The Paranormal Database

Knocking

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Unidentified cottage in 'poorer' part of city
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1907
Further Comments: The source of a knocking which could be heard emerging from the ceiling could not be traced. The reoccurring sound eventually drove the terrified family away.

Grey Figure

Location: Chester (Cheshire) - Canal path past Griffiths Corn Mill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 20 February 1959
Further Comments: Walking home on a clear night, Mr Roberts watched as a pale grey figure emerged from the canal. The figure constantly changed shape and approached Roberts, who found himself frozen with fear. The figure surrounded the man, covering him in a clammy vapour which broke Roberts from his paralysis and he was able to run screaming from the site.

Lady

Location: Chester (Cheshire) - Private residence, Newry Park area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Soon after moving into this property, a phantom woman walked past one occupant, and another witness experienced a cold spot which manifested by the side of a bed. A child who walked through one room returned a few moments later to find a chair had been turned upside down.

Squeaking Cycle

Location: Chester (Cheshire) - Saltney Junction railway station, area of
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early winter mornings (reoccurring), last seen early/mid twentieth century?
Further Comments: The phantom bicycle with a squeaking wheel was encountered by a guard and a child in the early hours of the morning, vanishing before it reached the witnesses. The haunting reputedly began after a suicide in a nearby work area.

Smiling Man

Location: Little Sutton (Cheshire) - Early twentieth century house (name withheld)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A child watched as a smiling man with outstretched hands, wearing a pinstripe suit, emerged from the bedroom wardrobe. The child's screams alerted her mother who rushed to investigate but was unable to find the intruder. Years later, the child identified the ghost from an old photograph of the former owners - the man had died in the bedroom. The property was also considered unlucky, with the child falling ill and losing a leg, and their father losing the top of a thumb in an accident.

Windy Man and Dog

Location: Tiverton (Cheshire) - Country lane between village and Chester
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1971
Further Comments: Driving lost through the country lanes, a driver spotted a man wearing khaki walking a dog. Although the night was calm, the man and dog looked as if they were walking in a strong wind, with the dog's saliva blowing backwards. The driver pulled alongside the pair and asked for directions. The man did not answer, but glared at the driver, who could now hear a strong wind. Quickly leaving without an answer, the driver looked back but the man and the dog had vanished.

Julia's gravestone, copyright Phil Willis.

Black Nun

Location: Ballycastle (County Antrim) - Graveyard
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says if you walk around Julia McQuillan's (aka the black nun) grave seven times clockwise, seven times anticlockwise and then place your hand through the hole in the grave, you will summon the ghost of the nun. McQuillan was a recluse who became renown after issuing several prophesies, including the coming of the aeroplane and motorcar, the drowning of a local red-haired priest, and the arrival of the Russians in Ireland.

Chicken Eater

Location: Myross (County Cork) - Forests in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1921, 1873
Further Comments: After the local population of chickens took a dive, the problem was blamed on an unpleasant creature which one local man spotted in the nearby woods. The witness said he passed the monster as it sat on a rock - the size of a dog, the creature resembled a cat, though it had a tapering, bald tail. A few years previous, in 1873, a 'monster ferret' was caught in the area which weighed 4lb (1.8 kilograms), although the weight is not abnormal for ferrets.

Springhill House, copyright Phil Willis.

Henrietta Hamilton

Location: Magherafelt (County Derry / County Londonderry) - Springhill House, Moneymore
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1998
Further Comments: Henrietta drifts around the building, weeping for her dead children. She has also been heard (but not seen) walking around on the landing. The ghost was described as non-threatening. Another investigation into the haunting concluded that the spectre was the widow of Colonel Conyngham, an officer during the Crimean War.

Rust-Coloured Man

Location: M4 (County Meath) - Northbound
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa September 2023, around 08:15h
Further Comments: A witness spotted a man in brown or rusty clothing pushing an old 1920s/1930s style motorbike, similarly coloured to the man, along the hard shoulder. As the witness approached, the figure disappeared.

A Woman Scorned

Location: Torbay (Devon) - Daddyhole (or Daddy Hole) Plain
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Scorned by a knight, a woman invited the warrior and his new love to meet here. The woman murdered the couple, and as a storm developed, the Devil appeared and took the murderer into a nearby hole (presumably to hell). The site featured in the press in 2025 after news outlets reported the 'Daddyhole Road' sign had been repeatedly stolen.

Steak Stealing

Location: Limekilns (Fife) - Limekilns Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: May 1960
Further Comments: Strange activity started at the hotel, owned by former football player Jimmy Watson, after renovations had taken place. Knocking could be heard at night, whiskey glasses were found broken, tea and coffee scattered on the kitchen floor, and cuts of beef would disappear.

