The Paranormal Database

The stones at Clava Cairns, Scotland.

Fairy Music

Location: Clava Cairns (Highland) - Stone Cairns
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Bronze Age cemetery, the haunting sound of fiddling heard in this area has led some to say that the music is produced by fairies. A few people who have removed stones from the site are reported have returned them after suffering streaks of bad luck.

Indestructible Stone

Location: Cleish (Perth and Kinross) - The Lecture Stone (was quarter mile east from church)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The stone was said to be blessed after three attempts to blow it up with gunpowder failed. It has since been moved to an unknown location.

Thrown Stone

Location: Clonakilty (County Cork) - Knockatlowig (stone row)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The largest stone found here is said to have been thrown into position by a giant standing a couple of kilometres away.

Giant's Stone

Location: Clonbulloge (County Offaly) - Clonkeen standing stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: The giant Fionn MacCumhaill tossed this stone from Croghan, around twenty kilometres southeast. As the stone rolled across the ground, a dog stood in its path and stopped the stone with his paw; the paw print is still seen on the stone today.

Rotating Stone

Location: Colwall (Herefordshire) - Stone in the centre of the village
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Every night at midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Old Nick appears at midnight every night to turn the stone around.

Doctor Barnes

Location: Colyton (Devon) - The Doctor's Stone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Placed on top of a hill by the good Doctor so he could survey the land whilst resting, the stone is now reportedly haunted by the man's shade - he has been seen perched upon it, smoking a pipe.

Thrown

Location: Corfe Castle (Dorset) - Rempstone Stone Circle (private property)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Accidently created by the Devil as he tried to hurl boulders at Corfe Castle, these stones fell in a rough circle shape.

The Devil's Chair

Location: Corscombe (Dorset) - Corscombe standing stones
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Named after a belief that the Devil would once sit here, the stones are also called Granny's Armchair (which is not quite as frightening).

Failed Roadblock

Location: Corscombe (Dorset) - Toller Down standing stones
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: The Devil threw these stones into position while trying to block the road.

Dropped by a Witch

Location: Craigie (Ayrshire) - Witches Stone (no longer present)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A witch picked up this large stone, placing it in her apron and flying towards the church, with the intent of dropping it on the building. Before reaching her target, one of her apron strings snapped, and the rock fell. The stone was later blown up by a farmer and removed.

Thrown Missile

Location: Crail (Fife) - Blue Stone (outside the parish church)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The Devil, who may have been secretly involved in constructing the church, was angered by a local man. The Devil fled to the Isle of May and threw a stone at the church. The projectile fell short and remains in place to this day.

Soldiers

Location: Cregneish (Isle of Man) - Meayll Stone Circle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom army comprising of soldiers and their horses are said to haunt the area round these ancient burial chambers.

Fish Stone

Location: Crickhowell (Powys) - Stone by the River Usk
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a year this strangely shaped stone dives into the local river and goes for a swim.

Thrown Stone

Location: Crolly (County Donegal) - The Large Rock Of The Foxes Leap, aka Crolly Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Fionn Mac Cumhaill threw this large boulder during the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne but missed his targets. It is said to grant a wish if three small stones can be successfully thrown on top of it. Another legend says the boulder will roll if the most beautiful maiden in the all the land stands in its shadow.

Fairies' Cradle

Location: Cromarty (Highland) - Stone near St Benet's Spring (spring may no longer exist)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stone destroyed 1745
Further Comments: If a baby had been replaced by a changeling, the fairy child could be placed on a stone known as the Fairies' Cradle and the little people were forced to return the stolen human child. The stone was broken up by a minister.

Dying Cattle

Location: Crowle (Lincolnshire) - Field containing a large stone (no longer present?)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A large stone, known as the Black Stone, on a farmer's field was said to be cursed - if moved, the farmer's cattle would all die. Someone stole the stone, and as forewarned, all the cattle died. The stone, however, was returned soon after.

Glowing Pike

Location: Crumlin (Gwent) - Large stone in the area (exact location not known)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost which took to haunting a man convinced him to travel one night to a large stone. The ghost gave the man the strength to lift the stone, under which a glowing weapon, a pike, was discovered. The man was given instruction to take the pike to a nearby river, stand with his back to the water and throw the weapon over his head. After performing the ritual, the ghost was seen no more.

Witch's Footprint

Location: Culross (Fife) - Stone on common land and/or first floor of the church steeple
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This stone was used as a launch pad by a flying witch - her push off point is marked by her footprint.

Turning Stone

Location: Curbar (Derbyshire) - Eagle Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: When the cockerel crows, this stone was said to rotate. A local custom says that men must climb to the top of the rock before being married.

From A Book of Dartmoor by S Baring-Gould.

Petrified Hunter

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Bowerman's Nose (rock formation)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Bowerman was turned to stone by a coven of witches after letting his hounds disturb the women as they worked.

An old magic lantern slide of the River Dart.

Calling Stones

Location: Dartmoor (Devon) - Rowbrook, Broad Stones, River Dart
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that the Dart takes one life a year, by gently calling the victim's name until they fall into the waters and drown.

Petrified Parson

Location: Dawlish (Devon) - Parson and Clerk Rock
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A priest and his clerk found themselves lost in the area and sought shelter in an old house where they found several men eating and drinking to excess. The two visitors joined in, only to soon realise that their host was Old Nick. They tried to escape but failed. One legend says that they were found dead on the rock that now bears their names, while other stories say that the pair were turned into the stone.

An old illustration of Robin Hood firing his bow.

Thrown Stone

Location: Denton (Lancashire) - River Tame
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Robin Hood, with the help of some fairies, threw a stone the 'size of a man' from the top of Werneth Low, which was later found within the waters of the River Tame.

Drop Dead

Location: Devizes (Wiltshire) - Market place
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1753
Further Comments: Ruth Pierce swore in the name of God that she had not just cheated her business partner, and that she would be struck dead if it were so. She immediately dropped dead, and so a monolith was erected as a warning to other corrupt businesspeople.

Buried Boulder

Location: Digby (Lincolnshire) - Exact location unknown - somewhere on the edge of the fen, near the Dorrington boundary
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This large stone is said to have buried itself, and underneath is hidden treasure.