The Paranormal Database

Jock the Piper

Location: St Andrews (Fife) - Cliffs near golf course
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely nineteenth century
Further Comments: Jock vanished into a cave along the cliffs never to be seen again. He is said to be heard or seen along the cliffs, a gust of cold wind denoting his presence. Encountering the entity is said to bring ill fortune. Some credence was given to the story in 1946, when workmen accidentally discovered a secret passage that headed towards the coast. A blockage prevented the men from venturing too far along the route.

Old Tanner

Location: Hampstead Norreys (Berkshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Old Tanner wore knee breeches and would drift amongst the gravestones.

Faceless Woman

Location: Outer London: Dagenham (Greater London) - Becontree Underground Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: One story claims that an employee encountered this ghostly blonde woman who wears a dress, with no face, on the platform. She faded away after being seen.

Old Lady

Location: Outer London: Dagenham (Greater London) - Cottage along Five Elms (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1930
Further Comments: After his rented home was allocated to nursing staff, George Gardiner refused to move to a cottage ten yards down the road as he and his wife believed the new property to be haunted by an old lady. The courts instructed George to find a new place to live.

Stabbed Woman

Location: Outer London: Dagenham (Greater London) - Valence House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: This figure, appearing quite real, was last seen with a long knife jutting from her back.

Little Man

Location: Hollingbourne (Kent) - Eyhorne Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Poltergeist circa 1970, others unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a small man has been seen, while disembodied footsteps have been heard in the grounds, and in the bedroom invisible clothing has been heard moving. Poltergeist activity was encountered around 1970, when the family reported that something would lift items from surfaces and drop them to the floor. It may be in this building that the ghost of Catherine Howard has also been seen, holding her head under one arm..

Church of the Holy Trinity, York.

Two Ladies and a Child

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Church of the Holy Trinity, Micklegate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 19 century at morning service, 'common' on Trinity Sunday (reoccurring)
Further Comments: These three figures are reported to be a mother, her child, and a nanny - the story is that mother and child were buried many miles apart, and now the nanny reunites the child with mother. Another story says that the women have no connection; the mother and child were united in death after the infant died of plague, and she slowly pined away, while the second woman is an abbess murdered trying to prevent Henry VIII's men from storming her church.

Nice Lady

Location: Milbourne (Northumberland) - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1988 - 1993
Further Comments: The Houghton family appeared in the local press to discuss their haunted home; the children told their parents about the 'nice lady' who visited at night, and neighbours reported seeing a strange woman at the windows. The family found the ghost to be non-threatening and tolerated the spirit.

An old postcard showing Taunton Castle in Somerset.

Marching Army

Location: Taunton (Somerset) - Taunton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard marching through the castle's museum, these invisible troops are thought to belong to the untrained army of the Duke of Monmouth that were slaughtered during a failed attack. Another ghost heard but not seen is a rather loud fiddler named Tom who frequents a room in the attached hotel. The ghost of a lady dressed in seventeenth century clothing makes an odd appearance in the castle, as does a Cavalier holding a pistol. Folklorist Ruth Tongue encountered a phantom figure with a sad face and sporting a black wig; she believed the ghost to be a Monmouth rebel.

Rustling

Location: Wootton Courtenay (Somerset) - Unidentified road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1929
Further Comments: Two women returning home from a dance watched a large black shape approach, which made a sound like a sack being dragged over dead leaves. They ran back to the dance hall and were told that a farmer once encountered something along the road but refused to discuss it and never went out alone after dark again.

Raps

Location: Alloa (Clackmannanshire) - House close to Greenside Cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1909
Further Comments: Noises and raps were reported coming from a room in this property. One witness claimed to have seen a ghost standing on top of a table which vanished when approached.

Mr & Mrs Children

Location: Leigh (Kent) - Ramhurst Manor house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1850s
Further Comments: Believed to have now left the property, the ghosts of Mr and Mrs Children could be heard talking and walking about the building. A nineteenth century medium claimed they stood by the front door, waiting to be released. Another version of the haunting rationalised the sounds of running in the house to come from horses stamping in the stables, although attributing bats' squeaks to explain human cries was less convincing.

