The Paranormal Database

Cavalier

Location: Wells - King Charles Parlour public house, High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977 / 1978
Further Comments: A phantom Cavalier has been spotted on the staircase several times by owners or members of their family, while footsteps and the sound of a harpsichord have also been reported. It is reported that when a BBC TV crew tried to film inside the building all their lighting equipment blew up.

Walking Man

Location: Wells - Sherston Inn, Priory Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: This figure only appeared for a few seconds, walking through the bar area before vanishing.

Two Figures on Steps

Location: Wells - Wells Cathedral, Chapter House
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Photograph taken 19 April 1954, sighting 16 June 2005, hitting in January 2007
Further Comments: A photograph taken here shows two people in white, possibly a child with its mother, standing on the steps. The photographer reports that no one else stood in front of the camera at the time of the long exposure. In 2005 two people spotted a young boy on the steps to the Chapter House - concerned that he was not with parents or guardians, they followed the child and as he turned into the nave, he disappeared. A visitor in 2007 felt something hitting her back while leaving the cathedral, having earlier felt a presence in the nave.

Shawled Woman

Location: Wembdon - Highest part of the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Standing on top of a hill, this young lady with wild eyes looks down at the nearby houses. She is thought to have murdered her husband, hiding his body in their house.

White Lady

Location: West Harptree - Gournay Court
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pallid female would travel the building, ending her journey on the balcony where she would disappear.

Gournay

Location: West Harptree - Richmont Castle ruins, and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure, a former owner of the building, still longs for better times and fortune - until it arrives, he remains earthbound.

Prepare Thyself

Location: West Monkton - Park near Hestercombe
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1665
Further Comments: A minster walking across the park, en route to meeting the Warre family at Hestercombe House, encountered a ghostly old man who said, 'Prepare thyself for such a day you will die'. The minster shared his encounter with the Warre family who thought he joked, but the minster died three days later.

Flying Orange

Location: West Monkton - Villa built around 1920
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: December 1923
Further Comments: The builder of the house, after moving in, experienced aggressive poltergeist behaviour, including being hit on the back of the neck by a thrown orange. A chair and various books fell to the floor, boots emerged from the cupboard, and cutlery bounced across the table.

Stick Carrier

Location: West Quantoxhead - Hills north of area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An old woman holding a large bundle of sticks has been seen here.

Hunchbacked Woman

Location: Westbury-sub-Mendip - Stonleigh Cottages
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Almost every night for a six month period, a lady living here would hear footsteps or see an old lady with a hunched back standing by the window of her bedroom. The witness described the figure as if in film negative form - her face and hands was dark, while shadows on her features were light - but said the ghost was not threatening.

Chain Rattler

Location: Weston-super-Mare - Farmhouse, formal site of Woodspring Priory (now a guesthouse), three miles NE of town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the farmhouse was operational, the occupier would charge people to view the 'ghost room', a place where rattling chains would be heard at two o'clock in the morning.

Many Accidents

Location: Weston-super-Mere - Kewstoke Toll Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: No exact date
Further Comments: Though only a mile long, there have been a high number of accidents along this coast road, leading some to speculate that a paranormal source may be at work.

An old postcard showing Weston-super-Mere beach.

Long Necked Creature

Location: Weston-super-Mere - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 02 December 1988
Further Comments: Three witnesses watched for several minutes a strange creature possessing a long neck swimming around in the mist covered sea.

An old postcard of Weston-super-Mere.

Giant Meteorite

Location: Weston-super-Mere - Skies over the town
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 10 January 1869
Further Comments: A large fireball was seen passing overhead. Several hours later there were a series of shockwaves that were attributed to an earth tremor.

Running Girl

Location: Weston-super-Mere - The Causeway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: While walking along the causeway, two witnesses heard sloshing water and running footsteps behind them. They turned around and briefly spotted a young girl moving quickly towards them, with her hands held up. The girl moved through one witness's body and brushed against the other before spinning round and vanishing.

Man in Black

Location: Weston-super-Mere - Weston General Hospital
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1998
Further Comments: The top two floors of this hospital contain wards that are exact copies of each other. One night in 1998, nurses attending a sick patient followed by an elderly man in a black suit. He disappeared, and it was found that the female patient on the ward below had died. It was believed that black-dressed gentleman was her husband come to collect her, but he arrived on the wrong floor. The figure has not been seen since.

Old Soldiers

Location: Westonzoyland - Sedgemoor Battlefield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 06 July (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The spirits here reportedly include voices that call out to witnesses over the nearby River Carey, and horsemen who gallop silently along. People have also reported pockets of cold air, and watching a white woman glide over the marsh, near where her lover was murdered by Royalists. On the anniversary of the battle, sounds of fighting have been heard.

White Dog

Location: Wick St Lawrence - Back lanes around the village
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 2015
Further Comments: A young man driving his car was said to have been chased by a large white dog which reached up to speeds of thirty miles per hour for prolonged periods.

The Devil's Mount

Location: Wievliscombe - Area around the church
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: 1827?
Further Comments: When the church in Wievliscombe was being rebuilt, the devil manifested riding a green dragon and began hurling rocks at the construction. Saint Andrew materialised and used a crucifix to drive both Devil and dragon away.

Thrown Stone

Location: Williton - Battlegore tumulus
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Battlegore was the landing site of a stone thrown by a giant from West Quantoxhead, competing with the Devil. Old Nick's rock fell short, resulting in his banishment from the area.

Sir John Popham

Location: Wilscombe Bottom - Area between village and Wellington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Capable of only moving a cock's stride per year, the ghost of Popham is on the move from Wilscombe Bottom where he died to the church in Wellington, where he seeks salvation.

Giggling

Location: Wincanton - Uncle Tom's Cabin public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s-2020s
Further Comments: When placed on the market in August 2023, this building's haunted background became a selling point. The sound of a child's giggling had been heard, glasses would smash without reason, and staff could feel something breathing on the backs of their necks.

Wagon

Location: Winsford - Winsford Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The wagon that haunts this spot was supposedly crushed as its owner tried to move aside the heavy monolith located here, to steal the treasure beneath.

Dog with Glowing Eyes

Location: Winsford - Winsford Hill, and surrounding Exmoor area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The devil dog found in Exmoor has been known to dematerialise slowly, leaving just a pair of red glowing eyes behind.

Joan Carne

Location: Withycombe - Area which is currently Sandhill Farm
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This woman is thought to have killed her three husbands, and soon after her death in the early seventeenth century, came back and was seen in her kitchen. A nineteenth century exorcism may have laid her for good, though some believe her phantom's appearance is an ill omen.