While the Victorians may not have been into vampires or witches, their fascination with the eerie was undeniable. Telling ghostly yarns on a cold winter night was a beloved hobby, and the rise of Spiritualism only added fuel to the fire. In this roundup of 10 spooky supernatural legends, we’ll wander through haunted houses, phantom encounters, and bizarre apparitions that kept the era’s citizens awake at night.

10 spooky supernatural Tales That Will Give You Chills

10 The Hotwells Haunting

In April 1831 a retired solicitor, his daughter, and three servants settled into an aging mansion called Hotwells on the outskirts of Bristol. Within a fortnight two of the servants fled, swearing that a phantom black dog and a massive ape prowled the corridors, while unsettling noises echoed from the attic and courtyard, sounding like people being beaten or strangled.

The house continued to drive away staff, yet the lawyer himself experienced nothing out of the ordinary until a November night when a blood‑curdling scream jolted him awake. The shriek seemed to rise from the roof, followed by the clatter of twenty‑odd men ripping tiles off the roof and hurling them into the garden.

When he rushed outside to investigate, the garden and roof were eerily quiet. After a few more strange episodes, the lawyer sold the property in 1832. Subsequent owners reported similar disturbances, and the building was eventually demolished.

9 The Ghost Of Anne Boleyn

The Tower of London, notorious for its hauntings, is said to be the final resting ground of many restless spirits. Among them is Anne Boleyn, the ill‑fated second wife of Henry VIII, who met her end on the Tower’s scaffold in May 1535. Legends claim her apparition drifts through the Queen’s House, the very chamber where she spent her last nights before the execution.

In 1864 a guard stationed at the Queen’s House reported a sudden apparition: a floating, luminous white figure materialized before him. When the guard thrust his bayonet into the apparition, the ghost continued to hover, causing the terrified soldier to faint. He was later discovered unconscious by a superior.

The guard faced a court‑martial for neglecting his post, but the case collapsed when fellow guards corroborated his story, confirming they too had witnessed the same spectral figure.

8 The Thing In 50 Berkeley Square

On Christmas Eve 1887, two sailors, Edward Blunden and Robert Martin, decided to bunk for the night in the infamous 50 Berkeley Square, a London house reputed for its chilling paranormal activity. Penniless after a voyage from the West Indies, they broke into the vacant dwelling with little concern for the rumors.

While Martin slept upstairs, a strange, shapeless mass surged up the staircase and crashed into the room, prompting him to flee in terror down the stairs and out of the house. He ran to a nearby policeman and recounted the terrifying encounter.

Unfortunately, his friend Blunden never escaped. In a desperate bid to avoid the unseen monster, he leapt from a bedroom window, only to impale himself on a spiked railing below.

7 The Ghost Of Theodore Alois Buckley

On the chilly night of February 2, 1856, Kenneth R.H. Mackenzie was drifting off to sleep when a cold hand brushed his face. Opening his eyes, he found his friend Theodore Alois Buckley standing at his bedside. Buckley said nothing, simply walked to the window, lingered a moment, and then vanished.

Mackenzie was unaware that Buckley had died three days earlier. The two had made a pact in 1850 that whichever of them died first would return to visit the other as a specter. Buckley kept his promise, reappearing later with an old letter he had penned.

The ghostly visitation left Mackenzie shaken, but it cemented the eerie legend of Buckley’s post‑mortem promise and his uncanny ability to keep it.

6 The Luminous Chamber Of Taunton

In an 1873 edition of Notes and Queries, a contributor named T. Westwood recounted a tale he’d heard three decades earlier from a squire in Taunton. The squire, returning home from his nightly hunts, repeatedly noticed an abandoned house whose central window glowed with an eerie, steady light. He christened the illuminated space “The Luminous Chamber.”

Curiosity finally got the better of the squire and a companion, who resolved to uncover the source of the glow. After searching every room, they left the luminous one for last. Upon opening its door, they found only a few pieces of furniture, yet the light bathed the room uniformly, as if it were an intrinsic property of the space.

The caretaker later explained that the family who owned the house never used that particular room. He argued that the phenomenon was not supernatural but rather a natural luminescence inherent to the chamber.

5 The Ghosts Of Darlington Station

On a frosty night in 1890, night watchman James Durham sought warmth in the porter’s cellar of Darlington train station, lighting a fire to enjoy a snack. Suddenly, a man dressed in antiquated attire entered, accompanied by a black retriever, and without warning, the stranger punched Durham.

Durham attempted to retaliate, but his fist passed right through the apparition’s body. The phantom then called for his dog, which bit Durham’s calf before both vanished through the same doorway they had entered, despite there being no other exit.

Weeks later, an elderly gentleman named Edward Pease learned of the incident and explained that a railway worker had committed suicide years earlier, matching the description of the ghost and his black retriever, thereby providing a tragic backstory to the spectral encounter.

4 The Pig‑Faced Lady Of Manchester Square

In the winter of 1814, London buzzed with rumors of a grotesque woman bearing a pig’s face, said to reside with her family in Grosvenor Square. The tale grew wilder as crowds allegedly pursued her carriage, and Sir William Elliot claimed he’d been assaulted by the bizarre lady.

