The Paranormal Database

Longhaired Man

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne - Unnamed public house along Westgate Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: This ghostly figure wearing a red coat walked through a barman closing the bar.

William Coulson

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne - Victoria Tunnel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2018
Further Comments: William was killed in an accident on 16 June 1852 after being hit by a coal wagon. His ghost is reputed to haunt the area and may have been seen by a tour guide in 2018. Other reported manifestations include footsteps, booms and voices.

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne - Willington Mill
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1835-1847
Further Comments: Just a small part of the phenomena, the footsteps were heard first. Over a period of weeks, these developed into bangs, whistling, the sounds of machinery, and finally a voice that spoke. Phantom animals were seen around the building. The family finally moved out, though the spirit stayed a little longer (but was much quieter).

Pterodactyl

Location: Seaton Burn - Skies over the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1990
Further Comments: A Pterodactyl-shaped creature with a six metre wingspan flew around six metres over the top of houses. The creature moved at around 30mph and made absolutely no sound.

Giggly Meg

Location: South Shields - Alum Ale House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several spooky entities have been reported as haunting this site, including Giggly Meg, a Grey Lady, a Victorian gentleman, and a former barman.

Knocking

Location: South Shields - Barr Porter / Thai Udon Kitchen (restaurant), Dean Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s
Further Comments: Warned by a former owner that the place was haunted, Alex Barr and Lee Porter opened their new restaurant and soon heard strange knocking coming from the upper part of the building. A visiting psychic claimed the site was home to three entities - Margaret, a young boy named James, and a monk. A photograph taken in a venue room purports to show a ghostly figure.

Barmaid

Location: South Shields - Beacon public house (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 2016
Further Comments: A local newspaper claimed the Beacon was haunted by a barmaid who fell into the cellar.

Old Lady with Gold

Location: South Shields - House along Thrift Street (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown - likely to be pre twentieth century
Further Comments: A maid venturing into the basement at night encountered a phantom elderly lady who instructed her to reach into an opening in the cellar wall. The maid did as instructed and pulled out a bag of gold and the deeds to the house. The maid, unsurprising, retired.

Cloud

Location: South Shields - Jazz hairdressers, Frederick Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2008
Further Comments: Footsteps, whistling, knocking, and a solid, hovering cloud have all been reported by staff at the salon. Customers have reported seeing people dressed in old fashioned clothing in the upper part of the building. A barman is said to have died falling down the basement stairs when the building was a club during the 1950s.

Roman

Location: South Shields - Look Out public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly Roman soldier who reputedly appears in the basement is said to be connected to the nearby Roman Fort.

Jack the Hammer

Location: South Shields - Riverside, and general area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure is said to appear by the river when someone is lost at sea, and sometimes knocks on the door of a family that is due a tragedy.

Tommy

Location: South Shields - Scotia public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story says the cellar is home to a phantom named Tommy who can be heard moving around using his walking stick.

A ghostly lighthouse keeper.

Woman

Location: South Shields - Souter Lighthouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Three phantoms are thought to haunt this locale - an unknown woman, a miner from a nearby pit, and an old lighthouse keeper. One or all of them could be responsible for the bangs and the ghostly footsteps heard around the site.

Sailor

Location: South Shields - Steamboat public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The resident spook in this pub was identified as a sailor who lost his footing and fell into the cellar.

Tomb Violator

Location: South Shields - Westoe Cemetery
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early March 1965
Further Comments: After several tombs were violated at the cemetery, a local councillor suggested a black magic group or a poltergeist could have been responsible. A police investigation failed to find those responsible.

Boiler Suited Man

Location: Springwell - Bowes Railway Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to have been killed in an accident, a phantom man wearing a boiler suit and flat cap is said to lurk in the area. Stones are occasionally thrown by unseen hands.

Ghoul

Location: Sunderland - Area known as The Swallow, was at the end of Westheath Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1945
Further Comments: Local children avoided this old open area of land in fear of encountering the ghoul-like phantom man who haunted the area.

Meeting Place

Location: Sunderland - Building Hill, Mowbray Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 1767
Further Comments: The hill once had an evil reputation, with a belief that evil spirits would gather there after the sun went down.

Ada Holmes

Location: Sunderland - Crowtree public house, Crowtree Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: A very popular landlady, Ada died in 1965, though her ghost wearing a colourful dress has been seen since.

General Beckwith

Location: Sunderland - Doxford House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: The Ghost Hauntings Overnight Surveillance Team claimed to have encountered a couple of phantoms on this site - General Beckwith, a former owner, and a girl named Emily who died in a fire.

Mrs Johnstone

Location: Sunderland - Empire Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A violinist who died on the site, Johnstone has been seen by the manager, drifting along the dress circle before vanishing. There are also rumours that Sid James haunts the Empire, and that Barbara Windsor (and several others) refused to work there.

Older Woman

Location: Sunderland - Greggs, Sea Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Staff would hear banging coming from empty parts of the shop, detect the whiff of lavender, and would find electrical items which were switched off turned back on. The activity was blamed on the spirit of a woman who once lived above the shop.

Cauld Lad

Location: Sunderland - Hylton (or Hilton) Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1400s, 1969
Further Comments: This little brownie caused havoc in the kitchen after hours - the staff disposed of it by creating a distraction until the sun came up, the light of dawn dismissing the creature. Another story blames the kitchen disturbances on the ghost of a groom murdered by his master. More recently, one witness who lived nearby reported seeing the cauld lad in 1969, when he was a child.

Green Lady

Location: Sunderland - Jolly Sailor Inn, Whitburn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The ghostly green lady that walks the hallways is said to have pined away after failing to impress her suitor. There may also be a smoke-like grey lady on the site, and a pink lady. A piece of folklore says there is a secret passage from this inn leading to the Marsden Grotto, a little over two miles to the north.

Pilot

Location: Sunderland - Manufacturing Plant (name withheld)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Underground tunnels at this plant are said to be haunted by a Second World War pilot, while a pale man wearing a British Coal Board jacket has been seen by a crane driver.