UK Police Reveal Paranormal Call-Outs

Who you gonna call? The police actually... how officers have dealt with 277 reports of supernatural activity in the last three years! 

• Officers from 17 forces asked to help with 277 supernatural cases 
• One caller believed their wife had been attacked by warlocks on a train, while another was convinced their partner had turned into a vampire 
• Police say they will only attend if they think an offence has taken place 

They are accustomed to dealing with crooks and criminals lurking in the shadows. But now police are being called on to deal with unearthly beings such as ghosts, witches and vampires. Figures released by police forces across the country reveal that hundreds of people have dialled 999 to report supernatural activity. And despite the strange nature of the calls, officers have often taken on the role of the Ghostbusters and headed out in response. 


Seventeen police forces in England and Wales have revealed details of 277 cases in which people had requested urgent assistance following ’paranormal’ or ‘extra-terrestrial’ incidents over the past three years. Most of the calls related to ghosts with some claiming to have been possessed. Among the reports logged was a man who telephoned police after he was told there was a ghost in his house and he found blood on the bathroom door. Officers attended but found that it was a prank being played on the man by his friends. Police in Dyfed-Powys went to six reports of ghosts. They also attended four reports of the paranormal including a caller who reported that they had been abducted by aliens, experimented on, then returned to earth. Another caller in Llanybydder told police that a UFO had taken sheep. 

In Devon and Cornwall, police have been called to 30 reports of paranormal activity since 2010. According to a police log from January 2013, a man at a castle in Saltash, Cornwall, was forced to lock the doors after he was visited by a man who thought he was the Ghost of Christmas Past. Police attended but it is not known what action was taken. Many of the reports of UFOs were found by police to be Chinese lanterns. 

In January 20011, a caller in Humberside told the operator she believed she had seen an alien, but it turned out to be a Chinese lantern. In Gloucestershire a man reported seeing a bright light from his back garden, that was not a star or a helicopter. The operator noted: ‘He is convinced it is a UFO, has checked it with binoculars. He is not mad.’ 

The British Transport Police was alerted in September 2012 after there was a report of witches and warlocks travelling on board a service from Edinburgh to London. An individual had told officers that a warlock had attacked and possibly killed their partner. They were removed from the train and assessed by paramedics. A person in Tring, Hertfordshire, called to report their ex-partner had become involved in a cult and ‘is some kind of vampire’. ‘I have seen teeth come out,’ they added, according to the call log. 


In Maidstone, Kent, a mother dialled 999 after her child woke up and said a ghost had got into bed with them and lifted the covers up. Her other child claimed to have also seen shadows. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said that officers had responded to calls where there were concerns about the well being of callers. He said: ‘Police would not attend an incident for the report of paranormal activity. An officer will however attend if there is concern for welfare for either the caller or another individual or where there is reason to believe an offence may have occurred.’