On a summer afternoon in 1954, the sky over Sutton Park suddenly turned dark and thousands of tiny frogs began falling. Sylvia Mowday, out with her young son and daughter, said she first thought it was hail. Her son corrected her: "It isn't hail, mum, they're frogs, baby frogs." The bizarre downpour continued for around five minutes, covering the family's shoulders and umbrellas. Another witness, Mick Austen, remembered being scolded for being late to tea because he was too careful to step on any of the frogs.
The Ward End vampire panic
In 2005, West Midlands Police had to issue a public reassurance after rumours swept Birmingham that a vampire was stalking the streets of Ward End. Stories claimed an old man and his neighbours had all died in an attack, and that a woman had had a "chunk bitten out of her hand." Fears spread further when similar reports began circulating in Saltley, Small Heath and Alum Rock. Some versions of the rumour said the vampire could turn into a dog, become invisible, and had red eyes and possibly rabies.
Police investigated but found no victims and no evidence. A spokesperson said: "This appears to be an urban myth."
The Gypsy curse at St Andrew's
Birmingham City Football Club's home ground, St Andrew's, is said to have carried a curse placed by travellers who were removed from the site during construction in 1906. The club took the threat so seriously that managers and officials tried various remedies over the decades. In the 1980s, manager Ron Saunders ordered crucifixes to be mounted on the floodlights. In the 1990s, Barry Fry famously urinated in all four corners of the pitch.
The curse was reportedly lifted in 2016 when the seats at the ground were re-upholstered and sprinkled with holy water. The club even sent a light-hearted thank-you email to businessman and Bluenose fan John Baines, reading: "As well as the lift of the curse, the fact that our used substitutes, who had a major impact on the game, had a luxurious seat to warm their bottoms before coming on must have had a major impact on their performance."
UFOs over Kings Heath and Moseley
In July 2021, the Birmingham Mail received a flood of calls from people reporting bright orange and red lights hovering in the sky over Kings Heath and Moseley. Dozens of witnesses described inexplicable objects over south Birmingham on the same evening, with more reports continuing to arrive afterwards.
Councillor Neville Summerfield, then cabinet member for regeneration at Birmingham City Council, was walking along Kings Heath High Street when he saw a crowd staring upward. He later said: "I looked up and there was a brilliantly coloured orange and red object, then there was another one. It was absolutely amazing. I'm not quite as sceptical as I was."
The 2005 tornado that tore through Birmingham
On 28 July 2005, a violent tornado struck parts of Birmingham, causing destruction that the city had not seen from a twister in decades. It was the strongest tornado in the UK since 1954, ripping roofs from buildings, overturning cars and flattening trees in only ten minutes. The route took in Sparkbrook, Balsall Heath, Moseley and Kings Heath.
Twenty people were injured and an estimated £40 million of damage was caused. Wind speeds reached up to 130mph, and at its largest point the tornado was 500 metres wide. One woman suffered serious cuts to her arms and leg when a street sign was sent flying by the winds.
The vanishing woman at Erdington phone box
In 1975, three separate people reported seeing a woman disappear in front of their eyes from a phone box in Station Road, Erdington. A Catholic priest and a couple said they were waiting outside the box, which no longer exists, for a woman in a red jumper to finish her call. When the priest opened the door to ask how long she would be, she vanished into thin air.
Over the years, other witnesses claimed to have seen the same woman, sometimes wearing pink and sometimes appearing to call for help for her children after a house fire.
Ghosts at The Old Crown and a Ladywood poltergeist
The Old Crown in Digbeth, one of Birmingham's oldest pubs with origins dating to 1368, has long been the subject of ghost stories. Locals speak of multiple spectres, especially around an old well in the beer garden, where the spirit of a woman is said to wander searching for a child who died after falling down the well. Other apparitions include a lady in old-fashioned clothing who disappears, a Victorian figure in the cellar, a mysterious mist in one of the bedrooms and an invisible presence that pinches staff. A bottle has also allegedly been seen moving along the bar and dropping to the floor.
In Ladywood, the Pell family told how they fled their home in Coxwell Road just three weeks after moving in, following a series of frightening paranormal experiences. The property no longer exists. The family said their young son described seeing a "little white dog" sitting on the face of their newborn baby on the night the baby died in 1955, even though the family never owned a dog. They also reported strange smells, eerie whisperings, doors opening and closing by themselves, and Mr Pell described "thuddings on the kitchen ceiling late at night, like a 12 pound hammer."
Birmingham has evolved from a small 6th-century Anglo-Saxon settlement into the City of a Thousand Trades, and these strange events remain part of its long and colourful story.