By February 1815, the story caught the eye of The Times, which published a sardonic commentary after a man placed an advertisement seeking the lady’s hand in marriage. The newspaper mocked the episode, lamenting that “Our rural friends hardly know what idiots London contains.”

3 The Ghost Of William Field

In 1804, wheelwright William Field took his own life by hanging in South Moreton. For over four decades his restless spirit haunted the vicinity of his barn, striking terror into the hearts of locals. By 1850, a cadre of eleven clergymen grew weary of the hauntings and resolved to perform an exorcism.

During the ritual, two brothers, John and James Parkes, concealed themselves beneath straw to observe. Before the ghost could be banished, it pleaded for a choice: a nearby rooster or “two mice under the straw.”

The clergy obliged, presenting the rooster, and then drove the ghost into a pond, somehow driving a stake into its ethereal form to keep it confined.

2 The Kissing Ghost Of Renishaw Hall

In 1885, Sir George Reresby Sitwell celebrated his twenty‑fifth birthday with a lavish party at his ancestral home, Renishaw Hall. One female guest, after retiring to her chambers, complained of a cold sensation kissing her skin while she lay in bed. Sir George, a noted skeptic, dismissed the claim, but his friend Mr. Turnbull took it seriously, noting that another woman who had stayed in the same room years earlier reported similar invisible kisses.

Sir George, famed for debunking séances, publicly ridiculed the phenomenon, asserting that ghosts were mere hallucinations and that a woman’s testimony was unreliable. Yet the eerie accounts persisted.

Later, an empty coffin was discovered beneath the floorboards of the allegedly haunted guestroom. The coffin’s occupant remains a mystery, though some speculate it belonged to a boy who drowned in the eighteenth century.

1 The Willington Mill Haunting

Between 1831 and 1847, businessman Joseph Procter Jr. and his family occupied Willington Mill, a mill house erected upon the site of a former witch’s cottage. The early years passed uneventfully, but by 1835 the Procters and their servants began to hear inexplicable footsteps pacing an empty room above the nursery. Soon, the house echoed with knocks, ringing bells, and disembodied voices.

No one was spared. Children’s beds not only shook but were circled by invisible footsteps each night. One girl reported seeing the severed head of an elderly woman staring at her from the bed, while another claimed a eyeless woman perched on her mother’s mattress.

The Procters’ home became a parade of apparitions: a large white cat that sauntered into a furnace, a ghost that peered at neighbors through an upper‑story window, and a dancing handkerchief‑like object that fluttered outside. These bizarre sightings were recorded by the family, their friends, and visitors alike.

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.

Great Britain has long been a playground for the paranormal, and the 17th century was especially ripe with uncanny occurrences. Here are 10 bizarre supernatural stories that emerged from the islands during that era, each more astonishing than the last.

10. The Ghost Of Dunty Porteous

Sometime in the late 1600s, a miller called Dunty Porteous found himself locked away in Sir Alexander Jardine’s tower in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on suspicion of arson. One day Jardine had to dash to Edinburgh on urgent business and completely forgot his prisoner.

When Jardine finally returned, he discovered Porteous had starved to death in his cell. The dead miller’s spirit erupted from the walls, screaming about his endless hunger. To end the nightly torment, Jardine summoned an exorcist; the rite succeeded, imprisoning the ghost in the dungeon—but only while a particular Bible remained on the premises.

Eventually that Bible fell to pieces and was sent to Edinburgh for rebinding. With the holy book gone, the spirit broke free, prowling the Jardine family’s new home and attacking them in their sleep. As soon as the original Bible was restored to the tower, the haunting ceased.

9. The Coffin Of Robert Baty

Robert Baty, a young Englishman, was adamant that he be laid to rest in his ancestors’ vault at the church of Arthuret. On 12 August 1680, at just 23 years old, he drowned by accident and was instead interred in the ordinary churchyard.

The night after his funeral, Robert appeared in a vivid dream to his sister Mary, furious that his burial site was wrong and vowing to haunt those responsible until he was moved to the family vault. The following morning his coffin was discovered dug up outside his grave, though his body remained untouched and the casket was perfectly preserved.

After the coffin mysteriously resurfaced twice more, Mary finally relayed the dream to the family. At last the corpse was transferred to the intended vault, where it stayed undisturbed for good.

8. The Powers Of Dr. John Lambe

Known infamously as “the Duke’s Devil,” Dr. John Lambe was a dubious magician who served as adviser to George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. Lambe’s shady reputation earned him a pardon for the rape of a little girl, and he met a violent end at the hands of a mob a few months before his patron was assassinated.

One of his most talked‑about tricks involved two guests, Barbor and Sands, who were invited to drink at his home. While they chatted about sorcery, Lambe conjured a tree out of thin air, then summoned three tiny men with axes to fell it. After the dwarfs chopped it down and carried the timber away, Barbor secretly pocketed a stray chip.

That night, every door and window in Barbor’s house slammed open and shut on its own. He confessed to his wife about the stolen chip, and after she forced him to toss it outside, the house finally fell silent.

