The Paranormal Database

Cloaked Figure

Location: Huddersfield - Meltham Golf Course
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999, (possibly summer) evening
Further Comments: Observed from a shed on the golf course, this cloaked figure had no visible feet and made no sound while passing through the grass.

Black Hound

Location: Huddersfield - Milnsbridge area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This devil dog is more likely to be heard baying at the moon, its howl freezing the blood of witnesses.

Hot Oven

Location: Huddersfield - Private residence, Lockwood
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1957
Further Comments: A woman, her six-month old twins and two sisters-in -law all left this house three days after moving in, blaming spooky occurrences including an oven that would be red hot in the morning (although not turned on), footsteps heard walking upstairs, and an inner door panel found kicked in.

Young Blonde Boy

Location: Huddersfield - Somerset Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1980s
Further Comments: A female driver swerved and crashed into a parked car to avoid a young boy who stepped out in front of her car. Her description of the child matched that of a boy who had been killed in a road traffic accident a few years previously.

Jonah

Location: Huddersfield - St George's Square Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former porter at the railway station, Jonah was hit by a train and forced to retire early due to the injuries received. His spiteful laugh can sometimes be heard when there is an accident on the site, or a narrowly avoided mishap.

Moving Displays

Location: Huddersfield - Tolson Museum
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 2008
Further Comments: A former worker on the site reported that items would move around at night. One evening police responded to the alarm being activated - there was no sign of a break in, and a police dog taken into the museum started to whimper and lay on the ground.

Annie

Location: Huddersfield - Unidentified council house, Meltham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1961
Further Comments: A family here were left terrified by a large white entity until they discovered it would sit by their young son as he lay in bed, stroking his legs which were affected by meningitis. A medium told them that the phantom was a family member named Annie, who had died a few years previous. After a couple of years, the son regained the use of his legs.

Agile Green Folk

Location: Ilkley - Area near the well
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1815
Further Comments: Described as fast moving little folk in green, the fairies that lived in this area were once found in the single village bath - they scarpered when discovered.

Two Women

Location: Ilkley - Mallard Inn, Church Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Though nothing has been seen, staff say that two ghosts haunt this building - one upstairs and the other who stays by the bar.

An old postcard of Ilkley in Yorkshire.

Barguest

Location: Ilkley - Moorland to the north of the village, and of Otley
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The large black hound was believed to lurk on the moors in this area.

An old postcard of Ilkley Moors in Yorkshire.

Abduction Photographed

Location: Ilkley - Moors
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1 December 1987
Further Comments: A former policeman photographed a strange creature running away from him on the moor - he gave chase, only to see a large silver disc take off and fly away at fantastic speed. The man soon realised that he had 'lost' almost two hours of the day; he was later hypnotically regressed and recalled being abducted. The area has a history of fairy sightings, which may be connected to this abduction story.

Rusty

Location: Keighley - Bracken Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2008
Further Comments: Paranormal investigation groups reported recording a laugh and a phantom dog barking after the landlady called them in. Locals named the dog as 'Rusty', a Jack Russell who died seventeen years previous.

Man in Flat Cap

Location: Keighley - Cricketers Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006 onwards
Further Comments: Landlord John Mitchell reported seeing a man wearing a flat cap just outside the front of the pub, while a member of the cleaning staff spotted the ghost sitting at a table with a bicycle next to him.

Pig Farmer

Location: Keighley - Dog and Gun public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A pig farmer hit by a coach close by was brought to the site and died upstairs. Her ghost is said to move items around.

Walled Up

Location: Keighley - East Riddlesden Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Apparitions unknown, chair in June 2019
Further Comments: When they were discovered in each other' arms, the wife of the Hall's owner and her secret lover were forcefully separated - she was locked in her bedroom, and he bricked up behind a wall. They both starved to death. The wife now manifests as the Grey Lady and ascends the staircase, and the lover peers out of a window at passers-by. A white lady also haunts the site, as does a Highlander, and a coachman who walks on the surface of the lake looking for his sunken coach. In 2019, a witness in an empty room watched a child's chair being pulled away from a table and then slide back in, as if someone unseen had sat down.

Actress

Location: Keighley - Keighley Picture House cinema
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996 onwards
Further Comments: After opening in 1913, an actress is said to have committed suicide in this theatre by throwing herself from a balcony. She may have been seen in the early 2000s by members of the public who complained that a woman had opened a fire door (one witness said she was wearing old fashioned clothing). When staff investigated, the door was secure. Staff report that screen one has a bad feeling, while the second projector room has a warm inviting feel.

Big Collie

Location: Keighley - Woods just outside village
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1893
Further Comments: This spectral dog appeared briefly to prevent a robbery on the roadside, vanishing once the threat had passed.

Breaking Machines

Location: Keighley - Wool mill and unknown dwelling
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa January 1925
Further Comments: Known only as the 'Keighley Mill Girl' by the press, machines would break down in the presence of this employee, although she was never seen to touch the failed apparatus. At home, plates and vases fell from surfaces, windows would shake, and chairs overturned. The British College of Psychic Science took the girl to London for observation and when she returned home three months later, no further problems were observed.

Billy Fisher

Location: Kippax - Old Tree Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: The grinning misty entity glimpsed here is thought to be former landlord Billy Fisher.

Hester

Location: Kirkburton - Old vicarage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: During the First English Civil War, Reverend Gamaliel Whitaker was arrested for supporting the Royalist cause. During the arrest, Whitaker's wife Hester was shot and killed, and her ghost is still said to haunt the site of her death.

Triangle

Location: Kirkheaton - Skies above the village
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Circa 2012
Further Comments: A witness looked out the window at night and spotted a large triangular object, at least the size of a bus, hovering over the house and street. It had numerous lights around the edge, but the lights did not appear to cast any shadows. The object silently flew off in the direction of Holme Moss.

Hood's Grave

Location: Kirklees - Kirklees Park
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A grassy mound in the park is said to hide the body of folk hero Robin Hood, the location where his arrow landed after being fired from his death bed from Kirklees Abbey. Some claim to have seen a ghostly arrow hit the spot before vanishing.

Grey Figure

Location: Kirkstall - Railway station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa May 1904
Further Comments: A station porter spotted a figure wearing a long grey sheet with a streak of red on the platform. The figure vanished, but the following morning the figure reappeared to the porter and he and two other witnesses gave chase, only for the ghost to disappear again. When the figure appeared for a third time, a party was quickly formed with the intent to capture it, with no success.

Footsteps

Location: Knottingley - Parkbaulk Quarry (Niners)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1983, around 20:00h
Further Comments: Two brothers out shooting in the quarry realised there was a complete absence of bird song and no sign of any wildlife. Both brothers then heard heavy footsteps, reminiscent of hobnailed boots; faintly at first, but growing progressively louder. From their vantage point the brothers had a clear line of sight around them, but the source of the sound could not be seen. They fled.

Footsteps

Location: Lane Ends - Private residence
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa October 1895
Further Comments: A married couple were disturbed by footsteps which could be heard moving around at night. A strange light could also be seen, and the bedroom door would open itself. Neighbours could also hear the sounds. It was reported that once the story broke, crowds of people would stand outside the property.