The Paranormal Database

Carriage

Location: Leeds - Potternewton Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Not reported for years, the ghostly carriage was supposed to be pulled by a team of four horses.

ID #3477, last updated 2003-01-04

Two Children

Location: Leeds - Private residence near a churchyard, Kirkstall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: December 1993
Further Comments: Two small children appeared at a witness's bedside in the night. Both children were very still and looking at the witness's girlfriend. The witness started to wake her, but terror prevented him. Not wanting to take his eyes off the children, the witness tried to reach the light switch but could not find the button. The children vanished and the witness stayed awake until dawn.

ID #15157, last updated 2023-10-29

CID Busted

Location: Leeds - Private residence, Ash Grove
Type: Other
Date / Time: October 1949
Further Comments: Leeds Criminal Investigation Department declared that the property's flying bottles and paint pots, and the strange voices, were not paranormal in nature, although it is not clear whether they arrested anyone in connection to the activity.

ID #15074, last updated 2023-09-30

Elsie

Location: Leeds - Private residence, Kirkstall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 October 2015, 22:30h (Elsie seen)
Further Comments: A former shop worker, the ghost named Elsie was spotted in the hallway. Other activities reported here include disembodied footfalls, giggling, and lights switched on.

ID #12414, last updated 2017-05-09

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.

ID #11560, last updated 2014-05-26

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.

ID #10861, last updated 2012-05-06

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.

ID #13317, last updated 2019-08-21

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.

ID #10496, last updated 2011-07-03

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.

ID #14445, last updated 2022-04-03

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.

ID #2636, last updated 2002-10-16

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.

ID #10814, last updated 2012-04-08

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.

ID #10815, last updated 2012-04-08

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.

ID #7287, last updated 2007-04-11

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.

ID #12338, last updated 2017-02-25

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.

ID #11465, last updated 2014-01-04

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'.

ID #11821, last updated 2015-06-16

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.

ID #15232, last updated 2024-01-14

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.

ID #11335, last updated 2013-04-07

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'.

ID #15631, last updated 2024-09-15

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.

ID #11448, last updated 2013-12-08

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.

ID #7909, last updated 2007-08-28

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.

ID #9779, last updated 2009-12-31

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.

ID #2650, last updated 2002-10-16

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.

ID #12787, last updated 2018-03-10

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.

ID #11199, last updated 2012-12-30