The Paranormal Database

Outline of Coach

Location: Stroud (Gloucestershire) - Road running alongside Rodborough Common, and apartments built near Rodborough Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, September 2013
Further Comments: A couple out walking in the 1970s watched in amazement as the ghostly outline of a horseless coach passed them. In 2013, a group of friends watched as an old fashioned car silently moved by. No driver could be seen and as they tried to follow, it vanished. Other witnesses have seen the phantom, and others have reported headless horsemen or of hearing galloping.

Cyclist

Location: Stroud (Gloucestershire) - Stroud Hill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1910s - early 1920s
Further Comments: Two men on different occasions witnessed a cyclist crash into a hedge, falling over the top of it. On examination of the crash site, bike and rider could not be seen.

Grey Lady with Basket

Location: Stuntney (Cambridgeshire) - A142 - near Stuntney, where the old and new roads cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards
Further Comments: Appearing towards dusk, the woman is believed to be the wife of Robert Cromwell, father of Oliver. Oliver's mother once lived in a long gone hall in the village.

Danny Grimshaw

Location: Sutton Courtenay (Oxfordshire) - Hobbyhorse Road and near the local power plant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghostly figure, charging around the roads on the back of a white horse whilst waving a bloody, straight edged razor, has survived at least one exorcism attempt.

Headless Woman

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Cockspur Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: A taxi driver watched a decapitated woman cross the road in front of him, vanishing once reaching the pavement. The figure is thought to be the same entity that haunts St James's Park.

Old Bicycle

Location: Swainsthorpe (Norfolk) - Outskirts of Swainsthorpe, along the road from Brooke
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Heard on one occasion, and seen on another, the bicycle was reported to look and sound as if it had hard iron tyres, and upon observation, was riderless.

The strange hound of Wiltshire.

Black Dog

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Road between Moredon and Haydon Wick
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The road between these two locations was once believed to be the haunt of a shuck.

Car

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Road between Swindon and Huntingford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: There are several reports of a car crossing the road somewhere between these two towns, though at the point at which it crosses there is barbed wire fencing along each side.

Guard Dog

Location: Swinscoe (Staffordshire) - Leek to Ashbourne road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The site where three Jacobites are buried is haunted by a large black hound that ensures their graves are not disturbed.

Crying Girl

Location: Symondsbury (Dorset) - Lane between village and Bridport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This country lane is said to be haunted by a young crying girl. She is said to vanish if approached.

Black Figure

Location: Tadcaster (North Yorkshire) - A64 eastbound towards Tadcaster from A1
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: A driver's headlights illuminated a figure in the middle of the left lane, causing the driver to brake and swerve to avoid a collision. The figure seemed stooped and faced to the left, but was strangely pitch black with no clothing or facial features - just a silhouetted shape of a figure even when the headlights hit it. The passenger in the car reported the near miss to the police, believing it to have been an actual person, although later both witnesses later realised it was not.

Dark Cavalier

Location: Tadcaster (North Yorkshire) - A64 entering Tadcaster from York, grassy field to the left hand side
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October or November 1993
Further Comments: A couple driving their young child to the babysitter were forced to brake to avoid hitting a figure dressed in dark cavalier type clothing with long knee boots as he ran across the road from the right to the left. The figure pasted within two metres of the car (close enough for the witnesses to report he looked afraid of something), and both driver and passenger could see through him. The entity continued running before pixelating and disappearing. Local radio later carried an identical story from a different witness.

Horse

Location: Talke (Staffordshire) - Road just outside the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 1932
Further Comments: Drivers reported hearing the sound like a hammer striking an anvil before seeing a phantom horse being led across the road, both man and beast cut off at the knees as if walking a much older track since built upon.

Fragmented Soldier

Location: Tamworth (Staffordshire) - Unknown road in Fazeley area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 1972
Further Comments: A witness driving along the road slowed down to offer a lift to a tall man dressed in a soldier's uniform that was walking along the verge. However, the soldier appeared to shimmer and fragment like a broken reflection on water as the witness approached closer.

Hitchhiker

Location: Taunton (Somerset) - A38 road near the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970, 2016
Further Comments: This man dressed in a long grey coat stands by the roadside, and if an oncoming car does not stop to offer him a ride, he throws himself in front of the vehicle. Either way, he vanishes without trace, normally leaving the witness scared and confused. A white female version of the man has also been reported in the same area.

Drake

Location: Tavistock (Devon) - Road between town and Plymouth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pulled by black headless horses, Sir Frances Drake drives a dark hearse down these roads whenever his drum is heard to beat (see Yelverton (Devon) entry).

Woman in White

Location: Telford (Shropshire) - Arleston Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2008
Further Comments: Travelling along the road, a driver and his passenger spotted a white glowing figure which crossed the road ahead of their car. The figure broke apart as if made from dandelion seeds. The driver said that the figure he observed was in her mid-20s, although the passenger described her as looking old and evil.

Headless Group

Location: Tenby (Dyfed) - Between Tenby and Sampson Cross
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Every night (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A headless team of horses driven by a headless coachman carries a headless lady in a coach along this road every night. As they reach the crossroads known as Sampson Cross, some ten miles from their starting point, they all disappear in a large explosion. Some people believe the entities have been laid, and now rest in a nearby lake.

Young Man

Location: Tenterden (Kent) - A28, near Silver Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1997
Further Comments: A woman driving along the road watched in disbelieve as a semi-transparent man dressed in black stepped out in front of her car. She hit the figure and stopped immediately, but was unable to find the man, and her car remained undamaged.

Heinous Horse

Location: Termonfeckin (County Louth) - Road passing Rath House
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Two young adults driving along this road witnessed an otherworldly horse with the face of a man, the creature's eyes bulging from their sockets. The manifestation stood in the road, blocking their path for two minutes before vanishing.

Boys

Location: Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire) - Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1982
Further Comments: Dressed in knickerbockers and other old fashioned clothing, these two ghostly boys move around the area on crutches. A couple out walking spotted the children, who vanished down an alleyway which ended in a high wall.

Headless Horseman

Location: Thaxted (Essex) - Gibbets Cross, crossroads
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A local farmer told his friends that he watched a headless horseman sitting upon a white steed pass by this crossroads.

Gamekeeper

Location: Thetford (Norfolk) - A11, dual part of the road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 20 November 2006, between 23:45h - 00:15h
Further Comments: Driving to pick someone up, this witness claimed to have seen a ghostly figure on his car bonnet. The figure wore a light thorn coloured suit with a thin red pinstripe and had dark hair. The figure was said to be smiling. The driver turned to his passenger who was asleep, and when he looked back the ghost had gone.

1930s Motor

Location: Thetford (Norfolk) - A11, slip road from Thetford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: A driver and their passenger were stopped at temporary traffic lights. Both spotted a man wearing googles and hat in what they thought was a classic vehicle from the 1930s. As the witnesses drove away, they noticed the old car had disappeared.

Leathes Family

Location: Thirlmere (Cumbria) - Dalehead, road above
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: In Haunted Britain, Coxe says that a member of the Leathes family haunted this region, but by whom and the exact reason why are unknown.