7. The Ghost Of Dorothy Durant

In 1665, a bright 16‑year‑old schoolboy named Bligh became suddenly withdrawn and depressed. He confided to his brother that a specter was haunting him, and twice each day while walking to and from school through a field in Launceston, the ghost of a late neighbour, Dorothy Durant, would silently trail him.

Bligh’s family scoffed at his tale, but his headmaster, Mr Ruddle, gave the boy a hearing. The next morning, walking together through the field, Ruddle saw Durant glide past them. He would encounter her several more times thereafter.

One late July morning, Ruddle tried to converse with the apparition. Though her voice was faint and her words garbled, they managed a fifteen‑minute dialogue. That evening Durant’s ghost met Ruddle on his way home, exchanged a few words, and vanished forever.

6. The Merideth Children

In January 1675, the four Merideth children of Bristol fell into violent convulsions. Initially they complained of sharp pains in their heads and sides, then their limbs began to twitch, and the siblings would burst into simultaneous laughter or tears for an hour at a time.

Witnesses claimed the youngsters could crawl across the floor like cats, and one observer swore they perched on ceilings and walls as if they were spiders. One daughter asserted she could foresee the future, while another habitually vomited tiny pins. Strangely, the fits only occurred during daylight; at night the children slept peacefully.

No physician could explain the phenomenon. Ministers prayed over the family daily, and the fits persisted for months. By May the episodes inexplicably ceased, and the children returned to normal health.

5. Ann Jefferies And Her Fairies

In 1645, Ann Jefferies, a 19‑year‑old servant for the Pitt family in Cornwall, claimed to have seen six tiny fairies dancing in her master’s garden. The sight terrified her so profoundly that she collapsed on the spot.

For months she suffered debilitating fits and became too weak to stand. During this period she developed a reputation as a healer, saying the invisible fairies constantly accompanied her, feeding her with mysterious “fairy food” that granted her extraordinary powers.

Her growing fame attracted the attention of local magistrates and clergymen, who accused the fairies of being demonic. Jefferies was briefly imprisoned, but eventually released, married, and lived to an old age.

4. The Poltergeist Of Isabel Heriot

Isabel Heriot served as a domestic worker for a minister in Ormiston, Scotland, until the minister dismissed her for showing little interest in religion. In the winter of 1680 she fell ill and died, after which her ghost began appearing near the minister’s residence.

A few nights later, stones began hurling themselves at the house from nowhere, a barrage that continued for eight or nine weeks, sometimes striking the minister’s servants. Objects shifted mysteriously, and strange noises echoed through the rooms.

When the poltergeist activity finally ended, a witness—who had seen the apparition earlier—spotted Heriot gathering stones in the minister’s yard. Before fleeing in terror, the spirit declared the Devil wanted her to destroy her former master.

3. The Doppelganger Of Mary Goffe

On 3 June 1691, Mary Goffe lay on her deathbed at her father’s home in West Malling, England. She begged her husband for a horse so she could reach her children, who were nine miles away in Rochester, but she was too weak to leave the bed.

At 1 a.m. her breathing halted, yet she entered a trance‑like state. Simultaneously, in Rochester, the children’s nurse was startled to see Mary appear in the older daughter’s bedroom. For fifteen minutes Mary stood silently beside the nurse, while the younger daughter slept.

When the clock struck two, Mary left the Rochester house, returned to West Malling, and emerged from her trance. Before dying that day, she told her mother she had visited her children in sleep. The nurse reported the incident to neighbours, who corroborated the story.

2. The Demon Of Spreyton

In November 1682, a servant named Francis Fey encountered the ghost of his master’s deceased father in a field near Spreyton, England. The apparition asked Fey to settle an unfinished matter concerning the will, which he dutifully completed before heading home the next day.

On his return to Spreyton, Fey faced another spectre: the ghost of his master’s dead stepmother, later dubbed “the Demon of Spreyton.” She knocked him off his horse and seemed intent on making his life a living nightmare.

Her torments ranged from strangling him with his own handkerchiefs to ripping his wigs, flinging him into the air, animating his shoelaces, and even sending a bird wielding a stone to batter his head.

1. The Ghost Of Anne Walker

William Walker, a wealthy widower residing in Lumley, England, employed a relative named Anne as his housekeeper. Their closeness sparked gossip, and when Anne became pregnant, villagers whispered about the possible father.

In March 1632, William sent Anne away to let the scandal fade, first placing her with an aunt and then supposedly moving her to Durham. Two weeks later, a miller named James Graham in Lumley encountered a drenched, blood‑covered woman who claimed to be Anne and that she was dead.

Anne explained that William had hired a man named Mark Sharp to murder her with a pickaxe and dump her corpse in a coal‑mine pool. She begged Graham to inform the authorities. Though hesitant at first, Graham finally reported the murder after Anne reappeared, swearing to haunt him forever.

The authorities searched the mine, found Anne’s body exactly where she said, and arrested both Sharp and Walker. Sharp confessed, and both men were hanged in November.

The 10 times Nazis tried to enlist the aid of the unseen are a wild mix of mysticism, desperate prophecy and outright lunacy. From crystal‑ball sessions to ice‑world fantasies, the Third Reich’s leadership believed that tapping into supernatural forces could tip the balance of World War II in their favor.

