The Paranormal Database

The Walls, Mistley.

Hearse driven by Headless Driver

Location: Mistley (Essex) - The Walls
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A coach driven by a decapitated coachman is rumoured to pass along The Walls at Mistley, carrying the body of an unknown man.

Headless Figure

Location: Morar (Highland) - Rocky mound (known as cnoc mor creige?) on the coast between North and South Morar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly headless figure which would kill people who crossed the area after dark. A man by the name of Macdonall banished the entity after it killed his son (although the entity threatened to return once Macdonall's descendants had left the area).

Steel Worker

Location: Motherwell (Lanarkshire) - Ravenscraig Steel Works (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure, thought to have been decapitated in a mining accident, was seen several times near a furnace.

Sister Ida

Location: Moulton (Cheshire) - Vale Royal Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sister Ida's shade was thought to come back to bring attention to the suspicious death of the abbess. An unnamed road leading to the abbey is haunted by a decapitated head that rolls on the floor - this belonged to a monk murdered while taking a message to the building.

Headless Lady

Location: Mount Bures (Essex) - Bridge Street, the bridge over Craig's Brook
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight, reoccurring
Further Comments: Holding her head under one arm, the spirit has no known history.

Mary Way

Location: Much Wenlock (Shropshire) - Crossroads two miles southeast of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: This crossroads was said to be haunted by the ghost of Mary Way, murdered on the site. The phantom is reputedly headless and wears a shimmering white dress. A murderer was also said to be buried at the crossroads, although it is not clear whether it was Mary's killer.

An old photograph of Muncaster Castle.

Headless Carpenter

Location: Muncaster (Cumbria) - Muncaster Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered by a jester on the orders of the then owner Sir Ferdinard Pennington, the carpenter (who made the mistake of falling in love with Sir Ferdinard's daughter) was beheaded in the garden, where he now haunts. The jester has also been reported on the site, holding a severed head. The ghost of King Henry is another reported to haunt the castle, hiding from those who took him to London to be murdered, and finally the shade of Mary Bragg, hanged by the front gate as a joke turned tragedy, manifests as a white woman.

Jinny

Location: Newchurch in Pendle (Lancashire) - Jinny Lane and nearby Jinny Well
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The headless ghost of Jinny (or Jennet) haunted the lane which took her name.

Flying Horse

Location: Newquay (Cornwall) - Barrowfields
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This barrow is home to a headless horseman who travels several metres above the ground.

Aggie McGee

Location: Newtongrange (Lothian) - Scottish Mining Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a coal sorter has been named as Aggie McGee, while other ghost stories include a headless miner and screams of those who died in the pits.

A painting of Lady Jane Grey.

Lady Jane Grey

Location: Newtown Linford (Leicestershire) - Bradgate Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: Raised here as a child, Lady Jane's tormented shade now haunts both the mansion and the grounds surrounding the building. One ghost story says that she arrives in a coach pulled by four black headless horses at the ruins of Bradgate on Christmas Eve.

White Figure

Location: Newtyle (Angus) - Bulb Farm (no longer standing, replaced by housing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 June (reoccurring), or thereabouts, after sunset
Further Comments: A white figure, thought to be decapitated, was said to move slowly around the area, as if looking for its missing body part. Groaning is also heard in the area.

Headless Torso

Location: Ninfield (Sussex) - Churchyard & area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A disagreement between two brothers ended abruptly when one decapitated the other with a scythe in the churchyard here - the headless brother has been known to make comeback appearances.

Screeching Ploughboy, Killed by Master

Location: North Benfleet (Essex) - North side of A13 near Fanton Hall, Screeching Boy's Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1734 onwards
Further Comments: The woodland takes its name from the headless ploughboy murdered by his master. The ghost was occasionally seen and heard around the location, although some say the phantom's screams stopped after the farmer confessed to the crime many years after the event. Another version of the story states the ploughboy was not murdered at all but rather knocked down by a horse-drawn carriage.

Headless Man

Location: North Frodingham (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Road between village and Foston on the Wolds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possibly nineteenth century
Further Comments: A headless man who walks this area is said to have only been seen the once, many years ago.

Headless Woman

Location: Northfleet (Kent) - 16 Waterdales
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Two ghosts haunted this council house (the headless woman, and a younger blonde haired girl), forcing the occupants to leave. Two journalists who spent a night in the house reported their room becoming icy cold, and the sounds of creaks and of something sliding along the floors.

Flying Coach

Location: Norwich (Norfolk) - Pockthorpe area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early eighteenth century
Further Comments: A team of headless horses driven by a headless coachman would be seen flying over the rooftops in this area of the city.

Coach

Location: Oakley Down (Dorset) - Area near the barrow
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1940
Further Comments: A coach pulled by two headless horses was spotted by a boy transporting wheat during the early hours of the morning.

Headless Driver

Location: Oare (Wiltshire) - A345 heading towards Marlborough
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A coach and four driven by a headless figure is said to travel along this road.

The ghost of Birchen Bower.

Madame Hannah Beswick

Location: Oldham (Greater Manchester) - Birchen Bower (building no longer stands, but replaced by Ferranti Works), Bower Lane, Hollinwood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: clear nights. Last seen 1950s
Further Comments: Though the building no longer stands, the ghost of Beswick was also said to haunt her former lands, watching over the gold that she had buried to protect it from thieves and soldiers. The shade reportedly stands tall, wearing a black silk dress and frilly cap, although sometimes she was headless. According to legend, her presence grows stronger every seventh anniversary of her death (in 1758), and she was also seen on clear nights. During the 1950s it was claimed that 35 Ferranti workers had seen her on different occasions.

The Passenger

Location: Olney (Buckinghamshire) - Whirley Pit (pond)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pond is said to be bottomless; occasionally a phantom coach pulled by headless horses led by a decapitated driver passes through the village and dives into the pool, their passenger none other than the Devil on his way home.

Headless Horseman

Location: Onecote (Staffordshire) - Road from Leek to Onecote, and Butterton Moor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless horseman is said to either be a murdered pedlar or a knight killed in combat with the Scots. Either way, the figure is said to be unlucky (with witnesses either dying or losing livestock) and an exorcism once performed on the phantom horseman by seven preachers failed.

Silent Woman

Location: Other London (Greater London) - Railway line between London & Carlisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Dressed in black and wearing a veil, this figure has been seen sitting quietly and disappearing without warning. She is believed to be a bride whose new husband had stuck his head out of a window and was decapitated. Found holding his body once they reached London, totally insane, her spirit has been making the journey since.

The Ghosts' Promenade

Location: Outer London: East Barnet (Greater London) - Church Hill Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: So many phantom encounters along this road led to a Justice of the Peace to name it 'The Ghosts' Promenade'. The ghosts were said to include headless humans and dogs, and phantoms in the trees.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Location: Outer London: Wallington (Greater London) - St Mary the Virgin churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Raleigh's headless body was returned to his wife's family in Beddington; his ghost said to walk along a path in the churchyard.