Long Arms

Location: Leeds (West Yorkshire) - Unidentified property in Church Street area, Hunslet
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa January 1920
Further Comments: A woman warming herself by a kitchen fireplace watched as a pair of long white arms emerged from the flames. Unable to move, the woman fainted as the phantom's hands grabbed her above the elbows. When the woman gained consciousness, she realised the fire had not been lit, although she did have burn marks on her arms.

Puma

Location: Callow End (Worcestershire) - Unidentified country lane
Type: ABC
Date / Time: August 2025
Further Comments: A sandy-coloured cat resembling a puma crossed the road in front of a driver. The creature was described as one metre long, sixty centimetres in height, with a long tail with a black tip.

Thomas Wright

Location: SE21 (Greater London) - Bell House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The original owner, Thomas Wright, died in the garden in 1798 and has been seen around the area of his death at night. Noises on the staircase are said to belong to the footmen of Anthony Harding as they carry the man to his bedroom, and a glass eye is occasionally seen rolling across the floor (although it quickly vanishes).

Governess

Location: Scorton (North Yorkshire) - Kiplin Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s, 19 August 2026
Further Comments: A grey-haired woman, thought to be a Victorian Governess, has been observed in the building. A pilot from the 1940s is said to haunt a kitchen, while mild poltergeist behaviour has been attributed to phantom children. Disembodied sobbing has also been heard and the smell of old pipe smoke detected. In 2026, one witness reported seeing a transparent hand and wrist on a chair in the dining room; the body part moved to another chair when approached, and was later observed again on the staircase banister.

Margaret

Location: Crewkerne (Somerset) - Private residence, Lyewater area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010-2026
Further Comments: The silhouette of an older lady was first seen by a young child when she followed him into the bathroom before vanishing. The ghost was seen multiple times by the same child as he grew up, but not by other family members until many years later, when the child's mother spotted the black and grey floating 'silhouette' of a person. The father would also experience a presence felt after he witnessed a heavy hanging basket move without a detectable cause.

Diesel Multiple Unit

Location: Gateshead (Tyne and Wear) - Pelaw Railway Junction
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020
Further Comments: A driver of a Sunderland bound passenger train reported seeing an old 1960s style Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) branch off the mainline onto an abandoned line towards Washington - the driver reported the sighting as the track had parts removed twenty years previous. When the line was inspected, it was overgrown with no evidence a train had recently been on that line. The type of locomotive spotted also had not been used since the mid 1980s.

Reapers

Location: Bradshaw (West Yorkshire) - Field (exact location withheld)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1977, and 1996/1997
Further Comments: Strange 'reaper-like' figures were spotted by children. The black-clad, hooded figures herded cattle in a nearby field, causing confusion and upset amongst the children. Adults with the children were unable to see the figures. Thirty years later, one of the witnesses shared the story with a friend who lived near the field, who said that they had also seen the figures. A similar event occurred in the mid 1990s, with two friends encountering a shadowy figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat who held a scythe. One of the witnesses lived locally, and although this was the only time they had seen the figure, the area would create the sensation of being watched at dusk or in the early hours of the morning.

2007-2022

Location: Landcross (Devon) - House near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007-2022
Further Comments: Phantoms were blamed when children could be heard playing outside after dark, which playsets left in a garden moved around. A woman in white was also spotted, reflected in a lounge mirror. The house was blessed after unexplained bangs were heard.

Hooded Figure

Location: Renfrew (Renfrewshire) - Private Victorian house, Broadloan
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997-2005
Further Comments: A hooded figure which haunted a bedroom had a 'heavy and negative' presence which could be felt throughout the house. Unfortunate events would befall anyone who moved in.

Young Boy

Location: Ansley (Warwickshire) - Private residence near site of former hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 July 1926, 00:45h
Further Comments: A witness awoke and spotted a little boy wearing a flat cap near the bottom of their bed. The child looked out through a window. The witness closed and opened their eyes, but the figure remained until the witness closed and reopened their eyes a second time, during which the boy vanished.

Vast Shape

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands) - Fountain Close area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s (mass), other unknown
Further Comments: A witness in the area looked out their window and spotted a 'vast luminous mass' in the garden. Another story connected to a 'Fountain Close' in Birmingham, although it is not clear whether it is the same location, says a family of five haunts this area; two boys aged nine and twelve, a seven-year-old girl, and their parents. The mother is said to have died during childbirth, and the rest of the family died mysteriously soon after.

