The Paranormal Database

The sea off Orford Castle, Suffolk.

Merman

Location: Orford - Coast near to Orford Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Circa 1167
Further Comments: Fishermen caught a naked, hairy man just off the coast. The man did not speak, even when hung upside down and tortured. His diet considered of fish, which if given to him raw, he squeezed with his hands and drank only the liquid. He was held at the castle for a while (some sources say six months) before being allowed to swim in the sea, albeit guarded in a netted enclosure. The wild man managed to escape the enclosure and played in the waves, occasionally disappearing under the sea. Just as the guards had given up of hope of recapturing him, the wild man returned and was taken back to the castle. As he had returned voluntarily, the wild man was not guarded as intensely as previous and stayed at the castle for another couple of months before once again escaping into the sea, but this time never returning.

Orford Ness, Suffolk.

Pair of Lights

Location: Orford - Orford Ness
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A couple of men watched two lights hovering quite close to the water, which darted off at incredible speed as they approached. The area was home to Project Cobra Mist, which involved radar waves that followed the earth's curvature.

Sea Dragon

Location: Orford - Sea between Orford and Southwold
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Circa 1749
Further Comments: Several fishermen were attacked by a winged crocodile-like creature which they snagged in their nets while off the coast in this area. The beast killed one man and disabled another before being slain. The creature measured around 1.2 metres in length (though was said to be larger when alive) and possessed two legs with cloven feet.

Floating Hand

Location: Oulton - Boardley's Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: A cupboard inside this farmhouse was haunted by a severed hand. The hand belonged to the sibling of a former owner who lost it to a piece of farm machinery.

Mary Wringing her Hands

Location: Pakefield - Crazy Mary's Hole; gully near disused lighthouse at south of parish
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1981
Further Comments: Local legend says that Mary, while living, lost her husband at sea, and waited on the cliffs for his return. There she died of starvation, but her ghost still waits. The shade was seen in 1981 by an employee of a local holiday camp.

Dog-like Cat

Location: Pakenham - Road through the village
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Winter 2003
Further Comments: A cat the size of a retriever crossed the road in front of a VW van driver.

Banging

Location: Pakenham - St Mary's Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: 12 September 2025
Further Comments: After walking around the churchyard recording with an old Dictaphone, a witness reported hearing voices and banging when playing back the tape.

Wet Footprints and Droning

Location: Parham - Disused Airfield, and Control Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2006 (airman)
Further Comments: Locals have reportedly heard the droning of phantom aircraft over the disused airfields, while the control tower has reappearing 'wet footprints', which begin and end in inexplicable places. One female witness reported seeing the reflection in glass of a man in USAAF uniform who smiled at her. The witness said 'hi' and turned to the figure, but no one was there.

A wild man of the woods.

Woodwose

Location: Peasenhall - Peasenhall church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While the woodwose, or wild hairy man, carved into the church porch has not been seen for centuries, the creatures were once said to be 'plentiful' in the region.

Headless Horseman

Location: Pettistree - High Street?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Witnessed by at least two different people since 1990, a headless horseman has been seen trotting down the high street during the early hours.

The marker denoting the nearby remains of Maria Marten, Polstead.

Dream of Murder

Location: Polstead - Exact location not known
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1827
Further Comments: Worried about her daughter Maria Marten, a mother witnessed her murder three times in a dream; all details of which were found to be true, including the exact location of the body.

Monk

Location: Polstead - Garden of Rectory, and across fields
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The spectre of a monk has been reported in the back garden of the Rectory here, sometimes walking across the fields and vanishing near Corder's House. Children living at the sight have often reported seeing other phantom children playing under the trees in the grounds of the rectory; adults have been unable to see anything.

Horse and Coach

Location: Polstead - Near the village green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer, 1990s, around 16:00h
Further Comments: Mrs Hackford was driving her car at around 4pm when a horse and carriage carrying an old lady and two men in Victorian clothing rode past her in the opposite direction. Because of the weirdness of the situation, the witness looked behind her, only to realise the coach was no longer there.

Phantom Strangler

Location: Polstead - Polstead Rectory
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 1979
Further Comments: It is rumoured that several rectors have had to leave here in quite a hurry, as they have been unable to tolerate the ghost here. A wife of one rector felt like she was being strangled by something.

Floating Nun

Location: Polstead - Private house along Rocksall Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1980s
Further Comments: A family and their visiting neighbours all witnessed a phantom nun which hovered in the corner of the living room.

Drinkstone Hill Bridge, Rattlesden.

Footsteps Splashing in the Water

Location: Rattlesden - Drinkstone Hill Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1956
Further Comments: Known locally as Brook Bridge, splashing sounds and footfalls have frequently been heard coming from the water, though on immediate investigation there has been no living creature found in the area.

Naked Walking Corpse

Location: Rattlesden - Rectory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: No longer standing, the Rectory was home to a ghost that took the form of a mummified corpse which reportedly kissed a carpenter working in the building. The rectory was pulled down in 1892, though the new building was considered haunted until an exorcism was performed during the twentieth century.

Thumping

Location: Raydon - Private cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s-1990s
Further Comments: Footsteps and thumping would be heard coming from one of the bedrooms in this property, with blame being allocated to a former owner who had a wooden leg. After an exorcism during the 1990s, the sounds pretty much ceased.

MP

Location: Raydon - Second World War Airfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen by huts near the former Officer's Mess, a ghostly Military Policeman is said to walk around the area. There are also reports of phantom aircraft, including a P-47 and a B-17.

Spotty Cat

Location: Red Lodge - Russet Drive and woodland
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Summer 2008, November 2014
Further Comments: In 2008, a local resident reported seeing a cat twice the size of a normal domestic feline early one morning along Russet Drive. The creature was described as 'spotty'. Six years later, two sandy-coloured large cats were sighted in woodland and reported to police, who found nothing when they investigated the area.

Misty Figure

Location: Redgrave - Main street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 2010
Further Comments: A misty figure was spotted walking around the street before vanishing into a building. The witness said that the figure did not feel threatening.

Radar/Visual Sighting

Location: Rendlesham - Bentwaters USAF
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 13 August 1956
Further Comments: Several UFOs were detected by the base's radar, crossing the North Sea at speeds unmatched by any contemporary aircraft. One UFO was intercepted by a US fighter, but was soon lost.

Fake Bear

Location: Rendlesham - Green in the forest
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: March 2009
Further Comments: In what was later to be revealed to be a hoax, local press carried a story that a family spotted what they first thought was a large dog moving through the trees. As they watched it, they realised that the creature was larger than any dog. Experts talking to the local press said it was unlikely that a bear could survive in the forest.

Pond in Rendlesham, Suffolk.

Rake

Location: Rendlesham - Pond shaped like an 'S'
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This freshwater mermaid was reputed to be armed with a rake, ready to drag in any children who strayed too close.

Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk.

CEII

Location: Rendlesham - Rendlesham Forest - near former USAF Base
Type: UFO
Date / Time: December 1981 (UFO), circa 1995 (big cats)
Further Comments: Once only famous in ufological circles, the story of the landing of an unknown craft at Rendlesham during the early 1980s still causes controversy today. Unrelated to the UFO sighting, the Big Cats of Suffolk website reported there had been a string of big cat sightings in the forest prior to 1995, with occasional sightings still reported.