flying Saucepan

Location: Mansfield (Nottinghamshire) - Private residence, Byron Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 21 March 1973 - May 1974
Further Comments: This poltergeist threw a saucepan, pushed over the dining table, and would turn gas and electrical appliances on at night. The young children reported seeing a male figure in their bedroom. It was reported that the activity died down after a visit from a Huthwaite evangelist.

Flying Duchess

Location: Woburn (Nottinghamshire) - Woburn Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1974
Further Comments: The Duchess of Bedford wrote that several of the rooms in the abbey were haunted. When rolls of silk were found tossed around, blame was allocated to the Flying Duchess objecting to her furnishings being changed. Serving staff encountered a monk on the lower level, while other staff had encountered a man wearing a top hat on the second floor.

Lady Mary

Location: Strathearn (Perth and Kinross) - Ochtertyre House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1974
Further Comments: Performer Joan Turner moved out of the mansion she shared with fellow theatre cast members after encountering a tall pale figure on the landing. A ghost known as Lady Mary was said to haunt the site.

Wee Bud

Location: Paisley (Renfrewshire) - Bell Inn, New Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1994
Further Comments: A ghostly young child dressed in black gained the nickname of Wee Bud. Another entity, nicknamed the Lady in the Cellar, was thought to be a landlady from the early twentieth century.

That Voodoo that You Do

Location: Lavenham (Suffolk) - Private residence off High Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1972 - 1974
Further Comments: Mrs Clake claimed a poltergeist outbreak which caused items to disappear and a neighbour to fall over was due to a wooden 'voodoo devil' that her daughter had given her. Rev Ian Davidson blessed the house, but the entity returned a week later to drink Clarke's sherry and sabotage her knitting.

Coffin Mover

Location: Greatford (Lincolnshire) - Church vaults
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1867
Further Comments: A poltergeist was blamed for moving coffins in the vaults of this church.

Headless Woman

Location: Hardraw (referred to as Hardshaw) (North Yorkshire) - Rigg House & Rigg Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The headless woman caused so much upset in the large old Rigg House that all the haunted rooms between the current house and cottage were knocked down - creating the buildings as they stand today.

Padfoot

Location: Leeds (West Yorkshire) - Area between Wreghorn (?) and Headingly Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This creature, a midnight black dog the size of a donkey, would bring bad luck and misfortune to all who saw it. It was also always heard when a local person of some importance died - his howls and barks would cause all the mortal dogs in the neighbourhood to also howl.

White Lady

Location: Cresswell (Northumberland) - Pele Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A daughter of the Cresswell family, this woman starved herself to death after witnessing her brothers murder her lover, a Danish prince. The phantom is said to look out from the roof.

Scream

Location: Dundee (Angus) - Balgay Hill
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 May 2016, between 14:00h - 17:00h (scream), 1940s onwards (runner)
Further Comments: Two brothers walking through Balgay Hill, close to the bridge, heard a woman's piercing scream, although no one could be seen. Later that day, their mother passed away. Unrelated, a local myth says that a phantom runner in white plimsolls would chase children around the hill and other local areas.

Victorian Woman

Location: Reading (Berkshire) - Mansion House, Prospect Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: A visitor to the manor house encountered a woman in Victorian clothing who stood leaning against a bathroom sink.

Sarah?

Location: Ramsgate (Kent) - Private residence, Vale Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: It was reported that violent poltergeist activity occurred here, perhaps relating to the death of a woman named Sarah that occurred a few decades previous.

Ghostly Hunt

Location: Hembury (Somerset) - Hembury Fort
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century (rider), wolf in September 2020
Further Comments: Out walking late one night, a person spotted a ghostly horse, rider, and pack of hounds in the valley below him. The hunt pack reached Hembury Fort; the rider blew his horn and the pack sunk into the ground. On a Sunday afternoon in September 2020, a witness spotted a white bubble-like phenomenon, in which ran a wolf reported as being twice the size as normal.

See below

Location: Henlade (Somerset) - See below
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: See below
Further Comments: See below (sounds like kids)

White Dobby

Location: Rampside (Cumbria) - Coastal road between Rampside and Bardsea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly white hare called White Dobby would run slightly ahead of another phantom, that of an emaciated man, as they travelled along the road. Dogs would try to flee the area just prior to the entities passing.

White Rabbit

Location: Warrington (Cheshire) - Bank Quay (possibly predating the railway station)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Witnesses who spotted the phantom white rabbit would soon have a family member die.

Tregeagle

Location: Sennen (Cornwall) - Escalls Cliff and Genvor Cove (latter place name now changed?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Tregeagle the wizard is cursed to make trusses from sand at the cove and carry them to Escalls Cliff.

The poet Samuel Bamford.

Burnt Flag

Location: Middleton (Greater Manchester) - Old Grammar School
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Samuel Bamford wrote that the school flag had a hole in the shape of a burnt hoofprint. Students had summoned the Devil and had to be saved by the school's headmaster who manged to exorcise the fallen angel, although the ritual damaged some of the building.

