The Paranormal Database

Man in a Mask

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Brushes Estate
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 09 December 2011, 20:07h
Further Comments: A child told his father that he had seen a black man in a mask at the door of the living room. A few hours later the child's Jamaican grandfather died in hospital, wearing a face mask.

Sitting Man

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Crookes Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Spring 2006
Further Comments: A resident reported seeing a phantom man sitting in a chair that was not there and a woman would walk up to the attic bedroom. After experiencing poltergeist activity in the bathroom, the witness shouted out in frustration - the haunting ceased after the witness's outburst.

Emily

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Moor Oaks Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2006 or 2007
Further Comments: A resident here heard the voice of an older woman close by asking, 'Are you there, Emily?'. The resident thought it may have been their landlady, but no one else was around.

To Be Seen Alive

Location: Sheffield - Rawson's Arms, Tenter Street (no longer operating), and River Dun
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1835
Further Comments: This pub featured in local news as it offered a sea serpent 'to be seen alive'. The creature, pulled from the River Dun, weighed around twenty-two kilograms, a head resembling a mastiff, and fine mouse-like hair. Music would calm or anger the creature, depending on the number of instruments played.

Flying Lizard

Location: Sheffield - Rivelin Valley
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: It was said that there were three types of lizard in this area, the Running Asker, the Water Asker, and the Flying Asker, the latter being the smallest of the three.

Scratching Hound

Location: Sheffield - Road outside the Botanical Gardens
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: October 1998
Further Comments: A phantom dog attacked one witness walking along this road - it bit his calf and clawed his back, leaving red weals. The man developed a high fever but later recovered after a spirit exorcism was performed.

Old School Boy

Location: Sheffield - Rowlinson Comprehensive School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is claimed that a boy dressed in old fashioned clothing has been observed by students and teachers, standing on the playing fields.

Floating Feet

Location: Sheffield - Schofield's department store (now Argos Extra), Angel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The boiler room here was haunted by a pair of feet which hovered a half a metre or so from the floor.

Boggards

Location: Sheffield - Boggard Lane, Oughtibridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lane is said to be named after the entities which live (or lived) down there. A private house along the lane is also said to be haunted by a phantom woodworker.

White Woman

Location: Sheffield - Bowshaw House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Wearing a flowing dress, this pale spirit has occasionally been reported.

Broken Necked Lovers

Location: Sheffield - Bunting Nook
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A pair of eloping lovers were thrown off their horse down this lane - the fall broke both their necks. They now haunt this area where no bird is said to sing.

Saucer Eyed Dog

Location: Sheffield - Bunting Nook, Graves Park
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 2012?
Further Comments: This creature, with its unusually large eyes, has been known to turn itself into mist if threatened. A ghost hunter in the area reported to have spoken to a couple who witnessed a large black dog appear out of nowhere as they travelled down the lane.

Lights

Location: Sheffield - Captive Queen public house (now closed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Floating lights and strange figures were said to have been seen in this building when it was a pub. Another local legend says that it was an entrance to a nest of secret underground tunnels used by Mary Queen of Scots.

Colonel John Bright

Location: Sheffield - Carbrook Hall public house (as of late 2019, a coffee shop)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A close friend and ally of Cromwell, the well-built ghost of Colonel Bright has been observed standing at the top of the stairs. Other ghosts reported here include the sounds of children, an elderly woman from the 1920s, a phantom Roundhead, a monk, and another shadowy figure who throws items around the bar.

Riot

Location: Sheffield - Cholera Monument Grounds
Type: Other
Date / Time: May 1873
Further Comments: Around two thousand men and young boys gathered at this site after a rumour started a ghost had been seen (although the local press declared the entity was really a 'young fellow of weak intellect'). Neighbours complained, the police arrived, scuffles occurred, no ghost appeared, and people went home. Rumours of a ghostly figure in the area continued throughout the rest of the month.

Man being saved from a fairy circle.

Rings

Location: Sheffield - Dead Man's Lane (aka Dead Lane), Ecclesall (lane may have been renamed, but in Greystones area)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: An overgrown lane in the village (now a Sheffield suburb) was said to be home to fairies, with distinct fairy circles spotted in the grass. A headless woman also haunted the lane.

Pilot?

Location: Sheffield - Endcliffe Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s, around February
Further Comments: A man spotted a figure wearing a flying jacket and scarf walking across the foggy, open playing fields. While walking towards the witness, the figure suddenly vanished.

Large Cat

Location: Sheffield - Field near Wales Bar Petrol Station, now a golf course
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 1987 or 1988
Further Comments: While crossing a field of sheep, a group of friends watched a large, cat-shaped creature amongst the sheep. The creature spotted the group and crouched, resulting in the friends fleeing the area.

Chip Shop

Location: Sheffield - Firth Park
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990
Further Comments: Walking home one evening, a mother and daughter spotted a chip shop which they had thought was new, as they had not seen it before. The shop was open, lights were on, and people were inside. A couple of nights later, they decided to visit the takeaway, but it was not there - a DIY shop stood on the spot, twice the size of the chip shop they had seen.

Norah the Maid

Location: Sheffield - Firth Park Brushes (former school), Barnsley Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The maid, who committed suicide on the site two hundred years ago, is still said to wander the area. When the high school stood in the area, cleaning staff reported lights that would turn themselves on, amongst other strange phenomena. A priest was called to exorcise the land in 2003; there have been no reported incidents since.

Life Saver

Location: Sheffield - Flat, School Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1981/82
Further Comments: The family that tolerated a poltergeist in their home for almost a year were eventually thankful for the entity - one night it banged so loudly the whole family awoke only to find their rooms full of smoke. They managed to escape as the fire engulfed their building.

Grey Woman

Location: Sheffield - Handsworth Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2014
Further Comments: While waiting at a bus stop, two people spotted a grey-coloured older woman walking past a tree. The woman had her hands placed under her chin, seemingly to secure a headscarf, and she wore long clothing. The woman turned and looked at the people at the bus stop before vanishing in a flash.

White Lady

Location: Sheffield - Highcliffe Road, Ecclesall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Little is known about this phantom woman, other than an interesting point to note is that the road was once called Dead Man's Lane.

Smugglers

Location: Sheffield - Ship Inn, Shalesmoor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cellar of the inn is reputedly haunted by two smugglers who drowned during the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864.

Red Cloud

Location: Sheffield - Skies about Woodthorpe area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Circa February 2017
Further Comments: A red cloud which covered the roof of a house was seen by three people. Different coloured beams of light, mainly green, pink and blue, emerged from the cloud for around fifteen minutes before vanishing.