The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Suffolk Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana


The Druid's Stone, Bungay.

The Druid's Stone

Location: Bungay - St Mary's Priory, churchyard
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Believed to be at least a couple of thousand years old, the large, rounded stone is rumoured to have been used by druids. Local legend states you can summon the Devil by dancing around it twelve times.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2001-09-09 | Last updated: 2001-09-09 | ID #652


Ye Olde Three Tuns pub, Bungay.

Rex Bacon and Friends

Location: Bungay - Ye Olde Three Tuns public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: An investigation by a medium revealed this building was haunted by 24 ghosts (!), one of whom was Mr Rex Bacon, a highwayman from the eighteenth century whose base of operations was the inn.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2001-06-09 | Last updated: 2001-06-09 | ID #830

Dragon Slaying

Location: Bures - Exact location not known
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Fifteenth century
Further Comments: The local church gives the account of how a local dragon that was immune to arrows was finally chased into the marshes where it vanished. A virtually identical tale exists from nearby Wormingford.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2007-08-12 | Last updated: 2007-08-12 | ID #7749

Hunting Cat

Location: Bures - Field outside village
Type: ABC
Date / Time: February 2009
Further Comments: Two witnesses watched a large cat as it chased two deer across a field. They could see the mud flicking up from the feline's feet as it ran. The witnesses searched the area and found a large paw print, twice the size of their retriever.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2009-04-19 | Last updated: 2009-04-19 | ID #9274

White Shuck

Location: Burgh - Bath Slough, a boggy pool near the town
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A white dog the size of a bullock frequented this area.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2001-06-09 | Last updated: 2001-06-09 | ID #831

Old Washer Woman

Location: Burgh - Location near the main road, once known as 'Skeleton Hole' or 'Skellet Hole'
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: After a heavy rain fall, the sound of a ghostly woman could be heard washing her pots.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-08-12 | Last updated: 2007-08-12 | ID #7750

White Feet

Location: Burgh - Road (once?) known as Whitefoot Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: This lane took its name from the ghost with pale white feet that walked along it.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-08-12 | Last updated: 2007-08-12 | ID #7751

Chanting

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Private residence, Abbeygate Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972-1976
Further Comments: While living at this site, a family reported encountering chanting monks at night, as well as witnessing taps turning on and off unaided, chairs being thrown, and balls of light which passed through walls.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2019-03-30 | Last updated: 2019-03-30 | ID #13122

Clock

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Private residence, Oakes Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1974 - 1975
Further Comments: Over a two-year period, a clock in the sitting room would be found wrapped around and hanging from the curtain. Initially the occupants blamed their six-year-old son, although they changed their minds after the clock moved when he was not at home.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2025-08-31 | Last updated: 2025-08-31 | ID #16057

Old Man

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Private residence, St John's Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Objects would move around this flat, the married couple living here blaming each other. One night as they sat and spoke, the woman watched as the man's voice turned into that of someone much older, and for a split second, she saw someone else sitting with her. After a double take, the man's appearance returned to normal, and he had no idea what had just happened.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2025-11-02 | Last updated: 2025-11-02 | ID #16152

Nurse with Wounded Soldier

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Railway Arch, near Mustow Street, Eastgate Street, Great Barton Rd (now the site of the A14 bridge)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1870s onwards
Further Comments: This reoccurring scene dates from the Crimean War. A wounded soldier based at a nearby hospital fell in love with a local nurse, and both tried to elope. The nurse's father found out and tried to stop them, killing the soldier in the process.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2001-09-06 | Last updated: 2001-09-06 | ID #592

White Lady

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Rushbrooke Hall (3.5 miles from Bury)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1579 onwards
Further Comments: Different stories exist for the same ghost. The first states that the White Lady was the wife of a former owner, murdered by her husband. She floats around the moat, the place where she drowned. The second tale places the murder in the hall, this time by persons unknown. The body was then thrown into the moat from the battlements.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2001-09-06 | Last updated: 2001-09-06 | ID #348

Faceless Figure

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Salon along Hatter Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1975
Further Comments: Hairdresser Dennis Taylor encountered a brown figure with no face on the upper floor of his salon.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2026-05-17 | Last updated: 2026-05-17 | ID #16567

Revolving Lights

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Sky over the Cathedral
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 29 November 2008, 22:30h
Further Comments: Several people, including a member of staff at the Cathedral, reported observing a luminous grey UFO over the area. One witness contacted the police.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2008-12-09 | Last updated: 2008-12-09 | ID #9090


St Mary's Churchyard, Bury St Edmunds.

