The Paranormal Database

Cain

Location: Sheffield (South Yorkshire) - National Emergency Services Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s?
Further Comments: A former police and fire station, the building is now a museum and used by ghost hunting groups. The site is home to a former prisoner named Cain,

Kate and Friends

Location: Skegness (Lincolnshire) - Church Farm Museum (now known as The Village - Church Farm)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s, 2003-2005
Further Comments: Several phantoms were said to have made their home here. The farmhouse was reputed to be haunted by an old man and his wife, Kate (although historically, the only Kate to live here was aged four!), while the Exhibit Barn was home to a dark shape, thought to be male. A door slamming poltergeist was said to be found in the Withern Cottage.

Passerby

Location: Skidby (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Skidby Mill Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2023
Further Comments: Whilst washing their hands in the bathroom, this witness noticed, in the bathroom mirror, someone walk past and enter a toilet cubicle. They thought nothing of it, until turning round to leave and noticing all the toilet doors were open and none occupied.

Frightened Dogs

Location: Southampton (Hampshire) - Tudor House Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Staff say that there is a room where dogs refuse to enter and another room in which many people have had paranormal experiences.

Blonde Figure

Location: Southsea (Hampshire) - Royal Marines Museum, Eastney
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2008
Further Comments: A worker at the site reported briefly seeing a blonde haired figure in a dark blue uniform, like one worn by marines during the First World War. Other staff are said to have unusual experiences on site.

Laughter

Location: Spalding (Lincolnshire) - Gordon Boswell Romany Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 2013
Further Comments: Museum owner Gordon Boswell reported in the local press that he had seen and heard a phantom little girl who is thought to have with one of the caravans onsite. The Xstream Paranormal group also reported to have heard the little girl laughing.

Boiler Suited Man

Location: Springwell (Tyne and Wear) - Bowes Railway Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to have been killed in an accident, a phantom man wearing a boiler suit and flat cap is said to lurk in the area. Stones are occasionally thrown by unseen hands.

The Abbot's Chair

Location: St Ives (Cambridgeshire) - Norris Museum, the Hurstingstone (aka Psalm Stone)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Nicknamed the Abbot's Chair because of its shape, the chair is reputedly haunted, though descriptions of the haunter are not forthcoming. It is also said that if the stone sinks under the earth, the streets of Blantisham will run with blood.

Plethora of Pilchards

Location: St Ives (Cornwall) - Pressing stones (one currently outside Museum) around the town
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Large pressing stones, like the one outside the museum, were once a common feature around the town, and used to press oil from pilchards. If seen or heard to move unaided while being stored, it was considered an omen good fishing was ahead.

Escapee

Location: Stockport (Greater Manchester) - Staircase Cafe (currently Staircase Museum), the Market Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 1956
Further Comments: Workmen discovered a hidden staircase which led to an additional three rooms being found in this cafe. The tenant of the building reported hearing strange sounds, 'as if someone is trying to get out', according to a contemporary press report.

Falstaff's Experience museum in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Icy Mist

Location: Stratford-upon-Avon (Warwickshire) - Falstaff's Experience museum, Sheep Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2004
Further Comments: A team of ghost hunters holding a vigil on the site claimed to have seen a room fill up with a cold mist at one point during the night. The museum claims to be haunted by several entities, including a young female pickpocket, a dark figure with glowing red eyes, and roundheads.

George & Co

Location: Sunderland (Tyne and Wear) - North East Aircraft Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities are reputed to haunt this museum. The bottom half of a man has been seen walking around the hangars, wearing black trousers but no shoes. A phantom hound reputedly remains here, and poltergeist activity has also been reported - one witness watched an old fashioned gramophone, part of a static display, start to play unaided.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The Great Bed

Location: SW7 (Greater London) - Victoria & Albert Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Great Bed was made by Jonas Fosbrooke in the 1460's for the King. In later years, as the bed passed from owner to owner, Jonas' spirit began to attack anyone who slept in the bed who had no royal blood, unless a toast was drunk to him before lights out.

Screaming Women

Location: Tangmere (Sussex) - Tangmere Military Aviation Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by a bomb during the Second World War, members of the Woman's Auxiliary Air Force can still be heard screaming on this site.

Former Judge

Location: Tarbert (County Kerry) - Tarbert Bridewell Courthouse and Jail Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Prisoners housed at this jail would be subjected to heinous conditions, and are perhaps responsible for the feelings of dread felt here at night. A former judge who condemned many of those prisoners is also thought to remain.

Blonde

Location: Taunton (Somerset) - Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in seventeenth century clothing, this fair haired wraith drifts around the museum. Not so pretty is Judge Jeffrey's shade that also appears within the same building.

Washing Powder

Location: Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire) - Tewkesbury Museum, Barton Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2007
Further Comments: Staff who claimed to detect the smell of an old fashioned washing powder and felt a presence called in Three Counties Paranormal Organisation to investigate further. It was speculated that the phantom was a woman who looked after evacuees during the Second World War.

Seat of Defeat

Location: Thirsk (North Yorkshire) - Thirsk museum
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The museum houses a cursed wooden chair which brings death to any who sit upon it, and is even said to bring misfortune if touched.

Agatha Christie

Location: Torquay (Devon) - Torquay Museum
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2020
Further Comments: An unseen hand took to throwing Agatha Christie books off the shelves in the museum giftshop, some naming the author as the guilty party (although why she would throw her own work around rather than that of another author is not clear).

Cromwell

Location: W1 (Greater London) - Apsley House, aka the Wellington museum
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1832
Further Comments: Appearing only once, the ghost of Cromwell was seen by Wellington - the spectre warned the Iron Duke to let the 1832 Reform Bill through parliament. Wisely enough, the Iron Duke complied.

Lights Switching

Location: W8 (Greater London) - Natural History Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: The lights have been known to switch themselves on and off in the Entomology Library, while doors are locked and unlocked by an unseen hand. The Waterhouse building is also said to be haunted, this time by a phantom woman.

Knocking

Location: Waltham Abbey (Essex) - Royal Gunpowder Mills Museum
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: Over recent years this museum has become the haunt of ghost hunting groups which claim to have documented knocks and other strange happenings.

Thomas Oken

Location: Warwick (Warwickshire) - Doll Museum, Castle Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Heard climbing the stairs of his former property, Oken's popularity with the townsfolk may have something to do with his staying on.

Children

Location: Waterford (County Waterford) - Wake Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2025
Further Comments: After receiving reports that reflections of children could be seen in glass cabinets by staff opening the building at the start of the day, the museum curator asked GhostEire to further investigate. While the group did not contact any children, they reported reaching a spirit that alluded to the site once being a brothel.

Inside the British Museum.

The Case of Amen-Ra

Location: WC1 (Greater London) - British Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Two fables can be found here. The first concerns a haunted mummy case - as well as the traditional curse, the casket in question was accompanied by acts of poltergeist like behaviour and the manifestation of a female figure. Thirteen mysterious deaths and suicides have been attributed to the sarcophagus. The second dates to when the museum was Montague (or Montagu) House. Two brothers fought a duel in the land behind the building (known as both Long Fields and Southampton Fields). So intense was their fight that no grass ever grew again in their footprints. According to T F Thiselton Dyer (Strange Pages from Family Papers), the footprints were located 'about three-quarters of a mile north of Montague House and five hundred yards east of Tottenham Court Road'.