10 Hitler Hired A Jewish Clairvoyant To Tell Him The Future

In the chilly winter of January 1933, just before his appointment as Germany’s chancellor, Adolf Hitler walked into the consulting room of Erik Jan Hanussen, a celebrated clairvoyant, and demanded a glimpse of his destiny.

Hanussen had already snagged Hitler’s attention a year earlier when he published a bold article predicting that the future chancellor would rise in 1933. Convinced that the seer could see beyond ordinary eyes, Hitler arranged a private session – and, according to Hanussen’s own memoirs, the dictator returned for dozens of clandestine meetings.

During one of those séances, Hanussen warned Hitler of a promising surge ahead, yet cautioned that a hidden obstacle would threaten his ascent. To neutralise this danger, Hanussen claimed he could cast a protective spell involving a mandrake root harvested from a butcher’s yard and buried beneath the full‑moon‑lit sky of Hitler’s birthplace.

Unaware that Hanussen was, in fact, Jewish, Hitler remained oblivious to the irony. Hanussen, however, recognised the regime’s anti‑Jewish fervour and tried to disarm it with charm, insisting, “Hitler merely needs a friend to discover that good people exist everywhere.”

Whether the mystic truly foresaw the future or merely spun an elaborate tale, the episode remains a striking example of Nazi fascination with the occult.

9 Hitler Hired A Man To Magically Detect Jews

Almost immediately after the Great War, Adolf Hitler forged a friendship with Wilhelm Gutberlet, a seemingly ordinary physician by day and a self‑styled “Jew‑detector” by night.

Gutberlet boasted, and was quoted by a Nazi official, that he possessed “the power to sense at once the presence of any Jews.” His method? A swinging pendulum that, he claimed, pointed toward anyone of Jewish heritage the moment it was released.

Beyond his uncanny claims, Gutberlet held a pivotal role in the early Nazi movement, serving as a key propagandist before Joseph Goebbels took the reins. He and Hitler bonded over shared anti‑Semitic zeal, and Hitler soon began to lean on Gutberlet’s alleged psychic ability to locate Jews throughout the Reich.

Walter Schellenberg, head of foreign intelligence, later testified that Hitler “availed himself of Gutberlet’s mystic power.” According to those records, the pendulum‑spinning sessions continued well into the final days of the war.

8 The Nazis And The British Fought An Astrological War

A few days before a failed assassination attempt at the Munich Beer Hall, a Swiss astrologer named Karl Ernst Krafft warned Adolf Hitler that danger loomed between November 8 and November 10, 1939.

Krafft dispatched a letter to his confidant Dr. Heinrich Fesel, who worked for Heinrich Himmler, detailing the impending peril and urging the Führer to cancel all public appearances during that window.

Initially, Fesel kept the warning to himself, but when the bomb exploded, he rushed to inform Himmler, who took the threat seriously enough to bring Krafft into the Nazi fold.

While Krafft’s actual influence on Nazi strategy was limited, he did produce a report for Joseph Goebbels that cherry‑picked Nostradamus’s verses to portray Hitler as a destined victor. The British, catching wind of Krafft’s activities, hired their own astrologer to counter his predictions, sparking a modest “fortune‑telling” arms race between the two great powers.

7 Dietrich Eckart Prophesized That Hitler Was The German Messiah

Dietrich Eckart, a prominent member of the occult‑obsessed Thule Society, was more than a mentor to Adolf Hitler; he was a fervent believer that the Führer embodied a divine, messianic role for Germany.

Eckart preached that an Aryan messiah would arise to lead the nation to a promised land, and he was convinced that Hitler fit this prophecy perfectly.

According to Eckart, the Jews would unleash chaos, only to be met with a crushing retribution once the German messiah seized power. Though Hitler never publicly endorsed Eckart’s eschatology, the latter claimed the dictator’s later actions suggested a “messiah complex” gone awry.

Eckart’s own reflections grew increasingly alarmed as the war progressed, noting that “the way Adolf is carrying on now goes beyond me. The man is plain crazy.” Whether this was genuine concern or hindsight dramatization remains debated.

6 The Nazis Pushed A Creation Theory That Came In A Dream

The Nazi Party embraced a cosmological model known as the World Ice Theory, championed by Hanns Hor­biger, who claimed the universe began with two colliding stars that flung massive ice blocks outward.

Hor­biger’s conviction stemmed from a vivid dream after observing the Moon’s icy appearance; he awoke convinced that Newton’s gravity was wrong and that the cosmos was a frozen expanse.

The regime promoted this theory not for scientific merit but as a weapon against what they termed “Jewish science.” By declaring a creation story that directly contradicted mainstream physics, they hoped to undermine the credibility of Jewish scholars.

Heinrich Himmler dispatched archaeologists worldwide to locate evidence supporting a primordial ice block, while Hitler even commissioned a planetarium dedicated to teaching the World Ice Theory, turning a private vision into a state‑sponsored cosmology.

5 The SP Project Used Magic Pendulums To Find Warships

A secret Berlin office marked only with the letters “SP” – an abbreviation for “Sidereal Pendulum” – housed a team of Nazi psychics tasked with locating Allied warships using enchanted pendulums.

