Hauntings, curses and other phenomena in Salisbury

FindmyPast recently conducted a review of more than 67m newspapers between 1710 and 2021 and found that Salisbury ranked third in the UK for the most per capita mentions of ghosts in news articles, with six per 100 residents.

The Paranormal Database has kindly given the Journal permission to use its database to compile this list of the spooky for our area.

Hauntings and mysterious occurrences in and around Salisbury

Ghostly Monks

Location: Alderbury - Green Dragon public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A secret tunnel is rumoured to connect this pub with the nearby church and is haunted by phantom monks.

Soldier

Location: Amesbury - George Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A soldier from the First World War is reputed to haunt this site, and the sound of horses trotting can occasionally be heard from the courtyard outside.

Whooshing

Location: Amesbury - London Road area where railway line once ran
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1990s
Further Comments: Two friends heard steam being released, as if from an old engine which could not be seen. One of the people had previously heard clanking and a whistle in the same location.

Outlined Lady

Location: Amesbury - Lords Walk, along London Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter 1985/1986
Further Comments: This petite phantom lady, grey in colour but with a brighter outline, was observed by two friends taking a shortcut through the woods - they ran away from the figure, turning to look back only to see the woman had vanished. The walk may also be home to a ghostly Gypsy caravan that was briefly spotted before vanishing.

Farm Labourer

Location: Amesbury - New Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom farm labourer is reputed to periodically appear to have a drink. Once he has finished his beverage, he promptly vanishes.

Children

Location: Amesbury - South Mill track
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter, 2010
Further Comments: A man walking his dog spotted some children playing near the river, the dog edging away from the nearest child, who was a girl who wore a long white dress. The man assumed the children were from a party at a nearby house, but soon realised that the path and area were very muddy, but the girl in white's dress was pristine. On the return walk, the children had gone.

Wet Footprints

Location: Boscombe Down - RAF base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1947
Further Comments: A pilot killed when his new aircraft crashed into the sea was heard walking about his hut at night, his wet footfalls slopping on the floor.

Roman Battle

Location: Bowerchalke - Between village and Woodminton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Headless horses can be seen, and fierce fighting can be heard - the area was the site of a battle between Roman legionnaires and the Britons.

Pallbearers

Location: Bowerchalke - Bowerchalke Down, aka Marleycombe Hill - Applespill Bridge area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seven ghostly men carrying a gold coffin have been reported crossing the bridge - a local legend says that a coffin made of gold was found and stolen from a nearby barrow. Another ghost carrying a bag of jangling coins also walks the area, normally following people around.

Ghostly Monks

Location: Bowerchalke - Churchyard
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown - most likely to be seen in the early hours
Further Comments: A phantom procession of monks reportedly haunt the churchyard.

Kit

Location: Bowerchalke - Crossroads south of the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The woman only known as Kit is buried at this crossroads after committing suicide nearby. Her shade is still reported here, and it is claimed no birds sing in the area.

Lost Shepherd

Location: Bowerchalke - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This man became lost in a snowstorm and was found dead of exposure the following day by fellow villagers. His voice is occasionally heard on the wind, crying out 'I want to go home'.

Silence

Location: Bowerchalke - Kit's Grave, crossroads at Vernditch
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman who drowned herself in a well is said to be buried at this crossroads. The surrounding area is reputed to be devoid of birdsong.

Sounds of Beheading

Location: Bowerchalke - The Lodge (no longer standing?), Verne Ditch (or Vernditch Chase)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sounds of a chopping axe have been heard coming from the ruins of this property. They are said to date from a particularly nasty murder, when the victim had their head removed.

Woman in Poke Bonnet

Location: Breamore - Breamore House
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: When current owner soon to die
Further Comments: This restless spirit was murdered by a long forgotten owner of the house - her ghost now appears prior to the death of the current owner of the property.

Woman in Evening Dress

Location: Bulford - Road through the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost moves from a driveway and crosses the road without any consideration towards oncoming traffic. One lorry driver was convinced he had struck a real woman, only to pull over and see her pass through a barbed wire fence.

Cursed Stone

Location: Bulford - Stone along a bend in the River Avon (stone no longer present)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-1960s
Further Comments: A stone on the riverside was considered cursed, and it was believed could not be removed (until it was).

