Phantom Horses & Riders from across the Isles
Floating Lights
Location: Old Chilworth (Hampshire) - Walnut Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Paranormal occurrences have happened here, including lights that have appeared and floated around the house, sounds of horses trotting up to the back door (no such creature being found on investigation), and the roof glowing so violently, witnesses outside thought the building was on fire.
Headless Horseman
Location: Onecote (Staffordshire) - Road from Leek to Onecote, and Butterton Moor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless horseman is said to either be a murdered pedlar or a knight killed in combat with the Scots. Either way, the figure is said to be unlucky (with witnesses either dying or losing livestock) and an exorcism once performed on the phantom horseman by seven preachers failed.
Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville
Location: Outer London: East Barnet (Greater London) - Oak Hill Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December 2026, 23:30h or 00:00h next due, then every sixth year (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Sir Geoffrey, complete with red cloak and jangling spurs, appears here on horseback and heads towards the church to disappear through its wall. Even though the ghost is said to appear on Christmas Eve, the last verified sighting of Sir Geoffrey was on 17 December 1932.
Turpin and Bess
Location: Outer London: Enfield (Greater London) - Rose & Crown public house, Clay Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reportedly once owned by Dick Turpin's grandfather, the highwayman would visit the family when he needed to hide out. His ghostly form has been seen both inside and out, sometimes accompanied by his horse.
Heavy Breathing
Location: Outer London: Heathrow Airport (Greater London) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This ghost was heard several times, breathing heavily around female members of staff, but never being seen. A second entity wears a bowler hat and has been known to ask about the whereabouts of his briefcase - both case and man were in an aircraft that crashed in the late 1940s, killing all on board. A phantom Dick Turpin rides a brown horse across the runways (or cargo sheds), while cleaning staff during the 1970s reported a presence which held them down, applying pressure around their throats. Finally, prior to the airport being built, a phantom Saxon prince reputedly haunted the area close to a pond where he drowned.
Invisible Mare
Location: Outer London: Lower Bedington (Greater London) - Orchard House (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: Heard but never seen, a horse would gallop up to the gates of the house before stopping.
Queen Elizabeth
Location: Outer London: Richmond (Greater London) - Richmond Palace
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1603
Further Comments: As she lay dying elsewhere, Elizabeth was observed standing at a window of the palace. A few reports say she still haunts the building. The palace may have been the location where Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England, and Anne Seymour witnessed a 'hand with a bloodied sword' emerge from a wall. Edward was beheaded a short time later. There are also more recent reports of phantom horses' hooves heard clopping around the courtyard.
Horse Drawn Carriage
Location: Outer London: Slade Green (Greater London) - Maisonettes, Slade Green
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 or 1977
Further Comments: While sitting in bed in his maisonette on the fourth floor, this witness was startled to see the tail end of a black liveried horse drawn carriage fade through his room and wall. He later learnt that a neighbour had died at exactly the time of his sighting. Soon after this, the now empty flat in which the neighbour had died became the scene of strong paranormal disturbances. Though the windows and doors sealed, items in the building were smashed and thrown around, and it was not until an exorcism was carried out that the apartment fell silent.
Phantom Coach
Location: Oxnead (Norfolk) - Oxnead 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.
White Horse Upright
Location: Oxwich (West Glamorgan) - Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This ghostly creature walks around on hind legs, ending the jaunt as it vanishes down an ancient well.
Bobby Bannister the Bastard Landlord
Location: Passenham (Northamptonshire) - Churchyard, & Millstream
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Being dragged by a ghostly horse, this tragic figure bounces around the roads, his neck broken whilst hunting. One report says that the ghost was laid by a team of holy men who banished it to the bottom of the millstream. Screaming sometimes comes from the millstream, the sounds belonging to a girl who fell and was crushed by the wheel.
Coach
Location: Pawlett (Somerset) - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghostly team of horses pulling a coach travel aimlessly in the neighbourhood.
