With the rise of the Enlightenment in the 18th century, many people in Great Britain grew skeptical of the supernatural. The authorities stopped taking superstition seriously, and the Witchcraft Act of 1735 actually punished people for accusing others of witchcraft. Still, we have plenty of supernatural accounts from that time, most of which, no matter how bizarre or ridiculous the story, stressed the reliability of their witnesses. This list of 10 weird supernatural tales showcases the oddest reports that survived the age of reason.
10 Weird Supernatural Stories That Still Haunt History
10 The Phantom Bird Of West Drayton
Around 1749, the villagers of West Drayton, England, kept hearing startled shrieks and a persistent knocking echoing from the local church. No one could pinpoint the exact source, but sightings of a strange raven swooping through the church and its crypt became common.
A quartet of men and two boys finally cornered the bird in the chancel. After a few whacks with a stick, the raven dropped to the floor with a scream, only to vanish from their sight the instant its body hit the ground. The avian phantom continued to appear in its usual haunts afterward.
Locals eventually claimed the bird was the restless spirit of a murderer who had taken his own life. Because such a soul would have been denied a proper burial, his family reportedly secured him a plot in the churchyard, allowing his ghost to linger.
9 The Ghost Who Saved John Thomas
On December 21, 1783, 62‑year‑old John Thomas, a known drunk, stumbled home in the dark and fell into a deep pit. When his friends realized he was missing, they searched but found no trace, leaving Thomas trapped for a week.
One day, a neighbor looking for his sheep spotted a solitary figure perched on a bank of earth near the pit. As the neighbor approached, the man rose and slipped behind the bank, disappearing entirely when the neighbor checked the spot.
Later, the neighbor heard a voice echoing from the pit. Assuming it was a moonshiner, he ignored it, but the voice repeated on his way back, revealing itself as the missing John Thomas. Yet the ghostly helper who had apparently guided him never materialised.
8 The Changeling Of The Isle Of Man
During the 1720s on the Isle of Man, London‑born writer George Waldron discovered that locals took fairy lore seriously, fearing that sprites might steal their children. One mother confided that her infant had been swapped with a changeling.
After giving birth to her third child, the woman lay down when, suddenly, her baby floated off the bed, pulled by an unseen force. She screamed for help, but only a drowsy nurse was present, and the infant vanished.
When her husband returned, he found his wife a nervous wreck. In the bedroom they discovered a naked changeling on the bed, with the baby’s clothing draped nearby. The changeling survived only nine years, never learning to speak, stand, or even relieve itself.
7 The Lambert Family Poltergeist
In 1753, John and Ann Lambert moved their household into a new home in Winlington, England. Not long after settling, they endured relentless poltergeist harassment: knocking sounds assaulted their bedroom, and once Ann witnessed a door and its latch swing on its own. After a ghostly man startled Ann in the dead of night, the Lamberts relocated a second time.
The new residence proved no sanctuary; Ann continued to see nightly apparitions, while bizarre noises—gunshots and cannon fire—echoed through the halls. The unseen entity grew more aggressive, assaulting the Lamberts’ children while they slept. Hoping a third move would end the torment, the family pressed on.
Things escalated further: Ann was attacked by a horse‑sized monster, felt cold invisible hands brush her face, and observed a blood‑stained pewter dish moving on its own. Both John and Ann also reported sightings of Henry Cooke, the former occupant of their first new house who had died in 1752—presumed to be the vengeful spirit. What ultimately befell the Lamberts, and the true nature of their tormentor, remains lost to history.
6 The Sea Dragon Of Suffolk
In November 1749, a band of Suffolk fishermen hauled in a net brimming with mackerel—only to discover a grotesque sea monster tangled among the fish. The creature bore wings, an alligator‑like head, and hooves for feet, prompting the crew to liken it to a dragon.
After dragging the beast ashore and beating it with a boat hook, the men opened the net, and the monster launched itself 46 metres (150 ft) into the air. The first fisherman who tried to seize it suffered a fatal bite, losing several fingers in the process.
The second man fared slightly better, managing to grab the creature when it landed on his arm, only to have its crushing grip deform his hand and fingers. Though the encounter was deadly, the fishermen displayed the carcass across the country as a terrifying trophy.
