The Paranormal Database

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

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Phantom Horses & Riders from across the Isles

Danish Brothers

Location: Mersea Island (Essex) - Ray Island (restricted access)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Many moons ago, two Danish brothers fought to discover who should marry a beautiful Saxon girl. They managed to kill each other, and their ghosts continue to fight to this day. Other stories say the island is haunted by the sounds of a horse, the shouts of an abusive man who drowned chasing his wife and daughter, and a Roman centurion.

Red Stagecoach

Location: Mevagissey (Cornwall) - Road between Mevagissey and Truro
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A driver along this road closed his eyes and prepared for a crash when this eighteenth century coach driven by four horses appeared in front of him - but the accident never happened, as the coach vanished into thin air. The witness later said he had also seen the driver and a guard on the coach.

Invisible Carriage

Location: Michelmersh (Hampshire) - Between Manor Farm & Dower House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard but not seen, a horse drawn carriage moves between these two buildings, driven by Lord Ogle.

Gentle Music

Location: Middleham (North Yorkshire) - Middleham Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Three children reported hearing a battle coming from outside the castle and seeing a knight on horseback who charged at them. Inside the castle, muffled sixteenth century music has been heard, while there are persistent rumours of buried treasure somewhere in the grounds (which can only be found after running nonstop around the fort nine time and quickly entering the mysterious door which magically opens!).

Grey Horse

Location: Millbeck (Cumbria) - Stone water trough
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: Author Alasdair Alpin MacGregor reported encountering the phantom of a grey horse at an overgrown water trough near Kirkandrews upon Eden. MacGregor relayed his sighting to a local postmaster, who told him reports of the apparition were not uncommon.

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.

Heavy Horse

Location: Milton Ernest (Bedfordshire) - Field along Thurleigh Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, 23:30h
Further Comments: A hunter with a torch looking for rabbits heard and felt a heavy horse running toward and then past him, but nothing could be seen in any direction.


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.

Grey Lady

Location: Moneyrow Green (Berkshire) - White Hart public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom woman is sometimes seen along with her young child. The road outside the pub is haunted by a racehorse which occasionally gallops by, more often heard than seen.

Horse & Cart

Location: Mosbrough (South Yorkshire) - The Crofts public house, road leading to
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Patrons of this pub reported seeing a ghostly cart being pulled by a horse, in turn being led by a farmer. The apparition would disappear at a nearby pond.

Lucky Venture?

Location: Motherwell (Lanarkshire) - Trotting Stadium
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: The stadium was briefly haunted by a horse named Lucky Venture which died on the track. The animal's shade was exorcised by a couple of local university students.


Mutford Big Wood, Suffolk.

Faceless Woman in Carriage

Location: Mutford (Suffolk) - Mutford Big Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While moth spotting, a woman watched as three men on horseback pulled up beside her, escorting a coach. The witness reports seeing a woman inside, wearing a cloak, and with feathers in her hair, but her face consisted of smooth flesh - no eyes, nose or mouth were visible. After the witness screamed, the coach and horses rode off.


An old image of a witch being carried by winged figures.

Juan White

Location: Nantyglo (Gwent) - Milfraen Mountain
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 18 July 2004
Further Comments: A local witch, Juan White is thought to now haunt this location. She was seen in 2004 by a couple of people who also heard galloping horses just prior to their sighting, though they could not see any of the creatures.

Smith on Horseback

Location: Nether Lypiatt (estate) (Gloucestershire) - Nether Lypiatt Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 January (reoccurring)
Further Comments: An owner of a horse once hanged a blacksmith for failing to complete a piece of work within a tight time limit - the date of the death is marked by the appearance of a large white horse carrying the dead smith (or the phantom smith opening the gates, depending on the source). Another report says that the ghost of the smith does not actually appear but unlocks and opens the gates. A spirit in the house itself, that of a grey lady, has been seen several times, and there are unsubstantiated reports that it has been exorcised.

Phantom Horse and Rider

Location: Newmarket (Suffolk) - Hamilton Stud Lane, and Newmarket Racecourse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1887 onwards
Further Comments: Fred Archer, a famed jockey from the late nineteenth century, has been blamed for accidents on the Newmarket Course. He has also been seen riding on the back of his favourite mount along Hamilton Stud Lane and the heath.

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.


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.

Horses & Coach

Location: North Craven (North Yorkshire) - Road outside Brunton House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A team of four horses pulling a spectral coach reportedly passes the house.

Roundheads

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Belgrave Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At least one witness has reported seeing spectral Roundheads on horseback ride through this area.


Ghostly children in the woods.

Children

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Colwick Woods
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghosts of a white woman and of two children have been reported in this wooded area. While the woman in white has been named as Mary Chaworth Musters, the children are thought to have been murdered by their father William Saville, hanged for the crime in 1844. The sound of horses has also been reported.

Trotting

Location: NW1 (Greater London) - Camden Market (Stables Market section)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Traders have reported the sounds of horses trotting on the cobbles, and occasionally cries for help from long forgotten accidents.

Trotting

Location: NW3 (Greater London) - The Spaniards Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Horses reported in the 1930s, other events in 2004
Further Comments: Sounds of a horse moving around this area were frequently reported prior to the Second World War. More recently, one witness reported her dog taking bites at an invisible presence within the public house.

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.

Horse

Location: Odstock (Wiltshire) - Lane adjoining St Marys Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 June 2017
Further Comments: A woman in the sitting in the passenger side of a car opened her window as the vehicle left the church. Suddenly both the woman and driver heard a horse trotting alongside the vehicle, even though no animal could be seen. As the vehicle reached the main road, the trotting ceased.

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