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Phantom Horses & Riders from across the Isles


A female ghost was spotted here in the 1960s.

Box Carriage

Location: A31 (Surrey) - Hogs Back, Guildford bound. 1 mile Northeast of Tongham junction
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 08 January 2007, 22:40h, and 1960s (around 03:00h)
Further Comments: Travelling home in 2007, a driver watched a horse drawn box carriage cross the road around 100 metres in front of him. The witness reported that he could not make out too many details as it was raining hard, though he was able to see a dim lantern towards the front of the carriage. As the driver reached the spot where he had seen the vehicle pass, he realised there was no side road where the coach and horses could have crossed. Another witness in the 1960s spotted a female figure with long hair, wearing a white dress, standing by the roadside. The witness stopped to see if she was lost or needed a lift, but she had vanished. Mentioning the encounter to a work colleague the following day, the colleague described the figure which was encountered and said the area was haunted.

Cloaked Gentleman

Location: Aberystwyth (Dyfed) - Nanteos House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: One of several ghosts reported to haunt the house, the cloaked figure disrupted a video unit sent to shoot several TV scenes here to such an extent, the crew refused to work after dark. The other ghosts comprise of a phantom horseman and two spectral women, one of whom appears before a death. The building is also thought to have once contained part of the Holy Grail.


A phantom coach and horses.

Coach with Headless Driver

Location: Abington (Northamptonshire) - Pig Lane (lane may no longer exist or has been renamed?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Racked with guilt after deliberately running over his daughter's lover in 1780, this man now continues to drive his coach and horses down the lane, though he has lost his head since death.

Middle Aged Man

Location: Acle (Norfolk) - Heading west into Acle from Halvergate turnoff
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 March 2009
Further Comments: Passing the turn off to Halvergate towards Acle, a driver watched as a middle aged man walked out into the middle of the road (from the right hand side) in the path of their car. The figure turned to look at the driver, and the car passed straight through him. The area is traditionally known to be haunted by a horse and cart.

Phantom Coach

Location: Acton (Suffolk) - Acton Park, The 'Nursery Corner'
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown date, but appears at midnight
Further Comments: Midnight, at an unspecified date, and the park gates are said to burst open, letting in a ghostly carriage pulled by four horses which race to the area known as the Nursery Corner. Local legend states it is here that once a vicious battle took place between Romans and Britons.

Pony

Location: Aldbourne (Wiltshire) - Road leading to the village from Braydon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A white pony silently galloped past two men as they returned to the village. It has been speculated that the pony was King Arthur's mount Sigral (ridden at the Battle of Baydon) or belonging to a local man who committed suicide.

Coach

Location: Aldsworth (Gloucestershire) - Larkethill Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Possibly the same entity that haunts the park, a coach and team of horses are said to erratically travel along the road which skirts the woodland.

Crump

Location: Aldsworth (Gloucestershire) - Lodge park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir John Dutton, nicknamed Crump because of his hunched back, is said to drive a phantom coach and horses under the gates to the park. A white stag may also haunt the parkland.

Mr Rimmington

Location: Almondbury (Yorkshire) - Woodsome Hall golf course
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Rimmington reportedly takes several forms, including a man on horseback accompanied by two hounds, and the slightly less intimidating form of a robin.


A strange-looking coach with horses sinking into water.

Sinking Coach

Location: Antrim (County Antrim) - Antrim Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A coach pulled by a team of four horses which sunk into the pond drowning all on board is seen repeating the tragic accident once a year. In addition, a stone wolfhound which stands by the gateway is said to have once been flesh and blood - the dog gave a warning to an advancing sneak attack upon the castle before turning into rock. It now safeguards the Clotworthy family name on the condition it is never removed. Finally, the sound of heavy breathing can be heard coming from the ruined building.

Stable Lad

Location: Arbigland (Dumfries and Galloway) - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered to prevent the continuation of an affair of the heart, this young stablehand was then buried at a crossroads to conceal the crime. His ghost is reported to still travel around on horseback.

Richard Costen

Location: Ardmore (County Waterford) - Ardogina House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Richard died trying to escape from the law for a crime he did not commit. He can be heard screaming, choked to death on the reins of his horse. The spectral Jeremiah Coghlan reportedly rides on the back of a white horse - if seen, the viewer will die within a year. Finally, Sir Francis Prendergast, a psychotic murderer, stalks nearby woodland.

Michael

Location: Arreton (Isle of Wight) - Barrow known as Michael Morey's Hump
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Said to happen at midnight, last sighting unknown
Further Comments: Michael Morey murdered his grandson and, trying to hide the crime, set fire to the body. Morey's deeds were soon discovered, and his executed remains displayed on the gibbet that stood upon the barrow. At midnight, his ghost on horseback is said to ride three times around the barrow, crying out 'Michael Morey's Hump'.

Horseman

Location: Ascot (Berkshire) - Old road system (now changed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1967
Further Comments: No longer seen since extensive roadwork, a ghostly horseman once ran around the area.


Ghostly horse near a demolition site.

Pale Horse

Location: Ascot (Berkshire) - Royal Ascot Hotel (no longer standing - site now a roundabout along the Bracknell Road)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964
Further Comments: In the process of demolishing the hotel, workmen reported encountering a phantom pale horse and hearing disembodied footsteps walking along empty corridors.

Carriage

Location: Ascot (Berkshire) - Woodlands Ride, heading into the forest
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa late twentieth century
Further Comments: A mother and daughter encountered a carriage being drawn by two white horses. A woman in a crinoline dress sat within the vehicle, while the driver wore an old fashioned cravat.


Phantom horses pass through a bedroom.

Night Coach

Location: Ash (Surrey) - Ash Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1938
Further Comments: The rector wrote that he had been awoken by the sounds of galloping and opened his eyes just in time to see a phantom coach and a team of horses pass through his bedroom. It was said that the phantom occurrence had also been experienced by previous rectors, and that the rectory was built on top of an old road.

Old Man in Green

Location: Ash Green (Surrey) - Ash Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: This figure that appeared in one of the bedrooms looked real, though when a witness tried to grab him, he passed through the figure. Described as short, and looking like a tramp, the ghost had what appeared to be a slashed throat. The nearby fields are haunted by the sounds of galloping horses.

Swimming Horseman

Location: Ashford (Kent) - Eastwell Park and Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 20 June - Horseman seen (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Riding towards the park house, this phantom horseman veers off at the last minute and enters the nearby lake. A white lady haunts the house itself, seen by porters on the night shift. In the seventeenth century, the Earl of Winchelsea cut down several oak trees, bestowing a curse on his family which took the life of his wife and son shortly after.

Lord Lonsdale

Location: Askham (Cumbria) - Area around St Peter's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Driving a phantom coach, the ghost of Lord Lonsdale passes through this location.

White Army

Location: Attercliffe (Yorkshire) - Near the river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1661
Further Comments: A local vicar, while sitting by the river, watched a line of white troops pass accompanied by white horses - he wrote that it took over an hour for the column to pass.

Headless Highwayman

Location: Atwick (Yorkshire) - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This decapitated spectral bandit remains lurking in the shadows of his old ambush area. One version of the story says he remains on his horse.

Rider

Location: Atworth (Wiltshire) - A365
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 1944
Further Comments: A driver was forced to brake hard when a horse and rider emerged from a hedge on one side of the road and crossed in front of him. The apparition then vanished into a wall on the opposite side of the road.

Burning Horse

Location: Aylesford (Kent) - Area around the White Horse Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A horse and rider, both bathed in flame, are said to haunt this area.


Thomas Boleyn, as pictured on his tomb.

Phantom Coach

Location: Aylsham (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

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