The Paranormal Database

Bride?

Location: Scarborough - Woodland near Open Air Theatre, Peasholme Park
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 01 July 2023
Further Comments: Two people watched, through a phone screen, a bride or nun-like figure standing in woodland. The figure vanished soon after being spotted.

Man in Velvet

Location: Selby - Town Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2010
Further Comments: A member of staff locking up the building spotted a dark haired man in a long velvet jacket on the balcony. When the staff member called out to the figure, he moved towards the staircase, the only exit. The staff member unlocked the door to the staircase to let the figure out, but there was no one there.

Big John

Location: Selside - Railway Line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sometimes seen on the track by signalmen, this large male figure would suddenly vanish without warning.

Woman in Dress

Location: Semerwater (aka Simmer Water, aka Simmerwater) - Countersett Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about this female shade that stalks the building.

An Angel, by Mariotto Albertinelli.jpg

Don't Upset the Tramp

Location: Semerwater (aka Simmer Water, aka Simmerwater) - Lake
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A tramp (or angel or witch, depending on the source) looking for a place to rest was turned away from every house in the neighbourhood, until he came to a farm on the hillside where the occupants of which gave him food and shelter. He thanked his guests and punished the other households by flooding the valley. The lake also once had two large rocks on its banks which were known as the Mermaid Stones, said to have been thrown there by the Devil and a giant.

Local Giant

Location: Sessay - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A giant terrorised this area for many years, bullying and killing the locals. The massive man was finally slain when, after a day of abhorrent behaviour, he fell asleep by a watermill - the miller ran outside and hacked him to death with an axe. Another version of the story, in which the giant was accidently knocked out by windmill sails, names the giant slayer as Sir Guy Dawnay, who just happened to be passing through the area.

Running Woman

Location: Settle - Beggar's Wife Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Named after the wife killed by her mad spouse, she can still be seen running over the bridge, trying to escape her fate. The figure has no face, only a spider's web where the details should be.

Gas Breather

Location: Sexhow - General area
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A winged fire breathing dragon once terrorised this area. Demanding the milk of nine cows every day, the creature took residence on a hill. As well as breathing fire, the creature released poison gas which killed anyone venturing too close. It was finally killed after a long battle by a wandering knight who then went on his way without demanding a reward or revealing his name. The skin of the dragon was stored in the local church for many years, but what happened to the item is not known.

Greed isn't Good

Location: Sexhow - Unnamed farm in the area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Likely pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: The ghost of a recently deceased woman appeared to a farmer and asked him to dig up her hidden treasure - he could keep all the silver but had to give all the gold to her niece. The farmer dug up the treasure and kept it all to himself. The woman returned and haunted him day and night until he died soon after, her ghost witnessed by neighbours just prior to the farmer's body being found on his horse.

Nancy

Location: Sheffield Hutton - Castle and attached farmhouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former servant, Nancy now walks around the area wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up. Seen outside several times by an owner's father, the phantom also scared a house guest to such a degree that they fell down the stairs.

Nance

Location: Sheriff Hutton - Area near the A64 York/London road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Foggy weather
Further Comments: The young lady Nance has been seen standing on the side of the road holding her young baby - she died in the area after being deserted and left penniless by the child's father. It is thought she helps those lost and in peril.

Cowled Monk

Location: Skelton cum Newby - Church of Christ the Consoler
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer 1954
Further Comments: Reverend K F Lord accidentally snapped an image of a cowled monk on the altar of this church - dressed in black robes with an elongated, skull-like face, this picture frequently appears in ghost literature.

A Sea Man

Location: Skinningrove - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man was caught in the sea by fishermen and kept for many weeks in a cottage where he lived on a diet of fish. After a while, the 'sea man' returned to the sea, waving goodbye to people standing on the coast before diving down and never returning.

Wailing

Location: Skipton - Archway along Sheep Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 2010s
Further Comments: One witness reportedly spotted a phantom woman in this area. Local legend says several women were killed in a gang fight during the 1800s and they can now be heard wailing and moaning.

Farm Hand

Location: Skipton - Close House
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Being a dab hand with corn thrashing, this fairy fellow was most welcome at the house, but left when accidentally insulted by the owner.

An old postcard of Skipton in Yorkshire.

The Padfoot

Location: Skipton - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This black, horse-sized hound unset the villagers when it paid them a brief visit.

Gartham's Revenge

Location: Skipton - Grammar school
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The school's master, Reverend Robert Thomlinson, was found dead at the school - a rumour quickly sprung up that he had been scared to death by the ghost of his predecessor, whom Thomlinson had tried to remove from office by using a dirty tricks campaign.

Clifford's Coach

Location: Skipton - High Street
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Midnight, prior to a death in the family (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The appearance of Lady Ann Clifford in her horse drawn coach was said to herald the death of the owner of the local castle.

Grandmother

Location: Skipton - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1984
Further Comments: The children of the Thompson family reported seeing the ghost of their grandmother around their house. What added credence to their encounter was that they described the ghost as wearing a pink dress and carrying two crucifixes, which were the items which were cremated with the lady, and something of which the children were unaware.

Hotspot

Location: Skipton - Skies over area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This area was claimed to be a UFO hotspot by enthusiasts.

Woman

Location: Skipton - Woolly Sheep Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn is reputed to be haunted by a woman in a flowing dress.

Bear

Location: Skipwith - Skipwith Common
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: February 1975
Further Comments: A man reported seeing a dark brown bear standing 150 centimetres high. No trace of the creature could be found later.

Serving Girl

Location: Sleights - The Old Vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976
Further Comments: This former vicarage was once said to be haunted by a serving girl who committed suicide in the building.

Poisonous Lizard

Location: Slingsby - Road from Hovingham to Malton
Type: Dragon
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A great lizard that lived along this road, feasting on lonely travellers at night, was killed by a local hero and his pet dog. Unfortunately, both the victors died soon after the battle due to the delayed effect of the dragon's poison. One story says that the dragon was over a mile long.

Speech

Location: Sowerby - Pudding Pie Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Fairies can be heard talking within the hill if the listener either runs around the hill nine times anticlockwise while the moon is waxing, or they stick a knife into the centre of the mound, or both.