The project was launched after intelligence reports suggested the British already employed a similar psychic unit to spy on German vessels. In reality, the British were simply cracking Enigma, but the Nazis, convinced of a psychic threat, scrambled to develop their own clairvoyant squad.

The most celebrated success came when Ludwig Staniak swung his pendulum over a map and correctly identified the position of a downed German battleship – a remarkable coincidence that spurred the regime to expand the program despite its dubious foundations.

From that point forward, a small cadre of pendulum‑wielders spent their days hovering over charts, hoping to divine the whereabouts of enemy submarines and surface ships, a venture that ultimately proved more eccentric than effective.

4 Heinrich Himmler Thought He Could Tell The Future

Wilhelm Wulff, who served as Heinrich Himmler’s personal astrologer, recounted that the SS chief believed he could forecast events without external counsel, consulting the stars and moon phases before every major decision.

Himmler allegedly asserted that each strategic command he issued was guided by “certain, little‑known moon constellations,” a claim that Wulff documented in his memoirs.

Ironically, despite his personal reliance on astrology, Himmler later outlawed the practice across Germany, not because he deemed it frivolous, but because he feared its power could rival his own occult authority.

3 An SS Brigadefuhrer Convinced Himmler That Jesus Was German

SS Brigadeführer Karl Wiligut harboured an outlandish belief system that placed the origins of Germanic culture at 228,000 BC, a time when three suns shone in the sky and giants roamed the earth. Among his most controversial claims was that Jesus himself was German, bearing the name “Krist.”

Wiligut professed a divine lineage, asserting he descended from an ancient German god‑king, a claim that many dismissed as madness. Yet Heinrich Himmler found his ideas compelling enough to enlist Wiligut for a mystical architectural project.

Wiligut’s influence helped Himmler select the site for Wewelsburg Castle, envisioned as a Nazi reinterpretation of Camelot, and reinforced the regime’s mythic self‑image.

2 Rudolf Hess Betrayed Hitler Because Six Planets Were In Taurus

On May 10, 1941, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess embarked on a solo flight to Scotland, hoping to negotiate peace with the British. The motivation behind this daring sortie lay not in politics but in astrology.

Hess’s confidant, Karl Haushofer, recounted a dream in which Hess marched through English castles, heralding peace between the two nations. Consulting his personal astrologer, Hess learned that six planets would align in Taurus and that a full moon on that very day signaled an auspicious moment for his mission.

The plan backfired spectacularly: Hess was captured by the Home Guard and spent the remainder of the war in imprisonment, prompting Hitler to ban astrologers, faith healers, and occult practitioners across the Reich.

1 The Nazis Hired A Psychic To Find Mussolini

Even after Hitler formally prohibited supernatural consultants, Heinrich Himmler persisted in employing them, convinced of their efficacy. When Benito Mussolini was captured, Himmler turned to his imprisoned occultists, promising freedom in exchange for locating the Italian dictator.

One psychic claimed to have pinpointed Mussolini’s hideout on an island west of Naples by swinging a pendulum over a map. Though German intelligence ultimately found Mussolini through intercepted radio traffic, the psychic’s accurate guess did not go unnoticed by Himmler.

Secretly, Himmler maintained a payroll for psychics, clinging to the belief that a covert team of mystics could ultimately secure victory for the Nazi war effort.

These ten episodes illustrate how the Nazi regime, desperate for any edge, turned to the uncanny and the arcane, weaving superstition into the very fabric of its war strategy.

If you’re hunting for the 10 best supernatural moments captured on camera, you’ve just landed in the right place. From ghost hunters chatting with restless spirits to shadowy silhouettes lurking in abandoned corridors, the internet is brimming with real‑life paranormal footage that will make you double‑check that night‑light. Below, we count down the most chilling clips, each backed by eerie images and videos that prove some things are better left unexplained.

10 Best Supernatural Highlights

10 Rolling Inside the Plattsmouth Museum of Shadows

In the tiny town of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, the Museum of Shadows earned its eerie moniker when a late‑night security clip revealed a phenomenon that set the whole community buzzing. Though the museum already boasts a reputation for strange happenings, the footage uncovered by staff was truly bone‑chilling.

Owner Nate Raterman recounts that the incident unfolded on Friday, February 2, 2018, in the pre‑dawn hours. The grainy video shows a lone ball being tossed and rolled across the floor—yet no human hand is ever visible. The ball is mysteriously lifted by an unseen force, flung across the room, and then settles in the centre of the floor.

Raterman describes the ball as a classic “trigger object,” a plaything for the otherworldly, and he suspects the spirit behind it might be a child. Built in 1881, the building originally housed a saloon with an upstairs brothel, a hotspot for violent deaths and murders. Whether the structure itself draws malevolent energies or the thousands of artifacts within its walls act as conduits, the Museum of Shadows remains a hotspot for paranormal intrigue.

9 Odd Creature Captured by Security Camera Confounds Viewers

This baffling clip, posted by Vivian Gomez on Facebook, quickly went viral for its sheer oddness. The black‑and‑white footage shows a short, bony figure with wobbly legs, darting across the driveway in a manner that reminded many viewers of the “chicken dance.” The creature looks like a hybrid of a rabbit, an elephant, and an alien—reminiscent of Dobby from the Harry Potter series.