Metallic Smoke

Location: Burley - New Forest
Type: Other
Date / Time: 26 December 2005
Further Comments: While driving around lost, looking for a road sign, a couple passed a patch of purple/blue smoke, around 2 metres by 3 metres in diameter, hovering around 2 metres off the ground. They drove back to have another look, but the smoke had gone.

Peter Warne

Location: Burley - Queen's Head Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former smuggler, Warne is now said to haunt this inn.

Ghostly Monks

Location: Cranborne - Grim's Ditch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ditch falls on the Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire borders, and is thought to be Bronze or Iron Age. The ghostly hooded figures observed in the area are thought to be monks.

Phantom Horse

Location: Durnford - Salisbury Road between Durnford & Amesbury, near Chalk Pit Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This creature, only heard and not seen, would gallop on the road and in the fields in this area.

Duke of Monmouth

Location: East Woodyates - Old coaching house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Duke is said to return to the place where he rested while escaping to the coast after the Battle of Sedgemoor. The grounds of the inn are also said to be haunted by the disembodied head of a white horse.

Old Lady

Location: Fordingbridge - Hourglass Restaurant, formerly a fourteenth-century farmhouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This shade of an old lady warms herself by sitting by one of the original fireplaces.

Cavalier

Location: Fordingbridge - Tutor Rose Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: As well as a phantom Cavalier, this inn is also said to be the home of a ghostly woman who ascends the staircase. The female apparition may also be responsible for the footsteps heard on the same staircase.

Black Hound

Location: Great Durnford - Chalk pit between village and Netton
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: A local man tried to hit this phantom dog with a stick while returning from the pub. The stick passed straight through the creature.

Horse Drawn Coach

Location: Hindon - Junction of the A303 and the A350
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghoulish coach is drawn by a team of four grey spectral horses.

Vanishing Figure

Location: Lansdown - Racecourse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2006
Further Comments: A worker on the site has twice encountered a figure which has been mistaken as a living person until it suddenly vanishes.

Man in the Wardrobe

Location: Larkhill - Married quarter in garrison
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2003-2005
Further Comments: A family living here experienced bangs, footsteps, and cold spots. The family dog would run around and bark at thin air. The children reported seeing a man who hid in the wardrobe and would instruct them to do things, such as hide the food in the kitchen. When the activity became too much to bear, the family moved away.

Skipping Figure

Location: Little Wishford - A36, near some trees, heading towards Knock
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2019?
Further Comments: Driving to Somerset, a witness spotted what looked like a person, caught in headlights ahead, crossing the road. It moved like a woman and it half skipped towards the side of the road. As a vehicle in the opposite lane passed through it, the figure disappeared, and as the witness's own car reached the spot, nothing could be seen.

Webb's Portrait

Location: Ludgershall - Biddesden House
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A portrait of General Webb was at one time thought to be cursed, with ill luck befalling anyone who removed it.

Ghostly Hound

Location: Ludgershall - Collingbourne Woods
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom dog is said to haunt this wooded area, though no witnesses exist.

Scottie of Tidworth

Location: North Tidworth - Road opposite to the military barracks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Misty, rainy conditions
Further Comments: This figure, thought to be either a Scotsman in a kilt or a Roman legionnaire, stands over six foot tall and only appears in low visibility.

Cursed Lock

Location: Odstock - Church
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A young gypsy lad buried in the churchyard was hanged for stealing a horse - a crime his relatives claimed he did not commit. To stop their protests, the church door was locked to prevent them from visiting, but their leader cursed anyone who ever locked the door again. After several deaths occurring to people who performed this action, the key was thrown into the nearby river.

Horse

Location: Odstock - Lane adjoining St Marys Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 June 2017
Further Comments: A woman in the sitting in the passenger side of a car opened her window as the vehicle left the church. Suddenly both the woman and driver heard a horse trotting alongside the vehicle, even though no animal could be seen. As the vehicle reached the main road, the trotting ceased.

Young Lad

Location: Old Sarum - Yew trees (since removed) on Iron Age hillfort
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1967
Further Comments: One witness observed a young lad, wearing Saxon peasant garb, swinging on a yew tree.

Unusual Figure

Location: Porton - Down, along an ancient track
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 2018
Further Comments: A witness spotted a figure in unusual clothing. The figure vanished before the witness could move closer.