Vanishing Shape

Location: Swansea (West Glamorgan) - Vehicle hire specialist, Gorseinon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2026
Further Comments: An employee reported witnessing a shape which moved across an open space before vanishing, upon which the witness felt a sudden intense cold sensation. The witness had previously seen the shape before and ruled out environmental factors as an explanation.

Pet

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands) - Private residence, Greenoak Crescent, Stirchley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010 - 2026
Further Comments: The residents living here considered the shadowy presence seen around the property to be the ghost of a family pet.

Cavalier

Location: Shap (Cumbria) - M6 motorway near to junction 39
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996 (horseman), August 2001(cat)
Further Comments: The passenger in a car passing over Shap spotted a man on horseback riding alongside the motorway. The figure wore Cavalier attire and was semi-transparent. Several Alien Big Cat sightings have also been reported along this stretch of motorway - the cat reported in 2001 was described as possessing a big head and a very long tail.

Highwayman

Location: Eryri (Snowdonia) (Gwynedd) - Access road east of Plas Tan y Bwlch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around 1997, midnight
Further Comments: A witness spotted a man standing in trees on the top of a bank. The man wore typical highwayman garb, and glowed white in the otherwise pitch black environment. Locals later told the witness that the ghost was known to them and had been seen by others.

Pusher

Location: Wheathampstead (Hertfordshire) - Devil's Dyke
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil was blamed for knocking a man unconscious after he uttered an expletive near the ditch. The man regained consciousness the following morning. The area is also reputedly home to a phantom iron age warrior on horseback.

Parson Hubertson

Location: Chelvey (Somerset) - Road to Brockley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 May (reoccurring), last seen 1870, around 00:00h
Further Comments: A doctor and his friend driving their horse-drawn vehicle home spotted a tall, cloaked, ghostly figure floating on the road ahead. The figure's presence disturbed the horse, which became unmanageable and it refused to pass the spot where the ghost slowly faded away (a triangular patch of grass at a crossing). The ghost was identified as Parson Hubertson, who had doctored a will belonging to a parishioner in 1776 which resulted in a widow and her children becoming destitute. For the crime, Hubertson was damned to walk between the villages once a year.

Misty Figure

Location: Lowestoft (Suffolk) - Avondale Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2018
Further Comments: Two people walking to the shops late at night spotted and ignored a kneeling misty figure behind a gate. Returning past the spot a short time later, the figure was still present, albeit standing. One of the witnesses ran towards the figure but it vanished.

Strange Figure

Location: Lowestoft (Suffolk) - Roman Hill Middle School (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: During a particularly misty day, a pupil at the school reported seeing a figure which walked through the wall of the school.

William Wailes

Location: Gateshead (Tyne and Wear) - Saltwell Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Children playing near the (then) abandoned tower spotted a man wearing a top hat, cloak and white gloves moving through the building before abruptly vanishing. The figure, suggested to be former building owner William Wailes, appeared again during the tower's renovation, but apparently has not been seen since. Reports of phantom Victorian children also ceased when the tower reopened.

Prod

Location: Lancaster (Lancashire) - Gillows building, Castle Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story says visitors to the site would occasionally receive a prod from a ghostly finger.

Executed

Location: Lancaster (Lancashire) - Golden Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: People taking to the gallows would be allowed a final drink in this pub. One of the executed passed on the opportunity, and returned after death in regret. A figure dressed in dark clothing spotted in the cellar was initially mistaken for a policeman, although later identified as the ghost. The entity has also been blamed for breaking glasses and emptying a barrel of cider.

Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Horses Crossing Drawbridge that No Longer Exists

Location: Felixstowe (Suffolk) - Landguard Fort
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Guard in 1859, others unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly coach being pulled by a team of horses is said to cross a ditch next to the fort, where once a drawbridge lay. The fort is also the site of an alleged suicide which is now re-enacted; the ghostly white figure is still seen dangling from the roof beams where he hanged himself. In 1859, sightings of a ghostly white figure observed on several nights abruptly ceased after the entity was pursued and captured by a sentry. The ghost was revealed to be a soldier with a sense of humour which likely quickly vanished as he was arrested and sent to be court martialled.

Giant Grave

Location: Mendham (Suffolk) - Hulk's Grave
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1927 or 1928 (ghost)
Further Comments: The boundary of three parishes was reputedly the site of a giant's grave. Executions were also carried out here, explaining why the place has a haunted reputation. The ghost was blamed for spooking a pony pulling a trap near the grave; the creature stopped and refused to move, the driver having to pull the pony past the grave before it would continue on its way.

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.

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.

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.