The Paranormal Database

Dr John Cumming

Location: WC1 (Greater London) - Grange Blooms Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Scottish clergyman, Cumming preached that the End of Days would take place between 1848 and 1867. Cumming's ghost may still loiter waiting for the end to come.

Short Pipe Smoker

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Howard Hotel, Temple Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 06 November 2004, 05:30h
Further Comments: A witness awoke to find a man standing at the end of the bed, looking towards the window. The entity was old with a short stature, with long curly hair and what looked like a long stem pipe in his mouth. After a few seconds the ghost disappeared, like dust motes.

Young Girl

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Savoy Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom girl is reputed to haunt the fifth floor of the hotel. The same entity is also connected to a mysterious lift which does not really exist.

Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, on display in The Cromwell Museum.

Cromwell

Location: Wellingborough (Northamptonshire) - Hind Hotel, Sheep Street
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: A teenage medium alleged to have spoken to the ghost of Cromwell in the hotel, who is said to have once used the building as a base of operations for a few days.

Man with Torch

Location: Wellington (Somerset) - A38, near the Heatherton Grange Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Appearing to be a man in a raincoat, this phantom uses his torch to try to flag passing cars down. One woman who refused to stop narrowly avoided hitting him. A truck driver reported once giving the ghostly man a lift to Holcombe Bridge, not realising the man was a ghost until a short time later; the driver almost hit the man as he stood in the same place where he was first picked up. Stopping to ensure that the hitcher was okay, the truck driver watched as the stranger vanished before his eyes. This may be the same entity which has been seen at Taunton.

Reading Man

Location: Wellington (Somerset) - Blue Mantle Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1990s
Further Comments: Owner Peter Green spotted an older man reading a newspaper in the lounge of the hotel, who soon vanished without being seen or triggering the alarm. Green later found a Victorian portrait which resembled the unknown man.

Black Barley Seeds

Location: Wells (Somerset) - Crown Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: These apports would appear on mass in several of the bedrooms, with no source to be found. This could be called one of the least disturbing parts of the haunting here, which has seen shadowy figures vanishing down the corridors, and a presence that knocks candles from the tables.

Monk

Location: West Auckland (Durham) - Manor House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several ghosts have been reported here. Room 34 has a locked wardrobe door that opens by an unseen hand, while a member of the public has claimed to have been grabbed by the throat by a man dressed like a monk. Room 18 has had reports of people being pushed and seances in the Knights Hall have resulted in a child's voice being heard on a walkie talkie and a possession.

Mad Maude

Location: Weston on the Green (Oxfordshire) - Weston Manor Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Burnt at the stake for having an affair with a monk, Maude wanders the hotel, which was once a convent. The eerie sounds of an invisible horse and coach moving around the courtyard have been reported by more than one visitor.

Walking Man

Location: Westport (County Mayo) - Hotel near coast (name withheld)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: A guest awoke and watched a man walk through the door before disappearing into the curtain by the window.

Female in Grey Crinoline Dress

Location: Weybridge (Surrey) - Oatlands Park Hotel, restaurant and room 1313
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Not known
Further Comments: The ghost is thought to be a maid who jumped from the window of room 1313 and killed herself, after a fight with her boyfriend.

Fisherman

Location: Weymouth (Dorset) - Golden Lion Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2023
Further Comments: A total of five ghosts are reputed to haunt the hotel; a fisherman who stands at the bar, two ladies who roam the landings, and another two women heard laughing in the courtyard. It is worth noting that the pub's website notes 'the ghosts do not bear much historical scrutiny', although more recently staff have reported spotting shadowy figures passing the side door and dance floor.

Mary Lane

Location: Whalley (Lancashire) - Swan Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mary was a maid who took her own life after being pressured into giving her child away.

Browne Bushell

Location: Whitby (North Yorkshire) - Bagdale Hall Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: More often heard stalking the staircase than seen, Bushell was a pirate (so says legend, though the truth is probably quite different) who once owned the building. Children have also been heard playing just after midnight, in rooms devoid of life.

Sobbing

Location: Wimborne (Dorset) - Griffin Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around Christmas (reoccurring)
Further Comments: One room in the hotel is filled with sobbing around Christmas - some say the cries belong to a girl upset at her father's death. A grey haired woman in a brown skirt has also been reported in the hotel and was seen near Bedroom 4 during the 1940s.

Old Farmer

Location: Winchelsea (Sussex) - Queen's Head Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a farmhouse before its conversion into a public house and hotel, the ghost present was a farmer who lived here long ago. Another story states that the shade is a former pub owner whose body was displayed in the bar so his regulars could show their respect.

Royal Winchester Hotel.

Maid

Location: Winchester (Hampshire) - Royal Winchester Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 11 April 2023
Further Comments: One story says the upper part of the building is haunted by a maid. One visitor reported seeing a head-sized shadow briefly appear on a wall behind a sofa before vanishing; they tried to recreate the shadow but was unable to do so.

The Theatre Royal.

Lighting Operator

Location: Winchester (Hampshire) - Theatre Royal (was the Market Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1910s
Further Comments: An apparition was seen dressed in combat clothing. A witness identified the ghostly soldier as a former lighting operator who worked at the theatre before going off to die on a First World War battlefield. The builder of the theatre, John Simpkins, is also said to haunt the building.

Dambusters

Location: Woodhall Spa (Lincolnshire) - The Petwood Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War
Further Comments: The famous team enjoyed drinking here during active service, and it is said they can still be heard drinking here over half a century later.

Elizabeth Downing

Location: Woodstock (Oxfordshire) - Bear Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost's footsteps can be pacing across the floor in Room 16, and lights turn themselves on when the ghost is close enough to a switch. Elizabeth's son is also said to haunt the building, and Room 12 is said to be haunted by a workman who fell (or was pushed) from the roof around the seventeenth century.

Alice

Location: Worksop (Nottinghamshire) - Lion Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Alice hanged herself after having her love rejected by the owner of the hotel during the 1800s (or thereabouts). Her preferred area of haunting would appear to be in the older parts of the hotel, in particular Room 201.

Lady Agatha?

Location: Wroxall (Warwickshire) - Wroxall Abbey Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The 'haunted' status of this hotel appears mainly to be limited to review websites, with one person providing the name Lady Agatha as the entity.

Luke the Smuggler

Location: Wych Cross (Sussex) - Roebuck Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wearing sea-going clothing and having a well weathered face, Luke sometimes returns to the hotel to raid the rum supply.

Dean Court Hotel, York.

Roman Soldier

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Dean Court Hotel, Duncombe Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reported to walk around the hotel, this phantom may have also been spotted by a trio of guests in their bathroom mirror.

Scary Shadows

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Viking Hotel, North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A darkened figure that would appear from nowhere was reported by several staff. One man is said to have resigned after the entity scared him too much.