The Paranormal Database

Young Lady

Location: Warminster (Wiltshire) - Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970-1990
Further Comments: This phantom female was more likely to be heard or her presence felt. A former worker at the theatre recalled hearing footsteps in empty parts of the building and smelling sweet perfume. The woman is thought to have died after being pushed from the top of a staircase when the building was a reading room in the eighteenth or nineteenth century.

William Terriss

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Adelphi Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Although William Terriss was murdered in 1897, several thespians have since heard or seen William walking about the building or playing around with lights and props. Other people name the ghost as that of Edmund Kean, another famous actor of yester-year. The vaults under the theatre are also said to be haunted by a naked female form, likely the ghost of a girl found strangled and concealed under a pile of rubbish.

Albery Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London.

Sir Charles Wyndham

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Albery Theatre, St Martin's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Sir Charles built the Albery, and his grey haired shade now walks between its walls, normally lurking near the dressing rooms.

Displaced Actress

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Aldwych Underground Station (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Built where the Royal Strand Theatre once stood, it is thought the female ghost seen standing on the tracks migrated from the original building to the station shortly after it became operational. She is normally reported by cleaning staff working the night shift.

Coliseum theatre, St Martin's Lane, London.

Trench Trooper

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Coliseum, St Martin's Lane
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 03 October 1918
Further Comments: A small group of friends out for an evening's entertainment observed a man they knew walking down an aisle of the theatre, but he quickly disappeared. They later discovered that he had been killed in trench warfare around the time they saw him. He has been seen in the same area periodically since.

Drury Lane Theatre Royal, London.

Man in Grey

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Drury Lane Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a long running show (grey man)
Further Comments: Seeing this ghost, dressed in a long grey coat with a Tricorn hat, is considered a good omen; if it appears either in the morning or afternoon during rehearsals, the performance will go on to be a great success. King Charles II is also supposed to haunt the building (he was a great theatre lover), as does the shade of Joe Grimaldi who helps anyone struggling with their lines. The backstage corridors are home to the wraith of Charles Macklin, a murderer never found guilty, and now walks the scene of his crime. Finally, actors have been known to experience a chill and simultaneously catching a whiff of lavender while on stage, the sensations blamed on a ghost.

Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London.

Violet Melnotte

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1935 onwards,
Further Comments: The builder of the theatre, Violet was known to watch the performances from her own personal box. After her death in 1935, a presence could be heard from within her seating area, and her phantom spotted in the green room in 1967. A door was said to have heard to often slam, surprising as it has been bricked up for many decades.

Grey Woman

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Fortune Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s onwards
Further Comments: Home to the stage play The Woman in Black, the theatre is ironically also haunted by a grey lady spotted in a lower box. Two shadowy figures have also been observed standing to the right of the stage.

Garrick Theatre, London.

Arthur Bourchier

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Garrick Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Known for his dislike of critics, Bourchier now haunts the rear of the theatre, often appearing just after a performance, or making his presence known by tapping people on their backs.

Lyceum Theatre, London.

Severed Head in Lap

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Lyceum Theatre
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1880s
Further Comments: A married couple in a box looked down into the stalls and could see, much to their horror, a woman with a severed head resting in her lap. They later recognised the head in a painting of a family which once lived on the site of the theatre. The ghosts of Ellen Terry and William Terriss are also said to haunt the theatre.

Usherette

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: This figure, seen walking along the aisles of the theatre, was killed by a bomb dropped by a zeppelin in the First World War.

Manager in Brown Suit

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgware Road (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed in the trenches during the First World War, the manager came back to his beloved theatre, and watched the first performances of new shows to ensure they were up to scratch.

Anna Pavlova

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The debate to whether the ghostly ballerina to be found here is really Pavlova is still in motion. The building's other entity, Ivor Novello, died in 1951 but still watches performances from the back of the dress circle. Two seats are left unfilled during performances for the ghosts, although during the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child run, the seats were sold as normal.

Fading Lady

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Peacock Theatre (was Royalty Theatre), Dean Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Lady circa 1934, Dolphin from 1980s onwards?
Further Comments: A woman clothed in an outfit dating from the Queen Anne period is reported to descend the staircase here, slowly fading before she reaches the bottom. A short scream is said to signify her complete disappearance. The female ghost has not recently manifested and appears to have been replaced by the sound of a phantom dolphin which, during life, was kept in a small tank under the stage in the 1930s.

Unknown Woman

Location: WC2 (Greater London) - Vaudeville Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Box office staff regularly smell a heavy herb-like perfume around them and backstage staff report noises and presences. A workman reported briefly seeing the feet of a woman and the bottom of a cloak pass him by (the rest of the person was obscured) after the building was closed for the night.

George

Location: Westcliff on Sea (Essex) - Palace Theatre, currently an arts centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: George has been reported sitting next to patrons during performances - they claim to have felt someone take up position next to them, though the entity remains invisible while seated. George is said to be the theatre manager who hanged himself from the fly floor due to financial difficulties just after the building opened in 1912. A white woman has been seen in the building, but it is generally agreed that these are two different forces, rather than the same ghost.

The Theatre Royal.

Lighting Operator

Location: Winchester (Hampshire) - Theatre Royal (was the Market Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1910s
Further Comments: An apparition was seen dressed in combat clothing. A witness identified the ghostly soldier as a former lighting operator who worked at the theatre before going off to die on a First World War battlefield. The builder of the theatre, John Simpkins, is also said to haunt the building.

Percy Purdey

Location: Wolverhampton (West Midlands) - Grand Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Purdey mid-to-late-twentieth century(?), poltergeist circa 1970
Further Comments: A former theatre manager and creature of habit, Purdey could be heard for years after his death mixing himself a drink in the bar after the start of every performance. It is not clear whether Purdey was also blamed for a poltergeist outbreak which turned on heating and created loud bangs.

Actress in Grey

Location: Worthing (Sussex) - Connaught Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987 and September 2015
Further Comments: The apparition of this actress wears a grey dress, though its style has been placed in several periods - possibly a result of the woman playing many different roles during her lifetime. She was most recently observed in 2015, wearing a long dress and stood behind a door.

One Eyed Cleaner

Location: Wrexham (Clwyd) - Stiwt Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 2009
Further Comments: Paranormal team Soulsearchers Northwest UK investigated this building and claimed to contact several spirits, including a cleaner with one eye, a young child who fell from a balcony, and a former manager.

Theatre Royal, York.

Music

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - Theatre Royal, St. Leonard's Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Music coming from the closed theatre was once heard late at night. A grey figure resembling a nun has also been spotted in the building; she is thought to be the ghost of a nun who was bricked up alive for seeing angels when a hospital existed on the site. It is said to be a good omen for any production currently showing if the grey nun appears. Finally, there are also reports of a wraithy actor who died in a duel nearby.