The Paranormal Database

Lizzie Baillie

Location: Cumbernauld (Stirling) - Castle Cary
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Miss Baillie ran away from her parents after falling in love with a young laird from the Lennox. The shock of this outrageous behaviour killed her father (the laird was a member of the Graham family, who had participated in setting the castle alight during the years of persecution), and now Lizzie's ghost returns to his grave out of respect. The site is also haunted by Sir William Baillie.

Castle Dunanore (public domain).

Murdered Pirates

Location: Cummer (County Galway) - Castle Dunanore
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sometimes one can see a ghostly pirate ship drop anchor just off the coast; the battle scarred sailors use smaller boats to row to the castle where they carry chests and sacks of gold and jewels into the ruined structure.

A woodcut of several witches flying on their broomsticks.

Witch Haunt

Location: Cumrew (Cumbria) - Dunwalloght Castle (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The area where this castle once stood was so haunted that locals believed witches would periodically meet there.

We Three Kings

Location: Dacre (Cumbria) - Dacre Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These three kings occasionally return, re-enacting a scene that happened in the dark ages when they first met to discuss the Norse threat. Another phantom reported here is Lady Dacre - she was walled up alive with her dead lover after her husband discovered her illicit affair. Her phantom sobs and screams can now be heard.

Malekin

Location: Dagworth (Suffolk) - The house of Sir Osberni de Bradewelle
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1189-1199
Further Comments: Malekin would converse with the family of Sir Osberni de Bradewelle, sharing people's secrets and humouring householders in the voice of a one year old child. The entity would speak in both English and Latin, and while Malekin could be heard and felt, he only appeared once; manifesting as a child dressed in a white tunic to a woman who agreed not to try and touch him. Malekin claimed that he had been born in Lavenham, removed from a field after being left there by his mother, and he had a hat which made him invisible.

Phantom Army

Location: Deeside (Clwyd) - Ewloe Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy weather
Further Comments: Aside from the occasional ghostly echo of marching soldiers, a soft singing can be heard as the rain and wind knock against the castle.

An old postcard showing Denbigh Castle.

Black Blob

Location: Denbigh (Clwyd) - Denbigh Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000?
Further Comments: The dark shapeless figure seen dashing around the Goblin Tower is said to be the son of the castle's builder. He was falsely accused of having an affair with the landowner's daughter and was thrown to his death from the partly completed tower. A grey (or white) lady has also been observed in the area, while another local legend says that a dragon once resided in the castle. A man with eight fingers on each hand finally killed the creature.

Sounds of a Running Battle

Location: Derby (Derbyshire) - Alvaston area, near the castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century and 2009
Further Comments: Three girls reported listening to the sounds of a small battle here in the early twentieth century - gunfire, galloping horses, and men shouting. Four people also heard the sounds while out late at night during the 1980s, as did two brothers passing through the area in 2009.

Crop Circle Creation

Location: Devizes (Wiltshire) - Fields around Oliver's Castle, aka Roundway Castle, aka Rundaway Castle
Type: Other
Date / Time: 11 August 1996
Further Comments: Video footage of small balls of light flying over a field here and creating a crop circle came to light in August 1996, though the authenticity of the footage has been called into question.

Isabella of Valois

Location: Devizes (Wiltshire) - Moat Cottage, Devizes Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: Surveyor Mike Crawshaw photographed a strange shape while working and believed it to be the ghost of Isabella of Valois, once imprisoned within the castle. Dennis Clements, owner of the cottage, reported that Lady Isabella's ghost had not been seen for 'many years'.

Sketch by Franz Marc.

Runaway Horses

Location: Devizes (Wiltshire) - Oliver's Castle, aka Roundway Castle, aka Rundaway Castle - Bloody Ditch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said eight hundred men died at the Battle of Roundway Hill in 1643, after a battlefield manoeuvre which trapped cavalry in a slopped area. The men and horses were slaughtered, and since the battle ghostly horses have been seen galloping around the area. A headless ghost was once also said to walk the area, possibly linked to a barrow on the site, as is the phantom hound which drags a chain from its neck.