Stolen Bell

Location: St David's (Dyfed) - Cathedral and Whitesand Bay
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Before stormy weather
Further Comments: The largest bell was stolen from the building by imps disguised as men (or according to others, Cromwellian soldiers) and transported out to sea where it was dropped into the Whitesand Bay. The bell still rings just before a storm, as a warning to nearby fishermen to return home. Another version of the tale says the bell was rested on several rocks during the heist, and it is the rocks that now ring before the weather changes.

Fairy Feast

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Ribbleton Moor (area since urbanised), area known as Red Scar
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man travelling across the moorland came across a fairy celebration with the tiny attendees including a king and queen, servants, and a band. The fairies ignored the human observer, although when the king demanded the execution of a chef for forgetting the wine, the man spoke up and tried to grab the king; the entire party vanished, leaving only a little crushed grass.

Relocated

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - St Chads church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Twelfth century
Further Comments: Construction of the church was originally planned on the other side of the river, but supernatural forces (possibly taking the form of 'strange-looking men') had other ideas and the materials were moved to the site the building now stands.

St Peters Church, Burnley.

Moving Bricks

Location: Burnley (Lancashire) - St Peters Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown / traditional
Further Comments: The church was going to be built on another location, but night after night the Devil appeared and moved the building materials, until the construction finally relocated to where the church now stands. Another version of the story allocates the Devil with a pig.

Helpful Horse

Location: Fleetwood (Lancashire) - Hackensall Hall
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This boggart took the form of a horse. The entity would plough fields and work around the farm in return for a warm place to spend the night (or a pie, depending on the story).

Invisible Guardians

Location: Newchurch in Rossendale (Lancashire) - Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Invisible workmen, who also guarded over the site, worked on the construction of this church. The entities could only be seen by one woman who provided them with water.

Poached Faries

Location: Hoghton (Lancashire) - Hoghton Brow
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local folktale says two poachers fled the area after finding their sack filled with fairies they had unintentionally caught instead of rabbits.

Stone Carrying Cat

Location: Leyland (Lancashire) - Site of St Andrews church (not the original church in the story)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Twelfth century
Further Comments: Locals in the nearby village of Whittle-le Woods wanted to build a church, but night after night their stones vanished and reappeared in Leyland. Two villagers stood guard one evening and watched as a large black cat picked up the stones and carried them away. One of the men tried to fight the cat off, but the creature killed him. The villagers gave in and built the church where it stands today.

Land of Ever Day

Location: Morecambe (Lancashire) - Bay
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While following the sound of music, a fisherman ran his boat ashore in the isle of fairies. After conversing with the tiny islanders (who sang their home was Ever Day) and partaking of their food, the fisherman tried to escape with pockets full of fairy gold; the fairies beat him up and left the man on the shore of Morecambe.

A fairy funeral, from James Bowker's Goblin Tales of Lancashire.

Fairy Funerals

Location: Penwortham (Lancashire) - Church Avenue
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fairy funeral processions were said to once have occurred here, always by the soft light of the moon. It is reportedly unlucky for mortals to gaze upon them.

White Lady of Prestatyn

Location: Prestatyn (Clwyd) - Promenade, between Nova and Festival Gardens (and close by)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2025
Further Comments: Some believe this pale phantom to be a nun. She sits on the promenade while reading a bible and drifts through the area when feeling a little less academic. The ghost may have last been seen by the landlord of the White Lady Beer House (formally the Royal Victoria), inspiring him to name the pub after her.

White Figure

Location: Isle of Canna (Highland) - Sea, about quarter of the way between island and Skye
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1804
Further Comments: Neil McIntosh, steering a boat between the two islands in stormy weather, glimpsed a white human figure in the sea. McIntosh thought the creature to be a mermaid, although admitted he did not have much of an opportunity to examine it.

Mermaid

Location: Isle of Sanday (Highland) - Beach on north end of island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1803
Further Comments: A mermaid perched on a rock threw herself into the sea when approached by two local men walking along the beach. After the mermaid entered the sea, the witnesses could see the creature's upper body resembled a woman.

Woman in the Sea

Location: Uist (Outer Hebrides) - Sea south of islands, heading towards Skye
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: Caught in a storm at sea, Lachlan McArthur watched a creature resembling 'a woman in upper parts' rise from the water, leaving him terrified.

Returned Sword

Location: Glastonbury (Somerset) - Pomparles Bridge, River Brue
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is suggested that this location is where Sir Bedivere returned Excalibur to the Lady in the Lake.

Saint Serf's Victory

Location: Dunning (Perth and Kinross) - Area around the iron age fort
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Sixth century
Further Comments: Saint Serf (or Servanus) killed a local dragon using his bishop's staff.

The area around Burley Beacon.

Sheep Eater

Location: Burley (Hampshire) - Hill known as Burley Beacon
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A dragon terrorised the neighbourhood around the hill after demanding a sacrifice of sheep - the locals had given him milk instead. Before long, a dependable knight of yore came along, covered his armour with birdlime (a sticky substance made from bark) and powered glass, and the engaged the creature. The knight may have won the fight, but his two hunting dogs were killed, and he later died of dragon-inflected injuries.