The Paranormal Database

Four Figures

Location: Baginton - Edge of Coventry Airport
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: May 1982
Further Comments: A group of friends who wanted to find a good viewing spot to watch Pope John Paul II fly in spotted four figures in black carrying weapons run across a field and vanish into the ground. When the group walked over to where the figures vanished, they found an old concreate air raid shelter with no one inside.

A burning manor house.

Burning

Location: Baginton - Manor House (no longer standing)
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1900s onwards?
Further Comments: This manor house was consumed by fire around the start of the twentieth century. Ten years after the fire, a witness reported seeing a house burning where the manor had stood, and again another witness reported the same occurrence a few years later.

Grey Lady

Location: Baginton - Old Mill House hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: This phantom is said to be more likely heard than seen, her voice has been detected in the restaurant. The ghost is reputedly that of a woman murdered by her husband, and remains on this mortal plane looking for her child. Another story says the site became home to the ghost of a man murdered over a debt and would occasionally manifest on the staircase.

Figure in Black

Location: Birmingham - Path alongside the canal, Erdington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 September 2016
Further Comments: A figure in black was observed by a cyclist on the path ahead. The cyclist slowed a little and watched the figure follow the path around the base of a bridge. As the cyclist reached the same spot, they realised no one could be seen and there was nowhere the walker could have turned off.

Workman

Location: Birmingham - Pebble Mill Studios
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A workman killed during construction of the studios would be seen and heard around the sets once they were up and running.

Strange Sounds

Location: Birmingham - Police station, Canterbury Road (no longer operating)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: Although some believed the strange sounds heard at the police station to have been created by an old heating system, reports were made in the press that some officers refused to work there at night.

Samuel Greatrex

Location: Birmingham - Private house along Garrison Lane, Small Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1963
Further Comments: Identified by a medium as Samuel Greatrex, this ghost created loud knocks, rattled chains, and generated footsteps day and night. It was later discovered that Greatrex had been arrested for stabbing someone and had died during his time in prison. When occupier Mrs Keogh moved away, Greatrex followed her.

Samuel Greatrex Returns

Location: Birmingham - Private house along Upper Thomas Street, Aston
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1964 onwards
Further Comments: Mrs Keogh fled her previous residence to escape the phantom Samuel Greatrex, but the ghost accompanied her, as did the loud raps it created Through a medium, Greatrex apologised to Mrs Keogh and promised to quieten down.

Flying Dog

Location: Birmingham - Private residence, Barrows Lane, Yardley
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Late twentieth / early twenty-first century
Further Comments: Footsteps walking up a hallway were heard by a witness and her dog in a room. The footsteps stopped outside the room and the door handle started to turn. The dog ran to the door barking, and the witness grabbed a poker. Opened the door, the witness was surprised to find no one there, although the dog continued to bark at empty space. A short time later the family watched the dog barking at the air in the garden, when the hound was picked up and thrown into the door of a coal house by something unseen. There were also reports of loud crashes within the house, but nothing was ever found tipped over.

Footsteps

Location: Birmingham - Private residence, Kings Heath
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1940s - 1970s
Further Comments: A report stated that strange footsteps would be heard walking around at night and more than one person had the same vision of a burning bedroom with shadowy figures moving around outside of the ring of fire.

Lady Bagot

Location: Birmingham - Pype Hayes Hall, Erdington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story says that Lady Bagot committed suicide after being caught having an affair with a member of the household staff. It is unclear whether Bagot is the ghost in a yellow dress reported here. A caped man has been spotted and mild poltergeist behaviour is also said to have occurred.

Grasper

Location: Birmingham - Queen's Arms public house, Charlotte Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: Staff at this public house named their resident spook Grasper after a series of incidents where their bums were pinched by an unseen hand. Other activity is said to include chairs moving and footsteps heard in empty parts of the building.

Sandwell Vallygator

Location: Birmingham - Sandwell Valley
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: An American snapper which had either escaped or been set free was first spotted at a valley lake in 1999, though it took a further two years to catch the creature.

