The Paranormal Database

Headless Man

Location: Whitby - Prospect Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This male entity has the removed item securely grasped under his arm.

Wellness Indicators

Location: Whitby - Ragwells (exact locations not known)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Likely pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: Shirts or other articles of clothing belonging to seriously ill people would be cast into the waters of wells in this area. If the clothing floated, the person would recover. If the item sank, death would soon follow.

An old postcard of Whitby in Yorkshire.

Beast of the Bay

Location: Whitby - Several areas, including abbey, St Peter's Court woods, and surrounding villages
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 2001 onwards
Further Comments: A black panther-like cat has been observed a dozen times over a seven year period, on one occasion the cat was accompanied by a cub.

Long Legs

Location: Whitby - Unidentified road towards a campsite
Type: Other
Date / Time: 05 August 2013
Further Comments: Driving back to a campsite, the passenger of a vehicle spotted a pair of extremely long white male legs, to just above the thigh, quickly bound across the road. The stride was too long and too fast to be human. Despite the passenger crying out 'what's that?', the driver did not see anything.

An old postcard of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire.

Petrified Snakes

Location: Whitby - Whitby Abbey
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Snakes unknown, St Hilda's ghost during summer months 10:00h - 12:00h
Further Comments: The abbey was besieged by snakes, until St Hilda turned up and drove them all off the edge of the cliff, where they turned to stone on the beach below. Her ghost is also reported to still gaze from the windows of the abbey. A few people have heard a choir singing in the empty building and one local legend says a team of headless horses pulling a hearse was once spotted by a man and boy walking in the area. Finally, treasure hidden in the abbey's grounds is protected by a headless figure in white.

Gladys Saxton

Location: Wigglesworth - Plough Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1945 onwards
Further Comments: Gladys Saxton and her maid Margaret Harrison were killed in a fire at the building in 1945. Since that date, a woman wearing a long black dress has been seen by guests at the building. There is also a report of a phantom highwayman being spotted standing in a doorway.

Traffic Dodger

Location: Wigglesworth - Road leading to Tosside
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early winter mornings (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A couple of car accidents that occurred along this road were blamed on a flitting female form which ran out in front of the vehicle before disappearing. Locals say it is a girl who drowned nearby.

Murderer

Location: Wintringham - Crossroads near Place Newton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely nineteenth century
Further Comments: A murderer who killed a Place Newton caretaker was caught and caged at a crossroads, where he was left to starve to death. A member of the victim's family would visit each day and leave a loaf of bread just out of reach. The site would be avoided at night.

Highwayman

Location: York - Four All's public house, A64
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 06 November 2006, 23:45h
Further Comments: A driver returning home from work reported passing a figure on horseback, dressed in highwayman's clothing, by the outside wall of the pub. When the witness looked in his rear view mirror, the figure had vanished. There is a local belief that the highwayman is Dick Turpin, and sightings of the highwayman are said to go back to the mid-twentieth century. A sandstone cave in the area is said to have been one of Turpin's hideouts.

Stuck in a Cupboard

Location: York - Grimston Lodge, road from City to Hull
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity can be heard tapping on cupboard doors throughout the building - when the doors are opened the noise halts.

Guido

Location: York - Guy Fawkes Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The birthplace of Guy 'Guido' Fawkes is perhaps unsurprisingly haunted by the man himself, although what form he takes is not really known. Two children who died of cholera are also reputed to lurk around the site.

Holy Trinity Church, York.

Thomas Percy

Location: York - Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Local folklore says that a decapitated Thomas Percy, the Seventh Earl of Northumberland, fumbles around the churchyard searching for his severed head. Thomas and head separated after upsetting Elizabeth I; the earl attempted and failed to raise an army against his queen and was executed for this error of judgement. More recently, a ghostly figure in a long gown (possibly a nun) has been observed on the site.

Old Soldiers

Location: York - Imphal Barracks, Fulford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: One soldier in training was taken to sickbay after seeing one of the ghosts which haunted this barracks. The spirits wore black buttoned tunics and cylindrical headwear.

Large Man

Location: York - Judge's Court, off Coney Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This unknown figure is heard jangling prior to appearing - his broken spur betraying his position.

Child Crying

Location: York - Lamb and Lion public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: The sound of a child crying has been reported upstairs, even when no child has been present. Doors are also said to close unaided by human hand.

Mad Alice Lane, York.

Executed Alice

Location: York - Mad Alice Lane (now Lund's Court)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Hanged here in 1825, her crime apparently only guilty of being 'mad', Alice drifts along the lane that once held her name. Another version of the story says she killed her abusive husband along the lane and was executed at the castle.

The Micklegate Bar Museum, York.

Sarah

Location: York - Micklegate Bar Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The museum is currently home to the ghostly Sarah, who as a young girl lost her father's keys to the city. She dedicated the rest of her life to finding them, and on completion of the task dropped dead of old age. It is reported that her shade wanders the corridors victoriously rattling the keys.

Lord Stafford

Location: York - Middlethorpe area (was a field, which may longer exist)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: After 1385, last encounter not known
Further Comments: Upon a field in this area, Lord Stafford lost his life in a duel. His form continued to haunt the area for many years after his death, clad in his old military uniform.

Lady Mary

Location: York - Middlethrope Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Lady Mary was murdered by her son and her phantom is now said to generate the feeling of nervousness in certain parts of the building.

Young Person

Location: York - Milthorpe School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 March 2003
Further Comments: At least one student at the school has heard soft whisperings and seen a shadowy young person move quickly away from them.

The National Railway Museum, York.

Odd Spots

Location: York - National Railway Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A sleeping car housed here is said to contain a strange presence, while the darkroom is also reportedly home to a ghostly presence.

Rustling Woman

Location: York - Netherby Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A female clad in a silken dress was once said to move noisily around the hall.

Old White Swan Inn, York.

Laughing Figures

Location: York - Old White Swan Inn, Goodramgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The haunting is said to be centred around one of the fireplaces and is variously described as a presence or a group of shadowy figures who laugh amongst themselves. One theory is that the entities are a group of catholic priests planning to escape to France, although whether their escape plan was successful is not known. The pub also featured in the local press in November 2018 after an unconvincing ghost photograph came to light.

Young Girl

Location: York - 18-20 Stonegate (currently Jack Wills)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local report says that a teenage girl using the changing room looked in the mirror and spotted another young girl. Believing that the girl had accidentally walked into the changing room, the teenager turned and asked the girl to leave. The girl turned and walked through the wall. Staff later found out that a doorway once existed in the wall where the girl disappeared.

A building along Stonegate, York.

Young Girl

Location: York - 41 Stonegate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A six-year-old Victorian girl who fell to her death on the staircase was said to have haunted this building during the twentieth century. The girl could be heard ascending the staircase and was reputedly seen sitting upon a shop counter when a tearoom operated on the site. One story says the ghost is a doctor's daughter and dates to when the building was a private residence. During one of the doctor's dinner parties, the curious girl emerged from her top floor bedroom and tried to peer over the banister to see who was in attendance. She lost her balance.