Woman in Crinoline

Location: Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire) - Brumby, general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1926
Further Comments: First encountered by a nurse in the early hours of the morning, other members of the community also reported a phantom woman wearing a crinoline dress in the moonlight.

Horned Figure

Location: Dunston (Norfolk) - Ipswich to Norwich road, near woodland
Type: Other
Date / Time: March 1925
Further Comments: A motorcyclist spotted a figure wearing black clothing and a cowl emerge from the woods. The hood had little horns protruding from the top. The figure stopped in the middle of the road and stood on one leg, the motorcyclist forced to swerve around it. A 21-year-old labourer was arrested for obstructing the road when he and a friend went hunting for the entity a few days later.

Nurse

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Public health laboratory (guinea-pig house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1949
Further Comments: After three girls reported seeing a phantom nurse, a medium was brought on to the site, although not told of the witness's experience. The medium claimed to feel great distress on the top floor of the building.

Coffin Carrier

Location: Sligo (County Sligo) - Gallows Hill (south)
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An old man driving a cart containing a coffin was recognised as a local who had died a few days previous and was suspected of murdering his niece (see record 16733).

Tall Man

Location: Sligo (County Sligo) - John Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Accompanied by a black dog with fiery eyes, this tall man would walk through the wall of the graveyard. Folklore says the ghost was responsible for killing Darby Murrican, a watchman found nearby after a nightshift, whose last words were, 'The eyes, the skeleton eyes.'

White Cow

Location: Sligo (County Sligo) - Road in Gibraltar / Cummeen area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Returning home late one night, a farmer spotted his white cow on the road. The cow followed him to the cowshed, where the farmer opened the door only to find his white cow. Turning around, the farmer realised the creature that had followed him from the road had vanished. The ghost is also said to be a white or grey horse.

Screaming

Location: Sligo (County Sligo) - Unidentified shop along Knox Street (now O'Connell Street)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The new owner of this shop would hear footsteps, a woman's screams, and the sound of something heavy being dragged along the floor. One night the owner investigated and observed a ghostly old man holding a mallet in one hand and the other dragging a woman by the leg. The witness fled into the street. The old man, a deceased previous owner, was suspected of murdering his niece, although her body was never found. The next owner experienced the same events; the shop was demolished and rebuilt.

Uncle?

Location: Dalston (Cumbria) - Cowper House, Gaitsgill
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 17 April - May 1849
Further Comments: The Cooper family and their serving girl were subjected to poltergeist-like activity which started on the fifth anniversary of Mr Cooper's uncle's death. Rapping would be heard, and chairs and other items moved unaided. The servant admitted that she and Ms Cooper had caused the activity but later recanted, stating she was threatened and bribed by constables to take the blame (something the constables strongly denied).

Cedar of Lebanon

Location: Bretby (Derbyshire) - Tree (no longer standing) on the grounds of Bretby Hall / Hospital
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Tree felled 1954
Further Comments: A local legend said that Lady Margaret had thrown herself off a tower here, her blood spilling on the tree which resulted in it being cursed. If a branch fell from the tree, a member of the family residing at the hall was said to die soon after; the tree and the branches were apparently covered in chains to prevent any breakage.

Felo-De-Se

Location: Findern (Derbyshire) - Humpback bridge on lane leading to Shardlow (was known as Frisson's Lane)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The entity which haunted this spot was either a traveller who took their own life and was buried nearby, or a farmworker who hung himself in a neighbouring barn.

Roger Manners

Location: Whitwell (Derbyshire) - Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1902
Further Comments: An old newspaper report stated that the ghost of High Sheriff Sir Roger Manners had appeared in his former home

Murdered Nurse

Location: Blandford Forum (Dorset) - Army Base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1937, 1948
Further Comments: This ghostly figure dressed in white is reportedly a nurse raped and killed near the barracks - her shade has been observed floating around the area, her facial features almost blank. A newspaper report from 1948 claims soldiers were left unnerved after a nurse wearing an American uniform walked through the billet holding a torch.

