North Yorkshire Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Sleeper
Location: Harrogate - Commercial site along Cold Bath Road (was a hotel)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: Although the site has not been an hotel for many years, on one occasion an employee spotted someone in a bed. Another witness has been shoved twice, in a room which is now used for storage, while others have seen a coffee cup move across a desk and an office chair shoot across the floor unaided.
Blue Figure Falling
Location: Harrogate - Spofforth Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Only the top half of this figure is seen at the peak of a ruined tower, before plummeting to the ground below.
Large Black Cat
Location: Harton - A64 opposite Harton turning, between York and Malton
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Around 2am, Summer 2011
Further Comments: Observed twice by a worker in a petrol station over a four week period, this large black cat moved across a field illuminated by the garage lights.
Wartime Jeep
Location: Harton - Petrol station along the A64
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 2011
Further Comments: While on the night shift, an employee observed what appeared to be a Second World War-era jeep silently arrive, containing several men in old army uniform sitting on the back. The employee glanced down at his desk for a few seconds and looking back up realised the jeep had vanished without making a sound.
Black Monk
Location: Hazlewood - Hazlewood Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 2003
Further Comments: A monk dressed in black is said to haunt the Tansy bedroom and St Margaret's courtyard area. The figure is said to vanish into the yew tree in the courtyard. In 2003 one guest complained she was kept awake at night by a crying baby, even though there were no infants near her room.
The Devil's Bridge
Location: Hebdon - Dibble's Bridge, Yorkshire Dales National Park
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Bridge still present
Further Comments: In a rare moment of generosity, the Devil built the bridge for a local shoemaker who had shared a drink with him.
Green Lady
Location: Helmsley - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: With her green dress gently rustling, this phantom woman has been spotted in the area.
Banging
Location: Helmsley - Duncombe Park
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This polt has fallen quiet as of late after a priest blessed the attic where it lurked. The entity created sounds that could have been mistaken for large wooden boxes being dropped.
Ringing Bells
Location: Helmsley - Rievaulx Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late at night
Further Comments: Now little more than ruins, people still say they can hear the ringing of the bells, once pealed by monks. Before the Dissolution, the destruction of the abbey was prophesied in a manuscript, although the paper was destroyed in the mistaken belief that the prediction would be stopped.
Relocated
Location: Hinderwell - Church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The church was due to be built in a nearby field, but all the building materials would be moved overnight to the location where it now stands.
Missing Town
Location: Hood Grange - Gormire Lake
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Lake still present
Further Comments: Legend has it that a town once stood here, but an earthquake swallowed it up as punishment for the inhabitants' ungodliness. The old church bell still rings, and sometimes the blacksmith can be heard at work. Or so they say.
Rebecca
Location: Horton - Bracken Hall, village green, and surrounding moor land
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: Murdered the day before her wedding by her fiancee, Rebecca now appears in her white dress in protest over her rough treatment.
Subduing Hound
Location: Horton - Horton Hall
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This black dog attacked one man walking by the hall, pushing him to the ground but not causing any harm. Coincidently, at the same time, the Hall's owner died.
Young Girl Hold a Teddy
Location: Hunmanby - Swan Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: After the inn became under threat of closure, the local press reported that the site had two phantoms. One was a young girl with scraggly hair who held a teddy bear, while another was named as a woman called Margret.
Candle Avenger
Location: Hurst - Unnamed house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man who conned a widow out of several candles was visited by a phantom who manifested in his garden. On the first night the man fired his shotgun at the entity, which vanished but reappeared the following night, announcing 'thou canst not harm thee' and suggesting the man return the candles. He did.
Jeanie
Location: Hutton Mulgrave - Mulgrave Woods
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A farmer was dared to approach the home of the fairy known as Jeanie. Sitting upon his horse, the farmer called out to her. Somewhat displeased at the interruption, she called back and chased him away. As the farmer crossed a stream to safety, she cut his horse in two.
Meg Collet
Location: Iburndale - Beck
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1719
Further Comments: Meg Collet (or Collett, or Richardson) was accused of witchcraft and repeatedly ducked in the river by locals until she eventually drowned.
Monk
Location: Ingleborough - Gaping Gill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A potholer exploring the cave system saw a glowing light behind him - as he went to investigate, the light faded away, although using his own lamp was able to see the ghostly form of a monk that disappeared in front of him.
Man in Blue
Location: Ingleton - Ingleton to Lancaster Road
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1937
Further Comments: A man in a blue suit was knocked over and killed along this stretch of road. For several weeks after the event, motorists reported hitting the man, who would vanish upon contact.
Lile Hob of Blea Moor
Location: Ingleton - Road between Ingleton and Hawes
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pixie-like creature would loiter on the roadside and leap upon passing carts to blag a free ride. The Hob vanished when a shepherd stumbled upon three little silver armbands left in a field, one of which he lost and the others he sold.
Hazy Figure
Location: Kellingley - Siding near Sudforth Lane
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 05:20h, Early April, 2009
Further Comments: While checking an empty freight train, the driver spotted a six foot tall human shaped figure, about 25 yards away in a field. The figure was whitish, hazy and blurred. The driver tried to approach, but vegetation and fencing prevented him from doing so.
Ormroyd
Location: Kellington - Marshy forest
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A shepherd called Ormroyd and his faithful dog fought a dragon which lived here; the pair managed to slay the creature, though died soon after.
Clothes Washing
Location: Kettleness - Claymore Well
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Circa 1650
Further Comments: Reports of fairies frequenting this area date from the seventeenth century, with three men and one woman claiming to have stumbled upon the fairies making merry at midnight. One twentieth century author wrote that the little folk washed their clothes at the site, their wooden rollers making so much noise that they could be heard a mile away.
Drunk Dry
Location: Kildale - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Having picked up a local witch in his black coach, the Devil paused outside the church and drank the well dry. The witch was said to continue to haunt the area, occasionally being spotted flying over the nearby moors.
Mushroom Givers
Location: Kilnsey - Surrounding fields
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A witness who watched a troupe of fairies dancing a circle returned the following morning to find a ring of mushrooms in the same place, given to him for not disturbing their dance.
Records 101 - 125 of 595
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