The Paranormal Database

Melrose: Melrose Abbey

Evil Monk

Location: Melrose (Borders) - Melrose Abbey
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Circa twelfth century?
Further Comments: An evil monk returned from the dead as a vampire, leaving his grave at Melrose Abbey to feed at a local nunnery. When the other monks discovered this, the bravest stayed up one night with a large axe, and when the vampire climbed out of its tomb, it was beheaded (although the vampire's evil presence remains in the abbey). The building is also the final resting place of Michael Scot, a great wizard who discovered the secret of flying, and was locally named as building Hadrian's Wall single handed.

The Damned

Location: Monmouth (Gwent) - Cemetery
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: 1980
Further Comments: A sighting of a cloaked, vampire-like entity seen standing next to the cemetery in 1980 was explained 38 years later when Dave Vanian of The Damned admitted he went for a late night walk after recording at Rockfield Studios. As he walked through the cemetery dressed in a black cloak, he was spotted by the driver of a mini who almost crashed. The story of the cloaked figure appeared in the press a few days later, and Vanian decided not to say anything.

Smokey Vampire

Location: N6 (Greater London) - Highgate Cemetery (old section)
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: 1960s / 1970s (vampire), 20 June 2012, 22:00h (undertaker)
Further Comments: A plethora of sightings of a red eyed creature that could turn to smoke resulted in the cemetery becoming a second home to all manner of researchers, reporters, and fame seekers. The sightings died down after legal action against one of the vampire hunters. More recently, North London Paranormal Investigators encountered a pale figure in a suit, resembling an undertaker, while touring the area.

Church Dog

Location: Northorpe (Lincolnshire) - Churchyard
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: Circa early to mid nineteenth century
Further Comments: This churchyard is rumoured to be the haunt of the black shuck, which may have been a shape-changing local wizard. Another tale says the dog's remains were bricked up in the church walls and he is nothing more than a folk memory of the interment.

Fox or Wolf?

Location: Pevensey (Sussex) - Marshes in the area
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: Pre-1939
Further Comments: The area was once said to be the home to large grey creatures; thought by some to be wolf/fox hybrids, others believed them to be werewolves.

Modern Myth?

Location: Sefton (Lancashire) - Church and roads in the area
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: 1970s-1990s
Further Comments: First-hand accounts appear to be rare, but one story says a nurse and her taxi driver both spotted a werewolf in this area.

Slain Dwarf

Location: Slaghtaverty (County Derry / County Londonderry) - Abhartach's grave, aka Slaghtaverty Dolmen
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When a tyrannical dwarf was murdered by a local chieftain, his body was placed in the earth here. Less than a day later the dwarf returned, more vicious than before. He was killed again and reburied but came back and tormented the entire country. The chieftain consulted a druid, and following the wise man's instructions, slayed the dwarf for the final time, placing the body into the ground head first, robbing him of his magical powers.

Wolf on Hind Legs

Location: Stafford (Staffordshire) - German War Cemetery, Camp Road, between Stafford and Cannock
Type: Werewolf
Date / Time: April 2007
Further Comments: In two separate sightings, two men reported a large hairy creature standing on its hind legs, between 180 - 200 centimetres in height. One of the men approached it, but the creature ran off.

Hiding from Vampires

Location: Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire) - Number 3, The Villas
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: A body found in the building was surrounded by garlic, salt, crucifixes, and other items reported to scare off vampires - tragically, the dead man was found to have choked to death on a clove of garlic that lodged in his throat as he slept.

Vampire

Location: Thornton Heath (Surrey) - Private house
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: 1938
Further Comments: One piece of source material states that at three different times over a period of three months in 1938, a woman reported being attacked by a winged creature which bit her neck and drew blood. However, it is possible that the vampire attacks occurred during the 1970s, and that the 1938 incidents were more polt is nature. Even so, the 1970s incidents also involved poltergeist activity, and the woman at the centre of the claims also alleged she was attacked by a tiger.