Gomez awoke on a Sunday morning and reviewed the night‑time feed, first noticing a shadow that drifted across the front‑door camera. Moments later, the uncanny figure appeared, hopping along with an almost joyful swagger. Strangely, two other cameras on the property captured nothing, and Gomez swears the video is untouched by any editing software.

Fans have debated the authenticity of the footage, but the sheer strangeness of the creature—its elongated limbs, peculiar gait, and the eerie silence of the night—keeps the discussion alive, cementing this clip as one of the most puzzling paranormal videos on the web.

8 Mystery Ghost Seen Lurking at a School Where Six People Died

Ghost hunters worldwide were spooked by footage from a high school in Pocatello, Idaho, where a tragic fire claimed six lives—including a young boy who drowned in the on‑site pool. CCTV cameras captured a spectral figure drifting through empty hallways during the Christmas break.

The school, once ravaged by flames, has long been a hotbed for strange noises, fleeting whispers, and an ominous shadow that lingers over the auditorium ceiling. In the unsettling clip, lights flicker on and off before a dark silhouette glides down a corridor and slips into a classroom, leaving viewers with a lingering sense of dread.

Students and staff have reported cold spots and unexplained whispers, reinforcing the belief that the tragedy has left an indelible mark on the building’s very walls.

7 Ghost Opens Transport Van Doors at Bloody Civil War Battle Site

On the night of Tuesday, September 25, 2018, security cameras at the Putnam County Aging Agency in St. Albans, West Virginia, captured a chilling event. At approximately 1:15 am, a transport van parked on the agency’s grounds was seen with its doors slowly sliding open—yet no figure was present inside or outside the vehicle.

Jenni Sutherland, the program’s executive director, discovered the van with its doors ajar the next morning and immediately reviewed the footage. The video shows an invisible force pushing the doors open, the vehicle shuddering as an internal latch is released, and the doors remaining wide open until daylight.

The agency sits on the historic Battle of Scary site, where 19 Civil‑War soldiers perished. The van’s supernatural disturbance adds another layer of eerie history to a location already steeped in blood‑shed and lingering spirits.

6 Mischievous Ghost Causes Havoc in Old High School

In October 2015, Deerpark CBS—a secondary school in Cork, Ireland—captured a mischievous spirit on CCTV. Founded in 1821, the school is the oldest in Cork and has a long history of unexplained activity. The footage shows a deserted corridor where lights flash, a thunderous crash erupts, and heavy lockers begin to rock violently.

One locker door is flung open with force, scattering papers and books across the floor. As the video concludes, a “Wet Floor” sign is knocked over and slides dramatically, as if kicked by an unseen hand. Principal Aaron Wolfe noted that the corridor, located just outside the religion room, often feels an intense chill, especially among female staff members.

While some suspect a prank, the sheer intensity of the physical disturbances—flashing lights, crashing sounds, and moving objects—suggests a more malevolent presence haunting the historic halls.

5 Man Flees Home after Terrifying Face Appears in Photo

After snapping what he believed to be a phantom in his kitchen, a terrified man fled his home, sharing the unsettling image on Reddit. He was alone when he heard shuffling footsteps and the rustle of clothing through a slightly ajar kitchen door.

Quickly grabbing his phone, he photographed the doorway and saw a faint, white face with dark, hollow eyes staring directly at him. The image was so horrifying that the man decided to abandon his residence in search of a safer place to live.

The chilling photograph, now circulating online, has sparked countless debates about the nature of the apparition and the psychological impact of confronting such an unmistakable spectral presence.

4 Ghostly Figure Haunts an Abandoned Mental Asylum

Paranormal investigator Kayleigh Love struck gold when she recorded a fleeting silhouette at a derelict Welsh mental health facility. While aiming her camera at an empty corridor, she captured a brief outline of what appeared to be a human figure, which vanished before she could get a second shot.

Reviewing the footage later, Love slowed the video and saw a faint, female‑like apparition hovering in the corridor. The image sent a chill down her spine, despite her extensive experience with supernatural investigations.

The facility, likely the Mid‑Wales Hospital psychiatric institution in Talgarth, Powys, opened in 1903 and closed in 1999. Love believes the spirit may belong to a former patient who met a tragic end within those very walls, forever lingering in the silent hallways.

3 Strange Footage from Iowa Restaurant Hints at Supernatural Activity

Chuck & Edna’s Maid‑Rite restaurant in Iowa has become a hotbed for debate after security footage captured seemingly paranormal events. While some dismissed the clips as bugs crawling across lenses, others point to a series of unexplained incidents.

The first video shows a ghostly shadow drifting slowly toward a kitchen sink before dissolving. A week later, another clip recorded a worker being struck by cups that slid off a shelf on their own, followed by a second stack of cups tumbling sideways without any visible cause.

Restaurant manager Pat Orr insists that staff have reported multiple strange occurrences since the establishment opened, fueling speculation that the eatery might be home to unseen residents.

2 The Wailing Ghost of La Llorona Terrifies Residents in Colombia

A viral video captured a haunting figure perched in treetops during bright daylight, sending shivers down viewers’ spines. Residents of Monitors, Córdoba, Colombia, reported being so frightened they slept with their mothers after witnessing the apparition.