Maude Carew

Location: Bury St Edmunds - St Mary's Churchyard
Type: Curse
Date / Time: 24 February, 23:00h (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Cursed by a monk after Maude murdered the Duke of Gloucester in 1447, her shade is now said to appear once a year. The alleged ghost often brings dozens of people to the area in the hope of seeing her.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2002-04-01 | Last updated: 2002-04-01 | ID #912


The ruins of St Saviour's Hospital, Bury St Edmunds.

Grey Lady

Location: Bury St Edmunds - St Saviour's Hospital (ruins), and Tesco store, Fornham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1954 (hospital), and early to mid 2000s (Tesco)
Further Comments: This grey lady was seen within the ruined hospital several times during the mid-twentieth century. More recently, poltergeist-like activity has been reported at the adjoining Tesco store's canteen, with some people speculating that the Grey Lady may have returned.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2003-04-13 | Last updated: 2003-04-13 | ID #4105

Headless Horses

Location: Bury St Edmunds - The old Bridewell (now Moyse's Hall)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After departing Thetford and passing through Great Barton, a phantom coach pulled by headless horses was said to 'often' arrive at the Bridewell to collect the souls of any deceased prisoners.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2026-05-16 | Last updated: 2026-05-16 | ID #16563

Grey Lady

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The theatre is home to the Grey Lady, who may be the same entity seen in various other places over the town. Disembodied footsteps and the sounds of a piano have also been heard in empty parts of the building.

Source: Historical Record, User Submission
First added: 2019-09-20 | Last updated: 2019-09-20 | ID #13353

Monk

Location: Bury St Edmunds - 38 Buttermarket, currently a bookshop (was the Suffolk Hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid to late twentieth century
Further Comments: Reportedly connected via underground tunnel to a long gone priory, monks have been reported creeping around the site.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2000-08-17 | Last updated: 2000-08-17 | ID #421


Bury St Edmunds Abbey and Cathedral, Suffolk.

Monks

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Abbey, Norman Tower, and Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1980s (monks), Cardinal in summer 1975 or 1976
Further Comments: Spectral monks have been seen gliding around the ruins of the abbey and the tower, also in the shops along Abbeygate Street. One witness encountered a Cardinal while walking around the ruins with her husband - he gave her a warning before vanishing. Despite the reported sightings, it was claimed the story was first created by a police sergeant during the 1960s and planted in the local press. As a side note, one piece of folklore says St Edmund is buried at a hidden location on the site together with a gold statue of the angel Michael.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2000-08-17 | Last updated: 2026-02-15 | ID #29

Monk

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Anabel's Togs shop (no longer operating) along Abbeygate Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September or October 1975
Further Comments: A member of staff in this shop watched as an average sized monk with a pointed hood walked through the wall. Footsteps were also reported within the building.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2015-01-19 | Last updated: 2026-05-17 | ID #11734

Footsteps

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Angel Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps are reportedly heard in the underground bar after dark.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2026-02-01 | Last updated: 2026-02-01 | ID #16317

Pharmacist

Location: Bury St Edmunds - British Gas Showroom (was next door to Cupola House)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Phantom music could be heard coming from the basement where a pharmacist had taken his own life in 1913. A broom had also been spotted moving unaided. The showroom briefly opened the basement to the public in 1993 to raise money for Comic Relief.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2023-05-21 | Last updated: 2023-05-21 | ID #14909

Grey Woman

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Buildings on the Angel Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While it is unclear whether the Grey Lady reported all over Bury is of the same entity, more sightings are said to have occurred of a grey female form in buildings on this hill.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2006-07-30 | Last updated: 2006-07-30 | ID #6899

Footsteps

Location: Bury St Edmunds - Bury Free Press newspaper offices, King's Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Workers would hear disembodied footsteps walking along one of the building's corridors.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2026-05-17 | Last updated: 2026-05-17 | ID #16568

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