The Paranormal Database

A Knock and a Ring

Location: Seaton (Cumbria) - Camerton Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Mr H T Graham was dared to knock on the door of this empty church late one night - the moment he did so, the bells began to toll.

Green Lady

Location: Sefton (Merseyside) - Fields by the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984, summer, 02:30h
Further Comments: At least four army cadets returning to their HQ observed a green lady wearing an old fashioned dress and cardigan. Although her legs could not be seen, it looked as if the figure floated while crossing the fields and heading towards the church.

Gilbert White

Location: Selborne (Hampshire) - White's Church, and other parts of the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Monk seen 1976
Further Comments: The naturalist Gilbert White has popped up in many places in the village, despite dying in the 1700s. Monks have also been reported in the village - a priory once stood here, and though the building has long since gone, its former occupants are less reluctant to leave.

Dead Man's Shoes

Location: Selkirk (Borders) - Shoemakers (no longer standing) and unknown churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A shoemaker in the town once made a pair of shoes for a stranger donned in a black cape. As the mystery man paid, the shoemaker noticed maggots in the purse, and decided to follow him. The figure walked into the local churchyard and vanished into a grave. The shoemaker returned later with some friends and dug the grave up, discovering a rotting corpse wearing a brand new pair of shoes...

Groaning

Location: Selsey (Sussex) - Church car park, western edge of Pagham Harbour, Church Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October or November 2001, 23:30h
Further Comments: Two teenagers hanging out at this car park at night witnessed a flash, quickly followed by a bang. From within their car, they could hear loud moaning approaching, but no footsteps could be heard on the gravel. Nothing could be seen as the teenagers drove off, and many years later one of the witnesses read about a Civil War ghost reputed to haunt the area.

Anti-Gravity Hill

Location: Shanklin (Isle of Wight) - Nansen Hill, between Shanklin and Bonchurch
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A newspaper from 1961 featured Nansen Hill, a site where cars and bicycles appeared to roll up rather than down. Magnetism, poltergeists, and optical illusions were all put forward as explanations.

Man with Cane

Location: Shard End (West Midlands) - All Saints Church and Shard End Lake areas
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1991
Further Comments: A man wearing a top hat and black-tailed coat, carrying a cane is said to haunt this area, and may have been spotted several times by the same witness in 1991.

Gabriel Hounds

Location: Sheffield (South Yorkshire) - Area around parish church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These hounds are said to have the faces of men, and have been heard passing the church on dark, still nights.

Tunnel

Location: Sheffield (South Yorkshire) - Norton Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Treasure unknown, woman in 1840
Further Comments: A secret tunnel containing a box of treasure was said to connect the church to Beauchief Abbey. The box could only be removed by a white horse wearing shoes which faced the wrong way. The horse would have to approach the treasure tail first and could only drag the box out using rope tied around its head. In 1840 a ghostly woman was spotted watching the parish clerk play the organ at dusk - the clerk and his apprentice fled and vowed never to play the organ in the evening again.

Waving Figure

Location: Sheffield (South Yorkshire) - St James Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1936
Further Comments: The local newspaper reported that an illusion caused by lighting had created the story of a thin, misty, waving figure in the vault.

Man on Fire

Location: Shelfanger (Norfolk) - Wash Lane, near the church and ford
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: A ten year old girl travelling with her mother in a car was horrified by the appearance of a burning man who ran in front of the car.

Christine

Location: Shere (Surrey) - Parish Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Christine, an anchorite at the church, tried to escape with a stranger she had fallen in love with. The villagers had other plans and captured Christine, forcing her to stay. Her ghost supposedly remained on the site.

Bench End

Location: Sheringham (Norfolk) - Parish Church
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A carved wooden bench arm is in the shape of a mermaid. A notice in the church said that, in days of olde, a mermaid tried to enter but was turned away by a mortified crowd. She later snuck in undetected and remains to this day.

Traffic Deadlock

Location: Shocklach (Cheshire) - Area around the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a year, the Brereton family return from the grave to rendezvous at this church - their phantom coaches are reported to create tailbacks!

Priest

Location: Silton (Dorset) - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom holy man has been watched as he moves from the altar to the vestry.

Gathering

Location: Skelmersdale (Lancashire) - House (since demolished) near church
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown, pre-1974
Further Comments: Once word spread that a poltergeist had made its home in a house owned by the Winstanley family, hundreds of people would gather outside waiting to see something.

Cowled Monk

Location: Skelton cum Newby (North Yorkshire) - Church of Christ the Consoler
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 1954
Further Comments: Reverend K F Lord accidentally snapped an image of a cowled monk on the altar of this church - dressed in black robes with an elongated, skull-like face, this picture frequently appears in ghost literature.

Monks

Location: Skidbrooke (Lincolnshire) - St Botolph's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2003
Further Comments: The church is said to be haunted by phantom monks. When the Bassetlaw Ghost Research Group visited in 2004, they did not encounter anyone who had previously lived the monastic lifestyle, though they did report picking up flying 'rods' on night vision cameras (which were most likely insects).

Glint

Location: Slapton (Buckinghamshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The buckles on a pair of shoes belonging to a former rector are said to glint in in the night as his ghost runs to attend a long forgotten incident.

Vanishing Hand

Location: Smethwick (West Midlands) - St Philip's Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1954, mid-summer
Further Comments: Two young boys playing in the church grounds were close to the statue of Saint Philip. They watched the left hand suddenly break off and fall to the ground, leaving a black void in place of the hand. The boys looked away for a few minutes and when they looked back the left hand was back in place.

St Mary's Church, Snettisham, Norfolk.

Communication from Henry Barnard

Location: Snettisham (Norfolk) - St Mary's Church, grave of Robert Cobb
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: October 1893
Further Comments: Mrs Goodeve, while visiting friends in the West Country, was visited at night by ghostly apparition calling itself Henry Barnard. Barnard asked Mrs Goodeve to travel to Snettisham church and wait by the grave of Robert Cobb. This she did, and at one o'clock in the morning, Mrs Goodeve was given a message by a tall dark figure who manifested by the tombstone. The message was taken to Barnard's surviving descendant at Cobb Hall, though what was said has never been told to anyone else.

Praying Man

Location: South Mimms (Hertfordshire) - Church and vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: A man seen praying in the church stood up and walked through a closed door leading to the vestry. The Reverend Allen Hay also reported that he would often wake at 3am and felt a presence in the vicarage, though he was convinced the ghost was friendly.

Mr Barber

Location: Southend-on-Sea (Essex) - Private residence in Southchurch area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996 to mid-2000s
Further Comments: A family living at this site reported seeing moving shadows without obvious source, poltergeist activity (including the throwing of a coffee pot), loud footsteps on the staircase, and the smell of pipe tobacco. The source of the activity was nicknamed Mr Barber.

Person Holding Lantern

Location: Southend-on-Sea (Essex) - Southchurch Lawn (was also Eton House School before closing in 1993)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Possibly the ghost of a smuggler, this spirit takes credit in saving the life of Princess Charlotte in 1801.

Devil's Treasure

Location: Southwood (Norfolk) - Old church and Callow Pit
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend states that the door handle of the church is all that remains of a treasure chest discovered by three (or two) men at the bottom of Callow Pit. As the men tried to take the chest away with them, Old Nick appeared and pulled at the other end - the men managed to escape with only one handle from the chest.