The Paranormal Database

Faceless Figure

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Salon along Hatter Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1975
Further Comments: Hairdresser Dennis Taylor encountered a brown figure with no face on the upper floor of his salon.

Huge Talking Figure

Location: Beck Row (Suffolk) - Aspel Farm, found along the road from Beck Row to Holywell Row
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One night at the farm, a large figure appeared in front of a group of locals, telling them 'Don't fear me, fear what follows me'. The figure then vanished, and within seconds a huge gust of wind pushed past the witnesses. The same stretch of road is also haunted by a woman in a long black cloak who would disappear through a wall.

Monk

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Anabel's Togs shop (no longer operating) along Abbeygate Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September or October 1975
Further Comments: A member of staff in this shop watched as an average sized monk with a pointed hood walked through the wall. Footsteps were also reported within the building.

Footsteps

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Bury Free Press newspaper offices, King's Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Workers would hear disembodied footsteps walking along one of the building's corridors.

Mandeville

Location: Great Barton (Suffolk) - Bridge over River Lark
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom highwayman who likes to hang out near the bridge is named Mandeville. Anyone who opens a gate for the ghost or follows any of his instructions is taken to places unknown, never to be seen again.

Knight

Location: Market Weston (Suffolk) - Farmhouse
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1979
Further Comments: The owner experienced mild poltergeist activity with items disappearing and also told the press that former occupants had reported a knight in shining armour who emerged from a cupboard. This claim was rebutted in the local press by a former occupant who said nothing paranormal had happened during her family's time at the farmhouse.

White Figure

Location: Mildenhall (Suffolk) - Playing Fields at St Andrew's Street (area since redeveloped)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa October 1966
Further Comments: Appearing at night, this ghostly figure would appear and disappear. The local press reported several people had attempted to approach the figure but without success.

Misty Woman

Location: Langley (Berkshire) - Old almshouse near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1940s
Further Comments: A woman and her three children living at this almshouse heard knocks and bangs at night. A misty figure was also seen standing by a bookcase and standing over one of the children's beds. A medium, Mr Plume, managed to calm the spirit and it was never seen or heard again.

Deconstruction

Location: Langley (Berkshire) - Private residences, Burroway Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early 1960s onwards
Further Comments: Strange activity broke out during building work on several properties along the road, including machines failing, items being moved, and building work undone. Residents of the properties had the feeling of being watched, and one witness claimed to have seen a shadow in their hallway. The buildings were close to a former brickmaking field where an accident had killed several men, and it was speculated the strange activity related to the deaths.

Man

Location: Durham (Durham) - Durham Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s
Further Comments: The ghost of an old man wearing old fashioned clothing has been observed by staff and patients in a recovery area.

White Figure

Location: Croglin (Cumbria) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 15 February 2017
Further Comments: A witness walking her dog past the church felt her pet tug at the leash, as if trying to run away from the area. The witness briefly glimpsed a ghostly white figure standing near the trees; she did a quick second take, but the figure was gone.

Hairy Creatures with Large Pointed Ears

Location: Aveley (Essex) - Road in the area, exact location not known
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 27 October 1974
Further Comments: While driving home, a family of four were abducted by a blue UFO; the occupants were described as four-foot-high hairy beings, with large eyes and pointed ears. After 3 hours, the family were returned to their car.

An old photograph of Muncaster Castle.

Headless Carpenter

Location: Muncaster (Cumbria) - Muncaster Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered by a jester on the orders of the then owner Sir Ferdinard Pennington, the carpenter (who made the mistake of falling in love with Sir Ferdinard's daughter) was beheaded in the garden, where he now haunts. The jester has also been reported on the site, holding a severed head. The ghost of King Henry is another reported to haunt the castle, hiding from those who took him to London to be murdered, and finally the shade of Mary Bragg, hanged by the front gate as a joke turned tragedy, manifests as a white woman. A visitor in the Tapestry Room felt a push on her arm, as if a child had run past, although no children were around.

St Botolph's Priory, Colchester.

Dark Smiling Figure

Location: Colchester (Essex) - St Botolph's Priory
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1993, and 1994 or 1995
Further Comments: A young girl reported that while playing with her friends around the gravestones, she saw a dark figure by a tomb that smiled at her before disappearing into thin air. Around a year later, a small group of children spotted a tall, robed figure standing motionless, looking down at the ground. When one of the group called out to the figure, it turned slightly, resulting in the children running away.

Dick Turpin Followed by a Ghost

Location: Loughton (Essex) - Traps Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Three times a year (exact dates not known)
Further Comments: Turpin's ghost is said to ride down this hill, with a ghost of an old woman hanging onto his back. In life, Turpin tortured her until the woman told him where she had hidden her money. As punishment, Turpin's ghost is tortured by his victim.

Fisherman

Location: Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex) - Pier, and the promenade west of the Pier
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 1990 (lone fisherman encountered)
Further Comments: One witness reported engaging in conversation with what could have been a phantom fisherman while alone on the pier. In addition, the promenade is said to be haunted by a dozen or so figures milling about.

