The Paranormal Database

Grosvenor Centre, Northampton.

Floating Monk

Location: Northampton (Northamptonshire) - Grosvenor Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Built on the site of an old monastery, it was perhaps inevitable that the building would become haunted by the figure that has been seen by cleaning staff after shopping hours.

19 Magdalen Street, Norwich.

Victorian Female Murder Victim

Location: Norwich (Norfolk) - 19 Magdalen Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: When this location was home to a charity shop, staff were subjected to the sounds of footsteps in empty parts of the building, cold spots, and drafts. A shadowy figure was also reported to lurk on the staircase. The psychical research team BSIG spent a night on the site; they documented EVP and witnessed a previously locked door swing open. It was speculated that the haunting was caused by a Victorian woman murdered near the site. More recently, the EDP's Weird Norfolk team reported an exorcism had been performed in the shop in the 1980 and that, perhaps other than one recent fleeting encounter, the haunting has all but ceased.

Voices from the Past

Location: Norwich (Norfolk) - Farnworths (was at 35 London Street)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: Local press reported at the time that the manager would hear men's voices in the building although no other people were present. On another occasion wet drag marks were seen on the floor, with no rational explanation for their presence.

Young Girl

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Former antiques shop, Mansfield Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975/6
Further Comments: This young girl, said to be around ten years of age, had a pale face and large eyes. She wore dark clothing, a white pinafore, and her boots had holes in the toes. A medium was called to the shop, after which the phantom disappeared.

Sobbing Boy

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Lee Rosys tea shop (17 Broad Street)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: A local newspaper reported that staff and one customer had heard phantom sobbing from behind a wall. Puddles of water appeared without cause and cups would fall from tables without reason.

Children

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Shop (name withheld), Carlton Road area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sensation of children running around the entrance had been reported by shoppers, even though no youngsters were present.

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 (West 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.

Woman

Location: Rochester (Kent) - Backroom Bookshop (no longer open), High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The owner of this shop spotted a woman dressed in 1960s-era clothing walking between the shelves before she vanished.