The Paranormal Database

Nun

Location: Seaford - Crypt under the Folly
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This phantom was said to open the door, take a quick walk around the area and then leaves.

Car Crash

Location: Seaford - Road along coastline
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1976
Further Comments: A couple out walking watched a car as it lost control and hit a three foot high sea wall - it passed straight through and disappeared on the other side.

Man in Brown

Location: Selmeston - Sherrington Manor
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: This ghostly figure, top-to-toe in brown clothing, is widely thought to be a monk. A female figure is said to appear when someone is sick in the house.

Groaning

Location: Selsey - Church car park, western edge of Pagham Harbour, Church Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October or November 2001, 23:30h
Further Comments: Two teenagers hanging out at this car park at night witnessed a flash, quickly followed by a bang. From within their car, they could hear loud moaning approaching, but no footsteps could be heard on the gravel. Nothing could be seen as the teenagers drove off, and many years later one of the witnesses read about a Civil War ghost reputed to haunt the area.

Gliding Girl

Location: Selsey - Cricket ground and nearby road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Several people in the village are said to have encountered the dark haired girl in a Victorian dress. She emerges from the cricket pitch, crosses the road, and vanishes when she enters a nearby field.

Mischievous Entity

Location: Selsey - Private bungalow and nearby shop, Seal Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1950 - February 1958
Further Comments: The Quick family moved out of their home after the haunting entity grew too much for them to handle. One newspaper claimed the poltergeist had previously lived next door but had moved to its new abode around 1953. The Quicks experienced moving items, the sounds of pebbles being thrown (although no stones could be found), and cupboards that unlocked unaided.

Something Behind

Location: Sharpthorne - Tunnel (operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: A worker on the railway experienced an oppressive feeling, and a sensation as if someone were walking just behind or alongside them. The worker later discovered that other people had experienced the same feelings, and that signalmen working at Kingscote would receive calls from the tunnel's telephone, even though no one would be within.

The Adur Civic Centre in Shoreham.

Caretaker wearing Green Overalls

Location: Shoreham - Adur Civic Centre, Ham Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The haunting here is reportedly caused by a former caretaker electrocuted onsite. He has been seen on the upper floor of the building and is also held accountable for the pealing of a bell that is heard around dinner time.

Burned Man

Location: Shoreham-by-sea - Beach
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-Second World War, and 1986
Further Comments: Possibly a modern myth, a local story says that the beach is haunted by a figure covered in burns, accompanied by the smell of burning. A group of teenagers on the beach in 1986 are said to have been chased off by a figure which ran out of the sea, screaming at them.

Calling Out for Help

Location: Shoreham-by-Sea - Private residence, near the River Adur
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a man died along this road after falling down a set of stairs - his ghost calls out for help before vanishing.

Sir Robert Earnley

Location: Sidlesham - Crab & Lobster public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir Robert Earnley was killed by a gang of Cromwell's soldiers, his dying breath coming from inside the pub after he managed to drag himself there. His tall, proudly uniformed ghost is now seen prior to dawn, though has also been seen once lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Cavalier

Location: Sidlesham - Crab and Lobster Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: A tall, cloaked figure has been seen both inside and outside the inn. He is thought to be a Cavalier taken to the building after being mortally shot. A visiting medium claimed to see the dying form of the man on the floor of the bar in 1969.

Footsteps

Location: Sidley - New Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The normal pub polt antics apply here (electrical items operating themselves, lighting turning on and off), though on one occasion footsteps were heard coming from an empty room by a visiting journalist.

Black Circles

Location: Slindon - A27
Type: Other
Date / Time: 29 June 2011
Further Comments: While his lorry travelled at 56 mph, black misty circles with white centres appeared in front of this driver. The shapes passed through the windscreen without causing damage and the engine cut out. Once the vehicle had come to a stop, the driver restarted it and drove off with no further problems. The driver described the incident as 'the most frightening experience ever'.

White Horse

Location: Slindon - Area around village and Fontwell Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Often seen early in the morning, this riderless phantom steed moves towards witnesses and dissolves away seconds before reaching them. The entity may be related to the ghostly carriage pulled by a team of horses which was said to pass through the village along the lane close to the old butcher's shop.

Bricklayer

Location: Slindon - Slindon House
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The estate's bricklayer was seen walking behind his trainee, the day after the workman had been buried. A phantom priest was also once a frequent visitor to the library; he stopped appearing after an observer destroyed a piece of paper hidden inside a book at which the priest would point.

Shadow on Stairs

Location: South Harting - Rosemary Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cottage is said to be haunted by a shade seen standing on the stairs, though little more is known.

Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh

Location: South Harting - Uppark House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This local eccentric is said to haunt the Red Room of this building - the house was seriously damaged in a fire in the late 1980's, and it is unclear whether the ghost is affected.

Large White Face

Location: South Heighton - Cottage in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Left empty for many years because of the intensity of the haunting, a strange pale face with large black eyes stared from the windows of this building after dark. A vicar finally drove the spirit away.

Wailing

Location: Steyning - Bramber Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Maude of Ditching's screams and cries can occasionally be heard in the ruins - her lover was bricked up in the dungeon after being caught by Maude's husband. The castle is also said to be haunted by two children seen begging for food, though they vanish if approached.

Milian

Location: Steyning - St Andrew's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Drifting amongst the headstones, the female phantom here is thought to be a thirteenth century lady named Milian.

Foot Dragging

Location: Storrington - White Horse Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One of the bedrooms here is haunted by shuffling footsteps and a presence that taps bystanders on the shoulder.

Screaming Women

Location: Tangmere - Tangmere Military Aviation Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by a bomb during the Second World War, members of the Woman's Auxiliary Air Force can still be heard screaming on this site.

Lady with Hair in Bun

Location: Ticehurst - Pashley Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The top half of this phantom figure was seen drifting at the front of the house, the lower part of the body dissolving into mist. Another observer reported a pair of disembodied hands that jutted out from the banister at the top of the staircase, and during at least one night the household was awoken by banging on doors and the crashing of crockery.

Horse

Location: Tillington - Lanes in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: One unnamed lane in the village is the haunt of a headless horse. The village must attract decapitated entities, as a headless pig is also said to haunt the general area.