The Paranormal Database

The Old Stocks Hotel, Stow on the Wold.

Pianist

Location: Stow on the Wold (Gloucestershire) - Old Stocks Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The sounds of the piano can sometimes be heard in the building, though the instrument is not present. The ghost of an aged vicar is also reported here.

Sailor

Location: Strumpshaw (Norfolk) - The Goat Inn (currently the Huntsman)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1960s?
Further Comments: A supposed haunting caused by the spirit of a drowned sailor from the Second World War, at least one previous landlord has reported seeing ghostly figures and hearing the piano playing by itself. One story connects the phantom sailor to a goat's head once kept in the pub, considered cursed after ill-fortune befell owners and anyone who touched the object. The location of the goat's head is currently unknown.

Harp Player

Location: Stubley (Derbyshire) - Stubley Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing once a year, the shade of Fatima gently pucks her harp strings. A Roundhead has been reported less regularly, while a young girl skips around the fields outside.

Man in Grey

Location: Sutton (Surrey) - Former cinema at Rosehill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: This figure appeared several times to members of staff, slowly disappearing if approached or spoken to. During the 1950s, residents complained of loud organ music coming from the building in the early hours of the morning, even though the organ had been removed several years previously.

Sir Henry Colt Duelling

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Green Park, Piccadilly
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Sir Henry appears once a year (reoccurring), but date unknown
Further Comments: Sir Henry, along with fellow duellist Beau Fielding, meet repeatedly to fight for the heart of the Duchess of Cleveland. The sounds of heavy breathing and fighting are heard emerging from the misty mornings. The park is also said to have a 'tree of death', where many people have hanged themselves over the years; now a tall dark figure is sometimes seen standing behind it, disappearing if approached. Finally, an early twentieth century report says that phantom violin music would be heard around the site.

Pianist

Location: SW3 (Greater London) - Private residence, Whitehead's Grove
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: While renting a property along this road, the family heard their piano being played, although upon inspection, found the room empty and the piano closed. The family would also hear footsteps walking around after dark, laughter, and would find their bedding moved from the bed and placed on the floor nearby.

An old postcard showing Taunton Castle in Somerset.

Marching Army

Location: Taunton (Somerset) - Taunton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard marching through the castle's museum, these invisible troops are thought to belong to the untrained army of the Duke of Monmouth that were slaughtered during a failed attack. Another ghost heard but not seen is a rather loud fiddler named Tom who frequents a room in the attached hotel. The ghost of a lady dressed in seventeenth century clothing makes an odd appearance in the castle, as does a cavalier holding a pistol.

Reverend Hitchcock

Location: Torquay (Devon) - St John's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: The Reverend Hitchcock died whilst working on a composition - he was heard playing the unfinished piece on the church organ during the 1950s. After a blessing on his grave in 1959, Hitchcock appears to have not returned. Prior to this, the church had a reputation as being haunted by another organist by the name of Henry Ditton-Newman. Henry could be heard walking around and playing the organ. After a service to move on Henry, a third organ playing phantom (Francis Crute) would also be named as haunting the site; he would be swiftly moved on after a blessing over his grave.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Tuxford (Nottinghamshire) - House close to A6075
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2000s
Further Comments: One occupant of the house awoke to see a shadowy human-like figure at the end of her bed. She shouted out; the figure floated diagonally across the corner of the bed and through the closed door. All three occupants of the property had also heard an old fashioned music box playing. The source of the tune sounded as if it moved from room to room when searched for.

The fairy glen of Uig, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Fairy Hill

Location: Uig, Isle of Skye (Highland) - Sithean Beinne Bho'idhich - Fairy Glen
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Sounds of music and partying can be heard coming from this mound, the little folk still in full party mode. One legend says that a local fiddler was paid handsomely in gold to perform for the fairies at one of their parties. He fiddled for ten hours, after which he returned home, only to find a hundred years had elapsed.

Music

Location: Wark on Tyne (Northumberland) - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987-1990
Further Comments: Music was said to have been heard both inside and outside this private house. Footsteps could be heard on a staircase, even though a staircase did not exist.

Lancaster Crew

Location: Welford (Berkshire) - RAF Welford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The crew of a Lancaster bomber which crashed shortly after take-off have been observed crossing the old runway. The Glenn Miller hangar is one of the last places the big band member played before being killed; one account says the place is eerily quiet with local wildlife shunning the area, while another says band music has been heard coming from the hangar.

Cavalier

Location: Wells (Somerset) - King Charles Parlour public house, High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977 / 1978
Further Comments: A phantom Cavalier has been spotted on the staircase several times by owners or members of their family, while footsteps and the sound of a harpsichord have also been reported. It is reported that when a BBC TV crew tried to film inside the building all their lighting equipment blew up.

Pianist

Location: Whitchurch (Shropshire) - Civic Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The phantom notes of a piano were heard for several nights, drifting from the unmanned civic centre. An investigation failed to find the cause of the noise.

Hobbling Old Man with Stick

Location: White Roding (Essex) - The Black Horse
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Mid 1980s
Further Comments: The ghost of an old man is said to be responsible for poltergeist activity and the strange sounds of piano playing in the pub (though there is not a piano in the building).

Clavichordist

Location: Whitmore (Staffordshire) - Whitmore Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This building is haunted by the sounds of a Clavichord (similar to a Harpsichord) and by a phantom stable groom.

Organ Music

Location: Whitstable (Kent) - George Fitt Social Club, Tankerton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1954
Further Comments: Members of the George Fitt Social Club heard organ music fill the room and initially thought it to have come from the nearby former cinema, until they investigated and found the site empty.

The Good Musician

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Passageway once known as Beedham's Court, off Skeldergate
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small band of musicians were performing around the city when they found themselves joined by another unannounced member. He played the violin particularly well, and as the band completed a song standing by Beedham's Court, their new-found violinist vanished, leaving only the strong smell of brimstone.

Musical Woman

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - St Crux and King's Square area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Waits of York were men who played music as they travelled through the town acting as watchmen and calling out the time. It is reported that a female ghost would sometimes follow them, stopping to listen to their tunes. She would appear at St Crux, travel through King's Square, and vanish at Goodramgate.

St Crux church, York.

Funeral

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - St Crux church (the remains of which now form the chapel in the Shambles)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: An on-duty policeman passing the church late at night heard funeral music playing within the building. As he approached to investigate, the doors of the building opened and the sound of people leaving could be heard, but nothing could be seen. The church was said to have a couple more frequent phantom visitors, one of whom was a tall man with a pale face who would stare out of the windows in the early hours of the morning. The other ghost took the form of a female figure in a shroud. The entity would follow people passing the church at night, either along Fossgate and vanish as when reaching Foss Bridge, or via St. Andrew Gate, fading away when nearing Spen Lane.

Theatre Royal, York.

Music

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Theatre Royal, St. Leonard's Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Music coming from the closed theatre was once heard late at night. A grey figure resembling a nun has also been spotted in the building; she is thought to be the ghost of a nun who was bricked up alive for seeing angels when a hospital existed on the site. It is said to be a good omen for any production currently showing if the grey nun appears. Finally, there are also reports of a wraithy actor who died in a duel nearby.