The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Wiltshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Monk

Location: Pewsey - Fyfield Manor, the Monk's Tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Monk in mid twentieth century, coach unknown
Further Comments: One man was told by a gardener that a phantom monk could be heard ascending the staircase in the tower. The man went on to spend three years living in the tower and never heard a thing. Another local story states that the driveway of the building is haunted by a phantom coach and four.


Nell Gwyn is said to haunt many a location.

Nell

Location: Pewsey - The Phoenix Inn (original building no longer stands)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The king's mistress would stay at the inn when the King travelled and resided in a nearby manor house. Her spirit remained until the inn was demolished.

Unusual Figure

Location: Porton - Down, along an ancient track
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2018
Further Comments: A witness spotted a figure in unusual clothing. The figure vanished before the witness could move closer.

Figure in Bedroom

Location: Potterne - Porch House
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1963 or 1964
Further Comments: An archaeologist working on the site noticed someone sitting on a chair by the bed. She assumed it was the owner of the building, but then came across the owner downstairs. The owner investigated but found the room empty.

Funeral Procession

Location: Potterne - Road near the Sandfield Farm gates
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A female witness watched this funeral procession, complete with coffin and mourners, pass her by on the opposite side of the road.

Woman in Green

Location: Potterne - Road near the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1936
Further Comments: A driver travelling to pick up his wife from a party pulled over to give a lift to a woman in a green suit standing on the roadside. She climbed into the back of the car, and as he drove away, he felt the air grow cold - the woman in green had vanished.

Footsteps

Location: Potterne - Vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early / mid twentieth century
Further Comments: One person staying at the vicarage reported the sounds of someone walking down to the study late at night. The only other person in the building, his father the vicar, insisted that he had not stirred during the night.

Headless Woman

Location: Poulshot - Lemon's Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman carrying her head under one arm was said to emerge from around the farm. Her story is unknown.

Children

Location: Purton - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom children and ghostly teenagers are said to appear and vanish without warning around the village, though this sounds suspiciously like normal teenage behaviour.

Possible Nun

Location: Purton - Purton Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A bricked up woman's skeleton found contained within a hidden room is thought to be related to the ghostly form which haunts the church. Some believe the figure to be a murdered nun, though the truth may never be known.

Horseman

Location: Purton - Roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly horseman has been heard and occasionally observed heading out of the village.

Watkins the Younger

Location: Purton - Watkin's Corner - between village and Purton Stoke
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Watkins Jr was hanged at the corner for murder, though a short time later his own father admitted to the crime. Now the younger Watkins haunts the area.

Chained Dog

Location: Quemerford - Pound's Mill (no longer present), Marlborough Road, and fields in the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Pre-First World War
Further Comments: One witness at Pound's Mill spotted a black dog with a chain hanging around its neck. The hound vanished through a closed door. The same creature is also thought to haunt other areas in the hamlet.


An old woodcut of an Elizabethan gentleman.

Elizabethan Man

Location: Quemerford - Road near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2013, 01:00h
Further Comments: A driver spotted a shadowy figure dressed in Guy Fawkes style clothing striding across the road in the early hours of the morning. The figure vanished before reaching the other side.

Searching Dog

Location: Ramsbury - Area between village and Axford
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: This phantom hound is said to be looking for its master who was killed while cutting down a tree. The hound's presence is denoted by the dragging of its chain.

Wild William Darrell

Location: Ramsbury - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Midnight
Further Comments: It is reported that if anyone counts one hundred studs on the north door at midnight, Wild William Darrell will emerge.

Maud Toogood

Location: Ramsbury - Elm tree in village (now replaced with an oak)
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Oak still present
Further Comments: A hollow elm tree which was killed off by Dutch elm disease was replaced with an oak. One of the reasons for the replacement was that the shade of a local witch had taken up residence in the tree, and locals were worried that she may curse the area if the elm was fell.

Footsteps

Location: Ramsbury - Old Saddlery (former furniture manufacturing business)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1964/1965, around 21:00h
Further Comments: While working alone late, one witness was surprised to hear heavy footsteps walking on the floor above. The witness investigated, but the building was devoid of life.

Headless Men

Location: Ramsbury - Road near Hare and Hounds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Carrying a coffin, these two headless men were said to walk close to the old Hare and Hounds pub.

Mrs Dyer

Location: Rodbourne Cheney - Church area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen moving towards the church, this spectral lady carries in her arms a small baby. She is said to be Mrs Dyer, a local woman convicted and executed for infanticide.

Wailing Woman

Location: Rodbourne Cheney - Old Vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wearing period clothing, this pathetic lady sobs as she scours the building in search of her dead baby.

William Boulter

Location: Salisbury - A30
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A highwayman by trade, Boulter was hanged for his troubles. His phantom is said to run along various parts of the A30.


Salisbury Cathedral.

Noose

Location: Salisbury - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Convicted of murder and executed, Lord Stourton was hanged in the marketplace and buried within the cathedral. A noose was left over his grave. The noose was removed at some point during the eighteenth century, but it is said to occasionally reappear.


Salisbury's former Debenhams.

Duke of Buckingham

Location: Salisbury - Debenhams' department store (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Executed in the fifteenth century, the headless apparition of the duke terrified a British Telecom employee working on the site - he refused to re-enter the building.


The Haunch of Venison.

Phantom Footfalls

Location: Salisbury - Haunch of Venison public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Random days between 11.30 & midnight (footfalls), white lady unknown
Further Comments: The footfalls may belong to the owner of a severed hand which was discovered behind a secret panel within the pub. This ghost is also held responsible for moving dirty glasses in the bar. The hand was stolen from the pub in March 2004. Another phantom, that of a white lady, is said to appear at windows.

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