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June 16, 2011

Thirteen Haunted Inns of Britain

Thursday Thirteen

The last time I visited my local library a book called Haunted Inns of Britain & Ireland by Richard Jones caught my eye. It’s full of info about ghosts and haunting, and I found it fascinating. I’ve even visited a couple of the pubs.

A list of Thirteen Haunted Pubs

1. The Mermaid Inn, Mermaid Street, Rye, East Sussex
The Mermaid has several ghosts, including a gray lady. Early one morning a resident woke to find a pair of phantom duelists, dressed in doublet and hose. They thrust and parried with their rapiers until one received a fatal wound.

2. The Chequers Inn, Smarden, Kent
In room 6, the staff sometimes see a clear impression of a person on the bed even though the room is empty. Dogs dislike the room with one dog requiring a tranquillizer to calm him. A female guest was woken by something scratching her back. Another woman woke to find a man standing in the open doorway. She shouted at him and he vanished.

3. The Spaniards Inn, Hampstead, London
Dick Turpin is one of the pub’s ex-customers and he stabled his mount Black Bess here. People hear Black Bess’ ghostly hoof beats gallop across the car park in the dead of the night.

4. The Ostrich Inn, Slough, Berkshire
A landlord used to ply his rich guests with drink, and once they were asleep in his best room, he’d unbolt a special trapdoor and tip them from their beds into a vat of boiling oil below. Then, he’d sell their horse and belongings. He did very nicely until a guest saw his bed tilt and shouted for help. Staff at the pub complain about a sinister atmosphere while loud noises wake the landlords. It’s said one of the victims causes the noises.

5. Jamaica Inn, Launceston, Cornwall
Made famous by Daphne du Maurier’s novel Jamaica Inn. Several ghosts wander the old hostelry. A ghost stands outside near a particular wall. He doesn’t answer greetings, but will slowly dissolve and vanish.

6. The Knife and Cleaver, Bedfordshire
A male and a female ghost reside here. One day a barman watched the pages of the booking diary turn by themselves. Then a ghostly hand appeared over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure which ghost it was and didn’t wait to find out.

7. The Bull Hotel, Suffolk
Doors open and close by themselves. Objects fly across the room and chairs move during the night. It’s said Richard Everard, who was stabbed to death, is the cause of this activity.

8. The Lifeboat Inn, Thornham, Norfolk
The landlady decided the pub was missing a resident ghost and made one up. The staff were shocked when they actually started seeing a tall, dark stranger as described by the landlady in her pub brochure.

9. The Scole Inn, Scole Diss, Norfolk
A husband suspected his wife of having an affair. He murdered his wife in a fit of rage. Fast forward in time and visitors to the inn have reported sightings of a sad lady in room 2.

10. The Fleece Inn, Evesham, Worcestershire
It’s said the ghost of Lola Taplin, a previous landlady, haunts the inn. She always banned food and only served alcohol. Customers have watched their sandwiches tossed in the air and thrown across the room. Ghostly footsteps are also heard.

11. Ye Old Black Bear, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
A headless figure has been seen walking across creaking floors and dragging his chains behind him. It’s thought he is one of the Lancastrians defeated by a group of Yorkists at the Battle of Tewkesbury.

12. The Puesdown Inn, Compton Abdale, Cheltenham
This used to be a coaching inn frequented by highwaymen. One of the ghosts is said to be a highwayman who was shot. He returned to the inn and knocked loudly on the door, demanding entrance. Ghostly knocking is often heard while one landlord saw a ghostly coach pulling into the yard.

13. The West Arms Hotel, Llangollen, Denbighshire
The hotel is haunted by a blue lady. It’s said a woman was killed in a fire that broke out in the pub. If a fire is lit in the front lounge, the blue lady appears.

Have you visited any haunted places? Have you seen a ghost?

25 Comments

  1. Darla M Sands

    I can’t help being fascinated by these stories. Number eight is really interesting in nature! Thanks for sharing.

    • Shelley Munro

      #8 made me laugh. The power of suggestion maybe?

  2. Maddy Barone

    I’m a terrible fraidy cat. I’ve never seen anything like this and I hope i never do!

    • Shelley Munro

      My mind tends to go into overdrive when I visit places like this. Sometimes I wonder if our mind plays tricks on us because that”s what we expect.

  3. Xakara

    I want to go on a haunted tour, I have since I was much younger. The closest I got was a driving tour on Haunted Wisconsin, but I want to do a walking tour and maybe even stay the night a few places. That’s my idea of a great vacation! :)

    Happy TT,

    ~Xakara

    13 DVR’d Shows

    • Shelley Munro

      I’ve been on a few ghost tours. We did one in Hobart and another at Port Arthur, both in Tasmania. Other people said they felt/heard something. The factoids were interesting, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.

  4. Jennifer Leeland

    Very cool!!!!! I’m usually not very sensitive to that stuff

    • Shelley Munro

      Me neither, Jen, although one of the old pubs where we worked in London was a bit creepy at times.

  5. K. Taylor

    Creepy and hilarious.

    • Shelley Munro

      *Nodding head* Definitely creepy!

  6. Suzanna Medeiros

    AKA, thirteen places I need to stay the hell away from! I know there are places in Toronto that are said to be haunted. I don’t go near them.

    :)

  7. Alice Audrey

    Boy I tell you, England is just full of haunted places.

  8. Heather

    Love these kind of stories. I’ve been to Gettysburg a couple times, though have yet to go on their ghost tour. Have been on the ghost tour in Old Town Alexandria, VA though.

    • Shelley Munro

      You should go, Heather. I bet there are lots of interesting stories there.

  9. Maria Zannini

    I’ve seen plenty of ghosts, but having been to only one pub in my entire life, I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting a pub ghost.

    Very cool.

    • Shelley Munro

      From what I read, most of them were fairly harmless. They just frightened the heck out of whoever saw them.

      I’ve read your ghost posts. Very cool.

  10. Tatiana Caldwell

    I have seen a ghost about twice in my life, and have been aware of some other presence many times. I’ve never been to a reportedly haunted location – although I’d be interested in visiting, I don’t know if I would sleep there …

    • Shelley Munro

      Tatiana – I agree about sleeping there. Everything seems much creepier at night!

  11. Janice Seagraves

    The Ostrich Inn sound frightening and that’s before the hauntings.

    Janice~

  12. Savannah Chase

    Very cool….I have always wanted to visit a haunted pub….

  13. Adelle Laudan

    Talk about timing. A few days back I was searching the net and found a Ghost Tour in my city. It seems there are a few haunted buildings here .
    Great topic. Happy T13!

    • Shelley Munro

      Ghost walks are fun, Adelle. Watching the other people on the walk is just as much fun as the actual walk.

  14. Mary Kirkland

    when I was 5 and 6 years old we moved to Washington State and moved into a large house. My and my brother went exploring into the basement where our toys were and the laundry room was. We found 2 locked rooms that had large keyholes and could see what looked like a medical room, much like a room you would find in the doctors office. The we went to the other door and it was a long hallway.

    We went and got our mom and dad who did not believe us…they looked through the keyholes and knew from the looks on their faces we had found something cool.

    My dad called the owner of the house and asked him about it…..it turns out that the hallway lead to the old folks home down the street…all the way underground…it was a tunnel to bring the old folks to the mortuary when they died….Our house used to be the mortuary!

    The house we creepy as heck after that and we moved back to California about a month after that. lol

    • Shelley Munro

      Yikes, Mary. That gave me goosebumps just reading it. That would be creepy.