Young Horseman
Location: Penicuik (Lothian) - General area
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Often heard and sometimes even seen, the horseman is thought to have been a young lad who stole a horse from his master to speed up the journey to meet his secret lover. In his haste, he galloped past the scene of an accident involving a cart - he could have saved the life of the driver who was trapped underneath, but lust took priority and the rider left the site without offering assistance. The victim of the accident later died but managed to curse the lad who rode on by; hence, the boy's ghost now roams.
Headless Horses
Location: Penryn (Cornwall) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Christmas Time (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Pulling a coach, this team of headless horses manifests around the season of goodwill. Legend states if stared at, it will whisk the witness away to the nether realm.
Horse & Dog
Location: Penselwood (Wiltshire) - Sloane Track - between Penselwood and Stourton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A man who wagered that he could cross the track in record time fell from his horse and snapped his neck. The man on horseback, now minus a head, with a hound in tow, tries again and again to make the journey once a year.
Smoking Hooves
Location: Penzance (Cornwall) - Beach
Type: Other
Date / Time: 15 July 1757
Further Comments: After an earthquake here, an area of the beach was discovered to be covered in small hoof prints, some smoking, and others spouting water. Some blamed the Devil, others a phantom horse and carriage that travels through the town.
Horse-Drawn Coach
Location: Pershore (Hereford & Worcester) - High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1975
Further Comments: A woman heard a horse drawn coach outside her place of employment, but when she looked out of the window, nothing could be seen.
Hounds All Black and Wide-Eyed
Location: Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) - In all the woods between Stamford and Peterborough
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Between Lent and Easter (reoccurring), but last reported 1100s
Further Comments: These woods were the scene of a wild hunt, which included large black hounds and loathsome riders on the backs of mares and goats.
Headless Horseman
Location: Pettistree (Suffolk) - High Street?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Witnessed by at least two different people since 1990, a headless horseman has been seen trotting down the high street during the early hours.
Monk
Location: Pewsey (Wiltshire) - Fyfield Manor, the Monk's Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Monk in mid twentieth century, coach unknown
Further Comments: One man was told by a gardener that a phantom monk could be heard ascending the staircase in the tower. The man went on to spend three years living in the tower and never heard a thing. Another local story states that the driveway of the building is haunted by a phantom coach and four.
Horses & Carriage
Location: Pluckley (Kent) - The main village street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen trotting down the main street, the history of the carriage pulled by two horses (or four, depending on the source) is unknown.
Horse and Coach
Location: Polstead (Suffolk) - Near the village green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer, 1990s, around 16:00h
Further Comments: Mrs Hackford was driving her car at around 4pm when a horse and carriage carrying an old lady and two men in Victorian clothing rode past her in the opposite direction. Because of the weirdness of the situation, the witness looked behind her, only to realise the coach was no longer there.
Hanging Judge Jeffreys
Location: Pontblyddyn (Clwyd) - Plas Teg
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As well as the notorious judge's ghost drifting around the building, one witness has also reported seeing the shade of a young blonde girl. She also haunts the road outside the building, causing passing motorists to stop sharply. The road in turn is also haunted by three horsemen.
Bloody Horse
Location: Pool (Cornwall) - Road and tunnel close to South Crofty mine
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa October / November 1995, around 22:30h - 23:00h
Further Comments: Driving past the mine in bad weather, a driver and his passenger felt a strange negative sensation wash over them. The driver slammed on the brakes and as the car stopped, they spotted a bloody horse standing in the lights. The driver started to climb out of his car to move the horse out of the road, but the creature had gone - there was a steep drop to one side of the road and a wire fence to the other side.
Runaway Horses
Location: Porlock (Somerset) - Road leading downhill to the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These horses were all killed when they broke away from their coach on the hill and lost control on a tight bend. They are heard re-enacting their final moments.
Records 376 - 400 of 486
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