The Paranormal Database

Too Many to Count

Location: Washford - Barton House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Owners of this house say literally dozens of ghosts haunt their building, though neglect to state whether these are metaphorical or metaphysical.

Hunting Pack

Location: Watchet - Cleeve Hill
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These Yeth hounds stalk as a pack after dark on the hill side.

Florence Wyndham

Location: Watchet - Kentsford Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mistakenly thought dead, Florence was placed in a coffin and left in the church overnight. She awoke from her coma when the sexton tried to cut off her fingers to steal her rings (he died of shock), and she returned home. Her ghost has been seen making the journey back to the manor, tapping on the windows and door once she arrives home.

Waking the Dead

Location: Watchet - St Decuman's Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A schoolmaster walking past the church was approached by robbers who forced him to take them to the grave of a wealthy woman who had recently died. Opening the crypt, the schoolmaster was made to remove the gold rings from the corpse's fingers. Halfway through this ghastly task, the dead woman sat up and cried for her brothers and sisters to help her - nearby coffins opened and the dead sat up. The robbers and schoolmaster escaped, but the schoolmaster died soon after sharing his story.

Gurt Dog

Location: Weacombe - Area of Quantocks
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shuck has proved quite helpful when encountered, appearing to lost walkers and leading them to safety. However, another entity in the same area known as the Wild Rider is considered fatal if met.

Grey Lady

Location: Wedmore - George Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This Edwardian lass dressed in grey silently walks the corridors here. Guests at the hotel are said to have more than their fair share of sleep paralysis incidents.

Man with Torch

Location: Wellington - A38, near the Heatherton Grange Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Appearing to be a man in a raincoat, this phantom uses his torch to try to flag passing cars down. One woman who refused to stop narrowly avoided hitting him. A truck driver reported once giving the ghostly man a lift to Holcombe Bridge, not realising the man was a ghost until a short time later; the driver almost hit the man as he stood in the same place where he was first picked up. Stopping to ensure that the hitcher was okay, the truck driver watched as the stranger vanished before his eyes. This may be the same entity which has been seen at Taunton.

Rising Woman

Location: Wellington - Barracks, and St James Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1804
Further Comments: Several guards stationed at the barracks reported the ghost of a headless woman, which rose from the ground in front of them wearing a striped dress. The figure then set off towards the park.

Reading Man

Location: Wellington - Blue Mantle Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1990s
Further Comments: Owner Peter Green spotted an older man reading a newspaper in the lounge of the hotel, who soon vanished without being seen or triggering the alarm. Green later found a Victorian portrait which resembled the unknown man.

Treasure

Location: Wellington - Cockcrow Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: This stone, animated by the sound of a cockerel's crow, is said to cover a secret treasure.

Harmless

Location: Wellington - Cothay Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1960s
Further Comments: A harmless ghost was said to haunt the site, knocking on a particular door and walking through a room. The haunting ceased after a manacle, which was found with the skeletal remains of a hidden body, was sprung open.

Groaning

Location: Wellington - Dairy
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: The milkmen who worked at this dairy were permitted to come in later in the day after several unnerving reports of disembodied footsteps and strange groaning at night.

Fire Breathing Hounds

Location: Wellington - General Area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pack of albino dogs run while breathing flame from their mouths.

Hellsmouth

Location: Wellington - Park Farm
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A muddy pool located near the farm was thought to be an entrance to hell, from where ghosts and ghouls could come and go as they pleased.

White Lady

Location: Wellow - St Julien's Well
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Before a death of the Lord of Hungerford
Further Comments: This phantom white woman would materialise to give warning of encroaching death.

An old photograph of Wells Cathedral.

Bishop Jocelyn's Wyrm

Location: Wells - Area around the cathedral
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Bishop Jocelyn drove away a dragon that had been terrorising locals around seven holy springs - the cathedral was later built in the area.

Lookout

Location: Wells - Arthur's Point
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Legend says King Arthur and/or his men used this summit as a lookout point.

Black Barley Seeds

Location: Wells - Crown Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: These apports would appear en mass in several of the bedrooms, with no source to be found. This could be called one of the least disturbing parts of the haunting here, which has seen shadowy figures vanishing down the corridors, and a presence that knocks candles from the tables.

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.

Headmaster

Location: Wells - Little Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Operating from the site of a former school, the theatre was reputedly haunted by a former headmaster.

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: Lady unknown, man during First World War
Further Comments: This pallid female would travel the building, ending her journey on the balcony where she would disappear. During the First World War, when the site acted as a convalescence hospital, a phantom man wearing a velvet suit and stockings would appear in the ballroom.

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.