The Paranormal Database

Catgarookey

Location: Salisbury - Laverstock area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 2005
Further Comments: This sixty centimetre tall creature, christened 'Catgarookey' because it looks like a cat-kangaroo-monkey hybrid, was spotted several times in the region. The fact that the animal possessed a black and yellow tail with a white tip suggests the 'beast' is little more than an escaped racoon family member.

Bloody Hand

Location: Salisbury - Likely the road towards Blandford (called Banford in newspaper article)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1932
Further Comments: Appearing in an old newspaper article, a lorry driver reportedly fainted after a blood-stained hand manifested on his steering wheel. Other drivers passing through the area had encountered a phantom face in the road, the ghostly wreckage of a car, and the sounds of groaning.

The Boston Tea Party in Salisbury.

Moving Tools

Location: Salisbury - Old George Inn (currently Boston Tea Party)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that when work was carried out on the site, construction tools were moved around the building every night. When locked up on one occasion, the building was found completely open the following day. Although a former manager disliked being on the site alone at night, as it was 'too scary', nothing out of the ordinary has even been seen.

Playful Spirit

Location: Salisbury - Private flat along St Edmunds Church Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: An entity in a flat along this road occupies the bedroom, playfully pinning the inhabitants to the floor or wall (and letting them go when they ask it to).

Horrible Man

Location: Salisbury - Private property, Netherhampton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002-2016
Further Comments: Several strange events occurred on this site fourteen years, including the manifestation of upper torso of a man under a table (which caused a witness and a pet dog to flee the room), bad smells and cold spots.

Crying

Location: Salisbury - Private residence, Balmoral Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s-1990s
Further Comments: Crying would be heard from the loft in this property, while at other times something would be heard crashing down the staircase, although nothing would ever be found. An upstairs toilet would also flush itself and on one occasion the chime of a cuckoo clock was heard, one day after the clock had been removed from the site.

Koi from the Sky

Location: Salisbury - Salisbury & South Wilts Golf Club
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: Four golfers emerged after sheltering from a downpour on the second hole only to find the fairway covered in Koi carp and goldfish. It was speculated that the fish were removed by strong winds or a small whirlwind from a neighbourhood pond, even though no such location was found.

The White Birds

Location: Salisbury - Salisbury Plains
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death of Bishop of Salisbury
Further Comments: These large white birds, seen moving through the air but never flapping their wings, appear hours before the death of the Bishop. Another story says that the same event is foretold if two of the strange birds are seen on the roof of the cathedral.

Woman in Grey

Location: Salisbury - St Michael's Church, Car Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2018, 22:30h
Further Comments: A man walking his dog through the area spotted a female figure wearing a long grey dress slowly heading towards the church hall, with her back to him. Passing back the same way a short time later, the man spotted the woman now standing at the top of the car back. As he approached, the woman walked through the fence and vanished.

Grey Lady

Location: Salisbury - St Thomas's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s?
Further Comments: When last seen, this tearful woman in grey looked so real that the witness approached her to see what was wrong - the figure promptly vanished.

The Close, near Salisbury Cathedral.

Dr Baker

Location: Salisbury - The Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Several of the buildings which make up the close are reputedly haunted. A property near St Anne's Gate is said to still be the home of former canon Dr Baker who passed on many years previous. In another property, two men heard banging, footsteps and a massive crash from a room above them - on investigation, of course, the room was empty and undisturbed.

Grey Lady

Location: Salisbury - The Wardrobe (currently a museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1970s?
Further Comments: A phantom grey woman was said to haunt this building prior to renovation - it is unclear whether she has remained.

An old woodcut of a hairy man.

Wild Man of the Woods

Location: Salisbury - Woodland near the town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1877
Further Comments: A wild man who lived in the woods was shot at when he attacked and tried to kidnap a local farmer's wife. The creature was never seen again.

A phantom drummer scaring two men, taken from Bentley's Miscellany Vol 11.

Dead Drummer

Location: Salisbury Plain - Near the Devizes/Lavington junction
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story from the area says two men, Harry and Bill, were crossing the plain when they were caught in a storm. A ghostly drummer appeared, but only Harry could see the apparition. The ghost created such a commotion that Harry broke down and confessed being guilty to a previous unsolved murder. Bill reported the crime to the authorities and Harry was executed.

Wife

Location: Salisbury Plain - Unnamed road
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: A soldier whose wife had been killed by a drunk driver was himself driving a truck near the spot where the fatality occurred. Suddenly the apparition of his wife floated in front of the truck. The soldier slammed on the brakes and stopped; his wife vanished, but a few moments later a young child ran out into the road. The driver had little doubt that if it were not for his wife's appearance, he would have hit the child.

An old woodcut of a deer standing in a wooded area.

Black Hounds

Location: Savernake Forest - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The forest is reported to be home of several black dogs which bring ill fortune to any witnesses. There are also stories of a ghostly white deer which darts between the trees, a headless woman riding on horseback, and a coach and horses which leaves the forest and heads towards a nearby farm.

Bus

Location: Seend - A361
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1921 or 1922
Further Comments: A cyclist spotted a bus approaching in the distance, but it disappeared before reaching him.

Funeral Procession

Location: Seend - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom procession has been observed trudging the roads in the area.

Molly

Location: Semley - Pythouse
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After murdering her daughter by pouring boiling water over her, Molly the maid was herself hanged for the crime, and her skeleton placed inside this house. Her ghost appears in the 'Pink Room', where she committed her heinous crime. The skeleton itself is reputedly cursed and removing the bones would bring misfortune to the occupiers.

Giggling

Location: Sevenhampton - Road outside Elipses Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2014, 23:00h
Further Comments: Needing to make a telephone call, a driver pulled off the A420 and stopped outside a farm. The driver then heard a girl giggle in the darkness and spotted a white shape in the driver's wing mirror and the rear-view mirror, although the shape vanished when they turned their head.

Pond Figure

Location: Shearwater - Field and ponds in the area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century?
Further Comments: A small group of people at the edge of a pond in the area felt as if they were being watched. One person took a photograph in the area and was surprised when the developed image showed a figure emerging from the pond, covered in freshwater flora and wearing a tall hat.

Headless Sister

Location: Sherston - Pinkney Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The house connected to the park is home to a skull of a woman - it is believed to belong to the ghost of a young girl who carries her head under her arm, killed by her own sister. Another legend connected to the park is the 'Elm-Ash' tree, a single tree comprising of both types of wood given in its name - it was said to have grown from the grave of a male suicide into which two wooden stakes were thrust to ensure he did not return.

Woman in Long White Dress

Location: Shrewton - Crossroads known as 'the Gibbet' and other roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970
Further Comments: The phantom woman in white can reputedly be heard as her long dress rustles past.

Tunnel

Location: Sidbury - Unnamed Well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown, story told circa 1954
Further Comments: A well in the village was said to have contained a tunnel that led to Sidbury hill. Somewhere within the tunnel is concealed a golden chair.

George

Location: South Wraxall - Long Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2021
Further Comments: This public house's resident ghost, nicknamed George, was blamed for breakages and opening doors. In 2021, CCTV showed a glass spontaneously shattering.