According to legend, La Llorona was a mother who drowned her own sons in a river before taking her own life. Cursed to wander the earth, she is said to wail loudly, seeking the souls of her children and abducting other youngsters to drown them, hoping to finally find peace.

The eerie footage, showing the ghost’s mournful silhouette swaying among the branches, has reignited discussions about the power of folklore and its lingering grip on modern communities.

1 Pensacola Paranormal Investigators Get What They Bargained For

The A‑Team, a group of seasoned paranormal investigators operating across central Florida and South Carolina, recently tackled one of their most active sites: a historic home on Pensacola’s East Hill. Founder Jill Miller explains that traumatic events tend to anchor spirits, making them linger long after the physical world forgets.

Using a cutting‑edge thermal infrared Strained Layer Super‑Lattice (SLS) camera, the team captured a dark, shadowy figure crossing the right‑hand corner of the frame. When slowed down, the silhouette clearly drifts above Miller’s left shoulder, confirming the presence of a malevolent entity.

This compelling footage solidifies the home’s reputation as a hotspot for supernatural activity, offering both investigators and viewers a chilling glimpse into the unseen realm.

Do You See It Too?

While some images and videos may be fabricated through clever editing or camera tricks, many recordings of genuine paranormal events defy explanation. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, the unsettling feeling that washes over you when you watch these clips is undeniable.

These captured moments, ranging from flickering lights to full‑bodied apparitions, remind us that the world may hold mysteries beyond the reach of modern science. So keep your eyes peeled, your cameras ready, and perhaps, just perhaps, you’ll catch something that makes you question reality.

Certain periods of history are known to have a particular aesthetic, and perhaps no period of history brings to mind very specific aspects like the wild, wild west. What would later become the western half of the United States of America possessed a dramatic, dynamic history during the 19th century. Gold rushes, railroads, the plights of Indigenous tribes, and, of course, cowboys and outlaws are probably the first things that come to mind when one thinks of the early American frontier. And many legends, such as Jesse James or Buffalo Bill, are still remembered to this day.

Some legends, however, skew a bit more supernatural than just some town that happens to not be big enough for both a sheriff and an outlaw. The wild west is as beautiful as it is isolated and has a rich history, stretching far before European colonists even reached the eastern part of the continent. This list details ten yeehaw-nting legends from the lawless lands out west.

10 The Haunted Bullock Hotel

The HBO wild west show Deadwood was indeed based on a real-life South Dakota Gold Rush town by the same name. In fact, the main character and store owner-turned-sheriff, Seth Bullock, was just as real. And according to legend, he still keeps tabs on the town of Deadwood from beyond the grave.

The Bullock Hotel was built in the last decade of the 1800s and is the location where the spirit of Bullock apparently keeps tabs on his property. The ex-sheriff, however, isn’t a malicious spirit, often only engaging in prankster poltergeist activity, such as moving chairs, slamming doors shut, and knocking objects over. It is claimed that the spirit even aided a lost young boy find his way back to his parent’s room. When the parents asked the child who helped him find his way, he simply pointed at a portrait of Seth Bullock.^[1]

9 The Platte River Death Ship

When haunted ships sailing the seas seem like an overrated concept, look no further than the land-locked state of Wyoming, where, against all odds, a haunted sailing ship is said to sail. Worry not, though; Wyoming’s “Death Ship” does stick to a body of water. It sails the Platte River, specifically, instead of somehow drifting through the deserts or plains.

The Platte River Death ship is said to appear to one person every 25 years, though it does far more than simply sail silently on a river. According to legend, witnesses unlucky enough to spot the vessel materializing out of the fog also see the illusory corpse of someone they know among the spectral sailors. Shortly after, the person witnessed is said to then die in the real world. This is what occurred with the Death Ship’s first witness in 1862; trapper Leon Webber, who saw his fiancée on the haunted frigate. The woman was said to have died the exact same day of Webber’s sighting.^[2]

8 The Ghost Town of Garnet

Just because someplace is called a “ghost town” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily home to any ghosts. Some places simply become abandoned and are left to the elements. The ghost town known as Garnet, however, is an exception to the rule. Located on the western side of Montana, this still-standing ex-boomtown has multiple buildings that allegedly house restless spirits.

Kelly’s Saloon, for example, is probably the most notorious, where one can hear the raucous sounds of music and laughter without a single living person on the premises. The Wells Hotel is also plagued by strange, incorporeal footsteps, doors slamming, and more strange laughter. The town grew in popularity in 1865 when gold was found at nearby First Chance Gulch, though when the gold dried up in 1905, less than a hundred people remained until, eventually, there was no one. ^[3]

7 The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass

From the supposed spectral funeral train of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois to the equally haunted illusory locomotive in Louisiana, ghost trains are a staple in American folklore. And the wild west, being particularly affected by the invention of the steam train, is no stranger to such stories. One of the most infamous ghost trains of the frontier was once sighted in the area of Marshall Pass in Colorado in the 1880s, a route that connected Denver to Santa Fe.

