The Paranormal Database

Light Brown Cat

Location: Todmorden - Bacup Road
Type: ABC
Date / Time: February 2011
Further Comments: Licensee of the Masons Arms Lynne Goldfield reported observing a brown cat with high hind legs as she walked her dog along this road.

Hob of the Hurst

Location: Todmorden - Barcroft Hall, Walk Mill
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This entity helped the family with their chores, until given a gift - this freed the spirit, and it became hostile and antagonistic. As if this was not bad enough, the Barcroft family was once cursed by one of their sons who was imprisoned in the basement, who declared that the family name should die out.

Abducted Policeman

Location: Todmorden - Burnley Road
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 28 November 1980
Further Comments: Alan Godfrey, a policeman on the Yorkshire force, reported seeing a large UFO along the road, and experiencing missing time. He was later hypnotised and 'discovered' that he had been taken inside the alien craft and subjected to experiments.

Lucky sculpture

Location: Todmorden - Centre Vale Park
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: The sculpture of a dog in the park gained a reputation to bestow luck on anyone who patted it after a family who did so won the lottery. It was later announced that the story was fictitious, created by Derren Brown as part of his Experiments series, investigating whether we create our own luck.

Zigmund Adamski Returns

Location: Todmorden - Coal yard in the village
Type: Other
Date / Time: 11 June 1980
Further Comments: Adamski disappeared on 6 June 1980 while on his way to the local shops for some potatoes - his body was discovered recently deceased five days later, placed on top of a large pile of coal. The cause of death was not certain, nor was how the body came to be in its location; and Adamski had no reason to leave home in the first place. Todmorden was a hotspot for UFO activity at the time of the death, and several people linked the sightings to Adamski's death.

Ruth

Location: Todmorden - Garden Street
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely late twentieth century
Further Comments: A man drove past Ruth as she walked along the road. The driver slowed down and looked back, only to find Ruth had vanished. The driver's passenger asked what was wrong, and when told about the vanishing woman, reminded the driver that Ruth had died two years previous. The driver knew Ruth's sister, so went to visit, only to find the sister had suffered a fall and needed medical attention.

The skies over Todmorden, Yorkshire.

Flying Lights

Location: Todmorden - Skies in the area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1960s-present, particularly early 1980s
Further Comments: The skies between Todmorden and Bacup have been home to frequent reports of unidentified lights which have alarmed both people and animals alike.

Smashed Grave

Location: Wakefield - Alverthorpe graveyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: September 1947
Further Comments: The local press blamed a poltergeist after a heavy granite cross was broken. One piece, weighing seventy-six kilograms, had been lifted from its base, while another slab of granite had been broken in two.

Bangs

Location: Wakefield - Black Horse public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2017
Further Comments: After reporting bangs on the walls and the sound of footsteps, the pub called in the 'Soul Reaper' paranormal group who claimed the site was haunted by 'Hannah', killed by a bear close to the site.

Voice

Location: Wakefield - Bolands Bar, Union Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February-March 2014
Further Comments: It was reported in the local press that landlord Phil Birks called in paranormal investigators after hearing a disembodied voice, spotting a shadowy person, and watching 'orbs' on CCTV.

Fallen Horses

Location: Wakefield - Denby Dale Road bridge, and river below
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s?
Further Comments: Walking her dog across the bridge, Amanda West was frozen with fear when the sound of horses passed her - with no horses to be seen. Without warning, she then heard a loud splash. Looking into the river below, the water was calm, but the sound of panicking horses could now be heard coming from below. She later found out that the original bridge had collapsed in 1836 and a team of horses pulling a cart had drowned.

Mist

Location: Wakefield - Derelict brickworks off Wakefield Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: February 2004
Further Comments: A student with a disposable camera snapped several photographs here which showed a white mist, not visible at the time the pictures were taken.

Miners

Location: Wakefield - East Ardsley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Old coal cart tracks are still visible today, even though mining operations ceased over one hundred years ago. On dark nights, one is said to be able to hear the former miners walking along the paths.

Falling Glasses

Location: Wakefield - Griffin public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: The pub is said to be home to a non-threatening entity which occasionally throws glasses from the shelves.

Mirror Breaking

Location: Wakefield - Grove Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: This boisterous ghost had a habit of smashing reflective surfaces and moving heavy furniture around. One landlady claimed the spirit tried to smother her as she lay in bed.

Lady Bolles

Location: Wakefield - Heath Old Hall (aka Heath Hall) (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1711 to mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghostly figure of Lady Bolles was said not to have been seen since being 'laid' in a large dip in the local river at some point before the start of the twentieth century, even though soldiers based here during the Second World War reported seeing her.

Shipman?

Location: Wakefield - HMP Wakefield Prison, cell D336
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2007
Further Comments: The Argus newspaper reported that Harold Shipman's former cell is reputedly haunted by the serial killer, though staff at the prison attribute the 'scary noises' to men in nearby cells.

Victorian Woman

Location: Wakefield - Kirkgate Railway Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom woman in Victorian clothing has been reported moving around the subway that connects platforms 1 and 2.

Lady Margaret

Location: Wakefield - Large house in Kirkgate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This sad ghost came about after she became locked in an attic and went undiscovered for quite some time.

Falling Glass

Location: Wakefield - New York Italian Kitchen
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2016
Further Comments: In a video featured in several newspapers, a glass is shown falling over on the bar, apparently unaided. The owner claimed that this is only one of several strange occurrences.

Little Girl

Location: Wakefield - Old Vicarage Bookshop, Zetland Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: This bookshop is reputedly home to a phantom that died from the plague - his ghostly form is riddled with symptoms. As a side note, this area is also said to be riddled with secret passageways.

Terrier

Location: Wakefield - Sandal Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987
Further Comments: This small, yapping dog has attacked and scared creatures many times larger than itself - when touched the phantom pooch fades from view.

Mirrored Shadows

Location: Wakefield - Sunspec opticians
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa May 1997
Further Comments: Racks would be knocked off surfaces by an unseen hand and shadows spotted in mirrors. It was claimed in the press at the time that the shop was built upon an old graveyard.

Blue Lady

Location: Wakefield - Unidentified bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story says that the phantom blue lady walked straight through a van while crossing the bridge. The driver was convinced he had hit someone until he spotted the figure continuing to walk unimpeded across the bridge.

Crawling Man

Location: Wakefield - Wakefield Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pathetic figure reportedly crawls near the bridge, where he fell from while living, breaking his legs.