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Pub Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Lady in Grey

Location: Buckfastleigh (Devon) - King's Arms public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lady died by falling down a well that was once on the site, preventing her from meeting her lover. She is still waiting.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-12-24 | Last updated: 2003-12-24 | ID #4845

Muffled Voice

Location: Buckhurst Hill (Essex) - Three Colts public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013 onwards
Further Comments: A muffled woman's voice was heard in the cellar, even though no one other than the witness was nearby. Cold spots have also been felt on the site.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2015-03-30 | Last updated: 2015-03-30 | ID #11781

Lady in Black

Location: Buckland Brewer (Devon) - Coach and Horses public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This woman dressed in black has been observed by several landlords and ladies. There has also been a sighting of a phantom Roundhead, and disembodied footsteps reported.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-12-24 | Last updated: 2003-12-24 | ID #4835

Riders

Location: Buckstones (West Yorkshire) - A640, near the Nont Sarah public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1968
Further Comments: A policeman returning home after a late shift spotted a small group of horsemen dressed in Cavalier-style clothing riding along this road. He drove past the figures three times to prove to himself that they were not a figment of his imagination.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-09-24 | Last updated: 2003-09-24 | ID #4594

Creaking

Location: Bungay (Suffolk) - King's Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: It may be that the ghost from the nearby Three Tuns has relocated, or possibly the creaks heard within the building are just because it is old...

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-04 | Last updated: 2010-04-04 | ID #9842


Ye Olde Three Tuns pub, Bungay.

Rex Bacon and Friends

Location: Bungay (Suffolk) - Ye Olde Three Tuns public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: An investigation by a medium revealed this building was haunted by 24 ghosts (!), one of whom was Mr Rex Bacon, a highwayman from the eighteenth century whose base of operations was the inn.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2001-06-09 | Last updated: 2001-06-09 | ID #830

Bottled Ghost

Location: Burleydam (Shropshire) - Combermere public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that a ghost was bottled and buried under the steps of this pub by two clergymen. When the steps were replaced hundreds of years later, no bottle was found.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2012-10-20 | Last updated: 2012-10-20 | ID #11136

Airman

Location: Burn (North Yorkshire) - Wheatsheaf public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to be most likely to appear on Mother's Day
Further Comments: This pub is said to be home to a phantom airman wearing a great coat, most likely to be seen on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2012-04-08 | Last updated: 2012-04-08 | ID #10819

Flying Statuette

Location: Burslem (Staffordshire) - Leopard public house/hotel, Market Place (razed by fire January 2022)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: No one appears to know for sure what haunts this public house (some claim the entity was a murderer), but people report feeling a presence, and a horse statuette once flew off the mantelpiece.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2015-01-17 | Last updated: 2022-01-30 | ID #11708

Molly

Location: Burslem (Staffordshire) - Turk's Head public house and St John's Church
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1748
Further Comments: A witch during life, Molly Leigh's shade briefly came back from the dead the day she was buried and made its home in the local pub before being exorcised. Her grave is still visible in the churchyard (it faces north to south) and running around it three times is said to summon her spirit.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-06-12 | Last updated: 2002-06-12 | ID #1169

Former Worker

Location: Burton upon Trent (Staffordshire) - Appleby public house (now closed)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Investigated by Spirit Team UK, this public house was declared haunted by a former employee dating from when the building was not a pub.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2008-08-25 | Last updated: 2008-08-25 | ID #8794

John Reeve

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Dog and Partridge public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reeve, the thirty-second and final Abbot of Bury St Edmunds, died in a house which once stood where the pub now stands. Reeve's phantom, dressed in his vestments, appears in the pub.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2026-02-07 | Last updated: 2026-02-07 | ID #16320


The Nutshell, Bury St Edmunds.

