The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Road Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Monk with Hurricane Lamp

Location: Lamport (Northamptonshire) - Near town, road between Northampton and Market Harborough
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A concerned lorry driver reported hitting a figure in a brown habit along this part of the road. Another couple out walking also saw the figure after sunset, carrying a bright light.

Woman

Location: Lanchester (Durham) - Peth Bank
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century onwards
Further Comments: A phantom woman reputedly stands on the spot of an accident involving a horse and coach during the early nineteenth century. Sometimes the ghostly coach and horse also makes an appearance.

Roman

Location: Lanchester (Durham) - Warrior's Bridge, A691
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This bridge may possibly take its name from the ghostly Roman soldier seen in the area, thought to be connected to nearby forts.

Coachman

Location: Langton Matravers (Dorset) - Road passing the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly coachman is said to drive past the church.

St Thomas of Canterbury

Location: Lapford (Devon) - Road through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 29 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The ghost of Thomas Beckett appears on the anniversary of his death, passing through the village on horseback.

Headless Calf

Location: Latchingdon (Essex) - Road between Latchingdon & Southminster
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: There are no recent reports of this decapitated young cow, though it has been said the sightings only stopped prior to the Second World War.

Riding Woman

Location: Laxey (Isle of Man) - Area around Abbey Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring) when certain conditions are met
Further Comments: Culture Vannin recorded a ghost story which said when a ship blows its horn at midnight, a woman on a white horse is said to depart the cottage and ride down to the shore.

Tall Woman

Location: Leatherhead (Surrey) - Swan Corner
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930-1931
Further Comments: A tall phantom woman was seen by several drivers as she stood in the middle of the road. She would vanish a few seconds later. One speeding truck driver was convinced he had hit and killed a real woman, until he stopped and searched the area for a body - there was none. A few months later, this woman was replaced by a ghostly nurse who lay sprawled out in the road. As with the previous phantom, she would disappear a few seconds after being seen.

Coach

Location: Leek (Staffordshire) - Ashbourne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach can be heard travelling the area.


A ghostly soldier.

Drowned Soldier

Location: Leigh (Greater Manchester) - Hooten Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Returning to the area where he inhaled too much pond water, this ghostly figure deliberately creeps up to unsuspecting passers-by to scare them.


A sketch of a pair of eyes by Wayne Lowden.

Eyes

Location: Leigh (Greater Manchester) - Platt Lane, Pretoria Pit colliery area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: It was reported that dozens of pairs of eyes would look out of bushes along this lane, and that they belonged to the 368 people who died in an accident at Pretoria Pit. Prior to this disaster, miners on route to work would sometimes encounter the sound of an invisible horse which ran past them.

Old Coles

Location: Leigh (Worcestershire) - Road passing through village, leading to river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 November, St Catherine's Eve (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Long since exorcised, the phantom of Old Coles would drive his coach through the village and use the local river to cool his horses.

Hitchhiker

Location: Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire) - Peddar's Lane / Station Road area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A van driver who picked up a young, dark haired hitchhiker here reported that a few minutes into their journey the man had vanished.

Coach

Location: Lelant (Cornwall) - Lane off the road between village and Chy-An-Gweal (Carbis Bay)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom coach was driven along the dark lane by a ghostly woman.

Lelley Boggle

Location: Lelley (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Crossroads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s, 1980s
Further Comments: This entity may take the form of a phantom carriage - to gaze into the headlights will bring certain doom. The entity was blamed for setting fire to two cars in a carpark in the 1930s, while in the 1980s it was said the entity caused a driver to become temporarily paralysed.

Dench Family Coach

Location: Lenchwick (Worcestershire) - Road between Lenchwick and Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Belonging to the Dench family, a phantom coach is said to run along this stretch of road.

Burning Coach

Location: Lenchwick (Worcestershire) - Roads between village and Evesham Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Driven by a hanged (or beheaded) criminal, this coach travels at breakneck speed until reaching the abbey where it promptly vanishes.

Coach

Location: Letton (Norfolk) - Road through village (now the road between Letton hall and Cranworth, the Shipdham Road)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1830s
Further Comments: A female witness recalled seeing a phantom coach being pulled by invisible horses along this road, so bright it lit the night up as if day.

Slapper

Location: Leven (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Road near White Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said the area was once haunted by a headless white woman who would hunt down highwaymen and give them a slap. What became of the entity is not known.

Calf Sized Dog

Location: Leverton (Lincolnshire) - Road between village and Wrangle
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early twentieth century or December 2002
Further Comments: An early twentieth century witness reported seeing this creature several times over the years, always when cycling at night between the two villages. A more recent witness heard howling and spotted two red eyes - after the witness's uncle died a short time later, they believed what they had encountered had been a shuck.

Legless Men

Location: Lichfield (Staffordshire) - M6 toll road near town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2005
Further Comments: Sue Cowley, driving her husband and child home, stopped when she spotted what she first thought were animals crossing the road. As Sue stopped, she realised that they were shadowy figures; dressed in Roman clothing, the group of twenty or more men crossed the road waist deep in the tarmac as if it were water, though it did not impede their movement.

Headless Man on Horse

Location: Lilburn (Northumberland) - Crossroads
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two ghosts were said to haunt this area. A man with his head under his arm rode upon a dun coloured horse, while at other times a phantom woman would appear, wringing her hands.

Face at the Window

Location: Limpley Stoke (Wiltshire) - Road through the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At least one motorist has reported seeing a ghostly face at their windscreen at a bend along this road.

Nurse

Location: Lisburn (County Antrim) - M1, heading towards Belfast
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1969
Further Comments: A young woman with long dark hair, wearing a tartan coat and carrying a suitcase, was spotted walking in the centre of the motorway by a passenger in a car. As the car drove past, the passenger turned to look at the figure from out the back window, but she had vanished. The witness later learned that the woman had been seen by others and was thought to be a nurse knocked over and killed along the road.

Young Woman

Location: Lisburn (County Down) - M1 between Lisburn and Hillsborough
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards?
Further Comments: This motorway is reported to be haunted by a young woman who hitchhikes - like the urban myth, she vanishes shortly after accepting a lift.

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