Henrietta's Maid

Location: Birmingham - Saracen's Head Inn, Kings Norton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When Queen Henrietta Maria visited Kings Norton, an influenza outbreak ravaged her troops. For her safety, the troops set up camp by the stream while the Queen stayed at the Saracens Head. Queen Henrietta had her maid run messages to and from the camp, but the young girl caught the illness. When Henrietta set off, the maid stayed behind and died shortly after. She still walks the upstairs corridor looking to serve her mistress.

Young Girl

Location: Birmingham - Sheldon Hall public house, Gressel Lane, Tile Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Caught on film by a group of party goers, this shade is one of the two ghosts that haunt the property, the other taking the form of an old woman. In 1993, when the pub was known as 'Baldie's Mansion', a masked white apparition was spotted, accompanied by nearby trees and bushes violently shaking.

A phantom man in a top hat.

Old Paper Man

Location: Birmingham - Sherburne Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to occur around 03:00h
Further Comments: Wearing a top hat and old fashioned clothing, this phantom man is said to walk along picking up papers.

Mystery Rockets

Location: Birmingham - Skies above the area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 25 November.1947
Further Comments: Fast moving objects seen during the day at low altitude and moving from east to west leaving a trail of sparks were identified as 'probably' shooting stars by the Edgbaston Observatory. One witness said that he thought the object he witnessed resembled a rocket.

Silver Saucer

Location: Birmingham - Skies over the area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 16 July 1947
Further Comments: Four witnesses watched a silver object in the sky during a storm. One of the witnesses claimed the object would periodically pause in its movements before continuing.

Gypsy Curse

Location: Birmingham - St Andrews, Birmingham City Football Club
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a community of gypsies were evicted from the land many years ago, enabling the construction of the stadium. St Andrews is one of several football grounds around the country that claims this gypsy curse is responsible for any bad luck they encounter.

Melting Woman

Location: Birmingham - Telephone Box, Station Road, Erdington (box no longer standing, replaced by a sculpture)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: September 1975
Further Comments: One of the more unusual haunted places in the database - a priest wanting to use the phone box was kept waiting by a woman chatting away on the line. When he opened the door to see how much longer she would be, the figure melted away. The figure is reported to have continued haunting the phone box until the mid-1990s; the ghost was said to be a distressed woman who had lost her children in a house fire and had used this phone to call the emergency services. She later killed herself.

Baby Killer

Location: Birmingham - 32 Coxwell Road, Ladywell
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: This entity was blamed for killing a month old infant found suffocated. The family's four year old son claimed he witnessed a 'white dog' sitting on the child's face prior to the body being discovered. Soon after the death, the building became plagued by whisperings and unexplained tapings at started promptly every night at 10:20.

Leon Salberg

Location: Birmingham - Alexandra Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Having managed the theatre for over twenty five years, Leon died within the building, and is thought to still walk here. The ghost of an unknown woman has also been spotted.

Mrs Holt

Location: Birmingham - Aston Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Holt and servant boy unknown, green lady in Summer 1991
Further Comments: A former Mrs Holt (or Halte) was suspected by her husband of having an affair - he locked her in the loft where she lived for several years before dying. Another version of the story says Miss Mary Holt became locked in the loft by her father after she tried to elope. Either way, the phantom grey or white lady haunts the upper floor. A ghostly servant boy is said to hang from a beam on the property (he committed suicide after being caught stealing), while finally a green woman, a former housekeeper named either Mrs Whitaker or Walker has been seen in various areas of the site. A member of staff spotted her in the nursery room, briefly mistaking her for a real person before realising the area had been closed off and that the figure wore seventeenth century clothing.

Maroon Woman

Location: Birmingham - Aston Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: A woman with her hair tied in a bun and wearing a maroon dress could be seen sitting by the tennis court. When approached, the lady vanished.

Grey Figure

Location: Birmingham - Birmingham & Midland Eye Centre, City Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: During the building's construction, CCTV picked up the image of a strange grey figure - dispatched security sent to the scene found no one. A ward sister was encountered along a top floor corridor, only visible from the knees upwards. Around the same time, a crew of workers found themselves locked in a room after investigating cries heard from within; as before, nothing could be found. Someone finally summoned a priest to bless the area.