West Midlands Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Shadowy Figure
Location: Solihull - Private residence, Chelmsley Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2018/9
Further Comments: A shadowy figure wearing a Fedora and coat was spotted by several occupants of a flat. Electronic toys would also turn themselves on for no apparent reason.
Vase Mover
Location: Solihull - Red Lion (aka The Lion Sport & Eat), Shirley
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: August 2021
Further Comments: This pub featured in local press after a vase moved unaided and fell from a shelf. It was reportedly not the first time items had been relocated.
Shrieking Woman
Location: Solihull - Road between Solihull and Knowle, near a pond and overhanging trees (which may no longer exist)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom woman which drifted the area issuing piecing shrieks reputedly drowned nearby.
White Figure
Location: Solihull - Road between town and Elmdon Heath
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1907
Further Comments: Tales of a phantom dressed in white were put to bed after a worker was found walking along the road by police at night. It was said he wore white to ensure he was seen by motorcyclists.
Halo
Location: Stechford - The Meadway
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1982
Further Comments: Driving back from work in the early hours of the morning, this witness spotted a halo shaped object hovering and darting around the sky before vanishing.
Cyclist
Location: Stoneleigh - Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1928
Further Comments: Two people in a car watched a cyclist in late nineteenth century clothing crash into the bridge. When the witnesses stopped to help, they discovered the cyclist had vanished. A record exists of a man dying in a cycling accident in 1885 at the same location.
Bella
Location: Stourbridge - Badgers Sett public house (was Gypsy's Tent pub)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards
Further Comments: Nicknamed Bella, the phantom woman said to haunt the cellar and bar area is said to be connected to the body of a female which was found in Wych Hazel nearby. A ghostly male in uniform has also been spotted on the road outside the pub.
Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Location: Stourbridge - Hagley Wood
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: A woman discovered inside the hollow trunk of a Wych Hazel was thought to have been murdered in an unknown ritual. Shortly after the crime, graffiti sprang up asking 'who put Bella in the Wych Elm?'. The crime remains unsolved to this day, and animals are reported to be weary of the area.
Tall Nurse
Location: Stourbridge - Old Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1927
Further Comments: Arthur Robinson Wright wrote that hundreds of people flocked to this house after a ghostly, seven foot tall nurse appeared.
Steam Train
Location: Stourbridge - Private residence, Wollescote
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1983
Further Comments: A witness listened to the sound of an old fashioned steam train approach her bedroom before feeling something rush past her.
Shelf Disruption
Location: Stourbridge - The One Stop Shop, Norton
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: This shop was plagued by poltergeist like behaviour, the management putting the blame on 'bad electrics', while staff and visitors saying that the contents of the shelves were being pushed to the ground by 'something else'. A local psychic claimed the ghost of an old woman was to blame, and that he had moved her on.
Headless Man
Location: Sutton Coldfield - New Hall Hotel and Wylde Green Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1820s onwards
Further Comments: This headless figure is thought to have been a local man mistakenly found guilty for being a Jacobite spy. The man was executed, and his head left in an oak tree where it remained until the 1820s - the tree was cut down and the skull rediscovered. Since then, the headless phantom is said to walk around the area (or the head rolls around looking for its body, depending on the source).
Mary Ashford
Location: Sutton Coldfield - Private house along Penn's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghost of a young girl has been observed here, closely matching the description of Mary Ashford, murdered in the early nineteenth century.
Old Man with a Walking Stick
Location: Sutton Coldfield - Private residence, Wylde Green area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1967, 02:00h
Further Comments: While staying in a converted attic, paranormal writer Mike Coutts encountered a smartly dressed old man holding a walking stick in the early hours of the morning. The figure vanished when Coutts turned the light on. The author also said that the tapping of a walking stick would be heard moving up the staircase towards the room. According to the local press, Coutts had only spent a couple of weeks at the property many years previous and was looking for help to find the exact location where his encounter occurred.
Tiny Frogs
Location: Sutton Coldfield - Sutton Park
Type: Other
Date / Time: June 1954
Further Comments: Baby frogs, no bigger than a thumbnail, were said to have fallen from the sky during a heavy rain shower. The downpour lasted for around five minutes, depositing thousands of the amphibians.
Man in Red Cloak
Location: Sutton Coldfield - The Gate Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This brightly cloaked figure is one of two figures which haunt this building - the other is named as a lost cavalier.
White Lady
Location: Sutton Coldfield - Westwood Coppice (west side of Sutton Park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Reputedly every night (story dates from nineteenth century)
Further Comments: A woman who was betrayed by her lover drowned herself in a nearby pond (that no longer exists). Her ghost, dressed in white, wrings her hands as it drifts through the trees.
Man on Bench
Location: Walsall - Bentley Cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: Walking home from the gym, a witness walked past the cemetery and spotted a man sitting on a bench. The figure looked in his seventies and wore glasses. The witness turned briefly took his eyes off the figure, during which time the man vanished. The cemetery was locked up and no one else could be seen.
Patter of Doggy Footsteps
Location: Walsall - Private building along Lysways Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: A woman living here at the time reported twice hearing what sounded like a small dog following her down the staircase, late at night. On both occasions, when she turned around nothing could be seen.
Pneumatic Drill
Location: Walsall - Private house, Bloxwich Lane
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February - March 1962
Further Comments: Bangs at the volume of a pneumatic drill would keep this family (and their neighbours) awake at night. Housing officers and police attended the scene, and although their opinions are not documented, a visiting metaphysicist declared a dead family member to be attempting communication.
Young Girl
Location: Walsall - Private house, Tennyson Road, Blakenall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: The ghost of a two year old girl drove a family from their home along this road - the father stayed in a caravan in the garden, while other members of the family moved away until the activity died down.
Hooded Figure
Location: Walsall - Private residence, Highgate Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1960s
Further Comments: A witness reported encountering a hooded figure which resided at this site. Their experience of the entity was not negative or hostile, although it did take a dislike to other occupants of the house.
Maybe Bill
Location: Walsall - Spring Cottage Public House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1978
Further Comments: After several customers encountered the pub's ghost, landlord John O'Connell attempted spirit writing. John scribbled the name 'Bill', the year 1855, and sketched an 'act of violence'. It would later be discovered that the landlord of the pub in 1855 was William Meddlicott.
Ethel
Location: Walsall - Starting Gate public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: February 2003
Further Comments: This entity, named by locals as a former Black Country landlady, has been known to clean and tidy up after messy customers have left.
Bangs
Location: Walsall - Tattooist, George Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 02 July 2011
Further Comments: A worker in this shop reported loud bangs, as if someone were jumping up and down, emanating from an empty room. The door to the room also opened twice on its own accord.
Records 126 - 150 of 177
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