The Paranormal Database

Sometimes Headless Man

Location: Ellesmere (Shropshire) - Unidentified house at Hampton Wood, and road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After a series of murders occurred at the house, the area became haunted by a man who could apparently choose whether to have a head or not. On one occasion the ghost manifested on a horse which was being ridden through the area. A minister banished the ghost after a three-day battle, forcing it into a glass bottle which was placed inside three iron chests and buried under a barn, to remain for 99 years.

Alice Lisle

Location: Ellingham (Hampshire) - Moyles Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: For assisting two fugitives, Alice Lisle was hanged in 1685 - though her defence argued that Alice did what any good Christian would do. The rustling of Alice's silken dress and footfalls could be heard echoing down the corridors for many years after her death. Alice also haunted the road outside the hall, appearing in a coach pulled by headless horses.

Headless Horseman

Location: Elsing (Norfolk) - Belaugh Wall, between Elsing and Bawdswell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight, though date(s) not known
Further Comments: This decapitated phantom on his steed is said to ride along the wall before leaping over the stonework on the stroke of midnight.

Jeffrey

Location: Epworth (Lincolnshire) - Epworth Rectory
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: December 1716 - January 1717
Further Comments: This building experienced phantom groaning, knocking, and invisible hands that pushed people around. Unlike most poltergeist cases, the entity also manifested in the form of a white figure and a headless badger. The presence left without warning.

Headless Monk

Location: Erith (Kent) - Lesnes Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (reoccurring), last seen 1981?
Further Comments: The monk was caught with a woman and killed for his crime. The entity now returns once a year. He may have last been seen in 1981 by a teenager who would search the woods near the abbey for old pots and pipes. After returning home one night from the woods, the teenager reportedly spotted a monk in a brown robe holding a lantern on a hooked pole outside his window. The abbey is also home to phantom horsemen, and Roesia of Dover who is looking for her heart (it was buried here by her father).

Fontelautus

Location: Exmouth (Devon) - Belmont House (no longer present), Bicton Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1820
Further Comments: Two weeks prior to the death of Fontelautus, the two year old son of the Rev Jonas, the cook claimed to have observed a headless child drift through the kitchen before vanishing. After Fontelautus died, his nurse, sister, and others heard his calls emerging from the nursery. Such was the alarm, Fontelautus's grave was dug up to check that the boy was really dead.

Hamilton Pye

Location: Faringdon (Berkshire) - All Saint's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: Pye lost his head in a naval battle before being buried here - his shade has been seen both in the church and churchyard cradling the missing object. Another version of the tale claims the headless entity is one of the Unton family who lost his head during the Civil War.

Sir Robert Pye

Location: Faringdon (Wiltshire) - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Headless, the spirit of Pye moves around the north side of the churchyard.

Headless Horseman

Location: Farley (Staffordshire) - Road between Farley and Alton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Riding a white horse and donned in a full suit of armour, his knight can also be recognised by his lack of head.

Diana

Location: Faversham (Kent) - Diana's Walk, Bysing Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area between Davington and Syndale Manor (now the site of the Judd's Folly Hotel) is reputedly haunted by the headless ghost of Diana, a young girl attacked while courting.

A headless ghost.

Headless Woman and Friends

Location: Fimber (North Yorkshire) - Site once known as Fimber Cross Road, where railway station once stood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely to be pre twentieth century
Further Comments: Locals once believed this area to be haunted by a headless woman, a woman on horseback and a couple of cats (one black, the other white).

Five Floating Heads

Location: Forres (Moray) - Dunphail Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These heads belong to a small party who tried to break in and feed the starving besieged defenders of the castle; they were discovered and decapitated by their enemies.

General Mischief

Location: Foyers (Highland) - Boleskin (or Boleskine) House, destroyed by arson attacks in 2019
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid / late twentieth century
Further Comments: One time home of Aleister Crowley, his immoral influence is said to continue to lurk here, taking the form of flashing lights, shattering windows and a moving chair. It was also reported that a decapitated head could be heard rolling down a set of stairs.

Tail End Charlie

Location: Fradley (Staffordshire) - Former RAF Lichfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The headless rear gunner that haunts this area accidently walked into the propellers of a Lancaster.

Headless Lady

Location: Freckleton (Lancashire) - Road leading to Kirkham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered along the road, this decapitated woman drifts along the area where she died.

Phantom Coach

Location: Geldeston (Norfolk) - Road to Bungay from Geldeston
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A coach drawn by four horses and driven by a headless coachman is supposed to travel from Bungay to Geldeston before returning to its departure point.

Screaming Children

Location: Glasgow (Lanarkshire) - Museum of Transport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: A museum security guard reported encountering several spooky occurrences during his time working here, including the screams of children, balls of blue light and sightings of a headless woman.

Alexander MacAllister

Location: Glenlivet (Moray) - Altnachoylachan Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 03 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The site of a battle in 1594 between the troops of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly and Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, is haunted by the headless ghost of MacAllister riding on horseback - he fought briefly, although was decapitated by the first cannon shot.

Headless Coachman

Location: Grafty Green (Kent) - Road past King's Head public house and old rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A driver lost control of his coach and crashed into a large tree near the old rectory, killing all the passengers. The coachman lost his head in the accident. Legends say the scene repeats itself, though now it tends to be heard and not seen. A twist to this tale is that the ghost of 'Dover Bill', a local smuggler who turned King's Evidence, was said to have appeared and caused the accident in the first place.

Captain Blundell

Location: Granard (County Longford) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century onwards
Further Comments: Blundell, a British officer, rides decapitated upon horseback in this area. His headless body was found in a nearby barracks, and an investigation ruled that the officer had killed himself. Some people thought this to be unlikely and believed his ghost had returned to prove that a murder had really occurred.

Handsome Jack

Location: Grangemellon (County Kildare) - Grangemellon Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Colonel John St Leger, aka Handsome Jack once owned this castle while a member of the Hellfire Club. After his sudden death in Madras, he returned to the area, in a coach and four, driven by a headless horseman.

Headless Bearers

Location: Great Holland (Essex) - Field along Park Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At least one witness has reported seeing six headless men carrying a coffin across the field.

Twelve Headless Men

Location: Great Longstone (Derbyshire) - Shady Lane, between Great Longstone and Ashford in the Water
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The lane is haunted by twelve headless men carrying an empty coffin - it is said that the coffin is for whomever meets the ghostly entourage.

Four Headless Bridesmaids in a Coach

Location: Great Melton (Norfolk) - Old Norwich Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but one version of the story says every midnight and midday
Further Comments: Bringing misfortune to all those who witness the spectacle, the headless bridesmaids are said to have been murdered by a highwayman who pushed the coach into a pond (or bottomless pit) to hide his crime. Another slight variation of this story states that if you see the coach, and the bridesmaids have heads, all is well. If they are headless, then it's time to panic.

Old Ned

Location: Grindleford (Derbyshire) - Stoke Hall (currently a hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Headless woman 1880s, other sightings not known.
Further Comments: Ned hanged himself in a barn close to the hall, though he first tried to tie the rope around the branches of several nearby trees which all broke under his weight. His shade can be seen running around the trees, repeating the search for a suitable hanging location. Author Wayne Anthony says that the hall itself is reputedly haunted by Fair Flora, murdered nearby by persons unknown, and a headless lass who was seen walking down the stairs in the 1880s.