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Road Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Green Man

Location: Cryers Hill (Buckinghamshire) - Four Ashes Lane, outside the local crematorium
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1986
Further Comments: This strange looking figure has been observed twice on different occasions - both reports described the entity as having no hands and being dressed in green, though while one witness said the figure had a green face and stood just over five foot high, the other stated it had no head at all and was seven feet tall.

Anne Sergison

Location: Cuckfield (Sussex) - Cuckfield Park, B2036
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure reportedly haunts her old house and the area around it - though she died in 1848 and is still seen today, reports suggest her ghost began haunting the area in 1830. The ghost has been mistaken for a real person in the past.

Bright Headlights

Location: Cuerdley (Cheshire) - Widnes Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2000s, around 03:00h
Further Comments: While driving back from Liverpool, a driver spotted a bright pair of headlights rapidly approaching from behind. Just as the driver thought he would be overtaken, the lights vanished. Believing that a car had crashed, the drier turned around and looked for it, but could find nothing.

Vanishing Woman

Location: Cullompton (Devon) - Forges Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 2022
Further Comments: A woman who stepped out in front of a car vanished just prior to impact. The site is home to a tree, according to folklore, used to hang criminals; it is unclear whether the phantom woman was a victim of the hangman or a mourner.

Hearse

Location: Cutcombe (Somerset) - A396, between village and Timberscombe
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Some accidents occurring along this road have been blamed on the phantom black coach pulled by headless horses that runs wild and driverless.

Rustling Woman

Location: Cwmbran (Gwent) - Road between Llantarnam Abbey and church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1909
Further Comments: A man walking this route at midnight watched as a woman approached him. Their paths crossed under the branches of a large oak. The rustling of the woman's dress could be heard, and moments after passing the man, he turned to take another look at the woman. As the moonlight fell upon her, she vanished.

Bleeding Witch

Location: Dalarossie, Inverness (Highland) - Road towards churchyard
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two witnesses reported seeing the shade of an old witch running away from several hunting hounds - this relates to a local legend, in which the old hag tries (unsuccessfully) to murder a huntsman.

Flitting Woman

Location: Dallinghoo (Suffolk) - Lanes in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa nineteenth century
Further Comments: A widow by the name of Shawe was said to have killed herself by slitting her throat, after which she took to the lanes in the area, flitting around without visible feet.

Male Figure

Location: Dalry (Ayrshire) - B708 just outside of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 08 February 2014 and April 2015
Further Comments: In 2014, a driver braked as a stooped, grey male figure walked out in front of their car. The driver put their headlights on full beam, but the figure had vanished. Just over a year later, another witness in a car spotted a hooded figure sitting by the roadside. When the witness stopped to see if the figure was okay, it had vanished.

Peddler

Location: Darley Dale (Derbyshire) - Ghost Lane, runs past the churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom peddler who haunts this lane is said to have been murdered on the spot during the Seventeenth Century.

The Black Prince

Location: Dartford (Kent) - A2 road between Dartford and Bexley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: Dressed in black armour, this ghostly figure on horseback was observed several times walking along the road during the Second World War.

Little Old Lady

Location: Datchworth (Hertfordshire) - Hawkins Hall Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in black, this petite elderly woman can be spotted quite easily as she walks down the road - her head is missing.

Tall Man in Hat

Location: Debenham (Suffolk) - Road through village
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 04 January 1973
Further Comments: After colliding with a cloak-clad gentleman, a van driver then observed the spectral figure running along a nearby grass verge.

Small Carriage

Location: Delamere Forest (Cheshire) - Road by the Station Cafe
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 14 February 2006, 04:00h
Further Comments: Returning from a late shift at work, this witness drove past a horse pulling a small, two wheeled carriage that was dimly lit by lanterns. The driver of the carriage remained motionless as the witness's car went by.

Runaway Horse

Location: Denchworth (Oxfordshire) - Road leading into Denchworth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 14 January 2006, around 21.00h
Further Comments: While driving into Denchworth, two people spotted a panicked horse, which galloped from a side road in front of their car. The driver immediately slammed on the brakes and turned the headlights down so as not to startle the creature further. Not quite believing what they had both seen, they turned the headlights back up only to see the horse galloping in front of the car for a few more seconds before vanishing.

Gatley Shouter

Location: Didsbury (Lancashire) - Road to Gatley (was Carr Lane, since renamed?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This phantom, nicknamed the Gatley Shouter but said to be a Jim Barrow in life, was said to emerge from the northern churchyard and head off towards Gatley, gibbering and singing 'Milk and water should I ever, weight or measure gave I never'. The Gatley Shouter was banished by a parson, cast under a large stone by the parson's gate.

Coach

Location: Digby Fen (Lincolnshire) - Unnamed country road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1950
Further Comments: This road was haunted by two glowing lights that some believed belonged to a coach that was accidently driven into a bog, vanishing without trace.

Perfume

Location: Disley (Cheshire) - Road running by railway line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December 2011
Further Comments: A couple out walking on Christmas Day encountered an overwhelming scent of old fashioned perfume which they could taste at the back of the throat. No other person had been seen for hours.

Faceless Man

Location: Ditchling (Sussex) - Ditchling Bostall road, near Ditchling Beacon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2004, around 23:00h
Further Comments: A driver slowed down as they passed a man in a wide-brimmed hat and scarf walking along this road. Deciding to stop and see if the man required a lift, the driver watched the figure approach in the wing mirror. As the man draw close to the car, the driver realised that the figure had no face, and quickly left the scene.


A dirt path on the Downs between Ditchling and Westmeston.

Wish Hounds

Location: Ditchling (Sussex) - Road between town & Westmeston, and nearby downs
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The local shucks, known as wish hounds, reportedly stalk these roads. One of them is said to be headless.


Haunted by a homeless man.

Parcel Carrier

Location: Dixton (Gwent) - Lanes between Rectory and river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Dark winter nights
Further Comments: A homeless man drowned in the river, and now walks around his final route, tightly clutching an unknown package. One version of the story says the man now has the head of a rat. The village is also haunted by a white dog, often seen alongside a strange man.

Matching Soldier

Location: Doncaster (South Yorkshire) - Just off the B1403, a lane known as The Cannon Ball run
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2005
Further Comments: A couple in a parked car watched a soldier wearing a hat match by their car before vanishing in the beam of their headlights.

Lantern Carrier

Location: Dorchester (Dorset) - A352 roundabout (towards Bournemouth)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 1992
Further Comments: While returning from a gig with a friend, one man drove past a figure holding a lantern. The figure resembled the old man featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV. The driver asked his friend whether he could see the figure, to which the friend replied 'Yes, don't stop'.

Hand

Location: Dovenby (Cumbria) - Wooded area on road between village and Tallentire
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Dark, stormy nights
Further Comments: A disembodied hand is reported to reach out from the trees and push passing cyclists from their bikes.

Tall Figure in Habit

Location: Drayton Parslow (Buckinghamshire) - Road running by church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 26 September 2019, around 23.15h
Further Comments: As a driver came around the bend into the village, they spotted a person, around six foot tall and dressed in a full habit with a cowl covering the head. The habit was a sandy brown colour. The driver was moving quite slowly, and as they watched the figure walked away from their car on the path outside of the church, it literally disappeared. Up until that point, the figure had appeared quite solid and was walking with intention.

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