Engineer Nelson Edwards was steering his locomotive along the icy Colorado tracks when suddenly, he heard and saw what sounded like a train right behind his own; a train that wouldn’t decelerate and would soon crash. A warning light showed, telling Edwards it was required that he brake, and he bit the bullet and pulled the lever. Mysteriously, no train collided with his own, and Edwards’s locomotive was safe. However, after receiving a mysterious note detailing the accounts of a crashed train years prior, Nelson Edwards immediately retired the next day.^[4]

6 The Bandit Ghoul of Six Mile Canyon

With such a colorful name, one would expect this Nevada specter to also have a colorful history. Big Jack Davis was an accomplished train and stagecoach robber in the 1860s. However, one unsuccessful robbery would end with the outlaw getting shot in the back and killed, though his unclaimed fortune in the Nevada wilderness would grow a reputation that exceeded Davis’s while alive.

However, where normal spirits of the deceased manifest as ghosts, Big Jack Davis would allegedly change into something more. Described as a “shrieking white demon,” it is said that the outlaw grew wings from the bullet holes in his back, and according to legend, he would chase away anyone who dared search for his hoard.^[5]

5 The Headless Valley

When one thinks of the wild west, it is most often the wild southwest that features in most western movies, but the western half of Canada is also filled with a rich history and stunning landscape. Also, if the legends are to be believed, it was a particularly haunting location, where many prospectors hoping to strike it rich in the 19th and 20th-century Yukon Gold Rush would meet a grisly fate.

From supposed cannibal giants to cryptid dire wolves to a dozen actual, documented disappearances and mysterious murders, the Nahanni River Valley in the Northwest Territories of Canada is an enormous hodgepodge of paranormal activity. Although, the largest swath of mysterious circumstances occurred at the height of the Yukon Gold Rush in the late 19th century. Perhaps the most notable case, however, is the deaths of prospecting brothers Willy and Frank McLeod, whose bodies were found to be decapitated after allegedly finding a rich prospect.^[6]

4 Texas’s Headless Horseman

Keeping with the decapitation theme, this next headless legend is found toward the southernmost end of the western frontier this time. In southern Texas, near the border with Mexico, is where the tale of El Muerto runs wild. Though the translation from Spanish to English is a bit on the nose, simply meaning “The Dead,” El Muerto is nonetheless a horrifying spirit to cross paths with.

In 1850, a horse thief who went by the name Vidal stole prized mustangs from Texas Rangers Creed Taylor and William Alexander Anderson Wallace. When they tracked the bandit down, the rangers decided to leave behind a grisly warning to other would-be horse thieves. They decapitated the man and strapped his body to his horse to ride off into the sunset. Vidal’s body, though, would allegedly escape decomposition. For the next few decades, unfortunate frontier folk would spot the ominous headless horseman of Texas riding in the wilderness, giving him the name “El Muerto.”^[7]

3 Ghosts of Tombstone

The aptly named Tombstone in Arizona is the site of many gruesome deeds, though perhaps the most memorable is the accidental death of Fred White by “Curly” Bill Brocius in 1880. Though a mistake, White was, indeed, the marshall of the town, and Brocious toed the line of an outlaw by belonging to the notorious Clanton Gang.

Though less flashy than a classic cowboy quickdraw, it is said that the marshall’s black-coated specter is still seen in the streets of Tombstone, which has survived to this day as a tourist attraction. His ghost isn’t alone, however, as the spirit of a woman in a white dress is also often seen, in addition to the ghosts of victims of the Bisbee Massacre, the result of a failed stick-up. Though often embellished, Tombstone’s sordid history is rife with outlaw gang violence and crime, so a well-established history of hauntings isn’t too out of place.^[8]

2 Skinwalker Ranch

Some legends are the sort that are fun to tell around a campfire, and some legends are a heavily believed subject, even to this day, and the mere mention of them in passing is a taboo subject. The Navajo tales of the shape-shifting witch known as the Skinwalker are such a legend, and even talking about it, let alone taking it lightly, is extremely looked down upon.

One alleged hotbed of paranormal activity can be found in Uintah County, Utah, which was colloquially dubbed “Skinwalker Ranch” after Terry and Gwen Sherman bought the property in 1994. The Sherman family supposedly played witness to a rash of cattle mutilations, massive, magically bulletproof wolves, and even UFOs and poltergeist activity until they sold the property two years later. Though the legend of the ranch itself is more modern, the eponymous monster therein has apparently been spotted for centuries in nearby cursed Bottle Hollow. Although it is important to note that the neighboring area belongs to the Ute tribe, not the Navajo.^[9]

1 The Ghost of Jesse James

Unsurprisingly, one of America’s most infamous outlaws is the subject of many legends that even go beyond his exploits as a living, breathing criminal. Jesse James Farm, in the town of Kearney, Missouri, is both the location of the outlaw’s death at the hands of fellow gang member Robert Ford in 1882, as well as the location of James’s supposed ghost.

Ethereal footsteps and horse hooves can be heard where none are present. Shadows move without tripping security alarms, and even the sounds of a sudden gunshot can be heard from inside the property. In fact, the James family itself claims that their home was haunted well before the notorious outlaw grew up and started his crime spree, even seeing the apparitions of Civil War soldiers on the premises. However, activity certainly increased after James’ death by gunshot.^[10]