The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

by Haining, Peter

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  LAR (Italian)

  The Lares Domestici were the household ghosts of Ancient Rome. According to tradition they were the spirits of people who had led virtuous lives – although they could be troublesome, throwing objects around and interfering physically with families. Reports of them describe the Lares as “so ugly that nurses used the mention of them to frighten children”. Some experts have compared these ghosts to Poltergeists and belief in them still persists in certain rural districts of Italy.

  LEMURE (Italian)

  Another phantom first recorded by the Romans and said to be an evil spirit of the dead that returns to haunt its family and relatives. According to tradition, the Lemure is very active during the month of May and so festivals are held every year to propitiate them with offerings known as religiousae. It has been claimed that the way of preventing the return of someone who was thought might become one of these ghosts was to burn black beans around the tomb of the deceased as the spirits are unable withstand the awful smell.

  LIEKKIO (Finland)

  The Liekkio – the word means “Flaming One” – resembles a small flame that is seen hovering in any locality where a death is believed to be imminent. In appearance, the phantom is said to be similar to the British Jack-’o-Lantern, but it is not caused by igniting marsh gas as they appear all over the countryside. One tradition claims they are the souls of dead children who have been laid to rest in unmarked graves in forests.

  LORELEI (German)

  The German Lorelei is the beautiful, beguiling creature that haunts the River Rhine singing melodies so spellbinding they can cause anyone sailing by to lose their sense of direction and wreck their boat on the river’s treacherous rocks. The legend featured in Heinrich Heine’s poem The Lorelei, and a rock at Hesse-Nassau, known as the “Nymph’s Perch”, is now a tourist attraction drawing thousands of visitors every year. The rock formation is such that it causes echoes which the more impressionable believe to be the spirit singing.

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  MARA (Scandinavian)

  According to Scandinavian tradition, the Mara is an evil spirit that materializes at night with the intention of tormenting people. It appears in a misty, human shape and can settle on sleepers, giving them nightmares – from whence its name was derived. In Jutland, the Mara is said to take on the form of a naked woman and will target men, giving them erotic dreams. Belief in this ghost has also been reported throughout the north and west of France.

  MATEBO (Angolan)

  The Matebo – an outcast dwarf ghost – is one of the most curious spirits to be found among the large ghost population of Angola and neighbouring Zaire. All along the Congo, traditional tales state, phantoms like the Mizimi of the Bantu people lurk to prey on hunters and many of these like the taste of blood. However, the Matebo are considered to be far worse as they actually consume human flesh in order to fill their white skeleton-like appearance. It is believed that these ghosts can be placated with offerings of food.

  MUMIAI (Indian)

  One of the strangest ghosts recorded in India, the Mumiai is said to haunt members of the lower Indian castes who are lazy or have criminal tendencies. It acts rather like a Poltergeist, never being seen, but throwing objects around and attacking people. According to reports, the weird spirit can make its presence felt both during the daytime and at night.

  MURA-MURA (Australian)

  These phenomena are regarded as “ancestral spirits” who demand respect or they will prevent rain from falling. The Mura-Mura can be propitiated by placing small stones covered with drops of blood on the highest branches of trees. According to tradition, the stones represent clouds, the blood signifies rain and once the spirits see these representations they will respond by sending a downpour.

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  NIXIE (German)

  Another water spirit, the Nixie is usually invisible but can appear with a human body and fish tail which has led to claims that they were the original mermaids and mermen They haunt any large stretch of water – particularly near the coast of Germany – and have been known to lure humans to their death. For generations it was believed in certain coastal parts of the country that children born with large heads were the result of a union between a Nixie and a human girl.

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  OLD SHUCK (English)

  A phantom dog about the size of a small calf with huge eyes that glow in the dark, Old Shuck has been haunting East Anglia for centuries. The big black creature is said to be an ill omen, for anyone who sees him will be dead within a year. It has been argued that he is the ghost of a giant hound brought to England by Viking raiders, although his name appears to derive from the Anglo-Saxon succa meaning Satan. Experts have suggested that the sightings of mysterious creatures as big as panthers in Southern England may have been inspired by tales of Old Shuck.

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  PAISACHI (Indian)

  The Paisachi is a ghost found all over India that materializes in a human form and is often recognized by those who see it as someone from their district that they once knew. The spirit is generally regarded as an omen of death, though not in the immediate future. It is another Indian spirit that can be propitiated with gifts of food. Families troubled by ghosts in this part of the world can call on the services of a shaycana, usually a village elder who has inherited powers to drive off worrying phantoms.

  PERFUME GHOSTS (British)

  Since the seventeenth century, it has been claimed that some ghosts materialize in the form of a scent or aroma. Although nothing can be seen, numbers of people have described being suddenly conscious of the smell of someone to whom they were very familiar in life – usually in the home or another environment where they spent a lot of time together. A nationwide survey in 1978 produced reports of “Perfume Ghosts” from as far apart as Ross-shire in Scotland to Cornwall.

