The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

Home > Reports: Browse Type > Environmental Hauntings

Environmental Hauntings and Manifestations

Ringing

Location: Burton upon Trent (Staffordshire) - Outside Saint Chad's church, Hunter Street
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 April 2012, between 09:15h - 09:30h
Further Comments: Two bell ringers standing outside the church waiting to ring for Sunday service heard the peeling of a set of eight bells. The next nearest church only had six bells, while the only two churches with eight bells both denied their bells were operating at the time.

House of the Dead

Location: Callow (Hereford & Worcester) - Callow Hill
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The building which infrequently materialises on the hill was demolished long ago and was the site of several chilling murders.

Island City

Location: Carrigaholt (County Clare) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Witnesses who spotted an enchanted island which briefly manifested off the coast claimed they could see it featured a city.


Currabinny Woods close to Cork.

Thick Mist

Location: Carrigaline (County Cork) - Currabinny Woods
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: A group of friends in the woods at dusk reported a thick mist that quickly descended the area. Footsteps and other noises surrounded them as they ran towards the car park. As they ran clear of the woods, the mist lifted, and silence returned once more.


Can a house be a ghost?

Cottages

Location: Chagford (Devon) - Exact location not known
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Every ten or twelve years, though date not known
Further Comments: Some believe that several ghostly cottages periodically appear in the village, though it is not known whether they were once 'real'.

Butler & House

Location: Cold Ashton (Gloucestershire) - Manor House
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A lost woman driver stopped at this building and asked the butler for directions, which he gave. However, she soon found out that the house had been empty for many years. She returned and found the building in a disused state, completely different from when she first called in.

Sounds of Battle

Location: Cotgrave (Nottinghamshire) - Colston Gate, open road flanked by fields
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 10 February 1994, 02:00h
Further Comments: Two friends were walking through the area on a cold frosty morning. There was a sudden gust of wind, followed by the sounds of shouting, horses galloping, and the clash of swords. Both witnesses were scared by their encounter.

Enchanted Island

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

Vanishing Cottage

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Islington area?
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s or 1960s
Further Comments: An OS surveyor working on the moor spotted a cottage with smoke rising from the chimney. When he went to investigate, no sign of the building could be found, although he did meet another person who had also spotted the cottage but was unable to find it.

Drumming and Shouts

Location: Ditchling (Sussex) - Clayton Hill (aka Tank Tracks)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 07 March 2015, 07:00h
Further Comments: A dog walker in the area reported hearing drumming and shouting men. The sounds continued for 15 - 20 minutes before fading, and nothing out of the ordinary could be seen. The witness said it was like being on the set of a movie where an army were about to charge into battle.

House Party

Location: Downend (Isle of Wight) - Area near Knighton Gorges
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December knight seen (reoccurring), house reported in the twentieth century
Further Comments: A manor house has been seen in the area, a party in full flow visible through its windows. However, the house was demolished many years previous. Even when not seen, locals have reported hearing music coming from the site. A large black knight on horseback is still occasionally seen, once a year.

Vanishing Island

Location: Downpatrick Head (County Mayo) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mysterious appearing and vanishing enchanted island briefly became visible here.

Aircraft of the Future

Location: Drem (Lothian) - Drem Airfield
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: A lost pilot recalled flying over disused airfield in the 1930s and saw it operational, with yellow RAF aircraft on the ground - these did not exist at the time. He later checked and found the airfield really was unused. A few years later, the airfield was reopened for training purposes, and aircraft based there painted yellow.

Fighting Armies

Location: East Lulworth (Dorset) - Flower's Barrow and Grange Hill
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: December, during wartime
Further Comments: The ghostly figures found here when Britain is at war generate screams, horses and the clashing of swords as they move over the hills overlooking the coast. The apparitions are said to have last appeared during the Second World War.

Vanishing Island

Location: Enniscrone (aka Inniscrone, aka Inishcrone) (County Sligo) - Off coast
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid nineteenth century
Further Comments: Many of the townsfolk were said to have spotted an island which appeared and disappeared off the coast.

Flashback

Location: Glasgow (Lanarkshire) - High Street, just after The Royal Infirmary and to the Tolbooth Clock
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996-1997
Further Comments: On three occasions between 1996 and 1997, a witness (and on one occasion, their friend) looked out the window of their flat and watched the street below fill Victorian figures, including ladies with long dresses, workmen carrying hods and horses and carriages. Each time the scene lasted for around ten minutes.

Civil War Skirmish

Location: Grafton Regis (Northamptonshire) - Exact location not known
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 December 1943
Further Comments: Six workers claimed they heard charging horses, the clash of swords, and gunfire, though could see nothing strange. A local historian said that a small fight had happened nearby, between Roundheads and Cavaliers.

Disappearing Shop

Location: Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) - Exact location not known
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: A coin collector in Yarmouth reported visiting a shop to buy envelopes for his collection. He thought the shop looked old fashioned, as did the lady who served him, but thought no more of it until he returned a week later - and found the place had gone.

Georgian House

Location: Hadleigh (Essex) - Wood between Leigh-on-Sea and Hadleigh
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1946
Further Comments: While walking a familiar path, a brother and sister spotted a strange Georgian house that they had never seen before. A girl and a dog walked down the driveway and passed the siblings. Neither brother nor sister were later unable to locate the house, even on old maps. M H Coleman, writing in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (vol 63, no 853) offered compelling evidence that the house is real, and the witnesses were mistaken in their belief that what they had seen was ghostly.

Radley

Location: Halam (Nottinghamshire) - Valley southeast of village
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The buried village of Radley is hidden somewhere in this area, and long vanished church bells can be heard on Christmas Eve.

Edwardian Dance

Location: Hare Hatch (Berkshire) - Unnamed Georgian House
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman staying at in a spare room on the ground floor walked into the room and found herself looking upon a dinner party, the attendees wearing Edwardian attire. The diners looked at the woman in surprise, and then vanished. She was later told that the spare room was once part of the dining room. A phantom man in riding gear has also been observe din the same room.


Hastings Castle (public domain).

Old New Castle

Location: Hastings (Sussex) - Hastings Castle
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An image of Hastings Castle has been reportedly seen floating over the sea, flags flying and in the condition that one would imagine it to be in several hundred years ago.

Crowd with Torches

Location: Havenstreet (Isle of Wight) - Road leading to village, and area near Hare & Hounds Inn
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 4 January 1969
Further Comments: A couple out in their car found themselves surrounded by hundreds of people running across nearby fields holding burning touches. As they drove to the nearby village, one of the figures stepped out in the road and passed straight through their car.

Cottage

Location: Haytor (Devon) - Woods near the village
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to come and go irregularly, the cottage matches none that can be remembered or placed in the area.

Burning Windows

Location: Inchiquin (County Clare) - Inchiquin castle
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The windows of this ruined castle were said to glow with blue fire when observed from a distance - when approached, the illusion would vanish.

Records 26 - 50 of 104

Quick Links
Contribute
Contribute to the Paranormal Database

Reports: Type
Reports: Type

Reports: Places
View Reports: Places

Reports: People
View Reports: People

Calendar
View the Paranormal Database Calendar