Old Woman with Grey Hair

Location: Ringwood - Four Seasons restaurant (since renamed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1973
Further Comments: Seen gently rocking on a chair, this old woman dressed in grey clothing vanished when approached by one witness. Former staff at the building also reported seeing the entity.

William Boulter

Location: Salisbury - A30
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A highwayman by trade, Boulter was hanged for his troubles. His phantom is said to run along various parts of the A30.

Noose

Location: Salisbury - Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Convicted of murder and executed, Lord Stourton was hanged in the marketplace and buried within the cathedral. A noose was left over his grave. The noose was removed at some point during the eighteenth century, but it is said to occasionally reappear.

Duke of Buckingham

Location: Salisbury - Debenhams' department store (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Executed in the fifteenth century, the headless apparition of the duke terrified a British Telecom employee working on the site - he refused to re-enter the building.

Phantom Footfalls

Location: Salisbury - Haunch of Venison public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Random days between 11.30 & midnight (footfalls), white lady unknown
Further Comments: The footfalls may belong to the owner of a severed hand which was discovered behind a secret panel within the pub. This ghost is also held responsible for moving dirty glasses in the bar. The hand was stolen from the pub in March 2004. Another phantom, that of a white lady, is said to appear at windows.

Catgarookey

Location: Salisbury - Laverstock area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 2005
Further Comments: This sixty centimetre tall creature, christened 'Catgarookey' because it looks like a cat-kangaroo-monkey hybrid, was spotted several times in the region. The fact that the animal possessed a black and yellow tail with a white tip suggests the 'beast' is little more than an escaped racoon family member.

Moving Tools

Location: Salisbury - Old George Inn (currently Boston Tea Party)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is said that when work was carried out on the site, construction tools were moved around the building every night. When locked up on one occasion, the building was found completely open the following day. Although a former manager disliked being on the site alone at night, as it was 'too scary', nothing out of the ordinary has even been seen.

Playful Spirit

Location: Salisbury - Private flat along St Edmunds Church Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: An entity in a flat along this road occupies the bedroom, playfully pinning the inhabitants to the floor or wall (and letting them go when they ask it to).

Horrible Man

Location: Salisbury - Private property, Netherhampton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002-2016
Further Comments: Several strange events occurred on this site fourteen years, including the manifestation of upper torso of a man under a table (which caused a witness and a pet dog to flee the room), bad smells and cold spots.

Crying

Location: Salisbury - Private residence, Balmoral Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s-1990s
Further Comments: Crying would be heard from the loft in this property, while at other times something would be heard crashing down the staircase, although nothing would ever be found. An upstairs toilet would also flush itself and on one occasion the chime of a cuckoo clock was heard, one day after the clock had been removed from the site.

The White Birds

Location: Salisbury - Salisbury Plains
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death of Bishop of Salisbury
Further Comments: These large white birds, seen moving through the air but never flapping their wings, appear hours before the death of the Bishop. Another story says that the same event is foretold if two of the strange birds are seen on the roof of the cathedral.

Woman in Grey

Location: Salisbury - St Michael's Church, Car Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2018, 22:30h
Further Comments: A man walking his dog through the area spotted a female figure wearing a long grey dress slowly heading towards the church hall, with her back to him. Passing back the same way a short time later, the man spotted the woman now standing at the top of the car back. As he approached, the woman walked through the fence and vanished.

Grey Lady

Location: Salisbury - St Thomas's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s?
Further Comments: When last seen, this tearful woman in grey looked so real that the witness approached her to see what was wrong - the figure promptly vanished.

Dr Baker

Location: Salisbury - The Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid twentieth century
Further Comments: Several of the buildings which make up the close are reputedly haunted. A property near St Anne's Gate is said to still be the home of former canon Dr Baker who passed on many years previous. In another property, two men heard banging, footsteps and a massive crash from a room above them - on investigation, of course, the room was empty and undisturbed.

Grey Lady

Location: Salisbury - The Wardrobe (currently a museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1970s?
Further Comments: A phantom grey woman was said to haunt this building prior to renovation - it is unclear whether she has remained.

Wild Man of the Woods

Location: Salisbury - Woodland near the town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1877
Further Comments: A wild man who lived in the woods was shot at when he attacked and tried to kidnap a local farmer's wife. The creature was never seen again.