Hammering

Location: Durweston (Dorset) - Unnamed cottage, Norton
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: December 1894 - January 1895
Further Comments: Faint knocking could be heard around a house where a widow, her daughter, and two boarding orphans resided. The knocks grew in intensity until the next door neighbour also reported the sounds. One of the residents realised the knocks responded to questions. A rector and a schoolmaster became involved in the investigation, and a slate and pencil left by a window provided the words 'money' (without the 'e') and 'garden' apparently without human agency. A few days later, knocking started at the schoolmaster's house in a neighbouring village. The garden would later be dug up, but no money found (according to a poem published in a local newspaper).

Bulletproof

Location: Aldershot (Hampshire) - North Camp, Aldershot Garrison
Type: Other
Date / Time: March - April 1877, September 1877, October 1878
Further Comments: Spring Heeled Jack was blamed after several sentries reported being attacked by a figure with cold, corpse-like hands. Bullets fired at the attacker had no effect.

Headless Horse

Location: Burnham Green (Hertfordshire) - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The result of a Danish skirmish over a thousand years ago, this decapitated horse runs along the lanes surrounding the area. A slight variation of the story places phantom white horses galloping around the neighbourhood at night.

Footsteps

Location: Hitchin (Hertfordshire) - Hitchin Union Workhouse (since demolished)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1907
Further Comments: Nurses refused to work the night shift after hearing strange sounds and 'uncanny footsteps'. The master of the workhouse tried to lay the ghost without success.

Rich Polander

Location: Nigg (Highland) - Unidentified house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A successful Polish pedlar who travelled and traded far and wide settled in the area and became known by locals as the 'Rich Polander'. After he died, his will requested that his fortune be returned to his family in Poland, but no money could be found. The Pole's ghost appeared 'most evenings' on the roadside, before travelling to his house and disappearing by the side gate. It was thought that the manifestation tried to show people where his money had been hidden, but without success.

Footsteps

Location: Sundridge (Kent) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A revolt during the House of Stuart resulted in many homes in the village being destroyed, the ghostly footsteps heard dashing around the area and the occasional knocking on doors said to be villagers seeking shelter.

Grey Lady

Location: Sundridge (Kent) - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1949
Further Comments: The activity from a phantom grey lady was said to have increased after the conversion of the building into three dwellings.

Witch

Location: Sundridge (Kent) - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1949
Further Comments: Occasionally heard by a neighbour, this phantom witch-like woman was seen jumping through a window by a visitor.

Coach and Four

Location: Marlingford (Norfolk) - Between village and Barford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A coach pulled by four headless horses driven by a headless coachman, accompanied by headless footmen, escorting headless passengers, apparently travels the area. The heads are either carried under the arm or on the lap.

Nurse

Location: Felixstowe (Suffolk) - The Lichens (private house, may no longer exist)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1911
Further Comments: This property was haunted by a floating torso and an evil looking nurse, both encountered by Elliott O'Donnell. The house was demolished in the early twentieth century and rebuilt, although the ghosts came back.

Giant's Stone

Location: Huntly (Aberdeenshire) - Tap o'Noth
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A footprint is said to be visible in this rock, thrown by a giant standing on a hill at Dunnideer.

Ponytailed Man

Location: Derry (County Derry / County Londonderry) - Altnagelvin hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990
Further Comments: Observed around Ward Two, a man with a ponytail and wearing a white suit would vanish after being seen. Staff said the figure was not frightening.

Figure in White

Location: Dungannon (County Tyrone) - Tyrone County Sanatorium
Type: Other
Date / Time: 06 March 1936
Further Comments: A figure in white who dashed through the grounds scared a maid and two women walking along the road. Police were called but the figure, who continued to run around buildings, disappeared before they arrived. The police said the 'ghost' was likely to have been a practical joker.

For a Shilling

Location: W14 (Greater London) - Private residence, Edith Villas
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1900
Further Comments: The ghost in this property could be viewed for a shilling (which was donated to the Widows and Orphans' Fund), although other residents in the property dismissed the entity as either a yellow cat or light shining through tree branches. Police were called to protect the site after bricks were thrown through the windows.

Boy in Old Fashioned Clothing

Location: Horwich (Greater Manchester) - Private residence along Wallsuches Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1995-1996
Further Comments: Observed in the middle bedroom, this ghostly figure with blonde hair lay under a radiator staring into the room.