Young Child

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Nutshell public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Child and monk unknown, cloaked figure 1990s
Further Comments: A small ghost for one of the smallest pubs in the UK - this young child was murdered in a bedroom on the site, and sometimes comes back. A phantom monk is also said to haunt the building, and sometimes the smell of perfume can be detected in the air, even if no one present is wearing it. Finally, a cloaked figure wearing a tricorn hat was spotted by a customer on the first floor, standing by a window.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2002-11-12 | Last updated: 2020-10-06 | ID #3144

Flying Glasses

Location: Bushey (Hertfordshire) - Horse and Chains public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early to mid-1990s (polt), 1970s (former landlord)
Further Comments: Over a period of a couple of years, one witness thrice observed a glass fly off a shelf and smash on the till, about 150 centimetres away. The building was once said to be home to the ghost of a former landlord, although he has not been seen recently.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2012-01-22 | Last updated: 2012-01-22 | ID #10679

Tall Man

Location: Byers Green (Durham) - (Former) Marquis of Granby public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century?
Further Comments: This former pub is said to be haunted by a tall man. A plumber is also said to have fled the site after watching a stool move across the room unaided.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2013-06-16 | Last updated: 2013-06-16 | ID #11357

Dart Remover

Location: Caernarfon (Gwynedd) - Anglesey Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The poltergeist at work in this pub is reputed to remove darts from the dartboard and push glasses from the shelf.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2016-03-12 | Last updated: 2016-03-12 | ID #12048

Cedric

Location: Calverleigh (Devon) - Rose and Crown public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2019
Further Comments: Cedric is the nickname of the ghost which is blamed for hiding objects and creating out of place gusts of wind.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2019-03-25 | Last updated: 2019-03-25 | ID #13115

Cleaner

Location: Calverley (West Yorkshire) - Thornhill Arms public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The poltergeist in this pub is said to tidy the bar if left in a mess.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2012-04-08 | Last updated: 2012-04-08 | ID #10816

Tom Shadwell

Location: Calverton (Nottinghamshire) - Admiral Rodney public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Tom was the innkeeper here until 1875 and is still thought to haunt the building. There are also reports of phantom children heard around the site, a ghost named Sarah (a former serving girl) who now performs mildly irritating poltergeist-like tricks, and a man in a black suit dating around the 1940s.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2008-05-05 | Last updated: 2008-05-05 | ID #8472

Open Window

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Eagle public house
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Window still present, poltergeist late 1970s?
Further Comments: One story says a window in the upper part of the pub is cursed; if it is ever closed then ill fortune follows. Like so many other pubs, the site was also once home to a poltergeist, and is also said to be haunted by the ghosts of two Second World War airmen.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2018-05-26 | Last updated: 2018-05-26 | ID #12840

Flying Remotes

Location: Canewdon (Essex) - Anchor public house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Circa 2004
Further Comments: This pub was said to be subjected to flying remote controls and kitchen knives, a baby crying, and the smell of perfume.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2013-01-03 | Last updated: 2013-01-03 | ID #11212

Beaten Nun

Location: Cannington (Somerset) - Bridge over brook, and in nearby public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: When the nunnery stood here, one sister was beaten to death after straying from the path. Her ghost can still be seen waiting on the bridge.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2003-04-13 | Last updated: 2003-04-13 | ID #4124

Thrown Glass

Location: Canterbury (Kent) - Maidens Head public house (Room 4 in particular)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2019 - 2022
Further Comments: The pub appeared in the local press after it was reported that keys were taken and glasses smashed by an unseen hand in one of the guest rooms. A jukebox reputedly played while disconnected.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2022-07-31 | Last updated: 2022-07-31 | ID #14577


Rummer Tavern, Cardiff.

Jealous Sailor

Location: Cardiff (South Glamorgan) - Rummer Tavern
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The sailor that haunts this public house died shortly after finding his wife in bed with her secret lover. He is reputed to have a fondness of the cellar and the toilets.

Source: Needs Review
First added: 2007-09-04 | Last updated: 2007-09-04 | ID #7935

Victorian girl

Location: Cardiff (South Glamorgan) - The Corporation public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Victorian girl is said to haunt the third floor of this public house, with another female spirit reputedly active around the pool tables.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2016-03-12 | Last updated: 2016-03-12 | ID #12043

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