The Paranormal Database

Tall, White Figure

Location: Portchester (Hampshire) - Portchester Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pale figure most commonly seen is thought to be Charlotte (see Portchester church entry), though there are other reports of a monk who walks about outside the front of the castle, a Roman soldier, and a lady on the back of a white horse.

Lord Rokeby

Location: Postling (Kent) - Stone Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord Rokeby races around the area, minus his head, being drawn by a team of four horses.

Lady Carew in a Coach Pulled by Four Black Horses

Location: Potter Heigham (Norfolk) - Arched Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 May, Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Occurring on the stroke of midnight, the phantom coach driven by a skeleton is seen to crash into the side of the bridge and fall into the river below. After selling her soul to the Devil, Lady Carew was taken away by two skeletons driving a coach pulled by four black horses on her wedding day. The coach disappeared on the bridge over the River Thurne, and the scene is repeated every 31 May. Another version of the story says the phantom is Lady Evelyn, who died when her coach crashed in 1741.

Charging Horseman

Location: Prestbury (Gloucestershire) - Shaw Green Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Killed by a Lancastrian arrow in the 1400's, this glowing messenger is doomed to carry his cargo forevermore. Another story says he was decapitated by a thin wire that was placed across the road.

Headless Horseman

Location: Pulham Market (Norfolk) - Mill Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach and horses is driven down this lane by a headless horseman. The horseman's whip sparks at each crack.

Horse & Chain

Location: Purse Caundle (Dorset) - Lane between village and Stourton Caundle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An invisible team of horses pull an equally invisible coach along this lane. The only indication of their passing is the noise of the horses and the jangling of a chain. The sounds are said to reach the top of Stourton Caundle before ceasing.

Horseman

Location: Purton (Wiltshire) - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly horseman has been heard and occasionally observed heading out of the village.

Tom King

Location: Rackenford (Devon) - The Stag Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The sound of hooves heard several times from outside the public house are thought to belong to the horse of Tom King, a local highwayman who once frequented the bar.

Christopher Bloor

Location: Rainham (Kent) - Lane leading to Bloor Place (no longer standing) and near church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Christopher Bloor had a reputation for being a seducer of women. This proved to be Christopher's undoing - he was decapitated by a posse of local men with wives with whom he had slept. The lane was haunted by the headless Bloor, who reputedly drove his coach pulled by headless horses, and ghostly hoofbeats heard around the church.

Man on Black Horse

Location: Ranworth (Norfolk) - Neighbourhood of Ranworth Broad
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Locals tell of an unknown man on a black horse that is believed to haunt the area. The devil is seen riding across the broad every 31 December; under his arm is the soul of a Colonel who had dared hunt on the Sabbath.

Earl Gerald

Location: Rathkeale (County Limerick) - Castle Matrix
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Every seven years
Further Comments: The earl is said to walk under Lough Gur, emerging on the back of a black horse every seven years to visit his former home. Another former earl, James, is also said to haunt the castle - he was murdered by his servants.

Something

Location: Rathronshin (County Laois) - The Dullow Bush
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A vague entry in the Laois Burial Grounds Survey 2011 says that the word Dullow is used to describe a phantom, although details of the haunting are not given.

Fast Moving Procession

Location: Ratlinghope (Shropshire) - Road towards village, along the Long Mynd
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large group of people following a horse drawn hearse have been seen on several occasions, moving much more swiftly than one should expect.

Woman in a Carriage

Location: Redbrook (Gwent) - Edge of the river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: While walking by the river, Mr Morgan heard horses approaching from behind but could not see anything. As the sound reached him, Morgan leapt to one side and watched as a team of horses pulling a coach appear from nowhere. The coach contained a woman who looked out of the window at the witness. Instead of following the road, the coach entered nearby woodland and vanished.

Sound of Horses

Location: Redditch (Hereford & Worcester) - The Lane, Church Hill South
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that the phantom horses heard in this area belonged to Roman riders who fell into a large pit trap dug by their enemies.

Horse with Trap

Location: Rettendon (Essex) - Road leading to East Hannington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost haunting this road is said to be that of a farmer riding his horse and cart.

Dog under Horses' Hooves

Location: Reydon (Suffolk) - Road near Reydon Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Shuck 1900s, and coach mid 1800s?
Further Comments: A couple in a trap encountered the Shuck, and it ran under their horses. The driver tried to hit the black dog with his whip, but it passed straight through the creature. The same area is also haunted by a phantom coach, being driven at breakneck speed.

Coach & Horses

Location: Rhossili (West Glamorgan) - Old Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a smuggler driving his coach runs around the sandy area of this building, while on some nights a macabre entity is seen climbing out of the sea and enters the rectory. This may be the same entity which asks (in a gruff voice) 'why don't you turn around and look at me?' - those who do so have never seen anything.

Coach

Location: Riddlesdown (Surrey) - Exact area unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This coach pulled by a team of four horses is driven over a piece of private land, where a county lane once ran.

Horse

Location: Riseley (Bedfordshire) - Eastfield's Corner
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A farmer heard a galloping horse rapidly approaching him, even though he could not see the creature. Moments later, there was a crashing sound, and a large gust of wind passed the man, even though the creature remained invisible.

White Horse

Location: River Wharfe (North Yorkshire) - Wharfedale's Strid
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Together with a fairy, this pale horse rises from the dangerous waters once a year. It has been known to drown people who come too close.

Horses

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - Gristlehurst Lane, Heywood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lane is reputed to be haunted by the phantom sounds of horses.

Coach Crash

Location: Rockfield (Gwent) - Ancre Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach and horses is seen to crash before vanishing into a wall somewhere in this area.

Funeral Procession

Location: Rockfield (Gwent) - General area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death in the area
Further Comments: An old story states that any death in the area would be heralded by a ghostly funeral procession and ghostly horse drawn hearse.

Coach and Horses

Location: Rockfield (Gwent) - Road between Rockfield and Monmouth (Ancre Lane?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: A coach pulled by a team of frantic horses reputedly vanishes into a field after crashing through a wall on the roadside.