The Paranormal Database

Laughter and Music

Location: Coventry - Prince William Henry public house, Foleshill Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2004
Further Comments: The basement of this pub has recently been subjected to phantom music, laughter and a dark shadowy stranger.

Woman in White

Location: Coventry - Private cottage, Wall Hill Road, Allesley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s - 1960s
Further Comments: Occupants in this cottage witnessed three ghosts, one a woman in white who resembled a nun, a woman in black, and a man wearing a nightshirt, handing a candle, descending the staircase Doors would open unaided and footsteps crossed the upstairs landing. The family would also hear rattling chains several times a week; when renovation work took place on the roof, a secret room was discovered that chains hanging from a wall.

Videoed Polt

Location: Coventry - Private residence in Holbrooks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2011
Further Comments: The Daily Mail reported that the family here were being terrified by an entity which threw things around the kitchen and opened and closed drawers. Video evidence, of a chair moving and cupboard doors opening, was less than convincing. The paper later stated that Derek Acorah had banished the phantom.

Chair

Location: Coventry - Private residence, Kenilworth Road
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown if still present
Further Comments: The artist John Heritage-peters lived at this site and threatened to haunt anyone who removed a chair from the gallery. The artist died in 1965 and subsequent house owners honoured his wish. When offered for sale in 1988, the house featured in the local press, complete with chair and associated folklore.

Piano

Location: Coventry - Private Victorian House, Humber Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1974
Further Comments: An occupier of a house along this road reported hearing the twangs of a piano, as if an unseen hand plucked the strings rather than hit keys.

Falling Items

Location: Coventry - Purdy's Pet Shop
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2020 - 2022
Further Comments: CCTV showed items falling from shelving and customers reported something tugging on their clothing. A ghost hunting group conducted a seance on the site to raise money for charity and claimed to have contacted a former male occupant.

Thomas Wildey

Location: Coventry - Ryton Bridge, River Avon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wildey murdered a mother and her daughter, for which he was hanged. His body was then placed in a gibbet by the bridge where it slowly rotted for many years. The strange patchy mist that hangs over the area is blamed on the ghost of the man, as are the lights seen to flitter nearby.

Photogenic Monk

Location: Coventry - St Mary's Guildhall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1985
Further Comments: Caught on film at an official function, a figure in a hooded gown can plainly be seen standing a few meters from the head of the table. A good image of this photo can be found in 'Haunted Britain and Ireland' by Richard Jones.

Flying Dustpan

Location: Coventry - Swanswell Gate, Hales Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: June 2003
Further Comments: Three men decided to spend the night here to raise money for charity after they saw a dustpan unhook itself from a wall and fly across the room.

Unknown Force

Location: Coventry - Terry Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: April 1994
Further Comments: A 'very transparent ripple' hit a person walking their neighbour's dogs, chilling the person with such dread they screamed out loud. It was a week before they were about to sleep properly.

Little Boy

Location: Coventry - The Establishment bar and grill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: A deputy manager was said to have seen on CCTV a child-like figure looking like they were playing hide and seek. When investigated, no one could be found. A newspaper photographer claimed to have taken a picture of a ghost in a mirror, although the 'phantom' resembles a normal person/slow shutter speed combination.

Coach

Location: Coventry - The Phantom Coach public house, Fletchampstead Highway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Coach seen 1938, Charlie in 1995
Further Comments: Named after a spectre that sometimes repeats its fatal crash (the coach left the road and sunk in a marsh, killing all on board), the pub is also haunted by an entity which could be the coach driver - he has been heard moving around after lights out in the old building.

Spontaneous Curtain Combustion

Location: Coventry - Unnamed house, Treherne Road area
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: October 1968
Further Comments: A minister blessed his property after a curtain and window frame mysteriously burst into flame. Fire officers were unable to find the cause. On a previous occasion, a lamp had also caught fire.

Great Shaggy Beast

Location: Coventry - Whitmore Park
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1949
Further Comments: Standing almost six feet tall, this black dog made itself known to a couple of water workers along Watery Lane (who wisely ran away). Prior to this, the creature had appeared in the middle of the eighteenth century and said to denote a death in the witness's family.

Saucer

Location: Coventry - Wyken Croft
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Summer 1972
Further Comments: While staying with relatives, a witness watched a saucer shaped object with blue lights. The saucer was bright metal, and the object hovered for a while before moving off at high speed. The witness ran downstairs to tell someone but was so shocked that they were unable to speak and soon realised that even although the sighting only appeared to last a few minutes, three hours had gone by.

A phantom serving girl.

Lucy

Location: Cradley - Black Horse public house (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Garret Room, located on the third floor, was said to be haunted by the ghost of a serving girl by the name of Lucy.

Green Lady

Location: Curdworth - St Nicholas Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly tall woman, wearing a green dress, is said to search the graveyard for the remains of her Royalist husband. The second myth from this church concerns a great treasure that is said to have been buried here along with human remains from a Civil War battle. Unfortunately, the hoard is protected by a headless phantom that intervenes if anyone comes too close to discovering it.

Mother & Child Statue

Location: Darlaston - St Lawrence's Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The child from this statue has been seen leaving the mother figure and walking off. The piece of art has also reportedly glowed in the dark, while a white phantom monk has also been observed in the churchyard.

Dudley Castle.

Gentlemanly Escort

Location: Dudley - Dudley Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: A phantom couple are said to walk arm in arm through the gatehouse of the castle ruins. A ghostly Lady Jane Grey has also been reported on site, as has a grey lady who is thought to be Dorothy Beaumont - she may be the entity which pushed a man down the keep's spiral staircase in 1998. Finally, the clash of swords has also been heard here.

Lipsticked Lady

Location: Dudley - Jolly Collier, Holly Hall (former inn)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1953 - July 1954
Further Comments: The Westwood family had lived in the former inn for two years before their ghostly outbreak. A young blonde woman wrapped in white and wearing lipstick was seen in various parts of the house, as was a phantom bald man. Beds were moved, knocking started and footsteps were heard in empty parts of the building. Eventually, as strangely as it had started, the hauntings ceased.

Man with Child

Location: Dudley - Jolly Miller Inn (no longer operating, or a pseudonym)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1951
Further Comments: Staying at the inn, Jeremy Collier awoke in the early hours of the morning and watched the manifestation of a man wearing a brown suit with a young girl. Collier observed the figures for around ten minutes, until the pair drifted through the wall. Collier later shared his encounter with the landlord, who said a former owner of the inn killed his daughter and then himself after falling in debt (the money problems caused by a poltergeist driving away paying residents).

Talking Man

Location: Dudley - Private residence, Holly Hall estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 2010s
Further Comments: Thought by the occupants to be a former resident, the sounds of an older man talking and doors opening have been heard. Cold spots and strange smells have also been encountered.

Footsteps

Location: Dudley - Road alongside Woodside Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2015
Further Comments: A woman and her son walking along this road could hear shuffling footsteps behind them, although when they turned around, nothing could be seen. The sounds, and the feeling of being followed, lasted until the pair turned off the road.

Banging

Location: Dudley - Spare Room Cafe (was the Crown Hotel), corner of Wolverhampton Street and Priory Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth / early twenty-first century
Further Comments: An icy cold chill and mysterious bangs and crashes from empty rooms are all blamed on an unknown entity which has found home in the cafe. A fish and chip shop based in the building also reported strange events and a string of bad luck.

Beggar

Location: Dudley - Starving Rascal public house, Amblecote
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The pub is reputedly haunted by an early twentieth century beggar who froze to death in the doorway after being turned away by a former landlord.