The Irresistible Allure of Haunted Pubs

Come inside weary traveller...

There really is something about a haunted pub that stirs one's imagination like no other place. Perhaps it is that warm atmosphere turned cold after hours, a low flicker of candlelight dancing upon an ancient oak beams, the gentle creak of a floorboard when no one’s there, or that sudden chill in the air that breezes past you just as you raise your glass. For me, haunted pubs are where legend, folklore, and living mystery collide, with a pint in hand and a mind that is truly open to whatever is there.

Now let’s be honest, public houses already carry a sort of magic. They’ve always been a hub of community life, and the village pub is the cement which binds the people into a community. Those walls host arguments, celebrations, romances, confessions… walls are soaked in the energy of stories collected over centuries. When you add in add a haunting or two, suddenly, no longer are you stepping into a bar, no, you’re stepping into the very fabric of history.

This is not an everyday experience.

Where Legend Meets Pint Glass

I’ve always been highly fascinated by the stories and the energy that cling to these old buildings. Could it be my mind being over active? A vision of a barmaid seen in the mirror after closing time. From the corner of your eye you spot a Victorian dressed man standing at the end of the bar but vanishes when you look round. Cold spots and a lingering breeze. Whispered voices. Doors that won’t stay shut.

These are not just stories heard at the bar; they’re folklore passed down, pint to pint, generation to generation. And whether or not you believe, there’s something in the telling of these tales that binds us all to the past. Story telling has captivated us all for generations!

Take the tale of the spectral highwayman, a figure galloping through time itself, reportedly seen by patrons across different pubs along ancient coaching routes. Or the grey lady who waits patiently in the snug for a lover who never returned from war. These are more than ghost stories. They’re emotional echoes wove in the fabric of time. From the stories of longing, betrayal, love, and unfinished business, which of these stories continue to be played out for eternity?

My Jamaica Inn Experience

Nothing prepared me for the night I spent at the infamous Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor, a fabulous building which is as foreboding as it is famous.

Even driving there is something else, a long, brooding stretch of road that feels like it's leading you into another world. Fog thick enough to slice. Moorland stretching for miles, wild and whispering. Then the inn itself, looming with the kind of presence that makes you pause before opening the door.

That night, something… shifted. I’d gone in not knowing what to expect. I left convinced something lingers.

The inn has long been associated with smuggling, ghosts, and Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel of the same name. Yet the stories aren’t just fiction. Guests and staff alike have reported disembodied voices, shadow figures, and furniture moving on its own. I myself, saw and heard...

I stayed in one of the most active rooms and I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous. During the investigation, it wasn’t just the sound of a whistling and a music box I heard... It was the feeling. A weight in the air. An undeniable sense of being watched, like someone or something was curious about me. Later I had that unmistakable feeling, a feeling of shock, intake of breath and goosebumps when a spirit goes through you. Of course I even tried to debunk it... No-one else would believe the experience. I was experiencing what so many had before me. Something unexplainable. Something unforgettable. Oh when can I return and learn more.

Why Haunted Pubs Captivate Us

There’s something deeply human about our fascination with the haunted, especially in pubs, places where we’re already open, relaxed, telling stories of our own. Maybe it's the alcohol in the pint that loosens the tongue, or maybe it’s that the veil really is thinner in these places of energy.

People as if I go to be scared? No, I don’t go to haunted pubs to feel fear. I go because they make me feel. They connect us to a deeper, often forgotten layer of history, of people who were once just like us. Drinking, laughing, weeping, wondering.

Ghosts, and I believe that they are indeed real, are just people placed out of time.

The Legend Lives On

Whether it’s The Bugle in Titchfield or the Jolly Sailor in Bursledon, or a moor-bound inn dripping in atmosphere, these places are more than their drinks menu. They’re living folklore. I’ve made it a mission to visit as many as I can, to listen, to observe, to investigate. Then I am happy to share.

If you’ve ever felt a sudden chill at your favourite bar, or heard your name whispered in an empty room, maybe you’ve felt IT too?

Haunted pubs aren’t just places to visit, they’re places that remember.

An Infamous Story teller!