The Paranormal Database

Vanishing Island

Location: Achill Island (County Galway) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Spotted briefly from the cliffs, the fairy-enchanted island appeared and disappeared.

Vaguely human shapes standing in the bog.

Strange Mist

Location: Allen (County Kildare) - Bog of Allen
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before a large part of this boggy land was drained, it was renowned for strange shapes, vaguely human in appearance, which appeared at night. One man who walked across the area encountered a strange cloud which enveloped him, filling the poor man with terror, before it drifted off.

House

Location: Allington (Wiltshire) - Tan Hill
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: House seen 1962 or 1963, coffin seen around 1940, and previously in 1870s
Further Comments: A young girl walking on the hill came across a horse which appeared to be empty. She later discovered that the building had been demolished many years before her encounter. Twenty years previous, three shepherds watched a phantom funeral procession, complete with a horse-drawn hearse and figures carrying burning torches. Upon the coffin sat a golden crown. As a side note, the hill once had a carved white horse upon it.

Clashing Blades

Location: Ashmore (Dorset) - Cranborne Chase
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October, late 1920s
Further Comments: A member of the Ghost Club and his partner reported being surrounded by the sounds of men fighting, sword clashing with sword, and the moans of the dying. There are also tales of a golden coffin and stolen treasure buried in the area.

Screaming

Location: Aughrim (County Galway) - Site of Battle of Aughrim
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The battle, fought in 1691, is said to have been the most brutal on UK soil, with up to seven thousand people killed. Folklore says that the screams of dying soldiers can still be heard in the area.

A burning manor house.

Burning

Location: Baginton (West Midlands) - Manor House (no longer standing)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1900s onwards?
Further Comments: This manor house was consumed by fire around the start of the twentieth century. Ten years after the fire, a witness reported seeing a house burning where the manor had stood, and again another witness reported the same occurrence a few years later.

Vanishing island, from Irish Wonders by D R McAnally.

Vanishing Island

Location: Ballinakill (County Galway) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1860s?
Further Comments: Fishermen reported seeing the mysterious vanishing island that travels around the coast of Ireland.

Vanishing Island

Location: Ballinaleame (according to source, but cannot place on modern maps) (County Galway) - Mouth of bay
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Another place where a magical vanishing island reputedly appears and disappears.

Enchanted Island

Location: Ballinskelligs (County Kerry) - Ballinskelligs Bay
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fishermen claimed to have seen an enchanted island off the coast before it vanished

Vanishing Island

Location: Ballycotton (County Cork) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 7 July 1878
Further Comments: Local fishermen awoke to see a strange new island out to sea, covered with trees and rocks. As dozens climbed into their boats and set off towards it, the island faded from view.

Enchanted Island

Location: Ballydonegan (County Cork) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The bay at Ballydonegan is another place where an enchanted island occasionally makes an appearance before vanishing.

Enchanted Island

Location: Ballyheige (County Kerry) - Tralee Bay, between Kerry Head and Brandon's Head
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-nineteenth century?
Further Comments: One author claimed the entire population of Ballyheige witnessed an enchanted island which vanished soon after appearing.

Vanishing Island

Location: Ballysadare Bay (County Sligo) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fishermen were aware of an enchanted island that would briefly manifest off the coast.

Buildings

Location: Balnakeil (Highland) - Balnakeil Beach
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1980
Further Comments: A woman taking a polaroid photograph of the beach was amazed to see two buildings and a shadowy post on the developed image - no buildings were in the frame as she pressed the camera shutter. An analysis of the image suggested that it was an under exposed image of a farm.

The vanishing lake of Beaulieu.

Lake with Sword in a Stone

Location: Beaulieu (Hampshire) - Exact location unknown, somewhere in the New Forest
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1951
Further Comments: A family driving in the New Forest while on holiday passed a mist covered lake, with a sword set in a large stone a few metres off the shoreline. The lake had disappeared when they drove back and, to the best of our knowledge, has never returned.

Line of Monks

Location: Bilsington (Kent) - Bilsington Priory
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly procession of monks is said to haunt this area, and the ruins of the priory return to their former pristine state. The wife of Joseph Conrad was one witness to this event.

Strange Trees

Location: Blackburn (Lancashire) - Billinge Wood - Crow Wood
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Current
Further Comments: Sounds of footsteps can be heard in the wood, even when no one is immediately visible. The trees are also said to dramatically change appearance.

Phantom Fair

Location: Blackdown Hills (Somerset) - Blagdon Hill
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1600s
Further Comments: A man riding through the hills saw a fair from the distance, though it faded from view as he approached. As he passed through the area, it is reported he 'felt' the event happening around him.

Cottage and Chopper

Location: Blaenavon (Gwent) - Blorenge Mountain
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1973
Further Comments: A young girl ran ahead of their family and came across a stone cottage with an older man chopping firewood outside. The man had white hair and long moustache. The girl briefly spoke to the old man, who spoke back to her. Something then made the girl uneasy, so she ran back to her family. When the family passed the area where man and cottage were, all that could be found were old foundation stones of a long-gone building.

Georgian Red Brick Dwelling, Surrounded by a Beautiful Garden

Location: Bradfield St George (Suffolk) - North of the church
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1860, 1900 and October 1926
Further Comments: First seen in 1860, the Georgian house was said to look quite normal, until it dissolved into mist. It was also seen around 1900, though no recent sightings exist.

Wall and Gates of a Grand Building

Location: Bradfield St George (Suffolk) - The lane from Little Welnetham which turns right at the church
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1926
Further Comments: Observed in 1926, the witnesses were new to the area and did not think much about the building until they returned later in the day and realised it had disappeared.

The ruined Brighton Pier.

Victorians

Location: Brighton (Sussex) - Pier
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: January, early 2000s, around 23:00h
Further Comments: While walking along the seafront, two sisters watched Victorian figures walking around and listened to the sound of music and laughter. The seafront was lit up as if daytime, and a young man and a boy walked out to sea along a rope bridge. As the sisters walked away, they realised the scene they had watched was impossible, and turning back they saw only the darkness over the sea. One sister later discovered that there was a chain bridge on the spot which led to the pier, but it was destroyed in 1896.

Roadside Cottage

Location: Buckfastleigh (Devon) - Moorland around the area
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Three lost girls on the moor at night claimed to have come across a cottage. Peering through an un-curtained window, they could see an old man and woman sitting by a fire. Before they had a chance to move, cottage and contents vanished without warning.

Sounds of Fighting

Location: Burgh Castle (Norfolk) - Roman castle
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 27 April (fighting) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a year the sounds of clashing swords and Roman and Saxon screaming can be heard in this area. Another ghost reportedly observed here during dark nights is a figure that plummets from the ramparts.

Heavy Bell

Location: Burton upon Trent (Staffordshire) - King Edward Place, heading towards corner of Rangemore street
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2012, 23:00h
Further Comments: Two bell ringers with first-hand experience of every bell in town heard an unfamiliar ringing coming from the direction of the Audi supermarket, the sound different to the nearby town hall clock and that of Saint Modwens, a church with bells that could be occasionally heard from the area. The supermarket was built on the site of the Holy Trinity church, which had a heavy bell that would have had a similar note depth to the sound the bell ringers heard.