The Paranormal Database

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

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Phantom Horses & Riders from across the Isles

Prince Rupert's Horse

Location: Kineton (Warwickshire) - Marlborough Farm Camp (Second World War PoW camp, exact location not known), and Graveyard Spinney
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1953?
Further Comments: Two sentries reported seeing something white, resembling a horse, jump a hedge and disappear close to their camp. A police officer who patrolled the area encountered the ghost so frequently that he ignored the entity. Local folklore claimed a phantom horse foaming at the mouth, thought to have belonged to Prince Rupert, haunted the area.

Squire Surtees

Location: Kingston St Mary (Somerset) - Tainfield House (no longer a single house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 05 January (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Riding a mottled grey horse, the squire rides circles on the driveway, rattling a handful of chains.

Sir George Blount

Location: Kinlet (Shropshire) - Area around village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1500s / 1600s?
Further Comments: Angered to such a degree by his daughter eloping with a man he hated, Sir George Blount gained his revenge by coming back from the dead and terrorising this village. He was seen on horseback and would scare locals washing their clothes in a long gone pond. A group of clergymen finally bottled the ghost and cast it into the sea (or buried it in the local churchyard).

Horses

Location: Kinlochbervie (Highland) - Sandwood Loch Cottage (now ruined)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to falling into disarray
Further Comments: Tourists staying in this cottage were said to have been awaken as the building shook due to a stampede of phantom horses. Footsteps have also been heard outside, and the face of a quickly vanishing sailor observed looking in through windows.

Grey Horses

Location: Kirkby (Nottinghamshire) - The Dumbles
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 1984
Further Comments: A man walking his dog reported seeing a grey coach being pulled by two grey horses. Two grey men sat driving the ghostly vehicle.

Copeman

Location: Kirton in Lindsey (Lincolnshire) - Road between Kirton and Grayingham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A man named Copeman murdered along the road may still haunt the area on horseback. Two men cycling back from Kirton spotted the ghostly horseman.

Edward Higgins

Location: Knutsford (Cheshire) - Royal George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former robber and burglar, Higgins was caught, killed, and now haunts the hotel where he made his base of operations. A phantom coach has been seen and heard moving over cobbles outside the building.

Horse & Cart

Location: Ladybower Reservoir (Derbyshire) - A6013
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century?
Further Comments: A motorcyclist encountered a horse pulling a cart with a high back and sides, being led by a man holding a large whip. As the cyclist slowed to overtake the cart, he was momentarily blinded by an approaching car. When his vision had returned to normal after a few seconds, the cart had vanished.


An old postcard of Lake Windermere in Cumbria.

White Horse

Location: Lake Windermere (Cumbria) - General area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A legend says that when evil or misfortune is en route to villages alongside the lake, a white horse appears and crosses the water.

Glowing Horseman

Location: Lamarsh (Essex) - Road between Lamarsh Hills and Bures St Mary
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1800s
Further Comments: Terrorising all who travelled the road between dusk and dawn, it took the combined efforts of all the local priests and their staff to exorcise this ghost.

Horse & Rider

Location: Langford Budville (Somerset) - Area near the army base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A horse and rider were killed by the Wild Hunt when they failed to hide themselves in time from the rabid hounds of hell. Their souls remain trapped in the area.

Raided Building

Location: Langley Park (Durham) - Langley Hall (ruins)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Over the past two hundred years, there have been several reports of this building seen to be on fire with soldiers running around its base - the vision vanishes if investigated. Another tale of the area tells of a headless coachman who drives a phantom coach.

Funeral Coach

Location: Lanreath (Cornwall) - General area (Blackadown Moor?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1750s
Further Comments: A funeral coach pulled by headless horses reputedly terrified people in the area. The locals summoned Rev Richard Dodge to banish the entity. Searching for the apparition, he found the coach parked on the moor, a phantom coachman standing beside it, and by the phantom's feet, the local vicar lay unconscious. Dodge said a prayer, the coachman fled in his vehicle and the vicar recovered (after a few days in bed). The coach never returned to Lanreath.

Charging Horses

Location: Lansdown (Somerset) - Battlefields House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Civil War battle site, the sounds of horses have been reported charging around the vicinity, though the creatures cannot be seen. Old fashioned figures, two women and a man, are also said to haunt the area.

St Thomas of Canterbury

Location: Lapford (Devon) - Road through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The ghost of Thomas Beckett appears on the anniversary of his death, passing through the village on horseback.

Coach

Location: Leafield (Oxfordshire) - Road to Kingstanding
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two women returning home to Kingstanding heard the approach of a fast moving horse-drawn coach behind them so climbed up a bank to let the vehicle pass. The coach, too wide for the road on which it travelled, passed at speed and left the road, falling into a ditch. The coach then promptly vanished.

Headless Coachman

Location: Leam (Derbyshire) - Leam Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A groom and his assistant heard galloping approaching Leam Hall. Expecting the lord and lady of the hall, the pair stood outside awaiting the coach. However, instead of the master's coach, the approaching vehicle was of a 'strange design' and was driven by a headless man. The phantom coach was driven straight past the witnesses and vanished into a closed gate.

Carriage

Location: Leeds (West Yorkshire) - Potternewton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Not reported for years, the ghostly carriage was supposed to be pulled by a team of four horses.

Coach

Location: Leek (Staffordshire) - Ashbourne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach can be heard travelling the area.

Headless Women

Location: Leigh (Dorset) - Pool in the area, exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Having drowned in the pool when their horse and coach fell in, these four headless women (still in their coach) rise from the water at midnight and travel around the area.

Old Coles

Location: Leigh (Hereford & Worcester) - Road passing through village, leading to river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 November, St Catherine's Eve (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Long since exorcised, the phantom of Old Coles would drive his coach through the village and use the local river to cool his horses.

Danes

Location: Leith Hill (Surrey) - Area around Anstiebury hillfort
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The site of a battle where the Saxons engaged the Danes is said to be haunted by matching soldiers from both camps.

Coach

Location: Lelant (Cornwall) - Lane off the road between village and Chy-An-Gweal (Carbis Bay)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom coach was driven along the dark lane by a ghostly woman.

Dench Family Coach

Location: Lenchwick (Hereford & Worcester) - Road between Lenchwick and Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Belonging to the Dench family, a phantom coach is said to run along this stretch of road.

Coach

Location: Letton (Norfolk) - Road through village (now the road between Letton hall and Cranworth, the Shipdham Road)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1830s
Further Comments: A female witness recalled seeing a phantom coach being pulled by invisible horses along this road, so bright it lit the night up as if day.

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