The Paranormal Database

Running Boy

Location: A37? - Heading towards Glastonbury
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2001 (?)
Further Comments: While driving fast along a straight stretch of road, a driver his wife and child spotted a young boy holding a goldfish bowl run up an embankment at superhuman speed and into the road. The driver hit the brakes as the boy passed in front of the car, thinking it was too late to avoid collision, but there was nothing. The boy had gone.

Illustration of the Old Leigh Courthouse ghost from the book The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century.

Suicide

Location: Abbots Leigh - Old Leigh Courthouse (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: The courthouse was supposed to be haunted by a woman who cut her own throat. The bangs and crashes which her spirit created were so alarming that parts of the building were locked up at night. The courthouse was later demolished. The creative image of the ghost is from 'The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century' (1825).

Dragon Slayer

Location: Aller, Curry Rivel - Exact area unknown
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The village is named after a local hero who slew a dragon but died as the beast released a final breath of flame. In another version of the tale, the hero survives and finds a brood of hatchlings in the dragon's cave, which is subsequently blocked up.

Elizabeth Maronne

Location: Almondsbury - Bowl Inn and other areas in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: Elizabeth was said to have been abused by her father and died young. Her phantom voice has been heard singing nursery rhymes or otherwise sobbing gently. The inn also claims two other female ghosts, though little is known about them.

Redcoat

Location: Axbridge - George House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This property was once thought to be haunted by the ghost of a soldier in a redcoat carrying a musket. A neighbouring shop reported hearing pacing footsteps, as if someone were guarding the site.

Tabby Cat

Location: Axbridge - King John's Hunting Lodge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This feline apparition has been observed padding around on the first floor, vanishing when it sits down. A white Elizabethan lady is also reported to haunt the same floor, seen sitting in a chair.

Trio

Location: Axbridge - Shute Shelve Hill, Hanging Field
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The three ghosts lurking here, two men and a woman, were all hanged for murdering the lady's husband.

Sight and Sound

Location: Backwell - New Inn (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-2015
Further Comments: Patrons at this inn would report seeing apparitions, hearing noises and footsteps, and having objects moved around rooms by unseen hands.

Cloaked Figures

Location: Banwell - Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: One witness recalled, as a child, a figure who led him across his bedroom at night and helped him throw up (he was suffering from an illness at the time). There are also reports of phantom footfalls in the hallways and of cloaked figures being seen moving about the abbey.

Beast of Banwell

Location: Banwell - Banwell Hill
Type: ABC
Date / Time: September 2007
Further Comments: While walking her dog, Helen Stokes encountered a large black creature that she described as 'very fast'. Both owner and pet ran away from the creature.

Blown Cross

Location: Banwell - Hillfort
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: It was believed that the villagers tried to erect a massive cross on the hill, though the Devil visited every night and blew it down. Exasperated, the villagers carved the cross into stone, preventing further destruction. It is now thought the cross was the base of a Roman hillfort.

Stubborn Bell

Location: Barlinch - Barlinch priory (now ruins)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the priory bells were removed from the site, the Great Bell did not want to leave its location. Eventually the bell was dragged away (after a single unhappy peal) by man and ox to its new home in Exeter Cathedral, where it promptly cracked once mounted.

Blacksmith

Location: Batcombe - Burn Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A giant blacksmith is said to appear if you call out his name while standing on this hill.

Chained Hound

Location: Batcombe - Gold Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Buried in nearby woodland by an owner, this phantom hound is now reputed to roam the area, a large chain around its neck.

Bunty

Location: Bath - Beehive public house (currently Grappa's Bar)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A former Victorian worker at the pub, Bunty makes fleeting appearances around the hallway dressed in a blue/grey gown. Her presence was said to be non-threatening.

Hominid

Location: Bath - Brassknocker Hill and surrounding area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1979 / 1980
Further Comments: There was a brief flap of monkey (or chimp) sightings here, the creature said to stand between 3 - 4 feet high (90 - 120cm) and had bright rings around its eyes. Trees were damaged and residents reported their pets to be terrified. On one occasion, a taxi driver spotted a chimpanzee on the pavement, although the creature fled before the police arrived.

Soldier

Location: Bath - Crown Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Dressed in a First World War uniform, this phantom would appear in a darkened corner sipping his drink. The haunting is said not to have lasted.

Crystal Palace pub, Bath.

Monk

Location: Bath - Crystal Palace public house, 10 Abbey Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This figure is reported to materialise when building work is carried out inside the property. The ghostly monk is said to be quite transparent.

Moving Items

Location: Bath - Curfew Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2009
Further Comments: The poltergeist at work in this pub plays around with beer casks, taps and pinches staff, and moves pool balls.

Cellar Dweller

Location: Bath - Devonshire Arms, Wellsway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: The basement of this public house is reportedly haunted by a girl killed on the nearby railway lines. One member of staff reported feeling invisible hands tugging at their clothing.

Dueller

Location: Bath - Duelling ground, Victoria Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former duelling site is said to be haunted by a sword handling Dueller. The whispers of the deceased fighters and strange mist are said to emerge from a nearby holly bush.

Footsteps

Location: Bath - Festival Office, Linley House, Pierreont Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Staff and visitors to the building have heard footsteps coming from an empty room here.

Francis Hotel, Bath.

Housekeeper

Location: Bath - Francis Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Maid unknown, other experiences 03/04 January 2013
Further Comments: As the guide on the Bath tour bus will tell you, this hotel is haunted by a former housekeeper who, in a state of depression, hanged herself. Two guests at the hotel in 2013 spent a restless night after scratching and tapping from inside their room kept them awake, and a hot water bottle was swept off the table.

Gay Street, Bath.

Man

Location: Bath - Gay Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A man with his long hair tied back with a ribbon is said to haunt this street. He can only be seen by other men. Two houses along the road are said to be haunted, one by disembodied voices, though details of the other haunting are not forthcoming.

The city of Bath.

Raining Jellyfish

Location: Bath - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: August 1894
Further Comments: Some parts of the town were covered in thousands of jellyfish that apparently fell from the sky.