The Paranormal Database

Explosion

Location: Ford - All over the village
Type: Other
Date / Time: 23 February 1977, 03:45h
Further Comments: Every resident of the village was left a little shaken and confused after a huge explosion rocked the area. One villager said he heard a rushing that washed over his house, before being followed by the explosion and a blue-green flash.

Creaky Steps

Location: Fovant - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Soft footsteps have been heard traversing the corridors, their own sound almost drowned out by the creaking of the floorboards. A former owner of the manor once saw his brother in the living room, though the sibling had been killed in the First World War some ten years previous.

Old Grey Woman

Location: Fovant - Oakhanger Barn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s onwards?
Further Comments: The phantom old woman dressed in a grey skirt and scarf developed the habit of walking through the front door and making her way to the living room, where she would promptly vanish.

Labrador

Location: Foxham - Crossroads near the church
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1936
Further Comments: Author Hugh Brawn encountered a black Labrador-like shuck here. The thin creature crossed the road in front of him but vanished before reaching the other side.

White Oxen

Location: Fyfield - Devil's Den, Dolmen
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: At midnight
Further Comments: On the stroke of midnight, the Devil appears and tries to pull this stone structure down using eight white oxen. A white hare or rabbit also joins them, offering advice. A second variation of the story says the Devil uses four oxen, and a black hound with glowing red eyes watches them. Another legend says that water poured into the cavities on the top stone will quickly vanish, drunk by an unknown horror.

A ghostly old bearded man.

Bearded Man

Location: Grafton - Site of Wolfhall (aka Wulfhall, aka Wolf Hall), no longer standing
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1970s
Further Comments: Wolfhall was the birthplace of Jane Seymour, though has not stood for quite a while. The site is reputedly haunted by an aging man with a beard.

Rushing People

Location: Great Cheverell - Manor House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sounds of bangs, crashes, and of people moving around downstairs is said to date back centuries.

Black Hound

Location: Great Durnford - Chalk pit between village and Netton
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: A local man tried to hit this phantom dog with a stick while returning from the pub. The stick passed straight through the creature.

A musical pixie.

Pixie Place

Location: Hackpen Hill - General area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The hill is still reportedly a home for fairies and other little folk, whose music can be heard as it drifts around the area.

Cartwheel Face

Location: Ham - Unidentified cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1895
Further Comments: After chairs moved across the floor unaided, the village policeman, a former prize fighter and two other men went to investigate. They witnessed the chairs slide across the floor, resulting in the investigative party fleeing. Another party took to watching the outside of the cottage and claimed to have seen a tailed entity covered in fish-like scales, with a face resembling a cartwheel.

Legless Man

Location: Ham - Unidentified route through village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid nineteenth century?
Further Comments: After a man managed to snap his legs off by falling into a hole, his ghost was said to walk from the scene of the accident to his home using bean-sticks.

Dislike of Prayer

Location: Ham - Vicarage
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 1948
Further Comments: The Rev Beard featured in the press, partly complaining about the entity that resided in his home that had an aversion to prayer, and partly complaining about the number of telephone calls he had received from people wanting to know more about the ghost.

Legs

Location: Hankerton - Old Vicarage
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: An occupier of this house reported seeing a pair of disembodied legs wearing grey flannel.

Coach Sounds

Location: Hankerton - Road through the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An invisible, phantom coach is driven through the area by a team of horses.

Scruffy Man

Location: Hannington - Jolly Tar public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: BBC Wiltshire reported that the landlady, chef and customers had all encountered a phantom middle-aged man, just under six feet tall. Paranormal group PSI reported recording strange sounds during a vigil.

Monk

Location: Hannington - St John the Baptist Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: A ghostly, monk-like figure was seen in the church by two witnesses.

Men and Horses

Location: Heddington - Downs near the Vicarage
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The vicar called the police after hearing many men and horses traversing the nearby downs. Police found nothing.

Laughter

Location: Heddington - The Bear Inn (now a private house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The sound of laughter and glasses being knocked together were once said to echo in the basement of this former inn.

Banished Entity

Location: Heytesbury - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1854
Further Comments: A male phantom that took up residence in the village, manifesting once a year to speak to his ex-wife, was finally banished by Parson Smith after several other parsons failed. Parson Smith took pity on the entity, and banished it somewhere close...

Hooded Man

Location: Highworth - King and Queen public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A former landlord at the pub reported seeing a cloaked figure that drifted across the yard and vanished through a brick wall. There were also reports of phantom footsteps above the bar, in an area that should have been empty. The landlord took out an insurance policy to protect him against any harm the entity might do to the customers.

Young Boy

Location: Highworth - Private residence, Windrush area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2007 onwards
Further Comments: After an initial sighting of a young boy bathed in golden light, the haunting here comprised of erratic and unidentified banging and a shadowy figure seen on the staircase.

Monk

Location: Highworth - Sheep Street, leading to St Michael's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This incorporeal figure in a habit was seen drifting down the street towards the church. It is thought it emerged from the ruins of an old monastery a short distance away. Others say that the figure is a former verger.

Previous Priest

Location: Highworth - St Michael's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1930s / 1940s (priest) and 1970s (woman)
Further Comments: The pale phantom priest has been seen peering into the church. Closer examination of his face reveals he has not one - just a grey coloured bumpy surface with two darker tones where his eyes should be. Another story says the area is home to a ghastly woman who only has dark empty sockets where her eyes should be.

Woman

Location: Highworth - Westrop Cottage, Cricklade Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The tunnels that run under this property are said to be haunted by the female form of a former owner.

The ghost laid in a barrel.

Squire Crowdy

Location: Highworth - Westrop House and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Squire unknown, woman in 1980s
Further Comments: Squire Crowdy haunted the village after his death, until a vicar banished the entity into a barrel of cider which was subsequently placed in the cellar of the manor house (the cellar was then bricked up). During the 1980s, a decorator spotted a ghostly woman in the hallway; she may be connected to the cottage next door.