Footsteps

Location: SE6 (Greater London) - Private residence, Farley Road, Lewisham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s - 1960s
Further Comments: Former residents reported footsteps, nighttime noises, and the apparition of a man in a bedroom.

Location: SE7 (Greater London) - Unidentified property on the riverside
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: September 1949 - 1950
Further Comments: Mrs Jordan suffered a nervous breakdown after almost every breakable item in her house was broken over a ten-month period. Documents were also removed from drawers and torn up. While the activities centred on Mrs Jordan when she was alone in the house, her husband witnessed items breaking as if 'smashed by invisible hands'. An exorcism was performed while the family were away, and the activity ceased (although the Jordans still moved away).

Sir Thomas Kemp

Location: Cobham (Kent) - Darnley Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub claims to be haunted by the fifteenth century noble Sir Thomas Kemp, who returned to the site to live out his days after being reprieved from hanging at Rochester.

Black Cat

Location: Strood (Kent) - Private residence, Albatross Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1979
Further Comments: A phantom black cat would walk through the walls, and two different phantom men were seen in the property. Mild poltergeist activity would also occur when the occupants discussed leaving. A clairvoyant reportedly exorcised the entity, which she claimed was the ghost of a child who had died over one hundred years previous.

Scratching

Location: Cleveleys (Lancashire) - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013 - present
Further Comments: The haunting at this site includes objects moving on their own, whispers, footsteps, and being physically touched and scratched. Guests staying in one bedroom have seen dark figures and heard noises.

King Sweyne

Location: Gainsborough (Lincolnshire) - Gainsborough Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2025 (grey lady), 2024 (lady in black)
Further Comments: A former castle on the site was attacked by a force from Denmark - the sound of their leader dying can still be heard. Another ghost, the grey lady, is reported to have been seen in 2025 (although the entity was described as having blonde hair and wearing white, and was seen through a crack in the door). She died from a 'broken heart' after being locked in the tower to prevent her from eloping. Other ghosts include a lady in black, a butler, and two little boys who can be heard giggling as they play pranks on the living.

Small or Far Away?

Location: Lincoln (Lincolnshire) - Skies over the city
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 16 November 1952, 01:30h
Further Comments: One witness said that she had seen a violently 'agitating' object throwing out bright yellow light. She watched the object for fifteen minutes, and from the ground it looked to be between 18 - 24 inches in length.

Throaty Hiss

Location: St Helens (Merseyside) - Private residence, Junction Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2024
Further Comments: A visitor to the property heard a breathy, throaty hiss at the base of their bed. A few seconds later the same noise repeated next to their ear. The visitor said out loud that they were not scared and the sound ceased.

Hot Organ

Location: Wiggenhall (Norfolk) - Church of St Mary the Virgin
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Victorian organ in the church would play by itself and inexplicably generate heat.

Headless Horses

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - The old Bridewell (now Moyse's Hall)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After departing Thetford and passing through Great Barton, a phantom coach pulled by headless horses was said to 'often' arrive at the Bridewell to collect the souls of any deceased prisoners.

Captain John Gray

Location: Bristol (Somerset) - SS Great Britain
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1993 onwards
Further Comments: While on a work placement in 1993, Sonny Graffo encountered a ghostly, middle-aged figure who matched the description of Captain John Gray who vanished in 1872. Other people on the ship have heard disembodied footsteps close to them, though nothing is seen. During a paranormal investigation in January 2021, a piano situated on the Promenade Deck was heard playing a few notes, even though the fallboard had been locked.

Monk

Location: Polstead (Suffolk) - Garden of Rectory, and across fields
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The spectre of a monk has been reported in the back garden of the Rectory here, sometimes walking across the fields and vanishing near Corder's House. Children living at the site have often reported seeing other phantom children playing under the trees in the grounds of the rectory; adults have been unable to see anything.

Giant

Location: Knowsley (Merseyside) - Unnamed village near Knowsley?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1925
Further Comments: A figure standing eight feet tall with a black beard and a scowling face would appear at night and declare, 'I am the ghost of the giant of Hale!' before disappearing.

Woman in Black

Location: Hartshill (Warwickshire) - Hartshill Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth / early twentieth century
Further Comments: A former resident of the castle told the press he had often seen a phantom woman in black who came so close that her dress would almost brush against him. The same witness had also observed a white shape with no legs, around three feet in height, run along a wall during the daytime. Finally, bolted doors would open and close unaided.

Coat Hanger Throwing

Location: Enville (West Midlands) - Golf Club
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 1979
Further Comments: Mediums were called in to investigate after a coat hanger struck one person at the club and a chair moved across the floor as if someone had stood up. Lights also reportedly turned on and off unaided, and an older room had a 'creepy' feel.

Black Triangle

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Sky over town
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 19 October 1998
Further Comments: A witness reported a black triangular craft with each side 200 feet long. The object was silent, had white lights in each corner and a green light on the back right 'wing tip'. Another man observed a similar craft at about the same time about three miles away.

Albino Wallaby

Location: Olney (Buckinghamshire) - Countryside surrounding the village
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: May 2007
Further Comments: After spotting a white creature with red eyes, IT trainer Stacey Purdy pulled out her phone and used it to photograph and video an albino wallaby. Even though wallabies live in several places over the UK, it is estimated by experts that the chances of a white one being born is 1 in 100,000.

