The Paranormal Database

Face on the Wall

Location: Brighton - Private residence, Woodingdean
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-1970s to early 1980s
Further Comments: Several happenings led the occupiers to believe their home was haunted, including the manifestation of a face on a wall, the sensation of someone sitting on a bed, items moving on a table, and a photograph which showed a strange bald head in the middle of the living room.

Woman in Green

Location: Brighton - Private residence, Wykeham Terrace, Dyke Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s onwards?
Further Comments: This phantom middle aged woman wearing a green dress is said to have been observed through a window. The figure appears to be reading, and she fades away after being seen.

Brighton's Pump House pub.

Woman in Black

Location: Brighton - Pump House public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: A barmaid spotted a woman in black standing at the bar and spoke to her - the figure faded away. When the building is closed, footsteps and voices have been heard by witnesses working in the cellar, although when investigated, no one is found.

Queens Road Rest Garden in Brighton.

Monk

Location: Brighton - Queens Road Rest Garden, Brighthelm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: A group of boys in the garden were left unnerved after encountering this cowled phantom.

Man in Long Cloak

Location: Brighton - Queens Road, former location of Clocktower Antiques
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2002
Further Comments: This ghostly figure appeared quite frequently as the deadline neared to the demolition of Clocktower Antiques. Occupants of neighbouring buildings also reported hearing noises coming from rooms that were empty.

Brighton's Regency Tavern.

Tall, Thin Woman

Location: Brighton - Regency Tavern, Russell Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure, possibly a former landlady and seemingly made of misty material, drifted through a startled barman. The entity may have been responsible for the brief outbreak of poltergeist activity that occurred earlier in the twentieth century, or alternatively it could be attributed to the ghost of a young disabled girl who jumped from a window.

The Rottingdean Club in Brighton.

Cary Grant

Location: Brighton - Rottingdean Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987 onwards
Further Comments: In life, Cary was said to have made several bids on this club, as he fell head over heels in love with it. However, it has been claimed that the story of Grant haunting of the site is little more than a publicity stunt.

Brighton's Royal Albion Hotel.

Man behind the Bed

Location: Brighton - Royal Albion Hotel, Old Steine (destroyed by fire, July 2023)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: One witness staying in this flat watched a male figure pass behind the bed and cross the room. The hotel was said to be haunted by Sir Harry Preston.

Former Worker

Location: Brighton - Royal Mail Delivery Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: One pre 1988, other unknown
Further Comments: Two ghosts were said to haunt this site. One was said to be a postal worker and would appear in the basement, but he has not been seen since the site was renovated in 1988. The second was another worker which was said to manifest in the main building.

Brighton's Royal Pavilion, Sussex.

Martha Gunn

Location: Brighton - Royal Pavilion
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Between the two world wars (Gunn)
Further Comments: The ghost of an older-looking grey lady was seen in the Royal Pavilion flitting around examining banquet tables. The man who witnessed the spectre gave chase but was unable to catch the entity. After looking through some old documents, the witness identified the ghost as Martha Gunn, a celebrated 'dipper' (an eighteenth century person who operated a small, wooden hut on wheels to take people down to the sea). The Prince Regent who would later become King George IV, is also reported to walk inside his former home.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Sister Geer

Location: Brighton - Royal Sussex County Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A member of staff who heard and felt someone invisible walk by was later told it was Sister Geer, a former nurse whose presence had been encountered by other staff on the ward.

Brighton's Sealife Centre.

Hunchback

Location: Brighton - Sealife Centre, Madeira Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities are said to haunt the Sealife Centre, including a man with a hunchback and a Victorian woman. Strange laughter has been reported close to the underwater tunnel.

Shatterer

Location: Brighton - Selby Jewellery (no longer operating)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 1994
Further Comments: Several items inexplicably shattered in the shop during a short period, including plates, a sliding door, and a watch.

The Sidewinder pub in Brighton.

Henry Metcalf?

Location: Brighton - Sidewinder public house (was The Lion), Kemp Town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Former landlord Metcalf was involved in a murder/suicide in 1936, and he is now thought responsible for the hostile presence reported in the basement. A benevolent small boy has also been sighted darting around from room to room.

St Bartholomew's Church in Brighton.

Choir

Location: Brighton - St Bartholomew's Church, Ann Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Silently singing, a choir was observed within this church before fading away.

St John the Baptist church, Brighton.

Woman in a Bonnet

Location: Brighton - St John the Baptist church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: The church is said to be the haunt of a woman wearing a white bonnet.

St Nicholas' Church in Brighton.

Knight in Armour

Location: Brighton - St Nicholas' Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Moonlit Nights (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Appearing on horseback, this knight clad in armour appears around the church neighbourhood.

Medieval Girl

Location: Brighton - St Peter's Church, Preston Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 2001
Further Comments: This figure was first (?) observed by two people walking through the churchyard in the 1970s - she was so lifelike they tried to talk to her, but she faded from view. The same entity was seen by a female photographer early in the twenty-first century.

Brighton's Stanmer Park.

Priest

Location: Brighton - Stanmer Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom priest was reported to haunt this site. Legend says he was shot by custom officers after being caught assisting the local smuggling operation some 200 years ago.

Maria Fitzherbert

Location: Brighton - Steine House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local legend says that this house was connected to the Royal Pavilion by way of a secret tunnel, to ensure Maria Fitzherbert could secretly meet George, Prince of Wales (later George IV). Maria is reputed to continue haunting the site; a female form wearing a long flowing dress is said to vanish into a wall along the basement corridor.

George

Location: Brighton - Supermarket north of the town
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: An out-of-hours manager at this store spotted the fuzzy figure of a tall man in a blue top near the checkouts after the store had closed. The manager initially thought the figure was the security guard or a lorry driver, but soon realised he had encountered 'George', a ghost said to haunt the building after dying during an accident in the factory that previously stood on the site.

Brighton's Sussex Arms pub.

White Lady

Location: Brighton - Sussex Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Nothing is really known about this phantom white lady, and it is questionable whether she still exists.

The Brighton Centre, formally known as Alhambra Opera House.

Billy

Location: Brighton - The Brighton Centre (was the Alhambra Opera House)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This building has been reputedly haunted since its time as the Alhambra. A young boy named Billy is said to have died in the lobby area having walked to the site from a nearby orphanage to see the bright lights and music up close.

Brighton's The Coal Shed restaurant.

Jemmy Botting

Location: Brighton - The Coal Shed restaurant, and Boyce's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Dark, windy nights
Further Comments: Botting was a hangman who claimed to have executed 175 during his career. He died in October 1837 after falling out of his wheelchair - he was so despised locally, no one came to help him up. His ghost is said to haunt the Coal Shed, while the sound of his wheelchair is heard passing along Boyce's Street when the weather is right.

Brighton's Ghost Train on Palace Pier.

Footsteps

Location: Brighton - The Ghost Train, Palace Pier
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps are said to be heard around the ghost train site in the early hours of the morning, while torch batteries die at an alarming rate.