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Shop Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Booted Figure

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Shop / private flat, Hounds Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but pre-1957
Further Comments: Mr Gardner, living above a shop along the road, watched a uniformed figure wearing wellington boots enter a room before promptly vanishing. Disembodied footsteps also haunted the site, as did a voice that shouted 'halt!'.

Vanishing Man

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Victoria Shopping Centre
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1970s and Spring 2005
Further Comments: During the 1970s, two workers at the bus station spotted a man who they thought looked a little strange. He walked away and one worker followed, only to realise that he had vanished - there had not been enough time for the figure to have run away, and nowhere for him to hide. In spring 2005 a mother and daughter entered an empty lift; during their brief journey, they both spotted a man standing just behind the daughter.

Thrown Chisel

Location: NW6 (Greater London) - Shoe shop (no longer operating) along Dyne Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 1949 - February 1950
Further Comments: A chisel embedded itself in the wall just as a worker complained to his manager about the haunting. Shoes would be found tossed outside or dyed the wrong colour, candles moved and lit, and locked doors opened. Eventually a pair of shoes were nailed to a bench and covered in white powder in a (failed) effort to catch the phantom. After a year, the poltergeist left a message instructing the staff to dig a hole. Instructions were followed and a concrete slab laid over a drain found under the floor where the ghost had indicated. The shop fell quiet.

Grey Man

Location: Ormskirk (Lancashire) - Old Ship Inn, aka Abblets shoe shop, Moor street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This tall male ghost appears quite solid, yet greyish in colour. He stands by the front upstairs window, overlooking the main road. A strong smell of tobacco could also be detected within the building.

Dummies

Location: Otley (Yorkshire) - Shop at the corner of Kirkgate and Market Place (currently British Heart Foundation)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Tailor's dummies have moved by themselves, pictures have fallen from their hooks, the smell of pipe tobacco fills the air, and strange noises can be heard at night at this haunted charity shop.

Brown Deck Shoes

Location: Padstow (Cornwall) - Meltham shoe shop (no longer a shoe shop)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2005
Further Comments: Two shop workers were terrorised by several poltergeist-like incidents revolving around a pair of deck shoes. The footwear would jump off the display stand in front of workers and move around at night. A priest called in to bless the shop failed to prevent the shoes from moving again. The ghost of a butcher who committed suicide in a nearby cattle shed was blamed.

Haunted Wardrobe

Location: Paignton (Devon) - Olden Ewe antiques shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2015
Further Comments: The owner of this shop featured in the local press after claiming that a wardrobe with a carved demonic face was haunted; its doors would unlock and open, and people claimed to have perceived a phantom, invisible child close to the object.

Figure

Location: Paignton (Devon) - Yesteryears Antique shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2015
Further Comments: Cheryl Ramsdall, the owner of this antique shop, featured in local press after reporting hearing strange sounds on the staircase and spotting a strange figure standing behind her.

Sliding Sauce

Location: Penwortham (Lancashire) - Lollipops sweet shop, Liverpool Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 03 June 2023
Further Comments: Caught on camera, a bottle of sauce repeatedly slid off the top of a glass counter, even though other bottles close by did not move. In the local press, one of the owners speculated that the entity may be the same one which haunted her former home.

Beer Thrower

Location: Penzance (Cornwall) - Co-op store, Queen's Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2003
Further Comments: Mysterious footsteps have been heard moving around the store, while power cuts and items on the shelves moving after closing time have plagued management. Video footage showed a pack of beer moving itself from the shelves, landing on the floor below. The entity was thought to be an old woman, who has been seen by one staff member, though it was later said the reports were hoaxed by an employee after media attention.

Woman?

Location: Perth (Perth and Kinross) - Curiositeaz Vintage Tea Room
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2012
Further Comments: Staff at this coffee shop have reported hearing voices and witnessing chairs moving on their own accord. CCTV footage released by owner Dan Clifford is said to show a misty figure, although the bright light source visible in the shot could be creating lens flare responsible for the 'figure'.


Queensgate Shopping Centre, Peterborough.

Giggling

Location: Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) - Queensgate Shopping Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sometimes heard once the shopping centre is closed to the public, the sound of a young child giggling and disembodied footsteps have been reported.


High Street, Poole.

Mr Jenkins

Location: Poole (Dorset) - 71 High Street (original shop no longer stands)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964 and 1976
Further Comments: Since the old shop was replaced by a new building, the phantom of Mr Jenkins has not been seen. He was regarded as a rude ghost, pushing past people as he descended the staircase. Witnesses who spotted him said Jenkins was a young man wearing a suit with a high white collar.

After Hours Figure

Location: Portmeirion (Gwynedd) - Seconds Pottery Shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A figure has been spotted in the shop after it has been locked up for the night.

Jumping Keyboard

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Cash Converters, London Road, Fratton
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: Two workers in Cash Converters reported seeing an analogue synthesiser fly three metres across the shop floor, hitting a CD rack. The former owner of the keyboard told the manager she had sold the item because of experiencing similar problems at home.

Cold Spots

Location: Prescot (Lancashire) - Shop along Warrington Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s? Mostly during winter
Further Comments: Cold spots and items which have thrown themselves off counters have been reported in this shop. Staff have also reported being shoved on the staircase.

Lady in White

Location: Rayleigh (Essex) - Unknown toy shop
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: This ghostly woman in white could be heard moving things around the shop and was said to have touched the back of the neck of one witness. It is thought that the woman died in a house fire.

John Ellis

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - April Cotton Florists, 413 Oldham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2008
Further Comments: Even though Rochdale's last public executioner John Ellis committed suicide in 1932, his former barbershop is still thought to contain his shade. An invisible entity pushed one man while he was working alone in the shop, and later slapped the same man's rear.

Sid

Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells (Kent) - Barry M Cosmetics, Calverley Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990 / 1991
Further Comments: All the staff reported paranormal activity while working in the shop during this time. Footsteps would be heard on empty floors, a sweet smelling tobacco could be detected, whispering could be heard, and finger marks would suddenly appear in dust.

Shattering Mirrors

Location: Royston (Hertfordshire) - Henrick's Hairdressing salon
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Mirrors have been known to fly from the walls and the radio changes stations at will, in this haunted salon. A psychic blamed the former owner of the building who slit his own throat.

Man in Black Coat

Location: Ruddington (Nottinghamshire) - Horspools Bakery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This shop is haunted by a man wearing a black coat that looks completely normal, until he disappears.

Two Women

Location: Rye (Sussex) - Town Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several spectres are said to haunt this area of town. The two women have been observed walking down Mermaid Street wearing long gowns, while a lonesome girl in blue has been seen crossing the street. Watchbell Street is the haunt of a little boy dressed in a white sheet, and disembodied footsteps (thought to belong to a young girl), through these are no longer heard, and the Olde Tuck Shoppe along Market Street is home to a lady in grey.


Salisbury's former Debenhams.

Duke of Buckingham

Location: Salisbury (Wiltshire) - Debenhams' department store (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Executed in the fifteenth century, the headless apparition of the duke terrified a British Telecom employee working on the site - he refused to re-enter the building.

Chip Shop

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Firth Park
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990
Further Comments: Walking home one evening, a mother and daughter spotted a chip shop which they had thought was new, as they had not seen it before. The shop was open, lights were on, and people were inside. A couple of nights later, they decided to visit the takeaway, but it was not there - a DIY shop stood on the spot, twice the size of the chip shop they had seen.

Floating Feet

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Schofield's department store (now Argos Extra), Angel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The boiler room here was haunted by a pair of feet which hovered a half a metre or so from the floor.

Records 101 - 125 of 134

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