North Yorkshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Speech
Location: Sowerby - Pudding Pie Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fairies can be heard talking within the hill if the listener either runs around the hill nine times anticlockwise while the moon is waxing, or they stick a knife into the centre of the mound, or both.
ID #10365, last updated 2011-04-28
Mill Stones
Location: Stainforth - Robin Hood's Mill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The miller in question had his mill swallowed into the ground after he worked on the Sabbath, though the grinding of the mill stones was said to be heard for years after.
ID #3557, last updated 2003-01-13
Teenager
Location: Staithes - Boulby Cliff
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This young woman was killed in 1807 when the cliff path gave way, a large, heavy rock crushing her skull. Her headless shade still walks the path as it once was, several metres out from the current one.
ID #2726, last updated 2002-10-18
Sandsend Bogey
Location: Staithes - Coastline between Staithes and Whitby
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity would accompany random fishermen out to sea, with its presence bringing any vessel good luck. Not all were happy with the otherworldly being, regardless of it being lucky, and it disappeared after a priest exorcised it.
ID #13047, last updated 2018-12-26
James Harrison
Location: Staithes - Unknown cliff
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Fisherman James Harrison lost his footing and fell from the cliffs, dying from his injuries. His ghost returned, seen both day and night, unnerving locals to such an extent that a priest had to perform an exorcism. Harrison was not seen again.
ID #13367, last updated 2019-10-10
Grey Lady
Location: Stalling Busk - Exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Grey Lady is another feminine spirit which haunts Yorkshire's large halls.
ID #3470, last updated 2003-01-04
King Harold's Army
Location: Stamford Bridge - Area over battlefield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1812
Further Comments: The re-enactment of Harold's 1066 battle has been observed in the skies over the field where much blood was shed.
ID #2728, last updated 2002-10-18
Vanishing John
Location: Stamford Bridge - Garrowby Hill
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: August 1999
Further Comments: A female witness reported interaction with the ghost of a Second World War RAF officer at this site. The figure in brown walked up to her, introduced himself as 'John' and, as he touched her hand, vanished.
ID #1191, last updated 2002-06-13
Gassy Ghost
Location: Stapleton - Bridge Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1993
Further Comments: The poltergeist here managed to terrify the landlord by turning the cooker gas taps on during the night. Disembodied footsteps could be heard late at night.
ID #3162, last updated 2002-11-12
Naked Gypsy
Location: Staxton - Public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A gypsy girl was rumoured to have been killed by a landlord here during the 1600's - bones found in the pub in the 1980s were said to be hers, and once disturbed, a state of ghostly occurrences occurred.
ID #1690, last updated 2002-07-11
White Woman with Handbag
Location: Stirton (near Skipton) - Road through the hamlet
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2009, around 03:00h
Further Comments: Four friends driving through the area in the early hours of the morning caught in their headlights an older woman dressed in white, holding a white handbag, standing on a narrow grass verge. Concerned for the woman's wellbeing, they stopped around 25 metres up the road and reversed back to check on the woman. Although only thirty or so seconds had passed, the woman had gone, and a further twenty minutes of searching fields and further along the road turned up nothing.
ID #11617, last updated 2014-10-10
Army on Manoeuvres
Location: Stockton on the Forest - Skies above area
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 January 1792
Further Comments: Several people reported seeing a forest in the sky, with soldiers in black uniforms moving around in formation. More soldiers wore white clothing, but appeared to be allied to the other troops, rather than in conflict.
ID #3562, last updated 2003-01-13
Horseman
Location: Stokesley - Broughton Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A horseman with his caparisoned horse was said to travel over this bridge, the sound of his jangling armour causing unease to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.
ID #13378, last updated 2019-10-30
Headless Woman
Location: Stokesley - Lady Cross (road where a junction leading to Broughton/Ayton forms)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: This junction was once thought to be a place which drew evil from all around. One witness was followed by a headless woman who burnt bright with fire, while another man came across a pale woman upon a white horse; she rode alongside him for a while before vanishing.
ID #13381, last updated 2019-10-30
Wise Man of Stokesley
Location: Stokesley - No exact location
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1800s
Further Comments: When John Wrightson moved to the area, he declared himself to be the seventh son of a seventh daughter, gifted with strange powers of healing and fortune telling. However, the villagers figured out he was a fraud, resulting in Wrightson fleeing from the village. Wrightson eventually committed suicide in Hovingham, while facing trial on assault charges.
ID #11084, last updated 2012-08-26
Flaming Carriage
Location: Stokesley - Tweddell's Stripe
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: Surrounded by fields, this narrow path would have been quite spooky, especially if one encountered the entity which was said to haunt it. A phantom flaming carriage contained a headless woman would move at breakneck speeds, drawn by a team of six greyhounds. Why? No one knows.
ID #13379, last updated 2019-10-30
Sandyman
Location: Strensall - Strensall Common
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards?
Further Comments: A man in a long black coat or cape and a wide brimmed hat is said to haunt this area, walking alongside people before disappearing. His name, Sandyman, comes from an advert for Sandeman Port which contained a similar looking figure.
ID #11756, last updated 2015-03-02
Headless Dog
Location: Swaledale - Humpbacked bridge leading to Ivelet
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The appearance of this headless hound denoted a forthcoming tragedy.
ID #1596, last updated 2002-07-04
Black Figure
Location: Tadcaster - A64 eastbound towards Tadcaster from A1
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: A driver's headlights illuminated a figure in the middle of the left lane, causing the driver to brake and swerve to avoid a collision. The figure seemed stooped and faced to the left, but was strangely pitch black with no clothing or facial features - just a silhouetted shape of a figure even when the headlights hit it. The passenger in the car reported the near miss to the police, believing it to have been an actual person, although later both witnesses later realised it was not.
ID #16094, last updated 2025-09-21
Dark Cavalier
Location: Tadcaster - A64 entering Tadcaster from York, grassy field to the left hand side
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October or November 1993
Further Comments: A couple driving their young child to the babysitter were forced to brake to avoid hitting a figure dressed in dark cavalier type clothing with long knee boots as he ran across the road from the right to the left. The figure pasted within two metres of the car (close enough for the witnesses to report he looked afraid of something), and both driver and passenger could see through him. The entity continued running before pixelating and disappearing. Local radio later carried an identical story from a different witness.
ID #8320, last updated 2008-03-18
Battle of Bramham
Location: Tadcaster - Bramham Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of horses galloping on the field is thought to be those forever fleeing the nearby site of battle, which took several hundred lives.
ID #2688, last updated 2002-10-17
Gold
Location: Thimbleby - Farmstead in the area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Folklore says a bull's skin filled with gold was buried in this area.
ID #13247, last updated 2019-05-30
Radiant Boy
Location: Thirsk - Road to the town from Topcliffe, exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lighting up the night with his brilliance, this lad rode past the witness on horseback, disappearing across a field.
ID #2745, last updated 2002-10-19
White Lass Beck
Location: Thirsk - Stream in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: The woman in white who haunted this body of water was thought to be a maid murdered in the area, her body discovered buried in a gravel pit. As well as manifesting as a woman, White Lass Beck would also take the form of a white dog or white heifer.
ID #12061, last updated 2016-03-13
Seat of Defeat
Location: Thirsk - Thirsk museum
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The museum houses a cursed wooden chair which brings death to any who sit upon it, and is even said to bring misfortune if touched.
ID #7085, last updated 2006-12-27
Records 251 - 275 of 776
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