The Paranormal Database

Dick the Devil

Location: Ettingshall - Mine (exact location not known)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Circa 1800
Further Comments: Dick the Devil was the nickname given to a miner who worked alone at night, capable of digging up more coal than any other man. When a curious miner looked to see how Dick could work so hard, he observed the man smoking a pipe while several knockers (mine spirits) worked away around him. The observing man gasped and ran off; the knockers enraged at being seen turned on Dick and killed him.

Headless Horseman

Location: Farley - Road between Farley and Alton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Riding a white horse and donned in a full suit of armour, his knight can also be recognised by his lack of head.

Tail End Charlie

Location: Fradley - Former RAF Lichfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The headless rear gunner that haunts this area accidently walked into the propellers of a Lancaster.

Children

Location: Gentleshaw - Windmill on the site of the Windmill Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two children who suffocated in flour are said by some to haunt this old windmill. Another, more sinister, figure was also said to lurk within.

British Bigfoot

Location: Gentleshaw - Wooded area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 2007
Further Comments: A small group of teenagers sitting in a car spotted a hairy humanoid in woodland close by. They drove off at speed, only to be pursued by the creature, even though it remained in the tree line.

Lollard Girl

Location: Gradbach - Lud's Church (a local chasm), also known as Ludchurch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Following a banned religion during the 1400's, the Lorrards used this place to worship. Alice, a member of the family, was killed as soldiers raided the illegal gathering and now her ghost frequents the spot over her grave. Wayne Anthony writes that the area is also reportedly the site where Sir Gawain killed the Green Knight.

Man on Old Bicycle

Location: Great Haywood - Rueley Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1949
Further Comments: A man on an old style bicycle has been observed travelling down this stretch of road. It is thought to be an engineer who drowned at a nearby pumping station.

Crying and Voices

Location: Hanbury - Fauld Crater
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1944 onwards
Further Comments: The third largest explosion of the Second World War happened here when an allied ammo dump blew up, taking several farms and dozens of people with it. The sound of people crying has been heard, as has an eerie voice coming from ground zero.

Hanbury Orbs

Location: Hanbury - Skies near the village
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A BBC cameraman caught three bright lights hovering over the Malverns on video. A local UFO group named them as the 'Hanbury Orbs', a group of lights commonly seen above the landscape in this region.

Robed Man

Location: Hanford - The Bull's Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: A member of staff quit after encountering a tall, dark stranger dressed in a long white robe. The daughter of the landlord awoke one night to also find the entity standing by her bed.

Cat

Location: Hanley - New Inn, Derby Street (closed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: A former landlord's cat which had died several years previous could be heard walking up and down on the keys of a piano.

Figure

Location: Hanley - The Sentinel offices, Bethesda Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013-2016 (at time of writing)
Further Comments: A receptionist claimed to have seen a disappearing figure standing behind a customer, while a ghost hunting group reported banging on the site.

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Hednesford - West Cannock Number 5 Mine
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1995
Further Comments: Working alone in the offices of the converted mining engine house, a witness heard heavy footsteps coming up the metal fire escape staircase. They went to unlock the door to let the visitor in, but the staircase was empty and the bottom door to the staircase was locked. The witness was later told of the deaths of some workers in the mine in 1933.

Young Victorian Girl

Location: Hoar Cross - Hoar Cross Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This young girl was mistaken for one of the owner's daughters, until she vanished in front of the witnesses.

Bigfoot

Location: Hopwas - Woodland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 24 January 2015, 19:15h
Further Comments: According to the local press, a man walking his dogs through this woodland encountered a seven foot (2.13 metre) tall hairy biped. The creature walked across the track ahead of the witness and could be heard moving through the undergrowth.

Farm Dog

Location: Ipstones - Area around Hermitage Farm, and Indefont Well
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The lane outside of the farm was once the haunt of a phantom black hound. The same dog (or maybe another) also haunted the area around Indefont Well.

Puritan

Location: Keele - M6 motorway services
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: January 1974
Further Comments: A puritan dressed in worn clothing and a wide brimmed hat was spotted in the men's toilets by two Ipswich Town football fans returning home from an away game. The puritan left the room and the two fans followed him, wanting to ask if he was an actor, but he vanished. The two men asked around if anyone had seen the strange man, but no one else had.

White Rabbit

Location: Kidsgrove - Clough Hall area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly rabbit is reported to haunt this area, normally appearing to warn of an impending death.

Cutlery Thrower

Location: Kidsgrove - Harecastle public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early 2000s
Further Comments: A poltergeist was said to inhabit an upper room of this old building. People had objects, including cutlery, thrown at them, and the room was sealed off because of the activity. By 2013 the activity had reduced to windows being opened.

Whittington and cat, from an old pamphlet.

Dick

Location: Kinver - Whittington Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dick Whittington once owned this building, and now occasionally returns to keep an eye on things. Other ghosts on site include Lady Jane Grey, a monk, and an entity that reportedly tries to strangle people as they sleep.

White Figure

Location: Leek - Area of Dieulacres Abbey (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1894
Further Comments: One nineteenth century belief said a white figure haunted the area where the abbey once stood. An encounter in 1894, in which several witnesses spotted a white robed figure, quickly became a whole less spooky when it was realised the ghost was a flesh-and-blood Canon, wearing the white robes of his order, visiting old religious sites.

Coach

Location: Leek - Ashbourne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom coach can be heard travelling the area.

A carved mermaid (from Lincoln).

Killer Mermaid

Location: Leek - Blakemere, the Mermaid's Pool
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The fish woman surfaces to comb her hair at midnight - anyone approaching too close is dragged down into the deep waters with her. One legend says that the mermaid last appeared in the nineteenth century to prevent her pool being drained, threatening to flood the nearby town of Leek if people proceeded to dig away at her home.

John Naden

Location: Leek - Countryside around the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The gallows that once stood in Leek were dismantled and used as stiles in the surrounding countryside - Naden was hanged just prior to this for murder and his ghost now walks around the area, seemingly emotionally attached to the pieces of wood used to kill him.

Headless Horseman

Location: Leek - Moorland by road from Waterhouses
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A headless horseman dismounted and walked alongside one terrified man crossing the moors after dark. The entity met his match when seven members of the clergy banished him.