Man in Gold Laced Suit

Location: Dinas Powys (South Glamorgan) - Dinas Powys Castle
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: This shade appeared to a poor spinning woman and guided her to a hidden box. She was instructed to send it to the Earl of Powys (in London) without opening it - she did so, and in return the Earl paid her rent for the rest of her life. The contents of the box were never revealed.

Two Little Girls

Location: Dingwall (Highland) - Tulloch Castle Hotel, Room 8
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2004
Further Comments: A guest staying the night in this room reported feeling the two adolescent girls sitting on his chest as he lay in bed, as if trying to suffocate him. Previous guests in the room have reported a figure sitting at the end of their bed, door handles rattling, and other strange disturbances. The castle is also known for its Green Lady, who died after falling down a spiral staircase after witnessing her father's adultery.

James II

Location: Donore (County Louth) - Athcarne Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: James II stayed here just before his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, and now his shade lingers on. He is not alone here, however. A crazy looking girl walks around the area with her hands caked in blood, while a soldier has been observed hanging by his neck from a tree.

Vault Dwellers

Location: Doonmore (County Clare) - Doonmore Castle (ruins by the coast)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The vault beneath this castle was said to be home to the most awful sounds, either caused by the souls of former prisoners or the waves crashing against the rocks.

Aldourie Castle, Scotland.

Grey Lady

Location: Dores (Highland) - Aldourie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about this off-white spook that reportedly drifts around the strong house.

Screaming White Lady

Location: Dornoch (Highland) - Skibo Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sad spirit is said to have been murdered in the 1600's by a servant. The white lady now drifts through the castle corridors, wailing and screaming.

Dover Castle, Kent.

Headless Drummer

Location: Dover (Kent) - Dover Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mostly unknown, soldier seen 02 November 2013
Further Comments: The headless drummer boy is said to date from the Napoleonic period. A lady in red and figure in blue have also been reported, while the tunnels under the castle are haunted by Second World War soldiers and operatives, perhaps escapees from Dunkirk - one figure in khaki and with a blurred face was seen walking purposefully along a corridor in 2013. The Arthurian hero Sir Gawain is reportedly buried here.

Braon Sinnsear

Location: Drimoleague (County Cork) - Castle Donovan
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The constant drip of water from the ceiling of the lower chamber is said to be the tears of Dorothy Forde. She was hanged by the O'Donovan clan who were unwilling to pay back a debt to her family.

Drumlanrig Castle, from Country Seats by Francis Orpen Morris.

Monkey

Location: Drumlanrig (Dumfries and Galloway) - Drumlanrig Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: World War I
Further Comments: This yellow monkey has been seen several times, though only recognised as being a monkey recently. Two other ghosts have been seen here; Lady Anne Douglas walks carrying her severed head, while a little girl has been seen in a bedroom, floating a few feet off the floor.

Whispering

Location: Drymen (Stirling) - Buchanan Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, summer months between 23:00h and dawn (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Strange whisperings and sounds have been reported coming from the area of land where this castle stands.

Dublin Castle. Process print, 1904.

Invaders

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Dublin Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Men who tried to invade the castle were executed on site and their headless remains buried within the grounds. Sometimes their spirits are said to wander.

Little Boy

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Rathfarnham Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Frequenting the gate house area, this young lad is thought to have been murdered in the area. The castle is also haunted by a dog, which gave his life trying to save his master who had fallen into an ice covered pond.

Monk

Location: Duchal (Inverclyde) - Duchal Castle (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Longing to rejoin the order from which he was kicked out from, this monk is still seen drifting in the area, and is believed to be evil.

Dudley Castle.

Gentlemanly Escort

Location: Dudley (West Midlands) - Dudley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: A phantom couple are said to walk arm in arm through the gatehouse of the castle ruins. A ghostly Lady Jane Grey has also been reported on site, as has a grey lady who is thought to be Dorothy Beaumont - she may be the entity which pushed a man down the keep's spiral staircase in 1998. Finally, the clash of swords has also been heard here.