  PHANTOM COACH (European)

  In France and Germany a number of accounts can be found of huge, black, silent coaches pulled by headless horses and driven by a solitary figure in black. According to tradition, the cortege has come to collect a dying person and to see one is an ill omen. England also has a famous phantom coach in Dorset that runs at dusk from Woodbridge Manor to Bere Regis. The story was immortalized by Thomas Hardy in Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) in which it was stated that the coach owed its origin to a terrible murder and was a sign of imminent death to anyone who saw it passing.

  PHANTOM HEADS (American)

  America has a tradition of stories about phantom heads. The most famous of these originates from San Francisco where one of these heads with long, matted hair and bloodstains on the forehead was reported to be haunting Oakville in 1891. This terrifying vision, like a number of the others, materializes as a spherical, eerie light that gradually forms into a head. It is said to be extremely dangerous to approach one, as they are invariably accompanied by the sensation of icy fingers gripping the throat of the eyewitness.

  PHANTOM SHIPS (South African)

  Although the legend of the Flying Dutchman, forever sailing around the Cape of Good Hope since 1641, is the most famous phantom ship, similar vessels have been reported off the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Canada, America and even China. Like the Dutch ship captained by Hendrik Vanderdecken, cursed for his blasphemy during a storm off the Cape to sail without ever reaching land, all such boats are believed to bring misfortune to any other ships and crews that cross their path. There are numerous accounts of these ghostly ships in both fact and fiction, perhaps most famously in the classic novel, The Phantom Ship by Captain Frederick Marryat (1839). The Flying Dutchman was also seen by Prince George (later King George V) while on a world cruise in 1881.

  PHOUKA (Irish)

  Another famous Irish spirit that usually appears in the shape of a horse and is said to carry off unsuspecting victims for a wild ride across the countryside. The name is said to derive from the word Poc, a male goat, and is believed to be the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Puck. The p
hantom lives in isolated mountains or old ruins and there are a number of locations in Ireland, notably in County Wicklow, with localities that have become known as “The Hole of the Phouka”. In some parts of the country, the spirit is believed to be more mischievous than dangerous.

  POLTERGEIST (German)

  It was the Germans who first named the “racketing spirit” that has caused such fright and chaos in homes all over the world – the verb Polter to make a noise by knocking things about, and the noun Geist, for a ghost. The complex nature of Poltergeist phenomena has lead to various suggestions about their origins, notably that they are often associated with unruly young adolescents. There is also an English description for the spirit as a “Polter-Ghost” deriving from the word to knock, thrash or beat but this is rarely used in preference to the German term. It has been suggested by some experts that the difference between ghosts and Poltergeists is that while one haunts, the other infests.

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  QUINNS LIGHT (Australian)

  This phenomenon, which appears as a phosphorescent light about the size of a large bird, is most often reported in the Bush areas of Australia. The eerie light goes round in circles before disappearing as mysteriously as it appeared – and apparently does no harm to anyone who sees it. Experts have drawn comparisons between Quinns Lights and the Corpse Candles (see here) encountered in the British Isles, which it has been suggested are caused by escaping marsh gas. Quite unique to Australia is the MinMin, which gives off a ghostly glow and is usually seen in cemeteries dancing on gravestones.

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  REVENANT (American)

  The best reports of Revenants – which are not traditional ghosts, as is sometimes suggested, but spirits that have returned from the dead after a very long absence – occur in the traditions of the North American Native Indians. These phantoms are often reported appearing in groups such as the Ojibwa Indians who had died more than a century earlier and were sighted again in the 1970s. Revenants invariably appear in the clothes in which they died. There have also been accounts of their being seen in Europe, notably as recounted by Ernest Rhys in “The Altheim Revenant” in 1921.

  RUDRA (Indian)

  The Rudra is a “leader” among Indian ghosts and said to be the commander of battalions of phantoms that can be sent out to haunt the living – usually in localities where he has not been shown the necessary respect. This ghost is usually seen at different places over a large area and can travel at great speed. Because the Rudra and his minions are said to gather at crossroads before undertaking any haunting, the people of India have a long tradition of leaving offerings at these junctions to propitiate them.

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  SCREAMING SKULLS (English)

  Accounts of ancient skulls that are believed to be haunted by the ghosts of their former owners, is a largely English tradition. There are numerous stories from places as far apart as Somerset, Lake Windermere, Manchester and Yorkshire about skulls that have uttered the most hideous screams when attempts have been made to move them from their accustomed place. In most cases, it is claimed that the owner had left specific instructions about his burial and then “objected” when his or her wishes were not carried out. The most famous “Screaming Skull” resides at Bettiscomb Manor in Dorset and is said to be that of a Negro slave who promised to haunt the house if his body was not returned to the West Indies. When his master took no notice, it seems, the haunted skull extracted its own revenge by defying any attempts to move it with such alarming noises that it has never been moved again.

