The Paranormal Database

George & Co

Location: Sunderland - North East Aircraft Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities are reputed to haunt this museum. The bottom half of a man has been seen walking around the hangars, wearing black trousers but no shoes. A phantom hound reputedly remains here, and poltergeist activity has also been reported - one witness watched an old fashioned gramophone, part of a static display, start to play unaided.

Shadowy Figure

Location: Sunderland - Private residence
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: October / November 1976
Further Comments: Strange events in the flat started with two ashtrays shattering. The two occupants reported unexplained noises and items moving unaided, with one of the pair spotting a dark shadowy figure.

Cold Water

Location: Sunderland - Private residence, General Havelock Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February - April 1957
Further Comments: Adults living at this property were subjected to prodding and the sensation of icy water being poured over them. Doors would also open and close unaided, footsteps heard on the staircase, and a strange zig-zag line would appear on the living room wall. The Bishop of Jarrow was summoned to bless the house and for a while the haunting ceased before restarting. The family eventually moved away.

A smoky, ghostly warning.

Pungent Cigars

Location: Sunderland - Royal Infirmary Hospital (Ward F62, no longer standing)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This was a palliative care ward. A doctor who worked there would smoke very pungent cigars. After he died the smell of cigars would fill the air a few minutes before a serious medical event occurred. So many staff experienced the smoke that it became unofficial procedure to check every patient and call in resuscitation staff if anyone detected the smell.

Groaning

Location: Sunderland - Royalty Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s?
Further Comments: Used as a hospital during the Second World War, this theatre is home to disembodied footsteps, groaning, vanishing personal belongings, slamming doors, and shadowy figures.

Two Children

Location: Sunderland - Ship Isis public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The two phantom children seen around this area are said to have been murdered by their mother, Mary Ann Cotton, in tunnels that ran under this building. A Victorian lady that haunts the pub may be Mary herself.

Strange Black Shape

Location: Sunderland - Stadium of Light training grounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2005
Further Comments: Players from this soccer club stated that they were concerned that their chances for promotion in the football league were under threat by a ghost which haunted their grounds. One player stated that the phantom was an eighteenth century wreaker called 'Spottee'.

Painting Polt

Location: Sunderland - Unidentified house, Bishopwearmouth
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1839
Further Comments: Shortly after Mary, a thirteen-year-old girl, fell seriously ill in the house, a supernatural outbreak caused havoc for the other residents. Unaccountable bangs, clangs, footsteps, and bells could be detected. Mary's medicine would be snatched from the hands of doctors and thrown across the room. Six months after the outbreak started, paintings of the night sky manifested on the girl's bedroom ceiling, returning if whitewashed over.

Hat Removal

Location: Sunderland - Unknown house, area around Newcastle Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A female phantom in this home would appear every night, removing a hat from the bedroom wardrobe and walking out the front door.

Vacuum

Location: Washington - Barmston slip road (west) to A 1231
Type: Other
Date / Time: 01 January 2014, 11:30h
Further Comments: A driver was left startled when, at 25 miles per hour, their car lurched and leaned over to the right and they could hear the air from the car being sucked out from the right hand door. After two seconds everything returned to normal. There was no apparent wind and no tire blow out, which the driver first suspected.

Long John

Location: Washington - Havelock Arms, Fatfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: A man who loved his evening drinking sessions, this former landlord, a tall man wearing a waistcoat, sometimes returns at evenings to his favourite watering hole. Brian Proudlock may have last seen the entity standing over his bed. Mild poltergeist activity had also been reported by staff.

Annie

Location: Washington - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Shortly after moving into this property, one of the residents awoke to find an old lady standing over their bed. The phantom woman was described as having grey hair in a bun and wore an old fashioned dress with an apron. A couple of days later the visitation was described to a neighbour, who said the description matched that of a former occupier, Annie, who had lived at the house many years previous.

Female in Long Dress

Location: Washington - Washington Old Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to be a member of the Washington family, this woman has been seen on the upper floors, her dress trailing on the ground.

Man in Dark Clothing

Location: West Boldon - Black Horse Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man in seventeenth century clothing, complete with wide-brimmed hat, haunts the bar area and was mistaken for a real person by a manager. A phantom nine year old girl also haunts the site and may be the source of a disembodied voice which has been heard.

Jessica Ann Hargreaves

Location: West Boldon - Wheatsheaf public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Mid 2004
Further Comments: A visiting medium spoke to Jessica's spirit, claiming that the young girl had been raped and murdered in 1908 and her remains hidden in the building. Prior to the visit, members of staff at the pub had experienced classic poltergeist activity, and in one incident found a child's handprint in some jelly though there were no children on the site at the time.

Cleaner

Location: Whitburn - Grey Horse public house (ceased trading, now a Co-Op shop)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre 2021
Further Comments: A former cleaner was named as the phantom which haunted the Grey Horse, although the haunting appears to have been limited to creaks and knocks.

Descending Donkey

Location: Whitley Bay - Ilfracombe Gardens
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 1977
Further Comments: This poltergeist initially made its presence known after making a toy donkey glide down the stairs. Clothes would be removed from drawers and furniture pushed against doors. Activity ceased after a priest blessed the property.

Ralph Greaser

Location: Winlaton - Bleach Green area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Snowy nights (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Walking stick salesman Ralph Greaser died in 1776, caught in a snowstorm while walking home. For years following his death, Ralph's phantom would appear to travellers in similar environmental conditions. A lady in white also haunted a footpath in the area; she would open the path's gate for any witness before she vanished.

Sitting Man

Location: Winlaton - Golden Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 12 December 2004
Further Comments: A photograph taken in this pub purports to show a strange man sitting in the background, slightly out of proportion to the rest of the environment. As the floor in the pub had just been raised, it has been suggested that this is the reason why the image looks slightly strange.

Old Man

Location: Winlaton - Unknown house (now demolished), California
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Date unknown, 04:00h
Further Comments: An old man who drowned himself in a well haunted this property. He could be heard walking the staircase at four in the morning and would also occasionally sit beside people on the sofa.