The Paranormal Database

Footsteps

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2016-12-17   Last updated: 2016-12-17   ID: #12318

The Shrine of Margaret Clitherow, York.

Unearthly Peace

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2005-09-03   Last updated: 2005-09-03   ID: #6514

The snickleways of York.

Barghest

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-07-12   Last updated: 2002-07-12   ID: #1710

The Calmness

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2006-03-17   Last updated: 2006-03-17   ID: #6776

Snickleway Inn, York.

Little Girl

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2005-07-30   Last updated: 2005-07-30   ID: #6443

Woman in a Shroud

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-09-13   Last updated: 2005-09-13   ID: #6543

Musical Woman

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-09-13   Last updated: 2005-09-13   ID: #6545

St Crux church, York.

Funeral

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2005-09-13   Last updated: 2005-09-13   ID: #6541

Nobleman

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-07-12   Last updated: 2002-07-12   ID: #1719

Rabbit

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2015-11-15   Last updated: 2015-11-15   ID: #11976

St Mary's Abbey, York.

The Black Abbot

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-07-12   Last updated: 2002-07-12   ID: #1711

York Arms pub, York.

Grey Lady

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2005-05-18   Last updated: 2005-05-18   ID: #6260

York Minster, quiet in the early morning.

Dean Gale

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2002-07-12   Last updated: 2002-07-12   ID: #1718

The Yorkshire Museum Library in York.

Old Searcher

Location: York (North Yorkshire) - 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.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-18   Last updated: 2002-10-18   ID: #2733