The Paranormal Database

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, stood by the 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.

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.

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.

Calverley

Location: York - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Walter Calverley was briefly buried in this churchyard, after being executed for murder, before secretly being moved back to the village of Calverley by his friends. His ghost made several appearances around this time.

Sister

Location: York - St Mary's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The older buildings of this hospital are said to contain the spirit of a former nurse who still tries to look after the sick.

Grey Lady

Location: York - St Peter's School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend states that a grey ghostly woman walks around the road near the school chapel at night, while the chapel itself is haunted by a former pupil.

St William's College, York.

Old Lady Sitting

Location: York - St William's College, College Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: This elderly lady sits on the steps outside the college and smiles as people pass her by. Another ghost, that of a male, walks the corridors of the college; it is said he died a broken man after turning his brother in for a murder they had both committed.

Viking

Location: York - St. Saviours church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghost hunter once spent the night here, investigating reports of a phantom Viking who had been executed on the site. The following morning, the vicar arrived, only to find the man dead on a high beam - it is said he died of fright!

Victorian Man

Location: York - Tempest Anderson Hall, found in the Museum Gardens
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1969
Further Comments: A witness in the hall reported seeing a phantom man dressed in Victorian clothing reaching up to take a book from a shelf located near the stage. The ghostly form turned around and the witness saw that it had no facial features - needless to say, the viewer fled.

The Golden Fleece pub, York.

Drunken Airman

Location: York - The Golden Fleece public house, Pavement Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Towards the end of the Second World War, a drunken Canadian pilot fell from an upstairs window in the building and broke his neck on the pavement below. Since then, this ghost has reportedly haunted the bedroom from which he fell.