The Paranormal Database

Fairy Hangout

Location: Burnsall - Elbolton Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pixies, fairies and other members of the little people are still said to live in and around the hill.

Pam the Fiddler

Location: Burnsall - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pam, the local schoolmaster, was killed by the village vicar after refusing to stop fiddling around the area after dark. The vicar covered up the crime by secretly burying Pam's body; within a few weeks villagers began to report hearing Pam playing the fiddle, and some claimed to have seen him, though his head had changed into that of a goat.

A illustration by Wayne Lowden showing several indistinct figures standing in the mist.

Misty Figures

Location: Burrill - Hell Hole Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2012
Further Comments: A couple walking from Thornton Watlass spotted a few misty figures moving around the wood. It is said that the Devil would use the woods as a hiding place.

Thomas Busby

Location: Busby Stoop - Along Thirsk to Ripon road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1703
Further Comments: Hanged here after murdering his father-in-law, the shade of Thomas has been seen still dangling from a gibbet.

Something strange hovering over a ruined abbey.

Silver Disc

Location: Byland - Byland Abbey
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1290 (UFO), 24 December 1850 (ghost)
Further Comments: The occupants of the abbey were said to have been terrorised when a large radiant silver object flew overhead just as they sat down to eat. Many years later, a passing farmer listened to phantom plain chant while watching a ghostly form move around the gravestones.

Headless Woman

Location: Carlton - Vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: This site was said to be haunted by a murdered woman whose headless ghost walked the area, although any witness accounts appear to be scarce.

Growling

Location: Carlton-in-Cleveland - Hills in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early 2011?
Further Comments: While moving equipment ready for a rave, this witness and several friends reporting hearing growling from the darkness which appeared to follow them. The witness described the sound as 'seriously weird', a cross between a snarl and a howl.

Loving Nun

Location: Catterick - Area near the public house?
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Walled up alive for having an affair with a monk, this lonely nun periodically patrols the roads here.

Headless Figure

Location: Catterick - Officers' Mess, Marne Barracks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1997
Further Comments: A headless figure wearing an old RAF uniform was reputedly seen holding their helmet under their arm.

Pregnant Wife

Location: Cawood - Cawood Castle, grounds of
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Easter Tuesday, 1690
Further Comments: William Barwick murdered his wife and hid her body in a nearby pond. The following day, a witness saw the ghost of Mrs Barwick pointing to the area of the pond that concealed her corpse - he went to the authorities, and William was arrested soon after.

Dark Blue Bird

Location: Chapel le Dale - Cave system in village
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Three people reported seeing a large flying creature, 'much larger than a bat', slowly glide past them as they explored the first cavern of these caves.

Drowning by Boggart

Location: Chapel le Dale - Hurtle Pot, a pool located near the church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghost here would be blamed if anyone drowned in the pool's deep water.

Tiger

Location: Church Fenton - Fields in the area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: July 2006
Further Comments: Police were dispatched to this area after they received two independent reports of a tiger in the district. An RAF aircraft in the area joined the search, which ultimately found no evidence of the cat.

Alice Kytell

Location: Clapdale - Clapdale Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Formerly part of a castle, this hall is now haunted by Dame Alice Kytell, regarded as a witch by locals.

Singing Children

Location: Clapham - Goat Gap Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Children reciting nursery rhymes have been heard in one of the rooms here, while in the bar area 'George' (a nickname given to the ghost of a farmer) has been seen watching the world go by from the window.

Screaming

Location: Claxton - Claxton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The screams which have been occasionally heard within the building are thought to date back to when it was an asylum.

Downed Cigar

Location: Cleveland - Exact location not known
Type: UFO
Date / Time: November or December 2003
Further Comments: A rumour floating around on the internet said that a cigar-shaped ufo, around six metres in length, was forced down by two RAF fighters. The crashed craft deeply embedded itself in mud, and rather move it straight away, authorities buried the ufo with the intent to move it once interest died down. Whether this happened is unknown.

Dancing Trolls

Location: Cleveland - New Marske Woods
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Around midnight
Further Comments: Small troll-like creatures are said to party and play jovial music in this wooded area. They welcome anyone who shows no fear of them.

Small Child

Location: Coatham - Unknown House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Baring-Gould wrote that there was once a house here which was haunted by a small child. The entity would vanish if followed.

Barghest

Location: Cock Mill - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A hound-like creature with eyes as large as saucers was once said to lurk in this area, which was once considered a place of gambling and other morally dubious activities.

Cloven Feet

Location: Cock Mill - General area
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cock fighting and other forms of gambling would take place in this secluded area. One story said that during one game of cards, a mysterious man in black sat and joined. One player was mortified when, bending over to pick up a dropped card, he noticed the man in black had cloven feet.

Floating Light

Location: Coverdale - Roads around village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This light would create an intense beam along the narrow roads, making motorists believe that a motorcyclist was coming towards them.

Black Lady

Location: Coverham - Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Rising from the churchyard, this lady in black then sets off to cross the moors until she reaches Curting Wall Corner where she vanishes. It is said that peat cutters found a skeleton during the 1900s, buried at the latter site.

Duellist

Location: Coxwold - Newburgh Priory
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom figure is reportedly a duellist who once fought (and lost) here. Another ghost, that of a woman, drifts around near the lake, and is thought by some to herald tragedy in the family. G Bernard Wood wrote that the priory was cursed by its last Prior, and that if anyone completed the decorating in an unfinished room upstairs, they would suffer a death in the family.

One Eye

Location: Dalton - The Giant's Grave and mill (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A one-eyed giant once resided in the mill, using the building to grind his human victims into bread. One of his prisoners, a young lad named Jack, managed to escape by plunging a knife into the Cyclops's eye, killing the creature. At least that was the story which was told to explain the long mound which really existed close to the mill.