The Paranormal Database

St Paul's Cathedral, London.

Clergyman

Location: EC4 (Greater London) - St Paul's Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century (sounds), December 2019 (transept figure)
Further Comments: Haunting the All Soul's chapel area, the holy man is wears archaic clothing, thought to be hundreds of years old. His whistling is known to be so loud it upsets people who have come to the church to find peace. There are also reports of children crying which sounds as if it comes from the far east section of the crypt, and the sound of footsteps in various parts of the building, heard when there should be no visitors to the site. In 2019, a staff member working in the North Transept reported a figure or figures on the South Transept walking along behind the iron barrier, fifty feet from the cathedral floor. The figure(s) appeared holographic, slightly luminous and were not fully formed, and moved from west to east twice within five minutes. St Paul's is also home to the bell Great Tom, which is said to strike incorrectly prior to the death of a royal.

Holyrood House Palace, Edinburgh.

Mary & Family

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Holyrood House Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Darnley and David Rizzio (Mary's private secretary) all haunt this building. Rizzio's death was most gruesome - he was stabbed 56 times by Lord Darnley and a group of Scottish lords. The outer door of the Queen's apartments is said to be still stained with Rizzio's blood which will not wash away. Meanwhile, in the garden, a naked ghost named Bald Agnes appears. Agnes was striped and tortured on the belief that she was a witch in 1592.

An old painting of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Location: Elgin (Moray) - Thunderton House Public House (former Royal lodging house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: The Bonnie Prince stayed at this former hunting lodge for a week prior to the battle of Culloden as he recovered from an illness. His ghost has been reported within the walls of the building. Poltergeist behaviour has also been observed in the bar area and the cellar - one member of staff watched as an invisible hand swept the evening's takings from the counting table onto the floor.

Boudica

Location: Epping Forest (Essex) - Hill Fort, Ambresbury Banks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Claimed by some to be her grave (and others, her final battlefield), Boudica has been reported loitering in the area.

Portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria.

Queen Henrietta Maria

Location: Exeter (Devon) - Barnfield House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This Queen stayed here to give birth before escaping to France, though she also appears to continue to remain here today.

Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary?

Location: Falkland (Fife) - Covenanter Hotel, High Street?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom female that is said to lurk here has been named as Mary Queen of Scots. She occasionally appears standing over guests in their beds.

Female Form

Location: Falkland (Fife) - Falkland Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom woman is said to walk the gallery in the palace, looking for her lost lover.

A portrait of Charles the First.

Charles I

Location: Farnham (Surrey) - Vernon House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A prisoner at the time, Charles was held here briefly while being taken to London for execution.

Odin

Location: Gatcombe (Gloucestershire) - Gatcombe Park
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The large phantom dog reputed to haunt this royal household is named the 'Hound of Odin'.

St Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth.

Intermittent Rapping

Location: Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) - St Nicholas Church
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After the incomplete burial of an Egyptian Princess, mysterious rapping started to occur at the church, the vicarage, and a few more surrounding buildings. The rapping ceased when the princess's burial rite was completed. Another local legend says if you circumambulate the church three times and shout 'Bloody Queen Mary', the face of Mary Tudor appears through a window.

An old postcard of Hampton Court Palace.

Henry's Wives

Location: Hampton Court (Surrey) - Hampton Court Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies: 12 October (reoccurring), 4 November (reoccurring), and other (see text)
Further Comments: Jane Seymour returns every 12 October (the date she gave birth to her son), while Anne Boleyn, dressed in blue, is said to walk the passageways of the palace. A silently screaming Catherine Howard has been watched moving towards the chapel (on 4 November), where she begged Henry VIII to save her life. Howard's disembodied hand was spotted and sketched by an artist working in the Guard Watching Chamber in 1900. A photograph taken in December 2003 showing a 'ghostly' hooded figure opening a fire escape has been dismissed as a hoax. In 1989 a figure spotted wearing a Victorian nightshirt vanished in front of a witness. Finally, an Edwardian story says the clock stops unaided whenever someone dies in the palace.

Anne of Cleves

Location: Haslemere (Surrey) - Lythe Hill Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The fourth wife of Henry VIII was said to walk through bricked up doorways in the building to which she became banished. In the mid 2000s, the hotel charged a premium to stay in a haunted room, to cover additional insurance and ghost hunting equipment hire.

