The Paranormal Database

Tunnel

Location: Fifield Bavant (Wiltshire) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The tunnel under this church is reputedly haunted, but by whom or what is unknown.

The Returned

Location: Filey (North Yorkshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: The churchyard was supposed to be a place which sensible people avoided after dark, as sometimes the dead came back. It was not all bad, as in one case, a dead sailor returned and cleared his son of any involvement regarding his death.

Dutch Doll

Location: Finedon (Northamptonshire) - Charity Girls School, church, and now local area?
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early twentieth century onwards
Further Comments: In the early 1900s the headmistress of the Girls School Mary Ozier had a wooden doll made to represent a schoolgirl of the time the school was built (1717). It was about 90 centimetres tall, painted and possessed a frighteningly realistic piercing stare. Nicknamed 'The Dutch Doll' and placed above the door on the inside of the school, the girls in the school became petrified of it. The children were terrified of the doll's unemotional yet evil looking face, and started circulating accounts of seeing and hearing it walking around at night. After the school's closure the doll was mounted on a wall in the Church, though by this time someone had taken a saw to its feet in an attempt to stop it walking around. On the night of 18 January 1981, the doll was stolen from the Church and has never been heard of or seen since - some people believe it walked out on its own accord.

Locked Gate

Location: Fingest (Buckinghamshire) - St Bartholomew's Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Gate still stands
Further Comments: It is said to be a guarantee of a successful marriage if the bridegroom carries his new wife over the locked church gate.

Sailors

Location: Fleet (Dorset) - Churchyard and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Stories perpetuated by smugglers told of phantom drowned sailors walking the roads of Fleet.

Ghosts and chains have a long history together.

Jangling Chains

Location: Fobbing (Essex) - Vineyards near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Chains and other weird sounds have been reported here.

Moving Stones

Location: Folke (Dorset) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: During construction of the church
Further Comments: The construction of the church started in Broke Wood, but every night the work which was done was undone and the building materials moved to where the church now stands. Another version of the story says the Devil moved the stones to prevent any work being done but failed.

The Yew

Location: Fortingall (Perth and Kinross) - Parish church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Surrounded by a wall which protected it from being stripped by nineteenth century tourists, the yew was once thought to have been the birthplace of Pontius Pilate (the man who ordered Jesus to be crucified). The tree is likely to be around 2000 years old, although some have claimed it started to grow 8000 years ago.

Trumpets

Location: Fotheringhay (Northamptonshire) - St Mary the Virgin Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976
Further Comments: The sounds of horns and drums have been reported emanating from the empty church. One visitor reported seeing the church as it looked (as she later found out) four hundred years previous.

Fallen Spire

Location: Foxearth (Essex) - Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: 02 July 1947
Further Comments: One 1948 newspaper claimed that Harry Price had attributed the fall of the church spire during a freak storm to a poltergeist, although it is difficult to tell if whether or not the reference is sarcastic.

Black Dog

Location: Freiston (Lincolnshire) - Area around the church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom hound is thought to relate to a murder which once took place close to the church, although further details are fleeting.

Cauldron

Location: Frensham (Surrey) - Church
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cauldron in the church is said to have been taken from fairies that once lived nearby, though other accounts say it belonged to a white witch. Earthen mounds near the pond are thought to have been created by the Devil and are unlucky to disturb.

Child Talking

Location: Frithelstock (Devon) - Church of St Mary and St Gregory
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1932
Further Comments: A couple who took their son to the church were amazed when they witnessed the boy claim to have been at the church before, asking what had happened to his 'lovely tower' (which had been demolished, and at the time of the incident was unknown). The boy acted strange for a few more minutes before appearing to change manner and act as a normal child again.

Family Visiting

Location: Fulford (North Yorkshire) - Old church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom woman and a nurse are said to travel to this churchyard from York. Here they pick up the ghost of the woman's daughter and return to the city from which they came to pay respects at the grave of the husband/father.

Smell of Sulphur

Location: Fulmodeston (Norfolk) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2005
Further Comments: Several witnesses at this ruined church encountered a strange white mist and the stench of sulphur. A pet dog refused to go near the tower, and as the party went to leave, voices were heard and a figure seen moving around on top of the tower, even though the flooring had long since crumbled away.

Floating Lights

Location: Gamrie (Aberdeenshire) - Old churchyard
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Though the churchyard has not seen any burials since 1935, stories are still told of how lights would dance around the headstones on the eve of a funeral.

Lucy Lightfoot

Location: Gatcombe (Isle of Wight) - Gatcombe Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: 13 June 1831
Further Comments: A local lass on her way to church, Lucy disappeared mysteriously when an eclipse covered the sun and the island was hit by a terrible hurricane. At the same time, an effigy of Edward Ester at the church changed. Years later, the vicar claimed to have discovered written evidence that the young lady had gone back in time and married Edward Ester. It is now generally acknowledged this whole story was fiction created during the 1960s.

Dancing Dog

Location: Gatcombe (Isle of Wight) - St Olave's Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Summer (reoccurring) (Dog), young girl unknown
Further Comments: The carved wooden dog at the feet of the effigy of Edward Estur is said to come alive during summer nights and dance around the church standing on hind legs. The churchyard is said to be haunted by a ghostly young girl with blonde hair in a pale dress.

Rake

Location: Gaydon (Warwickshire) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After the death of his landowning family, a young man wasted his inheritance on an immoral lifestyle and refused to help his tenants. For his sins, the rake took to haunting an area around the church walls.

Running Dog

Location: Geldeston (Norfolk) - Lover's Lane, leading to the churchyard
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The small lane leading to the local churchyard is reputedly home to a phantom hound - the creature has been spotted running along the lane. It is thought that the location that the hound appears will soon be the site of a crime. A ghostly donkey seen here may be the same entity. The same area is also haunted by a haunted coach as it travels towards Bungay Castle.

Wicked Parson

Location: Gillingham (Norfolk) - Dogs Lane and All Saints church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1927
Further Comments: Last seen sitting on a verge along Dogs Lane with glowing eyes, this phantom hound is thought to be a holy man with less than holy tendencies. The entity was also reported outside the church in 1913.

Diana

Location: Glasgow (Lanarkshire) - Govan Old Parish Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa early 2012
Further Comments: A video recorded by Chinese tourists at Govan Old Parish Church appears to show Princess Diana standing by a stained glass window. The jury appears to be out to whether the footage is faked, an optical illusion or something a little spookier.

Pump

Location: Glasgow (Lanarkshire) - Water pump near Tron Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1819
Further Comments: Superstition associated with a public water pump with two sprouts resulted in people only ever using the front spigot.

Tailor Terror

Location: Glassary (Argyll and Bute) - Old church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A once popular tale in Scotland has a tailor take a wager that he can spent the night in a haunted church; the tailor encounters a phantom, engages it in conversation while sewing a garment, and manages to escape. The old church was one location where the event supposedly occurred.

Organ

Location: Gloucester (Gloucestershire) - St James's Parish Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1934, 01:10h
Further Comments: A man on his way home from the station could hear the organ being played in the church, although the gates were locked and the building in darkness.