Road Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Madeline Smith
Location: Scaldwell (Northamptonshire) - Roads around the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Smith stood trial for the murder of her boyfriend but was found not guilty. The stress generated by the proceedings proved too much for her, and she died shortly after. Her grey form now haunts the lands.
Older Lady
Location: Scarborough (North Yorkshire) - A171
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 05 November 2019
Further Comments: While travelling as a passenger on a Whitby bound bus, a witness noted an older lady on the bottom deck sitting a few seats behind. The lady cast a dim reflection in the window, and the witness could see her from the corner of the eye. The lady had no way of exiting the bus, but disappeared before the bus reached its destination, with no possible means of leaving. There are stories of the lady joining people in their cars on this stretch of road.
Strange Man
Location: Scarisbrick (Lancashire) - A570, between Morris Dancers pub and Blue Elephant (now Nellie Indian) Restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 February 2023, approx 20:00h, and Autumn 2004
Further Comments: While walking towards the marina, a witness spotted a man wearing a long woollen coat with a hat, longish hair, and a strange looking face. The witness turned away for a few seconds, during which time the man vanished. The figure may have been seen by another witness, who reported seeing a very similar figure along the same road in 2004.
Coach and Horses
Location: Scawby (Lincolnshire) - Road north of village, just before the crossroads (geography may have changed since story first published)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A phantom horseman can be heard laughing as he drives his team of horses around this area. He was blamed when a local man drowned in a lake that no longer exists. Another phantom male was said to haunt this lake, but what has become of him is not known.
Shadow-like Man
Location: Scopwick (Lincolnshire) - Road parallel to RAF Digby
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 17:25h, 29 January 2007
Further Comments: Two men travelling back to Waddington spotted a figure wearing a long cloak or tailcoat disappearing into a hedge row towards the airbase. One witness said the figure was transparent or shadowlike and did not appear to have any legs.
Spencer
Location: Scrooby (Nottinghamshire) - Great North Road
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1952
Further Comments: A man walking home witnessed a figure entering a small cottage. A few seconds, a couple of screams followed, and two figures ran from the cottage, one with a head injury. The witness panicked, convinced he had watched a robbery and ran off. Lost in the dark, he ran in a circle, returning to the scene of the crime, only there was no cottage... It is speculated he witnessed the murder of a gatekeeper and his wife, killed by John Spencer in 1779. The ghost of Spencer, or maybe the gatekeeper, has also been seen standing on the roadside.
Vanishing Girl
Location: Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire) - Lay-by near Keadby Bridge
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: A taxi driver reported picking up a fare from this location; a young girl, who sent a shiver down his spine, asked to be dropped near the football ground. As he reached the destination, he realised she had vanished.
Protective Shuck
Location: Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire) - Road between Scunthorpe and Crosby
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1900s
Further Comments: This guardian dog appeared by the side of a woman, preventing a gang of labourers from attacking her. It vanished as she reached home.
Nun
Location: Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire) - Rowland Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1994
Further Comments: Two children out trick-or-treating watched a nun float through a gate and disappear along a path. One of the children's neighbours, a few years later, also claimed to have seen a phantom nun in the area.
Horned Figure
Location: SE1 (Greater London) - Road between Newington and Walworth
Type: Other
Date / Time: 27-28 March 1818
Further Comments: Shouts for help summoned a watchman who discovered a terrified man near the turnpike, who claimed he had seen a horned woman rise out of the earth. Later the same evening, another traveller claimed to have seen a figure vanish without trace when approached. The following night, watchmen caught a naked laughing woman along the road; a surgeon pronounced her insane and dispatched the woman to a workhouse. If the woman were to blame for the previous night's activities, her magical manifestation methods were never explained.
Lord John Angerstein
Location: SE10 (Greater London) - Trafalgar Road to Vanbrugh Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lord John's coach, pulled by four headless horses and driven by the lord himself, is said to leave Trafalgar Road and return to his former home on Vanbrugh Road.
White Lady
Location: SE18 (Greater London) - Shooter's Hill, Blackheath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost is believed to be that of a woman who died of head trauma - a skull found in the 1830s near the site possessed a large hole caused by a blunt object. Shooter's Hill also made the news in 1963, as it was combed by police and soldiers looking for a puma-like creature that had been seen by members of the public.
RAF Pilot
Location: SE28 (Greater London) - Abbey Road and Tavy Bridge (former Erith Marshes), Thamesmead
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This pilot died when his spitfire crashed into the marshes during the Second World War. This tall, dark uniformed man has been reported in several buildings along the road. Some also report that the sound of a German aircraft crashing into the marshes here can still be heard.
Victorian Lady
Location: SE3 (Greater London) - Hare and Billet Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This ghostly figure tragically hanged herself from a tree on the heathland when she discovered her lover had run off. She still patrols the area seeking him.
Screams
Location: SE3 (Greater London) - Kidbroke Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1800s
Further Comments: The screams of a murder victim could be heard here for years after the crime committed.
Alice Grant
Location: SE6 (Greater London) - Bromley Road & Southend Lane, Bellingham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Knocked from her bike and killed at this junction, Grant has since been seen at the location, dressed in black Victorian clothing.
Victorian Woman
Location: SE9 (Greater London) - Avery Hill area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A phantom woman wearing Victorian clothing is reputed to walk this region of London.
Car Crash
Location: Seaford (Sussex) - Road along coastline
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1976
Further Comments: A couple out walking watched a car as it lost control and hit a three foot high sea wall - it passed straight through and disappeared on the other side.
Woman in White
Location: Seaton (Leicestershire) - B672 Road, under the Seaton Viaduct bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 12 April 2007, 01:01h
Further Comments: While travelling home, a driver spotted a woman in white clothing, with a pale face, standing by a gate by one of the bridge arches. Finding it strange for someone to be there, the driver slowed down to take a closer look. The figure was completely motionless. The driver passed her, and looking into the rear view mirror, realised the figure had vanished.
Bus
Location: Seend (Wiltshire) - A361
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1921 or 1922
Further Comments: A cyclist spotted a bus approaching in the distance, but it disappeared before reaching him.
Tall White Figure
Location: Selattyn (Shropshire) - Glyn Road, approximately 200 metres outside of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2011, around 23:00h
Further Comments: Near to the Pant Glas junction, a witness spotted a tall white human figure twenty metres ahead. He switched on his torch and shouted a warning, but the figure disappeared. The witness said that there are many sightings of white hooded figures around Selattyn, and some believe that they are the guardians of the tomb belonging to a Celtic Prince who is buried on Selattyn hill.
Gliding Girl
Location: Selsey (Sussex) - Cricket ground and nearby road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Several people in the village are said to have encountered the dark haired girl in a Victorian dress. She emerges from the cricket pitch, crosses the road, and vanishes when she enters a nearby field.
Suicide Shuck
Location: Selworthy (Somerset) - Road leading to Tivington
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shuck is thought to contain the soul of a local man who committed suicide.
Giggling
Location: Sevenhampton (Wiltshire) - Road outside Elipses Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2014, 23:00h
Further Comments: Needing to make a telephone call, a driver pulled off the A420 and stopped outside a farm. The driver then heard a girl giggle in the darkness and spotted a white shape in the driver's wing mirror and the rear-view mirror, although the shape vanished when they turned their head.
Old Lady
Location: Sevenoaks (Kent) - Maidstone Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 14 June (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Killed in a road traffic accident in 1959, this ghostly figure now steps out in front of traffic on the anniversary of her death.
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