The Paranormal Database

Figure in a Top Hat

Location: Tilshead (Wiltshire) - St Thomas a Becket Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 26 March 2012, morning
Further Comments: A ten year old girl became upset and left this church after she spotted a semi-transparent figure with grey hair and a top hat sitting in the box pews. When she started to turn back inside the church, she saw the figure once again, sitting closer to the door.

Take it Down

Location: Tilton on the Hill (Leicestershire) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil became upset at the building of this church, so during the night would undo the construction work. It is unclear who or what motivated the Devil to cease his actions.

Strange Light

Location: Timogue (County Laois) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This churchyard would be illuminated by unearthly light and night, and the locals whispered that fleeting white shapes could be seen darting between tombstones.

White Rabbit

Location: Tollesbury (Essex) - Tollesbury Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The white rabbit is said to appear at different times of the year, running about the churchyard.

Henry Ditton-Newman

Location: Torbay (Devon) - St John's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1959
Further Comments: Henry died in 1883, though he returned to play the church organ up until 1959. The phantom was also heard to walk around the empty building.

Reverend Hitchcock

Location: Torquay (Devon) - St John's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: The Reverend Hitchcock died whilst working on a composition - he was heard playing the unfinished piece on the church organ during the 1950s. After a blessing on his grave in 1959, Hitchcock appears to have not returned. Prior to this, the church had a reputation as being haunted by another organist by the name of Henry Ditton-Newman. Henry could be heard walking around and playing the organ. After a service to move on Henry, a third organ playing phantom (Francis Crute) would also be named as haunting the site; he would be swiftly moved on after a blessing over his grave.

Stopping Force

Location: Tostock (Suffolk) - Path on hill leading to the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer, late 1990s
Further Comments: Two people walking towards the church suddenly found themselves unable to walk any further. The sensation lasted for around ten seconds before lifting. A short time later, along a lane past the church, they spotted a bright white light which then illuminated the area around them. Both witnesses ran back to the village.

Stone Thief

Location: Towednack (Cornwall) - Church tower
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The tower's shortness is explained away by the story that Old Nick turned up each night during construction and knocked down the day's work. The builders finally grew tired of the conflict and put the roof on at the height is now.

Daffyd Ddu

Location: Tremeirchion (Clwyd) - Churchyard Wall
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Former vicar and black magician, Daffyd made a pact with the Devil to take his soul 'whether buried in the churchyard or out'. Needless to say, the wizard cheated Old Nick by ensuring his body was buried under the boundary wall.

Marshy Bells

Location: Tunstall (Norfolk) - Church, and marsh known as Bell Hole (and Hell Hole)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil once appeared in the village, stealing the church bells and sinking them into the nearby marsh. Bubbles in the marsh were said to be the result of the bells continuing to sink into the bottomless pit.

Gregorian Chant

Location: Tutbury (Staffordshire) - Former priory (only the church remains)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 2012, 22:00h (singing), 1970s (monk)
Further Comments: While at this site, two witnesses heard chanting coming from the church. The singing faded after a couple of minutes. A ghostly monk was seen by members of the church choir and bell ringers in the 1970s, standing on the crossing above the main doors.

Non Sinking Church

Location: Vigeans (Angus) - Church of St Vigeans
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1736
Further Comments: Legend said that building materials for the church were carried into position by a water kelpie. The creature said if anyone working for the church ever took their own life, the church would sink into a great lake which lay deep under the building. In the eighteenth century the minister of the parish committed suicide and some stories say many people gathered near the church to watch it being consumed into the ground. Needless to say, many people were also left disappointed when their expectations were not met.

Kneeling Priest

Location: W1 (Greater London) - St Thomas's Church (no longer standing), Tenison Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1921
Further Comments: This phantom was observed praying before the altar, before silently moving off and vanishing.

Body in the Basement

Location: W1D (Greater London) - Building (may longer stand) by St Anne's Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man staying at a guesthouse here had a dream that he wandered down to the basement and discovered a body. Awaking in terror he quickly dressed, left the house, and called on a friend. They returned to the house and, venturing into the basement, discovered a dead man. The landlady had, in the meantime, fled and was said never to have been caught.

Procession of Monks

Location: W3 (Greater London) - St Dunstan's Church, East Acton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Walking down the centre of the church, these holy men are said to be golden brown in colour, while the 'leader' appears in a purple hood. Another phantom has been seen, this time an old woman wearing a Second World War gas mask, leaving the church and heading off down Lower Thames Street.

White Figure

Location: W4 (Greater London) - Hammersmith Churchyard and Black Lion Lane area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1804
Further Comments: This ghost was blamed for the death of a local woman, who collapsed and died a few hours after witnessing the entity. A hunt for the spook resulted in another local man being shot by mistake (he was wearing white clothing), and the ghost sightings trailed off soon after.

Monk

Location: W6 (Greater London) - Holy Trinity church, Brook Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1896
Further Comments: Father White claimed to have seen a ghostly monk enter the church on more than one occasion. The Father's servant and curates had also spotted the entity.

White Rabbit

Location: Wadebridge (Cornwall) - Egloshayle church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nights of the full moon (reoccurring)
Further Comments: When the moon is brightest, the ghostly rabbit bolts across the churchyard and vanishes into the boundary wall. Another entity that haunts the churchyard is that of a man who tried to shoot the rabbit with a shotgun but managed to kill himself with the weapon instead!

Walberswick Church, Suffolk.

Victorian Church Warden

Location: Walberswick (Suffolk) - Walberswick Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1930s, 1970s
Further Comments: Witnessed by George Orwell, a small and stooping figure dressed like a workman was seen silently crossing the churchyard, before disappearing from view. Orwell investigated further and realised that the figure had vanished. Others who have seen the figure have described him as dressed like a gentleman.

Jane Wenham

Location: Walkern (Hertfordshire) - Area around church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Driven from the village by a mob that believed her to be a witch, Jane never returned during her lifetime. Post-mortem appears to be a different story.

Fairies ready to move a church.

Moved

Location: Walsall (Staffordshire) - St Matthew's Church
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Church still present
Further Comments: The fairies took a dislike to where the church was going to be built, so moved the foundation stones to the top of the hill where the church was finally built.

Chimes

Location: Walsingham (Norfolk) - Egmere church ruins
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heading towards a shrine, the invisible procession of pilgrims can be heard ringing small hand bells as they move.

Monk

Location: Waltham Abbey (Essex) - Abbey Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: First seen over twenty years ago, a monk is said to walk the graveyard.

Overwhelming Evil

Location: Waltham Abbey (Essex) - Waltham Abbey Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: A couple walking past the church noticed yellow lights shining through the window. The woman was overcome by a sense of evil, so great that she refused to talk about it for several years after the event.

John Dee and Edward Kelly summon the dead in St Leonard's Churchyard, Walton le Dale.

Summoning the Dead

Location: Walton le Dale (Lancashire) - St Leonard's Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: 12 August 1560 (possible date)
Further Comments: John Dee, together with Edward Kelly, attempted to raise a dead man to discover the location of his hidden treasure. The dead man is supposed to have made several predictions about his former neighbours before returning to his grave. The 1825 publication 'The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century' contains the most famous image of the event.