  SHEN (Chinese)

  The Shen are the ancestral ghosts of the Chinese and are regarded with great respect and honoured with annual feasts. There are more than twenty different types divided into two categories of which the Shen (sometimes Shin) are one; the others being the Kuei (see here) who are associated with darkness, bad luck and death. For centuries the Chinese have been making contact with the Shen for prophecies about their future using the art of divination and a v-shaped “speaking” twig. A crayon is fixed in the point of the vee at right angles so that it is vertical and when placed on a piece of paper will write out the letters of a message – as long as the holder is “sensitive” to the Shen.

  SHOJO (Japanese)

  The Shojo are Japanese sea ghosts. Although they are said to be the spirits of dead sailors, they live under the surface of the ocean and are recognizable by their vivid red hair. According to tradition they intend no harm to the living and devote their time to drinking and making merry. Old tales claim that the Shojo particularly like saki and the way to catch one is to lure it on land with a bowl of the drink.

  SILKY (Scottish)

  The Silky is reputed to be one of the most attractive ghosts in the world. Found predominantly in the Border Counties, the spirit is female in appearance and has been named after the rustling clothes that it wears. According to tradition, these ghosts have always been welcome in Scottish homes because they are keen to carry out domestic chores and will hassle any lazy servant or person who does not do their share of work. The most famous Silky is said to haunt an area of North Shields and is believed to have been the ghost of a mistress of the Duke of Argyll who was murdered by a jealous lover at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

  SPECTRE (European)

  The Spectre is not just another word for a ghost, but the term now generally applied to a haunting for which there is an explanation or one proved to be deliberately fraudulent. In Victorian England, for example, there were numerous instances during the infancy of photography when apparent “spectres” were caught on camera but later proved to have been added during the development of the photographer’s glass plates. Probably the most famous explanation for one of these phenomena occurred in Germany with “The Spectre of the Brocken” in the Harz Mountains, which had been regarded for centuries as a meeting place for witches and demons. Finally, in 1818, after terrifying generations of travellers, the towering figure looming overhead was proved to be a trick of the light caused by the setting sun reflecting on mist swirling around the 3,300-ft high mountain.

  SPOOK (American)

  Spooks are the traditional ghosts of the American Indians and are believed to have the power of taking control of the body of a living person. It is believed they can haunt a person without them being aware of the fact – absorbing themselves into the body unnoticed – although their intentions are said to be helpful rather than intended to cause harm. In several of the Eastern States of America, there are stories of people who believed their lives were heading for failure until a Spook took them over. The term is, of course, now also familiar referring to those who work for government surveillance agencies.

  SPUNKIE (British)

  The Spunkie is found in England and Scotland, often in the countryside and occasionally just off the coast. They are particularly sad ghosts being the spirits of unbaptized children who have died in infancy. According to tradition they can be seen in isolated lanes “looking for someone to give them a name” or appearing to the crews of coastal vessels where their plaintive cries can be very unsettling. In Scotland it is believed that Spunkies sometimes gather together to avoid loneliness, while in England they often foregather at Halloween. It is generally thought that the sad little spirits are doomed to wander “until Judgment Day”.

  SUCCUBUS (European)

  These are beautiful, beguiling and apparently scantily dressed young female phantoms that come by night to seduce impressionable young men and turn them onto evil ways. Recorded since the days of medieval European folklore, the Succubus is the female equivalent of the Incubus (see here) who fixes his attentions on young girls. In some traditions the spirits are said to be androgynous, changing their sex at will to suit their intended victims.

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  TANWEDD (Welsh)

  Another of the category of ghosts seen in the shape of a small spherical light that hovers over a house as an omen. The Tanwedd has been reported for centuries throughout the nation and it is believed that if on
e remains stationary over the building then a member of the family will shortly meet with an accident. More ominous still, if one of these lights descends onto the house then a death can be expected within the week.

  TASH (Irish)

  These curious little Irish ghosts can appear either as human beings or animals. Referred to as a Tash or Thevshi, the phantoms are believed to be the spirits of people who died violent deaths – either having been murdered or committed suicide. They are said to be anxious to bring to the attention of those who live in the same vicinity the folly of their actions. In some Irish country districts it is still held to be foolish to mourn too long for anyone “or else they will be kept from their rest and return as a Tash”.

  TOH (Borneo)

  The headhunters of Borneo long believed that the heads of their victims contained the Toh or ghost of the person they had killed. They believed it had magical qualities and would place it in a position of honour so that the phantom could circulate and bring prosperity to the community. The Toh was widely regarded as a good luck symbol and to lose a head won in battle could well bring misfortune to the owner, his family and the whole tribe.