Atlas of mysteries

All material

Results: 143

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated folk tradition

A nocturnal spinner tangles work, rattles crockery and sometimes helps the housewife; a Vologda tale has a bear drive her away.

Insufficient evidenceRussian North and West Siberian settler traditions

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated folk beliefs recorded by ethnographers

The bathhouse owner reserves a washing turn of his own and supposedly meets intruders with boiling water, stones and blows from a bath whisk.

Insufficient evidenceRussian North and local Siberian traditions

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated staff accounts

Castle staff recount footsteps, touches and a little boy supposedly holding visitors’ hands without their noticing him.

Insufficient evidenceBolsover Castle, Derbyshire

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated tradition; an annual return is associated with 19 May

A local legend brings the executed queen back to her family estate in a white dress, carrying her head in a carriage with a headless team.

Insufficient evidenceBlickling Hall, Norfolk

EventGhosts and spiritsThe setting of a literary retelling; no exact episode year established

A samurai welcomes a dead woman as living, while his servant sees a very different embrace.

Insufficient evidenceEdo in the narrative; no exact incident site established

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated story set in old Tokyo

A merchant tries to comfort a weeping woman, flees her featureless face and seeks safety beside a noodle seller.

Insufficient evidenceTokyo: Kii-no-kuni-zaka as a literary setting

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated legend from historical Musashi Province

A young man survives a snowy night, keeps its secret and years later recognises the visitor in his wife.

Insufficient evidenceHistorical Musashi Province; the exact village is not established

EventGhosts and spiritsLegendary time; the musician’s encounter is undated

A blind performer believes he is playing for an aristocratic audience until temple servants discover him among graves.

Insufficient evidenceShimonoseki in Hearn’s narrative; the precise scene is not locat…

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated late-twelfth-century narrative

William of Newburgh recounts a buried wealthy man reportedly seen at night amid barking dogs.

Insufficient evidenceBerwick-upon-Tweed; approximate town location

EventGhosts and spiritsThe narrative is set in Richard II’s reign; no exact year is given

A medieval account follows a tailor’s encounter with a changing spirit and his journey to obtain written absolution.

Insufficient evidenceNorth Yorkshire: the road from Gilling East to Ampleforth