Dead Drummer

Location: Salisbury Plain - Close to Devizes/Lavington junction
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story from the area says two men, Harry and Bill, were crossing the plain when they were caught in a storm. A ghostly drummer appeared, but only Harry could see the apparition. The ghost created such a commotion that Harry broke down and confessed being guilty to a previous unsolved murder. Bill reported the crime to the authorities and Harry was executed.

Wife

Location: Salisbury Plain - Unnamed road
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century?
Further Comments: A soldier whose wife had been killed by a drunk driver was himself driving a truck near the spot where the fatality occurred. Suddenly the apparition of his wife floated in front of the truck. The soldier slammed on the brakes and stopped; his wife vanished, but a few moments later a young child ran out into the road. The driver had little doubt that if it were not for his wife's appearance, he would have hit the child.

Woman in Long White Dress

Location: Shrewton - Crossroads known as 'the Gibbet' and other roads in the village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970
Further Comments: The phantom woman in white can reputedly be heard as her long dress rustles past.

Cloaked Figure

Location: Steeple Ashton - Former village courthouse, converted into a village store
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1944
Further Comments: The old village courthouse was being used as a grocery store in 1944, and the owners reported a ghostly figure wearing a black cloak who would enter the bedroom and search a cupboard. A local tradition said that the ghost of Judge Jeffreys haunted the building, and in life he had stored his paperwork in the haunted cupboard.

Book Thrower

Location: Steeple Ashton - Vicarage
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A guest of the vicar and his wife reported hearing a great deal of banging in the room above her bedroom. The following morning, they were told that when the room she had stayed in was used, the books in the library above would be thrown around.

Phantom Pooch

Location: Stonehenge - Doghill Barrow
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ancient burial mound is reportedly haunted by a dog, which conceals itself beneath the hill.

Crashing Aircraft

Location: Stonehenge - Small monument to two pilots
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Second World War
Further Comments: Several people driving together during the Second World War witnessed a plane crash here - when they investigated, all they could find was the monument to the first two members of the Royal Flying Corps to die in a plane crash.

Drummer

Location: Tedworth (now North Tidworth) - Tedworth House, now Zouch Manor
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1661-1662
Further Comments: One of the first hauntings in the UK to be documented (although witchcraft was blamed), the phantom drummer of Tedworth House briefly caused havoc; banging at all hours of the day and night, bedclothes being torn off, and the children were thrown out of bed.

Figure in a Top Hat

Location: Tilshead - St Thomas a Becket Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 26 March 2012, morning
Further Comments: A ten year old girl became upset and left this church after she spotted a semi-transparent figure with grey hair and a top hat sitting in the box pews. When she started to turn back inside the church, she saw the figure once again, sitting closer to the door.

Fair Nell

Location: Tisbury - Medieval Place Farm
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former nun once based on this site, Nell was condemned to walk the earth for the rest of time after falling in love with a local man.

Molly Peart

Location: Tisbury - Pyt House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Molly's body lies in the cellar of this building. The last time the corpse was moved out of the house, loud banging could be heard at night and misfortunes befell family members until the body was replaced.

Molly

Location: Tisbury - Tisbury Bridge (aka Molly's Bridge)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: A local legend says that Molly Peart was hanged from this bridge (she was actually hanged in Oxfordshire) and that her ghost haunts the site. The legend also says a child was hanged at the site. One witness reported shadowy figures passing the window on their parked car while close by and something swinging from the bridge.

Panting Dog

Location: Wilton - Field known locally as Severals (path of old Roman road)
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: The phantom hound found here would be completely silent, though the dog's panting gives away its location. The Roman road is also haunted by a woman in black, said to move so quickly that she is impossible to catch.

Blue Lady

Location: Winterbourne Dauntsey - Manor House
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A painting of a blue woman (who died after being banished from the property) that hanged in the manor house was thought to have been cursed, with the destruction of the property a promised result of any movement of the work.

Sounds of Smashing

Location: Winterbourne Gunner - Sergeants' Mess
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2021
Further Comments: This place would generate a feeling of terrible unease with staff, and the sound of smashing glasses would be heard in the kitchen, although nothing would be found broken.

Golden Coffin

Location: Winterslow - Exact location not known
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Another location said to contain a coffin made of gold, though its location is not really known (nor, for that matter, its existence).