Horseman

Location: Horwich (Greater Manchester) - Surrounding moors
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A wild horseman travels the desolate moors, looking for souls to take.

Christopher Riley

Location: Horwich (Greater Manchester) - Unidentified house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1888
Further Comments: For two weeks after his death from blood poisoning, the ghost of Mr Riley returned to his home. One witness heard falling crockery and heavy boots, while another refused to spend a second night in the building. The Reverend Oldfield was called to deal with the haunting, but it is not clear whether he succeeded.

Leaping Figure

Location: Wishaw (Lanarkshire) - Overtown and Kirkfield areas
Type: Other
Date / Time: October - November 1875
Further Comments: A figure dressed in white with spring-heeled boots took to haunting the area, with one newspaper claiming that over one hundred people had witnessed the entity cross the River Clyde in a single bound. Over a three week period, the figure's sudden appearance after dark caused much fright; one woman fainted (only for the entity to apologise and offer the woman a slip of brandy from a glass), while a cabdriver described it as 'not like an inhabitant o' the earth', although the entity ran off when the cabdriver pulled out a knife.

An old postcard showing Airlie Castle.

The Doom of Airlie Castle

Location: Airlie (Perth and Kinross) - Airlie Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: When ill-fortune strikes (last heard 1845?)
Further Comments: This harbinger of doom takes the form of a ram that walks a lap of the gardens prior to disaster. A drumming sound is also reported to herald a death in the family; in 1845 a visitor to the castle mentioned she had heard drumming to the family over breakfast, and within a week, the Countess of Airlie died.

Footsteps

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands) - Aston Union Workhouse
Type: Other
Date / Time: August 1910
Further Comments: The sound of footsteps and the manifestation of 'dim forms' that some staff attributed to a ghost were blamed on George Ravenhall, caught trespassing on site while being homeless. George also assaulted the night porter and was sentenced to two months' hard labour.

Nurse

Location: Stourbridge (West Midlands) - Manor house (no longer standing), New Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 - 07 January 1927
Further Comments: A ghost was seen on several nights standing on the lawn of the manor house. One witness claimed to have seen the figure three times, describing it as a beautiful nurse, some seven feet tall and aged around forty years old, which vanished when spoken to. One resident of the manor house fainted several times, although it was not clear whether the ghost caused this reaction, or the crowd of hundreds of people who had gathered to wait and watch for the entity. The police dispersed the mob.

Napoleonic POW

Location: Plymouth (Devon) - Freedom Fields Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976, 1989
Further Comments: A third year student nurse spotted a short man in blue uniform running down a staircase. Phoning security, they reassured the student that the figure was the resident ghost, a Napoleonic prisoner of war. Thirteen years later, poltergeist activity on the site appeared in the press, with staff reporting flickering lights, doors opening and closing, and boxes falling to the floor.

Hand

Location: Colchester (Essex) - Infirmary
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1927
Further Comments: Staff shortages were reported to be due to the site having a reputation for being haunted. A hand was seen crossing a window, doors would bang, and objects 'fell about' at night.

Grey Lady

Location: Hartlepool (Durham) - Hartlepools Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The hospital, built on the site of a Franciscan friary, was haunted by a grey lady. One patient commented to a nurse that a woman wearing a grey cloak had floated past and ignored him; the nurse was the only person on duty, and she wore the standard navy cloak (and likely did not float).

Matilda

Location: Rochford (Essex) - Poor Law Infirmary (would later become Rochford Hospital, but no longer standing)
Type: Other
Date / Time: January 1923
Further Comments: A traditional looking ghost in a sheet reportedly upset people in the infirmary for several weeks, ringing bells and blowing out lights. A rumour started that the ghost belonged to a former nurse named Matilda. After workers threatened to leave, local spiritualists offered to help, and a fifty pound reward was offered, a nurse lay in wait for the entity, revealing it to be nothing more than Edwin Gell, a male attendant, making mischief. Gell was dismissed from his job and took the matter to court, although the judge ruled his joke was 'grave misconduct' and the dismissal justified.

Blurred Figure

Location: E1 (Greater London) - London Jewish Hospital (closed 1979 and since demolished)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February - June 1977
Further Comments: Thought to be a former patient, this male ghost took up residence in a day room used by nurses and would brush past them.