The Paranormal Database

Ashton Court, Bristol.

Decapitated Horseman

Location: Bristol - Ashton Court Estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Clear moonlit nights (horseman)
Further Comments: Ashton Court is best known for its ghostly headless horseman, though there are also reports of grey ladies and a phantom hound.

Goram and Vincent

Location: Bristol - Avon Gorge
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: To prove themselves worthy of the lady Avona's love, the giant brothers Goram and Vincent raced to dig a ditch to drain a lake. Goram started work but fell asleep after digging the Hazel Brook Gorge, while Vincent dug the Avon Gorge that drained the unwanted lake, thus winning Avona's heart.

Victorian Woman

Location: Bristol - Badocks Field, Westbury on Trym
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2015, 19:00h
Further Comments: One witness watched a woman dressed in Victorian clothing picking blackberries. She walked into the bramble bush and just disappeared. The witness was later told that the site was haunted.

Radio Breakdown

Location: Bristol - BBC Bristol, Whiteladies Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A poltergeist located here is said to be responsible for the high number of electrical breakdowns which occur.

Headless Nun

Location: Bristol - Black Castle public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: This pub is reputedly haunted by one or more headless nuns. Mild poltergeist phenomenon has also been reported in the building, as has the sighting of a ghostly little girl.

Disappearing Islands

Location: Bristol - Bristol Channel
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The islands which appear and disappear without warning are reported to be home to a race of immortals. The area has also been home to sea serpent reports.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Location: Bristol - British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Brunel once had his office in the area which was dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The smell of his tobacco smoke and the steady pacing footsteps has unnerved several members of staff.

Grey Monk

Location: Bristol - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure is said to move between the cathedral and the nearby library.

Lady in Black

Location: Bristol - Clack Mill (demolished in 1937)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1937
Further Comments: This dark clothed phantom appeared to a young boy living at the mill - the ghost left through a wall after attempting to have the lad follow it. The mill was also haunted by the shade of a man who hanged himself behind the building.

Old postcard of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Jumpers

Location: Bristol - Clifton Suspension Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The shades seen drifting around on the bridge are thought to belong to those who have jumped off, taking their own lives.

Executed Soldier

Location: Bristol - College Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Condemned to death and promptly executed for deserting an England/Scotland conflict, the trooper now drifts around the green in the early morning hours.

Roman

Location: Bristol - Coombe Dingle bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: One lady claimed to have seen the ghost of a Roman soldier several times in this area.

Morphing Shuck

Location: Bristol - Dead end lane in Hallen Bristol, next to the M49 bridge
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1908 and December 2004
Further Comments: The large black dog seen here in 1908 was seen to climb out from a hedge, before transforming into a donkey and standing on its hind legs. A very similar creature was seen in 2004, as it passed through a car, shaking the occupant.

Hudd

Location: Bristol - Deep Pit (colliery), Kingswood
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1880
Further Comments: At an inquest held after a miner named Hudd died in the pit, one witness stated that he had seen Hudd's ghost moments after his death, as it headed up an incline towards the bottom of the shaft.

Knight Templar

Location: Bristol - Fire Brigade Headquarters, Temple Back
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: This apparition appeared nine times during 1975. While one witness thought it looked like a man wearing waterproof clothing, others thought that the ghost's dress looked more medieval and speculated it may have been a Knight Templar, the organisation of which once owned lands around the city.

Woman in Brown

Location: Bristol - Former council flat, Horsefair
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-twentieth century
Further Comments: Seen only the once (but heard often), this phantom woman in brown was said to have an 'evil' face. Ghostly footsteps and strange tapping plagued the family here, with much of the activity centred around their baby's cot. The family were moved out after sound recordings picked up a constant metallic vibrating sound, which the council believed to be a health hazard.

Bearded Man

Location: Bristol - Former Vicarage next to All Saint's Church, Corn Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1840s
Further Comments: This figure dressed in ancient clothing was seen stalking the building at night, scaring the occupants, to such an extend on jumped out of a window to avoid the ghost. It is unclear whether this is the same entity as the black monk that also haunts the area.

Fairground Organ

Location: Bristol - Gardiner Haskins store (former soap factory)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2018
Further Comments: A few spooky events were documented in the local press, including the music from a fairground organ, a disembodied male voice, and the fleeting sighting of a Victorian woman dressed in white. A poltergeist was blamed for moving pots of paint around the site.

Sarah Siddons

Location: Bristol - Old Vic theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: Sarah's boyfriend hanged himself at this theatre, and her ghost is thought to continue to mourn the loss here. Architect Andrzej Blonski reported seeing Sarah's ghost, wearing a long, white crinoline dress, in 2010. Another member of staff reported hearing a female voice telling him to 'get out'. The other spook at home here is that of a scenic painter called Richard who died in an accident while working. Richard continues to move the props around.

Priest

Location: Bristol - Oldbury Court Stately Home, Whiteladies Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1941, 1970s, and circa 1990
Further Comments: This figure hid away from his enemies in a priest hole but became trapped and slowly starved to death. A small group of teenagers in the 1970s watched the monk walking through a wall, and he may have been spotted by several friends around 1990. A handful of female spooks are also said to frequent the house - they and the phantom priest disturbed nine women working for the BBC who stayed at the site in 1941.

Housekeeper

Location: Bristol - Oldbury House, St Michael's Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940-1941
Further Comments: A ghostly housekeeper was not the only phantom to haunt this former BBC building, which was used as a hostel for staff during the first part of the Second World War. A thin man who resembled a monk was spotted, as was a group of five girls. A child's sobs were reported, and frequent banging heard. The BBC eventually moved the residents out.

Suicidal Woman

Location: Bristol - Over Court (located near Cribbs Causeway)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1937
Further Comments: This area has the reputation for being haunted by the phantom of a woman who took her own life, though one variation of the story states that her husband shot her. Though injured, she ran away, only to stumble into a fishpond where she drowned. Her ghost was last seen by several carol singers.

Parry

Location: Bristol - Parry's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The lane takes its name from a well which once stood in the area, where a man Parry slit his own throat. His ghost remained in the area for many years after the death.

Footsteps

Location: Bristol - Passageway between Shaftesbury Avenue and Banner Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footsteps with no human source are said to echo along this short walkway.

Jenkins Protheroe

Location: Bristol - Pembroke Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Executed nearby, Protheroe (or Protheror) was once a beggar who discovered that more money could be made by murder (until he was caught and hanged).