The Paranormal Database

Phantom highwayman.

Cooper

Location: Lacey Green (Buckinghamshire) - Coopers Grave (area of road), two stones at the junction of a bridleway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cooper was a highwayman who, so successful at robbing the rich, died a wealthy man. Cooper was buried with his treasure along the road he committed many of his crimes, and the place post-mortem he continues to dwell.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2012-03-04   Last updated: 2012-03-04   ID: #10754

Hoggett

Location: Langton (North Yorkshire) - Hoggett's Hole, River Swale
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A highwayman during his life, Hoggett drowned in this pool while running from the law. It is now said that his ghost ensures no one ever swims in it without drowning.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2002-06-27   Last updated: 2002-06-27   ID: #1507

White Hart Hotel, Lincoln.

Suicide

Location: Lincoln (Lincolnshire) - White Hart Hotel, Bailgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Several spooky phenomena have been reported here, including a floating ball of light, a girl in a mop cap, the sound of a gunshot, a faceless highwayman, and food that would jump off a plate in the restaurant. A young man who took his life in the building is blamed for most of the occurrences.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-10-21   Last updated: 2002-10-21   ID: #2779

Highwayman Jacques

Location: Liphook (Hampshire) - Royal Anchor Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This robber was shot by lawmen in room six, and his spirit is said to remain. It is also thought that he can be heard travelling along the roads in the village.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-28   Last updated: 2002-10-28   ID: #2898

Highwayman

Location: Little Abington (Cambridgeshire) - The Old Cottage and nearby bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to appear around dusk
Further Comments: A figure dressed as a highwayman has been observed in the garden of the building and crossing an old bridge.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2002-05-05   Last updated: 2002-05-05   ID: #667

Highwayman

Location: Little Marlow (Buckinghamshire) - Crooked Billet public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom highwayman reputedly haunting this pub was hanged from a nearby tree.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2016-05-20   Last updated: 2016-05-20   ID: #12174

Dick Turpin Followed by a Ghost

Location: Loughton (Essex) - Traps Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Three times a year (exact dates not known)
Further Comments: Turpin's ghost is said to ride down this hill, with a ghost of an old woman hanging onto his back. In life, Turpin tortured her until the woman told him where she had hidden her money. As punishment, Turpin's ghost is tortured by his victim.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2001-09-08   Last updated: 2026-05-16   ID: #374

Highwayman

Location: Lugwardine (Herefordshire) - Road between Lugwardine and Bartestree
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1985
Further Comments: Three witnesses were said to have encountered a ghostly highwayman here.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2020-12-23   Last updated: 2020-12-23   ID: #14020

Frozen Nick

Location: Lydmarsh (Somerset) - Windwhistle Hills
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area is said to become so cold at night that the Devil died of exposure and is buried under a hill. Phantom highwaymen are also said to ride around the countryside.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2009-04-13   Last updated: 2009-04-13   ID: #9220

Gilbert

Location: Marden (Kent) - Road to Hawkhurst
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (recurring)
Further Comments: Gilbert, an eighteenth century highwayman who tried to rob a coach, was stabbed to death by one of the occupants after she recognised him as having killed her brother. The killing drove the woman mad. The scene was said to silently re-enact every Christmas Eve.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2008-08-25   Last updated: 2008-08-25   ID: #8777

Catherine Ferrers

Location: Markyate Cell (Hertfordshire) - Area around the priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen riding her horse topless, and swinging around tree branches without a stitch on, the ghost of the highwaywoman Ferrers continues to create the same amount of havoc that she did whilst living.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-25   Last updated: 2002-06-25   ID: #1485

Rider

Location: Marlborough (Wiltshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a highwayman is said to ride through the area and is more likely to be heard than seen. The highwayman is said to follow the route of a road that no longer exists.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2009-06-07   Last updated: 2009-06-07   ID: #9413

Hooves

Location: Millbrook (Bedfordshire) - Sandhill Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of hooves heard passing this way are thought to belong to the horse of highwayman Galloping Dick, who lived locally.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-08-26   Last updated: 2007-08-26   ID: #7821

Headless Horseman

Location: Millbrook (Bedfordshire) - Station Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom rider is named as local highwayman Galloping Dick.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-08-26   Last updated: 2007-08-26   ID: #7824

The highwayman Dick Turpin, on horseback, arrives at a tree from which two bodies have been hanged. Lithograph by W. Clerk, circa 1839.

