The Paranormal Database

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 site 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. The 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.

Dog under Horses' Hooves

Location: Reydon - Road near Reydon Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Shuck 1900s, and coach mid 1800s?
Further Comments: A couple in a trap encountered the Shuck, and it ran under their horses. The driver tried to hit the black dog with his whip, but it passed straight through the creature. The same area is also haunted by a phantom coach, being driven at breakneck speed.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Reydon - Wangford Road, heading towards Reydon Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 January 2010, around 01:30h
Further Comments: While travelling by car home from work, this solitary driver passed a figure wearing a brown cloak made from what appeared to be sacking. The garment covered the entire body, except the face which was featureless and glowed white. The entity also had a pole or upright rope close to its neck, which stood 50cm into the air. The driver turned back to have another look, by which time the entity had vanished.

Figure in Three Cornered Hat

Location: River Deben - The Old Groom House, near the River Deben
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Seen in the garden of the house, the unknown figure in a three corned hat has also appeared in the bedrooms, startling those in bed by bending over them.

River Gipping, Suffolk.

Gipping Girl

Location: River Gipping - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mermaid that frequented the Gipping would prey on children who played near the deeper waters of the river.

Black Puma

Location: Rougham - General area, and on the A14 turning
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Circa 2005 - 2020
Further Comments: Big Cats of Suffolk website reported three sightings of black cats in this area, two spotted by motorcyclists. The most recent sighting in 2020 described the creature as muscular and square jawed.

Kingshall Street, Rougham.

Shadowy People in the Gardens

Location: Rougham - Kingshall Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, around noon on varying days
Further Comments: Happening at lunch time, villagers have reported seeing dark figures approach and cross gardens, only to disappear at dead ends.

Double Fronted Georgian House in Mist

Location: Rougham - Kingshall Street?
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: 'In the days before automobiles' a house with a beautiful garden appeared along Kingshall Street. A witness had never seen the building before, so went to investigate, only to see the house engulfed by mist and disappearing to leave an empty field.

The site of old air force base at Rougham.

Disappearing L'il Butch

Location: Rougham - Old USAAF base
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1945
Further Comments: Towards the end of the Second World War, L'il Butch was shot down during a bombing run on Germany, but briefly reappeared at the air base a few months later, as if it had just landed. Little exists of the airfield now - an industrial site now stands on the area, and fields cut off access to the runways.