The Paranormal Database

Bride?

Location: Scarborough (North Yorkshire) - Woodland near Open Air Theatre, Peasholme Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 01 July 2023
Further Comments: Two people watched, through a phone screen, a bride or nun-like figure standing in woodland. The figure vanished soon after being spotted.

Bloodied Hands

Location: SE1 (Greater London) - Old Vic, Waterloo Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly woman has appeared several times, always clasping her bloodstained hands. Some believe that she was an actress, and that the blood is fake - used for a stage production of a Shakespearian play.

Dylan Thomas

Location: SE13 (Greater London) - Bush Theatre (Shepherd's Bush Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A former BBC worker, Thomas enjoyed drinking and socialising at this site.

Smartly Dressed Woman

Location: Shaftesbury (Dorset) - Shaftesbury Theatre
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Seen only once, this woman in autumn clothing stood on a catwalk seventy foot above the stage - she was passed by a builder who was sent to fix the ceiling damaged in a storm. At first it did not register that she was out of place, and when the worker went to speak to her, she had vanished.

White Mist

Location: Shanklin (Isle of Wight) - Theatre
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: During a Derek Acorah evet, a member of the audience thought a smoke machine had been turned on after a white mist appeared on stage. The mist grew darken and took the form of a tall man. The witness was briefly distracted, during which the misty man vanished.

Lady Philomere

Location: Sonning (Berkshire) - The Mill theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Philomere is said to have thrown herself into the nearby waters to end her life, and now haunts the theatre.

Strange Shadows

Location: Southsea (Hampshire) - Kings Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2006
Further Comments: Staff and visitors to the theatre have reported seeing weird shadows and hearing strange noises. Wessex Ghost Hunters investigated the site and the team's medium declared the theatre to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who committed suicide.

Charles Manford

Location: St Andrews (Fife) - Byre Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Though never seen, the non-threatening presence of the former owner is often felt or heard and is considered reassuring. The ghost moved with the theatre after it was pulled down in 1970 and relocated under half a kilometre down the road.

Man Dressed in Black

Location: St Helens (Merseyside) - Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: There are several people in the running who could be this ghost (including a former manager and a Second World War pilot), who wears a black suit and long coat.

Allan Mair

Location: Stirling (Stirling) - Tolbooth Theatre / public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: Allan Mair was a prisoner held at this former jail. He died on site and was buried within the grounds. Manifesting in eighteenth century clothing, Mair is also held responsible for smashing bottles of alcohol and creating noises where the cells once held him.

Mrs Johnstone

Location: Sunderland (Tyne and Wear) - Empire Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A violinist who died on the site, Johnstone has been seen by the manager, drifting along the dress circle before vanishing. There are also rumours that Sid James haunts the Empire, and that Barbara Windsor (and several others) refused to work there.

Groaning

Location: Sunderland (Tyne and Wear) - Royalty Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s?
Further Comments: Used as a hospital during the Second World War, this theatre is home to disembodied footsteps, groaning, vanishing personal belongings, slamming doors, and shadowy figures.

John Baldwin Buckstone

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - (Haymarket) Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2009
Further Comments: A welcome ghost, Buckstone only manifests when a performance is destined to make it big. Patrick Stewart reportedly spotted Buckstone during a performance of Waiting for Godot, as did Margaret Rutherford, many years previous. Another former manager of the theatre, David Morris, is reported to return once a decade to the theatre just to cause trouble for a single night, before retiring for another ten years.

Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Responsible for funding the theatre's rebuild in 1899, Sir Herbert was the manager and an actor, and his favourite seat in the theatre was the top box to the right. In recent years (so they say) people sitting here have felt cold spots and had the door open on its own accord.

The former site of St James's Theatre, London.

Former Actress

Location: SW1 (Greater London) - St James's Theatre (no longer standing, replaced by an office block), King Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1957
Further Comments: This white clad ghost was thought to be an eighteenth century actress. An unknown presence would also hammer at dressing room doors, disappearing as soon as they were opened, and once it was announced that the theatre would close, a man would be seen standing in the shadows, vanishing if approached.

Alfred Frederick Janes

Location: SW16 (Greater London) - Odeon cinema (was the Streatham Astoria)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Alfred once owned a large house which was demolished to make way for the development of a large theatre. He died shortly after completion of the playhouse, and since then his ghost has been spotted moving around, and once was heard shouting 'I won't sell!'.

JB Mulholland

Location: SW19 (Greater London) - Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon Broadway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former manager, Mulholland has been seen whilst sitting in the boxes, watching rehearsals. Another classic theatre ghost, a grey lady, also haunts the building, sometimes laughing to herself as she drifts through closed doors.

Nellie Melba

Location: SW4 (Greater London) - Bingo hall along Clapham High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: Nellie fell from the roof of this former theatre, after climbing to the roof in a drunken haze. Her shade, headless, was reportedly seen by some staff members near the area of the former stage.

Jenny

Location: Swansea (West Glamorgan) - Grand Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: An actress who went down with the Titanic, Jenny last acted in this theatre before meeting her doom. She is now seen dressed in brilliant white, quickly vanishing into thin air after being spotted.

Running Figures

Location: Swindon (Wiltshire) - Wyvern Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Shadowy figures have been reported running in the building, and footsteps heard in areas that should be empty.

The Pushing Chair

Location: Upminster (Essex) - Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: People who sit in a certain chair in the auditorium experience the sensation of being pushed. This phenomenon is said to be related to a suicide which once occurred here. Watchers on one ghost hunt heard footsteps and tapping in the same area but could see no one.

London Beer Flood Victim

Location: W1 (Greater London) - Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: The theatre was built partly on the site where the Meux and Company Brewery stood. An accident at the brewery in 1814 released 1.5 million litres of beer that destroyed homes and killed several people. It has been reported that a teenage victim haunts the theatre and can occasionally be heard giggling.

Woman on Staircase

Location: W1 (Greater London) - London Palladium, Argyll Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A red staircase and the surrounding passageways towards the back of the building are haunted by a rarely seen woman moving silently between them.

Assistant

Location: W1 (Greater London) - Maskelyne's Theatre of Mystery (St George's Theatre), demolished 1966
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 1938
Further Comments: Magician Jasper Maskelyne claimed that a shadowy figure manifested in the wings, an area no one could have reached unseen, and helped a struggling magician on stage successfully finish their act.

Angry Figure

Location: W1 (Greater London) - Prince Edward theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: An actor reported seeing an angry looking figure glaring at them from the wings.