Black Bess

Location: Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) - Woughton on the Green, general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former hideout of the highwayman Dick Turpin, both he and his dark horse were once seen in the area - even after his death.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2003-05-03   Last updated: 2003-05-03   ID: #4212

Maxi Major

Location: Moretonhampstead (Devon) - Hunter's Hill?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The highwayman Maxi Major is said to have been buried at Hunter's Hill - he can sometimes still be heard in the area.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2007-06-16   Last updated: 2007-06-16   ID: #7608

Highwayman

Location: Moulton St Mary (Norfolk) - Callow (or Caller) Pit
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom highwayman would ride around this pit before heading towards Callow Spong (where he would vanish). The pit itself was said to be the home of the Devil, who dragged one man down into its waters after he tried to fish out a chest of coins.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2006-02-19   Last updated: 2006-02-19   ID: #6701

Wild Humphrey

Location: Nesscliffe (Shropshire) - Kynaston's Cave
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Circa 1500
Further Comments: Wild Humphrey Kynaston, local highwayman and friend to the poor, used this cave as a hideout. His horse could make jumps so daring the creature was said to either be the Devil himself, or alternatively, the Devil had helped the horse.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2020-04-27   Last updated: 2020-04-27   ID: #13709

Humphrey Kynaston

Location: Nesscliffe (Shropshire) - Old Three Pigeons public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wild Humphrey Kynaston, a local highwayman who robbed the rich to give to the poor, is said to haunt the building where his chair remains.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2017-05-11   Last updated: 2017-05-11   ID: #12458

Highwayman

Location: Newton Ferrers (Devon) - Guernsey Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly highwayman in a tricorn hat haunts this lane, possibly a robber hanged from a tree in a nearby field.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2024-05-25   Last updated: 2024-05-25   ID: #15404

Highwayman

Location: Norwich (Norfolk) - Coachmaker's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This phantom figure (who looks like Dick Turpin) stands at the end of the bar and has been mistaken for a paying customer. A ghostly woman in black reportedly walks down the staircase, while bottles and glasses fall from the shelves without just cause.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2005-07-12   Last updated: 2005-07-12   ID: #6396

Landlord

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Salutation Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Unable to handle the high pressure role of running the pub, this man took his own life - the shade remains in the building. A highwayman is also suspected of haunting the inn. The caves under the pub are said to be haunted by a young child, a four year old girl.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-03-12   Last updated: 2003-03-12   ID: #3963

Highwayman

Location: Nuneaton (Warwickshire) - A5 between town and Hinckley (Watling Street)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1926 (wearing jacket), February 1927 (riding horseback), 1979 (shimmering shape)
Further Comments: One version of this tale says that, wearing a jacket with sleeves of bright crimson, a phantom highwayman lurks along the roadside with a tricorn hat hiding the face. Another version names him as Dick Turpin and when last seen, the phantom rode his horse across common land. It may have been the same entity seen in 1979, reduced to a shimmering shape which swirled like water. The witness to this event had an accident close to the spot later in the day.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2003-08-24   Last updated: 2003-08-24   ID: #4487

Turpin

Location: NW3 (Greater London) - Hampstead Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Sighting of ghosts unknown, cryptid in 2005
Further Comments: Thought to be none other than Dick Turpin, this ghostly robber rides around the heath after dusk on his jet black horse. Another ghost on the common land is that of a nineteenth century Member of Parliament who swallowed poison nearby; his shade can be identified by its top hat. A third ghost was spotted by two boys out playing on the heath, who reported watching an old man silently digging a hole. When they returned to the spot the following day, the ground was undisturbed. In 2005 a man encountered a large, winged creature which tore off the tops of trees as it passed overhead.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2002-08-23   Last updated: 2020-09-30   ID: #2261

An old illustration of Dick Turpin on horseback.

Turpin

Location: Outer London: Barnet (Greater London) - Finchley Common (no longer exists, now suburbs)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The common was said to be one of the homes to the ghostly form of Dick Turpin.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2020-04-22   Last updated: 2020-04-22   ID: #13690