The Paranormal Database

The Holly and the Ivy

Location: Birstall (West Yorkshire) - White Horse Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: The landlord of this public house reported that a phantom female voice could be heard singing Christmas carols. A figure resembling a nun has been spotted in the back of the building, near the public toilets.

Smashing Glass

Location: Bishop Auckland (Durham) - Pollards Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 August 2017
Further Comments: A man whose family once ran the pub was visiting the site. As he told the story of how glasses would move unaided, his own glass lifted off the table and smashed against a wall.

Misty Shape

Location: Bishop's Stortford (Hertfordshire) - George Inn, North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This spook is said to be a woman stabbed to death in room 27.

Man in Cloak

Location: Bishops Caundle (Dorset) - White Hart Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A shadowy figure in a cloak has been observed in the inn.

Cursing Well

Location: Bishops Lydeard (Somerset) - The Devil's Whispering Well (near the Bell Inn)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This perverted wishing well is traditionally used to harm others.

Anne Starr

Location: Blackboys (Sussex) - Blackboys Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: This ghost which has never made a sound is believed to belong to Anne Starr, a woman who died in childbirth within the building.

Defrocked Charlie

Location: Blagdon (Somerset) - Holman Clavel Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: This spook is thought to be a monk who fell from grace. He has been spotted in one of the bedrooms, and is blamed whenever items go missing, only to return a few days or weeks later. Occupants who lived nearby reported hearing skittles being played in the empty building during the early hours of the morning.

White Lady

Location: Blanefield (Stirling) - Blane Valley Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom lady is said to haunt the area surrounding the bar, although her presence is more likely to felt then seen.

Stable Boy

Location: Bletsoe (Bedfordshire) - Falcon Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dying after falling from a hayloft, this young stable lad is now thought to haunt the kitchen area. He is blamed when small items go missing, often reappearing a short time later.

Old Edwin

Location: Blewbury (Oxfordshire) - New Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Edwin Fry, the landlord who ran this public house during the middle of the twentieth century, still returns to look around the place. His hollow footsteps are the only indication of his presence.

Guest

Location: Blisland (Cornwall) - Blisland Inn (was Royal Oak Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A guest at the inn died on the site and took to haunting the inn.

Pianist

Location: Blyth (Northumberland) - Fox and Hounds Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 21 August 1962
Further Comments: The owners of this pub heard the piano playing in the back room as they were tidying up. When investigated, no one could be found, and the piano keyboard remained covered. The event occurred a day after two other nearby pubs reported poltergeist-like incidents.

Loud Footfalls

Location: Bodmin Moor (Cornwall) - Manor House inn, Rilla Mill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Heard coming from upstairs, these footsteps are always tracked down to the same empty bedroom.

Smell of Smoke

Location: Bolton (Greater Manchester) - Alma Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974-1975
Further Comments: A former landlord of the public house reported the smell of cigar smoke in the ladies' toilet, though there was never any evidence of smoke or ash.

Emily

Location: Bolton (Greater Manchester) - Unity Brook Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2008 onwards
Further Comments: This female ghost, dressed in black, appeared to the assistant manager on three occasions. She was described as slim, late twenties or early thirties, with dark hair and high cheek bones. The entity has been nicknamed Emily by staff.

The famous Jamaica Inn, Bolventor.

Drinking Sailor

Location: Bolventor (Cornwall) - Jamaica Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mostly unknown, large dog in April 2015
Further Comments: A sailor who was murdered nearby reportedly returns to the public house to finish his last drink; he has been seen sitting on the wall outside the building. There have also been reports of a ghostly floating cloak, while outside there was a report of a phantom man hanging by his neck from a nearby tree. In 2015 a witness reported seeing a semi-transparent phantom dog, the size of an Irish Wolfhound, running thirty centimetres above the ground.

Drover

Location: Boningale (Shropshire) - Horns of Boningale Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A drover murdered in a fight is reputed to haunt this inn. An energy-conscious poltergeist is also said to switch lights off during the night.

Plucker

Location: Boscastle (Cornwall) - Napoleon Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Nicknamed Plucker, this poltergeist moves small items, causes pictures to fall off walls, and tugs at people's clothing.

Phantom Smoke

Location: Bovey Tracey (Devon) - The Riverside Inn
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: At least one guest has been awoken by the overwhelming smell of smoke, though on investigation no source has been found.

Emma and Edward

Location: Bowes (Durham) - Ancient Unicorn Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Emma and Edward were the children of different innkeepers who fell in love - Edward died of fever and Emma pined away soon after. Their ghosts are reputed to be regulars at the Inn, as is another young boy who haunts the cellar and a man in a bowler hat.

An old woodcut image of a hand of glory.

Hand of Glory

Location: Bowes Moor (Durham) - Old Spital Inn (currently a farmhouse?)
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1790s
Further Comments: One of the few places the Hand of Glory has been used. This item is made from the hand of a murderer, with candles placed between each finger. Once these are lit, every person asleep in an area remains unconscious until the flames are extinguished by milk. A band of robbers tried to use the hand while burgling this inn, though a maid was still awake when the candles were lit; she doused them with milk, enabling the landlord to wake and scare the robbers off with his shotgun.

Murderous Landlord

Location: Bracknell (Berkshire) - Hind's Head Inn (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: The landlord would kill wealthy travellers in their sleep, until one man escaped and summoned help. The landlord was executed for his crimes, and his angry ghost haunted the inn until it was pulled down.

Grey Lady

Location: Bradfield (South Yorkshire) - Strines Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Situated on the moors west of Sheffield, this isolated inn is reportedly home to a phantom grey lady.

White Lady

Location: Bradford on Avon (Wiltshire) - Beehive Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This incorporeal woman has been reported in various parts of the inn.

Louis de Rochefort

Location: Brading (Isle of Wight) - Crown Inn (aka Isle of Wight Waxworks), closed 2010
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Louis was murdered while staying at the inn. Dressed in clothing worn the French Aristocracy, his form has been observed in the past, though hearing his dying scream was said to be more common. Phantom children were also reported on the site.