The Paranormal Database

Old Man

Location: Kirk Deighton - Bay Horse public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2009
Further Comments: This elderly phantom gentleman, with receding hairline and long hair, is said to sit by the fireplace. He was last spotted by an employee.

A still F W Murnau's Faust .

Feast for a King

Location: Kirkby Malham - Churchyard
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Midnight once a year (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The meal is set out by the Devil to lure the living to him; the last person to sit down for the feast was the village parson, who escaped by making Old Nick and the food vanish when he asked for salt.

Sheepdog

Location: Kirkby Overblow - Area surrounding village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A forgetful farmer left his dog out in the sheep's field, where it finally starved to death. The dog's shade now runs around the village, to warn all farmers never to forget their pets.

Scottish Troops

Location: Kirkbymoorside - Neville Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of many Scottish troops can be heard engaging the English Army near the site of the castle.

Fighting Mist

Location: Knaresborough - Knaresborough Castle, dungeon
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 27 June 2003
Further Comments: A photographer at the castle recorded a 'mist' that took the form of a large person standing above another who was lying on the ground. The taller entity appears to have his right arm raised as if to strike the prone figure. Two other pictures taken near the same place a few seconds after the first did not show any mist.

Mother Shipton

Location: Knaresborough - Mother Shipton's Cave
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1500s
Further Comments: Even in her own lifetime, Shipton was a well renowned prophetess. Her 'predictions' included the great fire of London and many political events, although her prediction for the end of the world (in the year 1881(!)) was later discovered to be a nineteenth century hoax.

Swordsmen

Location: Knaresborough - Nearby Forest
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Dressed in white clothing, this small squad of soldiers were armed with swords. The one that appeared to be in command wore red.

Deliberate Pacing

Location: Knaresborough - Royal Oak public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The source of the slow and steady pacing footfalls that can be heard down an empty corridor has yet to be discovered.

Guy Fawkes

Location: Knaresborough - Scotton Old Hall (aka Old Manor House)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Fawkes unknown, footsteps 1905
Further Comments: Fawkes' former home, local folklore says that his presence once drifted around the hall. A 1905 owner said that he had heard footsteps on the landing at night and a banging door, and while he did not believe in ghosts blamed the sounds on either Oliver Cromwell (who once stayed here) or the woman whose skeleton was discovered under the staircase.

Eugene Aram

Location: Knaresborough - St Robert's Chapel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local murderer, Eugene appears to be condemned for the rest of time to haunt the area around the chapel where he hid his victim's body.

Man walking Dog

Location: Knight Stainforth - Bridge in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These two shades once haunted a hall, but once the building was destroyed, they took up residence on the village bridge.

Wicked Place

Location: Langthwaite - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Langthwaite once stood on higher ground, but because of the resident's wicked ways, the town was sunk to teach people a lesson.

Hoggett

Location: Langton - Hoggett's Hole, River Swale
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A highwayman during his life, Hoggett drowned in this pool while running from the law. It is now said that his ghost ensures no one ever swims in it without drowning.

An old photograph of a river passing Longthwaite in Yorkshire.

Sunken State

Location: Lanquit (aka Longthwaite, aka Langthwaite?) - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lanquit was once on much higher ground, but due to the wickedness in the area, the lands were sunk by God.

Relocated Church

Location: Leake - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Legend says that this church was supposed to be built on top of a local hill, but the Devil insisted on moving the building materials overnight.

Crew

Location: Leeming - Former Airfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s onwards
Further Comments: The crew from a bomber have been seen walking together here, and when not seen they have been heard laughing and joking.

Bridget

Location: Levisham - Bridestones (standing stones)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: The stones scattered across the moors are named Bridestones, not because of marriage, but after a pagan deity known as Bridget.

Auld 'Opper

Location: Leyburn - Raydale House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: This male entity was said to normally knock on the furnishings within the property, upsetting at least one of the residents.

Monk

Location: Linton - St Michael's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This solitary figure is occasionally seen drifting around the church.

WO Hodgson

Location: Linton on Ouse - RAF Linton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s onwards
Further Comments: A former pilot at the base, Hodgson's ashes were scattered across the runway and a small plaque erected in the 1950s. When the memorial was moved thirty years later, a spectral pilot was seen several times around the control tower. The officer's mess is also thought to be haunted, this time by a pilot who died in 1978 when his Provost crashed.

Madame Turner

Location: Little Busby - Busby Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Once seen in the kitchen drinking tea, the phantom Madame Turner was also said to haunt the corridors of her former home and the road leading to the hall.

Headless Officer

Location: Long Marston - Lanes in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, likely pre nineteenth century
Further Comments: As the clock struck midnight, a headless officer upon his horse emerged from the ground and rode around the village lanes looking for the battle which once took place here. After two hours of searching, the ghost would give up and ride back to the area from which he came, vanishing into the ground. It was said that once the local population were taught such an entity could not exist, the phantom never appeared again.

Sarkless Kitty

Location: Lowna - River Dove
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1787 - 1807 or 1809
Further Comments: Kitty's naked body was found at the ford after either taking her own life or being murdered by a local farmer who abandoned her while pregnant. Kitty returned, her naked ghost luring men into the river, her first victim the farmer who treated her badly. Over the next thirty years, sixteen (or eighteen) men were also found drowned, until the Vicar of Lastingham (or his curate) laid the ghost. Another slight variation of the story says the men who had seen Sarkless Kitty did not necessarily drown but would inevitably die within a few weeks.

Giant's Home

Location: Lythe - Mulgrave Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Castle still stands
Further Comments: This castle was said to be the home of Wade, the giant. He is also held accountable for a road and two large 'graves', marked by standing stones.

Janet

Location: Malham - Janet's Foss, Gordale Beck (aka Gordale Scar)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Cave still present
Further Comments: Janet, or sometimes Jennet, was a fairy queen who inhabited a cave next to the waterfall found here.