The Paranormal Database

The Good Musician

Location: York - Passageway once known as Beedham's Court, off Skeldergate
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small band of musicians were performing around the city when they found themselves joined by another unannounced member. He played the violin particularly well, and as the band completed a song standing by Beedham's Court, their new-found violinist vanished, leaving only the strong smell of brimstone.

Grey Lady

Location: York - Path towards Bootham Bar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s, and 26 November 2016, 22:00h
Further Comments: While nicknamed the Grey Lady, all the stories associated with this phantom nun place her in a brown habit, although her hair was said to be grey. Seen in daylight hours during the 1970s, her more recent encounter occurred at night, where the witness and the nun locked eyes before she faded away.

Grey Nun

Location: York - Petergate Bar area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Bricked up alive for her sins, this ghostly nun has been seen in a few buildings in the area including the York Arms (where she appeared in the male toilets).

The Principal's House, York.

Lady in Green

Location: York - Principal's House and the King's Manor, Exhibition Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The female ghost which haunts the Principal's House is said to be either Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard, dressed in a green dress and carrying roses. The ghost of a monk frequents the King's Manor. The sounds of wounded men can sometimes be heard here - the building was used as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War.

Priest

Location: York - Private residence along North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978-1986
Further Comments: If a lamp were placed in the corner of a particular room, it would switch itself off. A pet cat would stare into the corner also. A neighbour said that as the resident left the property, a man dressed like an old fashioned priest would appear and follow them as they left the site and walk down the lane.

Scratching

Location: York - Private residence, Long Close Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2017
Further Comments: Several news outlets reported that a mother and her child were driven out of this property by something that scratched them and hid their belongings.

Punchbowl pub, York.

Burnt Landlord

Location: York - Punchbowl public house, Micklegate Bar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A landlord who burnt to death in a fire haunts one of the bedrooms and the cellar, while the shade of a woman who died of a broken heart has also been observed on site.

Old Fashioned Cyclist

Location: York - Road outside York Minster
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Easter 2008
Further Comments: Three children witnessed two adults narrowly avoid being hit by a cyclist wearing old fashioned clothing on an old fashioned bicycle. However, the cyclist was not seen at all by the adults.

Roman Bath pub, York.

Splashing

Location: York - Roman Bath public house, St. Sampson's Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: From the old baths located below this pub, phantom splashing can sometimes be heard.

Footsteps

Location: York - Shop along High Ousegate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 30 November 2015
Further Comments: While in the stockroom, a worker heard faint knocking and footsteps coming up the staircase. The door handle turned but the door did not open, as if someone behind the door was going to enter but had changed their mind. The worker immediately opened the door, ready to make the person on the other side jump, but no one was there.

The Shrine of Margaret Clitherow, York.

Unearthly Peace

Location: York - Shrine of Margaret Clitherow, The Shambles
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Margaret Clitherow was a Catholic tortured to death for refusing to renounce her religious practices. This building, now a shrine, is said to be remarkably peaceful, even though it stands along a busy road. It is worth noting that this building is not Margaret's former home - her house is on the opposite side of the road.

The snickleways of York.

Barghest

Location: York - Side roads and snickleways in city
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This large black hound with red glowing eyes, known as Barghest, Barguist or Barguest, is said to prey on humans alone along the snickleways in the city. The creature has also been spotted in the old castle area.

The Calmness

Location: York - Small graveyard along alleyway by the Cock and Bottle Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The imprints of the old walls of a demolished church can still be seen on the grass - many have said that they feel a sense of calmness when standing inside the imprints.

Snickleway Inn, York.

Little Girl

Location: York - Snickleway Inn, Goodramgate (was the Angler's Arms public house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen as she waits on the staircase, this entity is said to radiate peace and love. She met her death when a horse and cart delivering beer ran her over just outside the pub. The ghostly presence reported down in the basement is much more sinister and has been called evil by previous landlords. Finally, a phantom cat may rub itself against the legs of visitors.

Woman in a Shroud

Location: York - Spen Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure is reputed to leave St Crux and head towards Spen Lane via Colliergate where she vanishes. This may be the same ghost which leaves the same church but disappears at Foss Bridge.

Musical Woman

Location: York - St Crux and King's Square area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Waits of York were men who played music as they travelled through the town acting as watchmen and calling out the time. It is reported that a female ghost would sometimes follow them, stopping to listen to their tunes. She would appear at St Crux, travel through King's Square, and vanish at Goodramgate.

St Crux church, York.

Funeral

Location: York - St Crux church (the remains of which now form the chapel in the Shambles)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: An on-duty policeman passing the church late at night heard funeral music playing within the building. As he approached to investigate, the doors of the building opened and the sound of people leaving could be heard, but nothing could be seen. The church was said to have a couple more frequent phantom visitors, one of whom was a tall man with a pale face who would stare out of the windows in the early hours of the morning. The other ghost took the form of a female figure in a shroud. The entity would follow people passing the church at night, either along Fossgate and vanish as when reaching Foss Bridge, or via St. Andrew Gate, fading away when nearing Spen Lane.

Nobleman

Location: York - St George's Field
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Having lost an illegal duel, this figure died; his ghost now staggers around the area, fooling people into believing he is still alive prior to vanishing. A man on horseback also appears in the park and is named as Dick Turpin.

Rabbit

Location: York - St George's Roman Catholic Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen moving around the aisles of the church, the ghostly rabbit always vanishes before it is caught. Some believed it to be the ghost of Dick Turpin who is buried nearby.

Scary Shadows

Location: York - Viking Hotel, North Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A darkened figure that would appear from nowhere was reported by several staff. One man is said to have resigned after the entity scared him too much.

Windmill Hotel, York.

Footsteps

Location: York - Windmill Hotel, Blossom Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footsteps walking across a wooden floor have been heard here, even though the floors were carpeted at the time. A mist has also mysteriously appeared and disappeared at odd times, while bottles have been known to spontaneously shatter.

York Arms pub, York.

Grey Lady

Location: York - York Arms public house, High Petergate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The phantom nun which haunts this pub was bricked up behind a wall after giving birth. The building in which this occurred no longer stands, but the pub was built on the same spot... This may be the same ghost which haunts the Theatre Royal.

York Minster, quiet in the early morning.

Dean Gale

Location: York - York Minster
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1702 onwards
Further Comments: This gentleman loved the Minster so much that in death he refused to leave and has been seen sitting while listening to sermons. A crisis apparition has also manifested here; the ghost of an officer appeared to his sister as she prayed in the church in the 1820s - at the exact moment he had died on far away shores. Also reputed to haunt the building is the sound of a dog barking.

The Yorkshire Museum Library in York.

Old Searcher

Location: York - Yorkshire Museum Library
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1954
Further Comments: For several weeks one particular book in the library would be found on the floor on Sunday evening - the mystery was 'solved' when a caretaker reported seeing a ghostly old man looking through the shelves, as if trying to find reading material.

St Mary's Abbey, York.

The Black Abbot

Location: York - St Mary's Abbey, currently in the Museum Garden
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Condemned to drift around the ruins of the abbey, the Black Abbot is only seen at night. The sounds of coins being counted can also be heard - they jangle as if tipped onto a table, before being dropped one by one into a metal box.