Sir Thomas

Location: Hautbois (Norfolk) - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

William of Soulis

Location: Hawick (Borders) - Hermitage Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Every seven years, last heard 1885 (exact date unknown) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Murdered by peasants who had grown tired of his wicked ways, William now returns to rendezvous with a wizard deep under the castle ruins. It is said a phantom Mary Queen of Scots haunts the building, though there is no evidence she ever visited. Another entity is also reported here - starved to death in the dungeon, the ghost of Sir Alex Ramsey now walks the castle grounds. In addition to the ghosts, some believe there is hidden treasure under the ruins of the castle, but the Devil watches over it - when people have tried to dig for the hoard in the past, violent storms have driven them away.

Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots

Location: Heage (Derbyshire) - Pickard Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of Mary Queen of Scots, who visited Heage Hall whilst incarcerated at South Wingfield, manifests as a figure on a brown horse dressed in her Tudor riding clothes, although it is said she is more likely to be heard rather than seen.

Little Man

Location: Hollingbourne (Kent) - Eyhorne Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Poltergeist circa 1970, others unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a small man has been seen, while disembodied footsteps have been heard in the grounds, and in the bedroom invisible clothing has been heard moving. Poltergeist activity was encountered around 1970, when the family reported that something would lift items from surfaces and drop them to the floor. It may be in this building that the ghost of Catherine Howard has also been seen.

Coach

Location: Horstead (Norfolk) - Meyton bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 May (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn and is one of eleven (or twelve) bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution.

Quiet Noises

Location: Ilfracombe (Devon) - Chambercombe Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A secret room discovered in the mid-nineteenth century also revealed a female skeleton lying in bed - since then, the area around the room has sported strange sounds late at night. Even by the 1890s, the ghost story was considered a smuggler's tale created to explain roughish late-night activities. The ghost of Lady Jane Grey is also reported to haunt the building.

An old postcard of Traquair House.

Lady Louisa Stuart

Location: Innerleithen (Borders) - Traquair House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Buried nearby, Lady Louisa has been observed drifting around the grounds of the building. They say that Bonny Prince Charlie sometimes returns to the castle.

Moving Floorboards

Location: Kendal (Cumbria) - Sizergh Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While not happening in living memory, it is claimed one room here had its floorboards removed and scattered by unseen hands on several consecutive nights. Sobs of a phantom woman have also been heard, and Catherine Parr is said to haunt the Queen's Room.

An old painting of Catherine of Aragon.

Catherine of Aragon

Location: Kimbolton (Cambridgeshire) - Kimbolton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1536 onwards
Further Comments: The first wife of Henry VIII was imprisoned here for the last two years of her life. Legend says Catherine of Aragon's ghost walks the gallery, after dying in one of the rooms in 1536. Another shade, belonging to a young child, began to haunt the building after she was thrown from the battlements. The paving slab which the child landed on is said to glow blue on the anniversary of the event.

Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots

Location: Kinross (Perth and Kinross) - Loch Leven Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Queen of Scots reportedly haunts the building where she signed her abdication.

Whittington and cat, from an old pamphlet.

Dick

Location: Kinver (Staffordshire) - Whittington Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dick Whittington once owned this building, and now occasionally returns to keep an eye on things. Other ghosts on site include Lady Jane Grey, a monk, and an entity that reportedly tries to strangle people as they sleep.

Pendragon

Location: Kirkby Stephen (Cumbria) - Pendragon Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Castle still stands (on private land)
Further Comments: Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur, resided here until he and a hundred of his men were poisoned by the Saxon invaders. Some believe Pendragon's ghost remains here. Another ghost, that of Sir Hugh de Morville, haunts the building as punishment for murdering Thomas Becket. Finally, a hoard of treasure hidden here is protected by a phantom black hen that replaces the soil of any hole dug just as quick as it is removed!

Richard III

Location: Leicester (Leicestershire) - Car park (and surrounding area)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005-2013
Further Comments: Philippa Langley felt a strange sensation crossing this car park, on a location marked by an 'R', and virtually on top of the location where Richard III's body was later found (the 'R' has been in the car park since the eighties and was painted by an attendant). The offices of Denham Foxon & Watchorn which overlook the car park were reported to be home to mysterious noises, also (now) blamed on the king.