5 Miss Pringle’s Doppelganger
During a summer morning in 1745, housekeeper Jane Lowe reported to her employer, Mr. Pringle, that she had seen his daughter strolling along a rivulet in Scotland’s Clifton Park. The sighting was impossible: Miss Pringle was then residing roughly 1,600 km (1,000 mi) away in France.
Lowe was adamant it was not a case of mistaken identity and urged Pringle to witness the apparition. When they approached the spot, Pringle indeed beheld his daughter, who promptly leapt into the water and vanished. The family shared the tale, but everyone else dismissed it as a prank.
Three months later, Pringle received an unexpected visit from a son he hadn’t seen in a decade. The son explained that he had been enslaved in Tunis, yet one morning he saw his sister and was subsequently ransomed. After returning to France, he discovered his sister had actually died at the exact moment she was seen both in Tunisia and Scotland.
4 John Taylor’s Vision
On the night of January 28, 1783, a wild young man named John Taylor was drinking heavily at his friend Thomas Pountney’s house in Bewdley, England. When the landlord refused him any more alcohol, Taylor erupted in fury and, as he turned to leave, collapsed.
At first, Pountney thought Taylor had died, but after laying him on a bed, the youth convulsed violently, twisting back to life. The spasms persisted for two full nights, with only brief moments of calm. When he finally regained consciousness, Taylor begged to be taken home to die.
Taylor survived the ordeal, yet he could not recall the events after his collapse. He claimed he fell into a hole and endured five or six years of torment at the hands of a demonic mob, until an angel intervened and showed him the gates of Heaven, ending his suffering.
3 The Great Giant Of Henllys
Writing in the London magazine The Athenaeum in 1847, a Welsh contributor recounted a haunting that had occurred about a century earlier. In life, the “Great Giant of Henllys” was a hulking, fearsome man who terrorised his neighbours. When he finally died, the community celebrated—only to discover his spirit was even more terrifying.
Each night, the Giant’s ghost roamed the local roads, frightening residents into staying indoors. A group of clergymen gathered one evening to perform an exorcism. As they began the rite, the Giant manifested as a screeching monster, then shapeshifted into a bull, a lion, and even a wave of water, none of which could deter the clergy.
With each transformation, the spectre weakened. When it finally became a tiny fly, the clergymen trapped it in a tobacco box and tossed the container into a lake. Legend holds that the box still rests at the lake’s bottom, a lingering reminder of the Giant’s defeat.
2 The Hinton Ampner House
For generations, the Hinton Ampner House belonged to the Stewkeley family. By the mid‑18th century, the Stewkeleys had died out, and the estate passed to the Stawells, who rented it to William Henry Ricketts. Unaware of its reputation, Ricketts moved his family in, only to discover the house was famed for hauntings.
Soon after settling, doors and windows slammed shut violently at night. Footsteps echoed through the corridors, a man in drab clothing occasionally appeared, and three disembodied voices engaged in conversation. The disturbances were so pervasive that eight servants quit in 1769 alone.
Lady Stawell offered a reward for anyone who could solve the mystery, yet no one claimed it. The house was eventually abandoned. In 1797, while demolishing the structure, workers uncovered a small skull in a box beneath the first floor. Though initially thought to be a monkey’s skull, rumors suggested it belonged to a child born of Lady Stawell’s late husband and his sister, adding a grisly twist to the tale.
1 The Ghost Of Thomas Colley
In April 1751, an elderly beggar named Ruth Osborn asked a farmer in Tring, England, for a splash of buttermilk. The farmer refused, prompting Osborn to warn, “The King will take you and your hogs for your selfishness.” Shortly after, the farmer and several of his cows fell ill.
Convinced the farmer had been cursed, local townsfolk consulted a supposed white witch. With the legal system no longer taking witchcraft seriously, the community took “justice” into their own hands. On April 18, a mob dragged Ruth and her husband John from a church where they had hidden, stripped them, wrapped them in sheets, and dunked them in a pond. Ruth drowned instantly; John survived the dunking but died a few days later.
Although 21 participants were later arrested for the lynching, only chimney‑sweeper Thomas Colley was sentenced. He was hanged in August, his corpse left to rot on the gallows. Since his execution, witnesses claim his spirit haunts the gallows site, described in 1911 by the village schoolmaster as an immense black dog with eyes like fiery balls.