Crying Child

Location: Mauchline (Ayrshire) - Poosie Nansies public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2008 / 2009
Further Comments: A young girl has been heard crying on the site, and owner Marion Young felt someone walk into her office, even though no physical person was there. Other people have felt a tap on their shoulder, while sometimes glasses fall to the floor for no explainable reason.

Orange Lights

Location: Aberdeen (Aberdeenshire) - Over city
Type: UFO
Date / Time: July 2006, April 2010
Further Comments: A handful of reports concerning strange lights were recorded during 2006. One family observed six orange lights hovering in the sky before appearing to disintegrate. Four years later, witnesses watched between four and six orange lodes over the city, with one witness watching them head off in three different directions.

Pluckley's Screaming Woods.

Amorous Foxes

Location: Pluckley (Kent) - Dering Woods (aka Screaming Woods)
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2017, 2018
Further Comments: In 2017, the Woodland Trust denied the woodland was haunted by a gypsy who accidentally burnt herself to death or a headmaster who committed suicide, but rather by the sounds of amorous foxes. The Trust also highlighted that they had spent six thousand pounds on clearing up the damage caused by ghost hunters (or by people using ghost hunting as an excuse to be idiots). In 2018, one witness claimed to have felt paranoid in the area and to have photographed a face in the trees.

Leeds Castle.

Black Dog

Location: Broomfield (Kent) - Leeds Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Prior to a death or grave misfortune (dog), others unknown
Further Comments: This shuck is only an ill omen for those who see him and live at the castle. Two castle stewards reported hearing running footsteps on a staircase, but they could not find the source of the sound.

George Lane runs along the site of the former priory.

Morphing Entity

Location: Leeds (Kent) - Site of Leeds Priory (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely nineteenth century
Further Comments: The local council website says during daylight hours a retired policeman encountered an apparition on the site of the priory. The entity changed into four different figures before disappearing.

Pluckley's 'Fright' Corner.

Dying Highwayman

Location: Pluckley (Kent) - Fright (aka Frith) Corner
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large spectral tree has been seen here, together with a highwayman pinned to it by several swords.

The hidden Pinnock Bridge.

Watercress Seller

Location: Pluckley (Kent) - Pinnock Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom older woman spotted here has been identified as Sarah Sharp. She is believed to be a watercress seller who accidentally set herself on fire with her pipe while sleeping.

Voices

Location: Wye (Kent) - Wall outside Olantigh Towers (country house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1916
Further Comments: A gamekeeper at the house would hear clear and distinct talking along the wall but could never see anyone. Laughter would be heard quickly moving along the top of the wall and ceasing at the end.

Humming

Location: N4 (Greater London) - Private residence in Brownswood Park area
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 2014
Further Comments: Two residents at this property heard a child humming, the sound of which lasted most of the day.

Something on the Track

Location: Crowthorne (Berkshire) - Railway line between Crowthorne and Wokingham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several train drivers have reportedly hit something on the track while travelling at speed. When the area is investigated, there is no evidence of any impact.

The Hunger Stone

Location: Sliabh An Iarainn (County Leitrim) - Unknown stone at base of mountain
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At the base of the Iron Mountain is a magical stone (fear gorta) said to create an insatiable appetite on any who stands upon it.

Cloaked Man

Location: Derby (Derbyshire) - Manufacturing site, Alfreton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: During a nightshift, a worker at the site spotted a black cloaked figure glide by a glass door. The figure turned to look at the witness, who said she recognised the ghost as male because she could see his Adam's apple.

Lady

Location: Exmouth (Devon) - Private farmhouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1985
Further Comments: Never seen, only heard, the phantom swishing sound of a woman's skirt would be detected by female members of the family.

Blurred Figure

Location: Braintree (Essex) - Horse and Groom public house, Rayne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010, 2011
Further Comments: In 2010, a medium visited the site and felt the spirits of young people, soldiers, servants and a dog. The following year, medium Ron Bowers photographed a blurred figure within the building which looked suspiciously like a small object held close to the camera.

Wattie

Location: Loch Watten (Highland) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 21 April 1923
Further Comments: Peter Haining wrote that Colonel Arthur Trimble had spotted a creature with a long neck and large head in this loch (and that it ate his dog). Karl Shuker has written a rather detailed article on his website which dismisses the encounter, saying it is highly likely to be fiction.

George Payne

Location: W1 (Greater London) - Albemarle Street
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1860s
Further Comments: Two friends returning from a heavy night's drinking spotted their old friend George walking towards them. They assumed that George was on leave, as he had joined the army, but when the friends approached, they could see the soldier's face to be grey and dead. They stopped and let George continue walking away. A few weeks later the pair found out that George had died fighting in New Zealand.

Bear Hunt

Location: E8 (Greater London) - Hackney marshes
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 27 December 1981, and May 2012
Further Comments: Four children reported seeing a bear in the marshland at Hackney in 1981- investigators discovered large paw prints in the snow but failed to find the animal. In 2012, student Helen Murray took two photographs of a large black-haired creature in the area.