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Inn Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana


King Charles Inn, Poole.

Young Woman

Location: Poole (Dorset) - King Charles Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps were heard by staff and customer alike. One person detected a young female voice. Items have also been known to disappear and electrical equipment malfunction.

Old Lady

Location: Porlock (Somerset) - Ship Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom lady is said to be benign.

Victorian Barmaid

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - White Swan inn, Guildhall Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This unfortunate woman was murdered by her violent husband after he returned from sea.

Murdered Sailor

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Blue Posts Inn (destroyed by fire in 1870)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1870
Further Comments: This inn was haunted by the ghost of a sailor murdered therein. His corpse was secretly buried in the courtyard, though in 1938 a gravestone was placed in the area thought to house the body.

Cheap Devil

Location: Poundsgate (Devon) - Tavistock Inn
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: Old Nick once popped into this public house for a quick pint during a storm. He resembled a normal man, apart from his cloven feet that were spotted by the landlady. While the Devil did pay for his drink, the money turned into old leaves the moment he left.

Flying Discs

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - Wellington Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: An entity here was said to have thrown CDs and corkscrews around the site. Electrical items were also known to switch themselves on and off.

Tom King

Location: Rackenford (Devon) - The Stag Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The sound of hooves heard several times from outside the public house are thought to belong to the horse of Tom King, a local highwayman who once frequented the bar.

Former Owner

Location: Ravenstonedale (Cumbria) - Ruins of an old coach inn (likely to be currently on private land)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Farmers working the land are said to have seen the former owner of this inn wearing a tricorn hat, gazing from a ruined window and waiting for coaches that never arrive.

Jane

Location: Rawtenstall (Lancashire) - Railway Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A tall, lean woman in grey, this shade likes to haunt the guest bedrooms and the cellar. She is responsible for the strange sounds which occasionally echo around the building at night.

Grey Lady

Location: Rawtenstall (Lancashire) - The Old Cobblers Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It has been several years since this public house was last disturbed by the ghost.

Grey Lady

Location: Redbourn (Hertfordshire) - Bull Inn (closed 2015, now a Co-op store)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s - present
Further Comments: The Blue Room of the inn housed the ghost of a pneumonia victim, which manifested as a grey lady, disembodied voices, and bedclothes being pulled from the bed at night. Landlord Howard Upton was aware of these occurrences and allegedly became part of them after his own death in a traffic accident in 1978; moving objects and unexplained ''touching' in the former bar and cellar areas are attributed to Upton, rather than the occupant of the Blue Room.

Roundheads

Location: Redruth (Cornwall) - Victoria Inn, Four Lanes
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: The roundhead soldiers murdered in this 700 year old inn in 1640 are said to occasionally return.

Susan Peacock

Location: Reeth (North Yorkshire) - Tan Hill Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Skull photographed November 2019, other sightings not known
Further Comments: The inn featured in local press after an unconvincing skull was photographed in a smoky fireplace. The site is reputed to be haunted by former landlord Susan Peacock, who may have manifested at the foot of a bed dressed in 1930s clothing. The smell of pipe smoke has also been reported.

Hopping Bottles

Location: Ringmer (Sussex) - Ringmer Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1977
Further Comments: The landlord here claimed that he would be disturbed at night by incredibly loud banging from the walls. Bottles would hop off shelves, doors would open, and lights would go out without warning.

Exploding Bottles

Location: Robertsbridge (Sussex) - Johns Cross Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: This entity smashed glass bottles, unlocked secure doors and windows, turned lights on, and moved furniture.

Hole Cutter

Location: Robertsbridge (Sussex) - Seven Stars Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1980s, 2013
Further Comments: During the 1980s, this noisy ghost cut holes in bed sheets, played with the connectors on barrels of beer, and pushed items off shelves. A new landlord who took over in 2013 called a paranormal group to investigate what his family had experienced, including items that moved unaided. The pub is also said to be haunted by a red monk.

Cavalier

Location: Rochdale (Greater Manchester) - The Rake Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Grinning merrily, mostly likely through copious amounts of beer, this soldier has been mistaken for a real person.

Screams from Roundheads

Location: Romsey (Hampshire) - Swan Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two Roundheads were hanged from the pubs outside sign. They have since been heard gasping and crying for help.

White Landlady

Location: Ropley (Hampshire) - Watercress Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: A former landlady of this pub mysteriously vanished at the start of the twentieth century, though on occasion her ghostly form is seen in the pub.

Mabel

Location: Roxton (Bedfordshire) - Chequers Inn (no longer open)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1980s
Further Comments: A former maid on the site, Mabel was blamed when a member of the bar staff felt a hand on their shoulder when they were alone. Footsteps would also be heard in the cellar, and a white shape was spotted disappearing through a wall. Another entity was described as a man who held his cap in his hand.

Mr Boulton

Location: Royal Leamington Spa (Warwickshire) - Jack & Jill Inn, Newland Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: Seen sitting on the patio roof and moving around the cellar, this former pub owner has the consistency of a 'reflection in a window'.

Popping Bottles

Location: Rugeley (Staffordshire) - Ash Tree Inn
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1998-2000
Further Comments: Poltergeist-like tricks were reported from the inn, including the tops popping out of bottles, sounds of smashing glasses, till trays full of cash flying off the bar, and flickering lights.

Hound

Location: Rugeley (Staffordshire) - Britannia Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A phantom black dog, unlikely to be a shuck, has been reported to walk around the corridors of the inn.

Shadow on Stool

Location: Rusper (Sussex) - Star Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1988
Further Comments: This ghostly shadow has been observed sitting by the bar - its history is unknown.

Old Man

Location: Ruthin (Clwyd) - Three Pigeons Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When the inn was put up for sale in 2016, one of its USPs came in the form of two ghosts. One was said to be an old man who sat in an armchair, the other a teenager.

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