The Paranormal Database

Sighing

Location: Peebles (Borders) - Castle Venlaw Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: The sounds of sighing have been reported from one bedroom here - it is thought to be the sound of a guest who leapt from the window in a suicide bid.

Marion Ritchie

Location: Peebles (Borders) - Cross Keys Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This ghost could be mistaken for a typical public house poltergeist, though she also likes to talk to guests at the establishment. Room 5 is said to be particularly active.

Footsteps

Location: Peel (Isle of Man) - Marine Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footsteps are said to walk up a staircase which no longer exists.

Man with a Hat

Location: Peel (Isle of Man) - Site of Old Marine Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This location was said to be haunted by a male ghost who wore a tall black hat. The entity may have been exorcised.

Lavender

Location: Pembroke (Dyfed) - Port Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-1940s
Further Comments: A former serving woman haunts the building, her presence being marked by the odour of lavender.

Pale Lady

Location: Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) - Orton Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Staff and visitors have reported seeing a phantom white lady around this building.

Jangling

Location: Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) - The Bull Hotel, Westgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footfalls and the sound of keys have been heard here, but the source never seen. A ghostly dog is also said to haunt the building.

Old Lady Sitting

Location: Petworth (Sussex) - The Angel Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sad old lady watched her closest friend slip and die on the stairs. The shock of this terrible accident so badly affected the witness, she herself died a few days later; her spirit now continues to return to the place she watched her friend's fatal accident.

Man in Gaiters

Location: Piercebridge (Durham) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly gentleman wearing gaiters has been reported standing by an old clock in the hotel. The sound of two people in disagreement has been heard coming from the empty bar.

Walker

Location: Pluckley (Kent) - Elvey Farm Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Blamed for poltergeist activity, a phantom walker was once said to frequent the farmhouse. There are also reports of a haunting smell (burning yarn or wool) and the ghost of Old Bill, who sits on the end of a bed and talks to himself.

Crown Hotel, Market Street, Poole.

Screaming Children

Location: Poole (Dorset) - Crown Hotel, Market Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Piano and young woman circa 1989, other sightings unknown
Further Comments: Two children were once locked up in this building by a parent too embarrassed to let them run around and play in front of other people. The ghostly children now let their protests be heard in the form of crying and yelling. The tinkling of a piano has also been heard in the hotel, as has the sound of a body being dragged around in the upper part of the structure. The daughter of the landlord spotted a young woman, wearing a shawl and skirt with hair tied in a bun, sitting in a chair; although the room was dark, a very bright light surrounded the figure.

Whisky Lover

Location: Port Ellen (Argyll and Bute) - Hotel (name not known)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This hotel was once a distillery; a burglar fell to his death from a second floor window after drinking too much during his raid. This drunken crook still lurks the corridors looking for more liquor to consume.

Lady in Brown

Location: Portland (Dorset) - Portland Hotel, Portland Square (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1980
Further Comments: Six sailors stayed at this hotel after their ship was unable to leave the docks due to bad weather. After spending time in the bar, the sailors headed to their rooms. Two of the men spotted a woman wearing a long brown Victorian style dress with a white bonnet and shawl on her shoulders standing outside of a room. The figure disappeared before being seen by the other four men.

Buster Crabb

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Keppels Head hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of two hotels claiming Crabb spending his final night here, the Navy frogman is said to haunt the building. Crabb vanished while attempting to spy on a Soviet warship which docked at Portsmouth during the Cold War.

Buster Crabb

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Sally Port hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of two hotels laying claim to Crabb spending his final night here, the Navy frogman is said to haunt the building. Crabb vanished while attempting to spy on a Soviet warship which docked at Portsmouth during the Cold War.

Drunken Dog

Location: Postbridge (Devon) - Area outside the East Dart Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After drinking left over beer left outside the pub, the dog swaggered up the nearby hill and howled at the moon - the creature enjoyed the sensation so much, it has yet to quit its actions.

Trotting

Location: Prestbury (Gloucestershire) - Prestbury House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom hooves are said to been heard moving around this area, while legend states a ghostly young girl moves around the garden. In June 2012, owners Linda Gardner and David Miller said that the site was not haunted, and that a former owner had invented the stories to increase trade.

The Lady Vanishes

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Charnock Hotel, St Annes Street (closed in 2022)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: Owner Mandy Russell reported that items would be moved around the bar at night and beer pumps turned off by unseen hands. One man watched a woman enter the toilets - after several minutes passed and his concern grew, he entered the area only to find it empty.

Robert Clay

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: One landlord was driven out of the building because he could not tolerate the mysterious presence of Mr Clay. The entity would manifest in the form of a tall, bearded man with a deep voice, dressed in clothing which dated back two hundred years. Robert Clay is thought to have killed two young children on the site, burying the bodies in the cellar.

Murderer and Murdered

Location: Purfleet (Essex) - Royal Hotel (Room 31)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: In Room 31, an argument over gambling resulted in a young man murdering his girlfriend before committing suicide. Both are said to haunt the room, and also appear in the kitchen and the upper restaurant balcony. Poltergeist activity has also been reported in the Longbridge Bar.

Crying Girl

Location: Quothquan (Lanarkshire) - Shieldhill Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This woman had her newly born child snatched from her - she died of a broken heart soon after and her ghost is now occasionally seen or heard.

Foggy Column

Location: Radcliffe (Greater Manchester) - Commercial Hotel (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: Several workers in the building reported a strange pillar of white mist that would grow from the floor, disappearing after a couple of minutes. The apparition would be accompanied by a sharp drop in temperature.

Mary

Location: Ramsey (Cambridgeshire) - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Mary is thought to be a former landlady who died in a fire on the site. The ghost is said to hate naked flames and will blow out candles and matches.

Pacing Footsteps

Location: Reading (Berkshire) - Roebuck Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost can also be heard knocking on doors, and opening locked windows, much to the annoyance of the owners.

Chained Child

Location: Redworth (Durham) - Redworth Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord Surtees had his mentally ill child chained to the fireplace - the youngster can be heard crying and wailing.