The Paranormal Database

Brass Band

Location: Leeds - Private residence, Lynwood Crescent
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Early 1990s, around midnight
Further Comments: As one young man went to bed, he could hear the faint sound of a brass band. Within five minutes the band sounded like it was outside his house so he climbed out of bed and looked out the window but could see nothing. Ten minutes later the sound of the band was so loud it was as if it was in the house. Once again, the man looked out of the window - there was nothing there and the sound stopped. Thinking the incident could have been a dream he did not mention it, although several years later he started to tell his brother the story, who finished the story as he had also heard the same thing.

Man in Basement

Location: Leeds - Retail premises along Hunslet Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2007
Further Comments: An employee at this shop spotted an old man in the basement. When they described the man to their manager, they were told the description matched the manager's grandfather who had also worked on the site.

Black Hound

Location: Leeds - Roundhay Park
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Photographed (or not) in 2019
Further Comments: This park, like many in Yorkshire, is reputedly home to a large demonic black hound. A photographed was published by the local press in 2019 which claimed to show the entity but was more likely to be a dog being walked by its owner.

Lift Travellers

Location: Leeds - St James's University Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A member of staff would often use a lift in the building, sharing with occupants who would travel upwards only to vanish just before the doors opened.

Golden Haired Woman

Location: Leeds - St Mark's Church, Woodhouse
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa October 1900
Further Comments: A crowd of people gathered to watch a ghostly female figure spotted outside the church, described as having golden hair and sparkling eyes. A woman arrested nearby was named as the 'ghost' and promptly placed in gaol for drunkenness.

Blue Lady

Location: Leeds - Temple Newsam House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Not alone in haunting this mansion, the blue lady is the best known here, having a room named after her. Other entities reportedly include a monk in brown robes, a Knight Templar, a small boy who climbs from out a cupboard, and a non-descript misty form. Screams have been heard from the South Wing, as have the sounds of something or someone heavy being dragged across the floor.

Man in a White Coat

Location: Leeds - Thackray Medical Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post-1997
Further Comments: A ghostly man in a white coat has been spotted in the recreation of a Victorian Street within this building, while a grey lady dressed in nineteenth century clothing waves at staff along the second floor.

Charlie Peace

Location: Leeds - Town Hall, the Bridewell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Held in the Bridewell (a small prison) under the town hall while awaiting his trial, Peace was later executed for a double murder. His ghost is said to remain within his cell.

Tall Figure

Location: Leeds - Unknown property, Fieldhead Terrace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1932
Further Comments: The knocking sounds from the attic occurred for several nights before a phantom six foot tall man in a long coat started to appear. The owner and all her tenants moved out in November 1932.

Armoured Man

Location: Leeds - York Road near Killingbeck
Type: Other
Date / Time: Summer, mid 1990s, around 04:30h
Further Comments: Two occupants of a car spotted an armoured figure riding a horse towards Killingbeck. The witnesses were unclear whether it was a 'real' person heading towards the Royal Armouries Museum.

Knelling Woman

Location: Lydgate - St Ann's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2009
Further Comments: A freelance photographer caught an image of a misty woman knelling by a gravestone at this churchyard. He later returned to the location and found that the grave at which the woman was photographed belonged to a child who died in the 1800s.

Wave

Location: Menston - Staff canteen at High Royds Hospital
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Early evening, early 1990s
Further Comments: A witness said hello to a long-term patient who, known for hardly ever speaking, waved back. The witness later found out the patient had died a week prior to the encounter. The patient had looked completely 'normal'.

Force

Location: Midgley - Two adjoining cottages, Town Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 1955
Further Comments: Mr Quain, a water diviner, claimed to have been pushed against a wall and his rods broken by a powerful force while investigating this haunting. Quain returned with a doctor and another man a week later but could not detect anything untoward. The doctor blamed the haunting on loose floorboards.

Servant?

Location: Mirfield - Hollybank (was Roe Head School)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom is said to be at home behind an attic door, close to the spot where a servant may have fallen to their death.

Glowing Light

Location: Mirfield - Northorpe Home for Boys
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: September 1965
Further Comments: Footsteps could be heard walking around in the early hours of the morning, while the director of the hall witnessed a strange light, the source of which could not be found, illuminated a chair. The press reported the hall was considered haunted by locals, although the housekeeper was quoted as saying the phantom 'added character'.

Prioress of Kirklees

Location: Mirfield - Three Nuns public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1985 onwards, investigated by GCUK in 2013
Further Comments: Doors have opened unaided and shadowy figures spotted in this building. Ghost Chasers UK reported that the building was haunted by two spirits; a nun named Katherine Grice who killed herself on site, and the Prioress of Kirklees, who bled Robin Hood to death.

Lady Julia Barwick

Location: Nether Yeadon - Low Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was said that a large slab of slate was used to cover up a window to prevent the phantom Julia from entering and exiting. After that she took to using the priest hole.

Fordson Tractor

Location: Normanton - RAF Bottesford (aka RAF Normanton) - no longer operational
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 04 October 2009
Further Comments: A visitor to the site heard what he first thought was an old Fordson tractor ticking over, though the sound later changed to an aircraft carrying out pre-flight checks.

Cowled Figures

Location: Nostell - Nostell Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These figures who once worshipped at the priory can be seen drifting through the mist when weather permits.

Hooded Woman

Location: Otley - Gallows Hill area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 05:30h, 1981
Further Comments: The occupants of a car stopped and looked around the hill after screeching to a halt to avoid a hooded woman who crossed the road ahead of them. The occupants reported being left in a shaken state, and only drove away from the area after spending twenty minutes searching for the woman who had vanished.

Crowned Man

Location: Otley - Old Chevin Road
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005, around 23:00h
Further Comments: A witness walking towards a camp site encountered a man wearing a crown on his head dancing around strangely, like a 'village idiot'. The man stopped in front of the witness and stared hard into his eyes. The witness tried to push the man away, but his hands passed straight through the figure. As the witness moved away, he turned and saw many people in Victorian clothing pushing prams. The witness was said to be shaken up for days after the experience.

Cellar Dweller

Location: Otley - Old Cock public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2022
Further Comments: Even though this ghost is said to be friendly in nature and at home in the kitchen, a plasterer refused to enter the cellar during renovation work.

Dummies

Location: Otley - Shop at the corner of Kirkgate and Market Place (currently British Heart Foundation)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Tailor's dummies have moved by themselves, pictures have fallen from their hooks, the smell of pipe tobacco fills the air, and strange noises can be heard at night at this haunted charity shop.

Weeping Lady

Location: Otley - Unidentified House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While the owners (Colonel Morton and his wife) never encountered the ghost, other family members claimed to see a weeping woman and to have heard disembodied footsteps. One witness placed cotton across the staircase through which the ghostly woman passed without breaking the threads. Over a four-year period the haunting slowly faded away before disappearing completely.

Fred

Location: Pontefract - 30 East Drive
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: August 1966 onwards
Further Comments: This site, the location of a famous 1960s poltergeist outbreak where people were slapped, pushed and scratched, is now owned by the producer who made a film about the experiences there.