The Paranormal Database

Money Coffin

Location: Longtown (Herefordshire) - Longtown Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown - still present
Further Comments: A local myth says that one thousand guineas are buried on this site, concealed within a coffin.

Edmond Roe O'Kennedy

Location: Lough Derg (County Tipperary) - Annagh Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: Edmond was murdered in the sixteenth century before telling anyone where he had concealed his hidden treasure. Since his death, Edmond's shade has appeared to visitors at the ruined site, blood leaking from a large slit in his throat.

Fire Breathing Hound

Location: Lough Derg (County Tipperary) - Castle Biggs
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This abomination with cloven hooves protects a hidden hoard of treasure somewhere near this house.

Suicide

Location: Loughmoe (County Tipperary) - Loughmoe Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ruins of this castle are reputedly haunted by a man who killed himself within.

Partying

Location: Loughrea (County Galway) - Castle Daly
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The echo of a party, complete with music and laughter, can be heard from the building, though some reports say the celebrations end with screams and cries for help.

An old postcard of Lowther Castle in Cumbria.

Sir James Lowther's Coach

Location: Lowther (Cumbria) - Lowther Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown - Middle Ages?
Further Comments: Sir James was blamed when poltergeist activity sprung up around the castle a few days after his death. The entity caused a little disruption at the funeral (in the form of knocking emerging from the casket). The carriage Sir James travelled in during life was seen and heard moving along the roads near the castle at dangerous speeds, glowing in the dark. This ghost has not been reported since an exorcism was performed.

An old postcard showing Ludlow Castle.

Marion

Location: Ludlow (Shropshire) - Ludlow Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Marion, her castle besieged by rivals, lowered a rope for her secret love to enter the building, which he dutifully did. Unfortunately, he also brought with him the castle's enemies. Realising too late she had been betrayed, Marion stabbed her lover and jumped from the window of the tower, dying upon impact with the ground. Her shade now re-enacts this tragedy, while the sound of her lover dying has also been reported.

Glowing Room

Location: Lulworth Cove (Dorset) - Lulworth Castle (was ruined, now restored)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1500s-1800s
Further Comments: A room in the castle would be illuminated by an eerie radiance at night - it was said that it glowed so brightly that the room was once knocked down and rebuilt, only to start radiating the mysterious light again.

Gordon in the Bedroom

Location: Lumphanan (Aberdeenshire) - Craigievar Castle, Blue Room
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This unnamed member of the Gordon family is believed to have fallen to his death from a bedroom window, and now haunts that room. A much more selective shade is a fiddler who drowned on the site - he only appears to people named Forbes.

An old woodcut of a pig.

Black Pig

Location: Lydford (Devon) - Lydford Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom pig is said to be the ghost of Judge Jeffreys. Another ghost seen in the vicinity is that of Lady Howard.

Six Saxons

Location: Lympne (Kent) - Lympne Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Brutally murdered by Normans, six Saxon warriors now haunt the castle. Another version of the story says the deceased were priests, and just a single phantom remains. An eagle haunted one bedroom; one resident placed stuffed birds in the room, so the ghost had fellow avian company. It is also said that a ghostly Roman soldier has been heard ascending the battlements and has been seen falling from the building (a Roman watchtower once stood on the site).

Black Monk

Location: Lynton (Devon) - Lynton Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After the lady of the castle refused entry to a black monk, the holy man placed a curse on the Lynton estates. Her husband, the Baron, died a little while later (it was said the black monk again appeared just prior to his death), and it was not until the Baron's son asked the monk for forgiveness that the curse was lifted - the castle collapsed, and the son and the rest of the family taken by a 'radiant cloud'.

Giant's Home

Location: Lythe (North Yorkshire) - Mulgrave Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Castle still stands
Further Comments: This castle was said to be the home of Wade, the giant. He is also held accountable for a road and two large 'graves', marked by standing stones.

Cormac Tadhg McCarthy

Location: Macroom (County Cork) - Carrigaphoca (aka Carrigaphouka, aka Carrigaphooca) Castle
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Charged with tracking down Irish rebels, Cormac once ate the flesh of one man he caught. This may have damned him, and as such a few believe he still lurks the ruins of the castle. The site is also home to a Pooca, a ghastly grim entity which reputedly attacks visitors if the opportunity arises.

An old magic lantern slide of Leeds Castle in Maidstone, Kent.

Black Dog

Location: Maidstone (Kent) - Leeds Castle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Prior to a death or grave misfortune
Further Comments: This shuck is only an ill omen for those who see him and live at the castle.

David Beaton

Location: Mains of Melgund (Angus) - Melgund Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Built by Cardinal Beaton in the mid-sixteenth century, his ghost took a liking to the property after the death of the flesh.

Puck

Location: Malahide (County Dublin) - Malahide Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 (Puck), June 2010 (other)
Further Comments: A small man, Puck only stands 120 centimetres tall and possesses a long matted beard. He is said to have been a watchman who fell asleep and failed to see approaching enemy soldiers, so took his own life out of shame. A group of friends who visited the site in June 2010 reported seeing a mannequin's eyes move and a lid of a laundry basket lift itself up.

Echo

Location: Mallaig (Highland) - Castle close to Mallaig, possibly Castle Tioram
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: If one called out 'Are you in, maiden?' close to the castle ruins, a voice would then be heard emerging from the building, repeating any phrase shouted by visitors.

The Ruins of Mallow Castle.

Coach

Location: Mallow (County Cork) - Mallow Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pulled by a team of headless horses, a phantom coach travels around the castle grounds. Another ghost story says the site is haunted by two former residents who walk around at dusk. A more demonic story claims that Sir John Norreys, Lord President of Munster, sold his soul to the Devil and died in the castle when the debt required settling.

Robert Scott

Location: Margam (West Glamorgan) - Margam Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Former gamekeeper Scott is thought to have been murdered by a poacher and has seen been observed on the staircase in the hall. Disembodied laughter has also been reported, as have the fleeting glimpses of Victorian children. The nearby ruins of Margam abbey are haunted by a monk.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Marldon (Devon) - Compton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in clothing named as seventeenth century, this figure has been reported near the tower.

Many Spirits

Location: Marshwood (Dorset) - Lambert's Castle (hillfort)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: A seventeenth century historian said that this hillfort was particularly haunted but neglected to say by what.

Catherine Parr, painted by Master John.

Catherine Parr

Location: Masham (North Yorkshire) - Snape Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost dressed in blue is believed to be the wife of Henry VIII. The former queen is said to radiate a sense of calm and peace.

An old postcard showing Culzean Castle.

Piper

Location: Maybole (Ayrshire) - Culzean Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard above the rising gale on windy nights, the musical notes of this long dead piper still haunt the castle. The cries of someone being tortured have also been recorded, while another witness reported talking to a raven haired lass who vanished as he moved too close.

Top of a Woman

Location: Meggernie (Perth and Kinross) - Meggernie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1862, and late 1920s
Further Comments: The 1862 witness, along with others previously, said he woke up during the night to feel a burning kiss on his cheek - standing over him was a woman, who quickly moved away towards an adjoining room. As she drifted though the doorway, the witness noticed she had no legs. The figure has also been seen inverted - just a pair of legs with no torso. One explanation offered is that the figure was murdered, and the body cut in two... A visiting doctor who stayed the night in the 1920s also reported seeing a floating head and shoulders.