Drinking With a Ghostly Spirit

Europe

England

The Ten Bells in London, England, is thought to be the most haunted pub in London. Do you remember a notorious fellow from long ago called Jack the Ripper? Well, this pub was once called by his name because two of his victims – Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly used to drink there. The bar staff has reported hearing strange footsteps from the floor above where tenants were once housed. Then, if that is not enough as you sit and sip your drink, look for the shadowy figure of an old man in Victorian clothing, which might be the ghost of a victim or the murderer himself. 

The Grenadier has a red, white, and blue façade and is located in Belgravia Square, and is thought to be one of the most haunted pubs in Britain. The pub was once frequented by the Duke of Wellington’s Grenadier Guards, and that accounts for its name. The upper floors were used as the Officers’ Mess of a nearby army barracks. Here you could have the pleasure of drinking with the ghostly spirit of a soldier who was beaten to death and thrown down a stairwell for cheating at a card game. A solemn specter slowly moves across the low-ceilinged rooms of the pub. He’s seeking a drinking partner. Footsteps have been heard in empty rooms and objects seem to be mysteriously moving or disappearing. 

If that does not deter you from having another drink, there is more paranormal activity like chairs and tables that rattle, wisps of smoke appear, but no one is smoking, and an icy chill sometimes hangs in the air for days. Someone has even heard moaning coming from the depths of the cellar, where the soldier was beaten. The British Broadcasting Company BBC did a program on the most haunted pubs in Britain and took some still shots of the Grenadier once developed; the head of a young man with a mustache was seen looking into the pub through one of the window panes, which lie twelve feet from the ground. This ghostly spirit must have been looking to see what action was going on in the pub. 

The Golden Fleece York, North Yorkshire in the early 16th century had a reputation for being one of the most haunted pubs in the country. In 2005 it was visited by the team from Most Haunted. One of the ghostly spirits here is said to be Geoff Monroe, a Canadian airman, staying in Room 4 at the pub, who jumped out the bedroom window in 1945. Anyone staying in his former room says they’ve seen a figure in full uniform standing over them and the temperature in the room drops. Bed covers have been removed, clothing taken off rails and thrown to the floor, and running footsteps heard in the hallway. 

In 2002, during a ghost hunt, people saw a man dressed in late 17th-century clothing walk through a wall in the bar. Another ghostly bar patron was Lady Alice Peckett, the wife of Lord Mayor of York John Peckett. She has been seen wandering the corridors and walking up and down the stairs at night. Other spirits include a man called One-Eyed Jack dressed in a red coat, holding a pistol, and a boy who was trampled to death by horses outside the pub in the Victorian era.

The Mermaid Inn is a pub and hotel in the seaside town of Rye, in southeast England. It is well-known for being haunted by quite a few spirits. Ghostly spirits in period costumes have been seen fighting. Some have seen a ghost sitting in a rocking chair. Bottles have fallen from shelves when no one has been around. Before this became a pub, it was the Ostrich Inn in the 17th century where over 60 murders were committed.

This was because the landlords at that time Jarman and his wife, profited by murdering guests after they fell asleep. They installed a trap door in the floor of one of the bedrooms and fixed the bed frame so it was hinged. After a guest had fallen asleep, they’d tip the bed; the guest would fall through the trap door into a tub of boiling liquid, killing them instantly. In the upper restaurant where the murders took place, the ghostly figure of a woman in Victorian dress has been seen, and cold spots have been felt in the downstairs ladies' restroom, where at one time Jarman stored the bodies of these victims in the pantry.

The Red Lion, a family pub in Avebury, Wiltshire, the site of Europe’s largest stone circle dating from between 4,000 and 2,400 B.C. is haunted by a woman called Florrie. Her story goes that Florrie was thrown down a well by her soldier husband during the time of the English Civil War. He was angered, having discovered that Florrie had taken a lover while he was away in battle. Unexpectedly, he returned and found them together. He flew into a rage, shot the lover, stabbed his wife, and threw her body down a well, sealing it with a boulder. 

Her ghostly spirit has been seen walking about the pub looking for a bearded man. It is not known if she is seeking her husband or lover. A chandelier in the restaurant began spinning crazily while a man with a bushy beard sat beneath it. Florrie has also been seen disappearing into the mouth of the well in the bar area, which has been glassed over and is now a table. Her spirit also appears in the ladies' restrooms, and a former landlady had seen her throwing salt and pepper mills across the tables in the restaurant. Two ghostly children have been seen cowering in the corner of the Avenue bedroom, and a horse-drawn carriage pulls up outside of the pub in the middle of the night accompanied by the clattering of hooves.

Wales

The Skirrid Inn is the oldest pub in Wales dating to 1110. The pub was named after the mountain rising over it. The pub has been seen on the TV show Most Haunted. Here glasses fly across the bar by themselves; faces appear at windows; things disappear but turn up weeks later. Residents find themselves waking up in ice-cold rooms with a feeling like they’re being watched. One of the main ghostly spirits is Fanny Price, who worked at the pub in the 18th century and died of consumption aged 35. She has been seen in Room 3.

At one time the first floor of the inn was used as a courtroom where people who committed serious offenses were given capital punishment. During an exceptionally bloody period in the history of the inn, 180 insurgents from the Monmouth Rebellion were hanged from an oak beam over the staircase just outside the courtroom. The ghostly spirit of Baron George Jeffreys, who ordered the hangings, has been seen walking the upper floors of the inn, searching for people to hang. The spirit of sheep rustler John Crowther, who was sentenced to death, has been seen roaming the property.

Other paranormal activities include the scent of perfume wafting in the air, the rustling of a lady’s dress, the sounds of soldiers in the courtyard, and sightings of a lady in white. Some odd feelings people have felt are feeling like being strangled by a noose, and there are those who have found the appearance of welts on their necks like rope burns.

The USA

Arizona

Casey Moore’s Oyster House is located in Tempe, Arizona. The building was constructed more than 100 years ago and was the residence of the influential Moeur family, who were involved in the educational system. When members of the family passed on, the home was abandoned, and local youth would drink, do drugs, and throw parties there. At this time some terrible crimes were committed there, but in 1973 the building was converted to a restaurant called Ninth and Ash, and in the late 1980s it became an Irish pub, and was sold.

Today locals say the bar and restaurant is haunted and there have been sightings of a ghostly couple dancing in front of one of the windows. They are thought to be William and Mary Moeur, who would have liked to have their former home become a lively restaurant. Other paranormal activities here include cutlery thrown on the floor and chairs rearranged overnight. Photo frames go flying along with the nail that attached them to the wall.

Georgia

The Moon River Brewery is one of the oldest buildings in Savannah, Georgia dating to 1821. The building was originally the City Hotel and has a history of violence, especially during the Civil War. A feud broke out between local man James Stark in the spring of 1832 and the city physician, Dr, Phillip Minis, who shot Stark at the hotel’s bar for making disparaging remarks about him. A New Yorker was near beaten to death by locals who resented his presence in 1860.

In the 1990s the building underwent renovation and became the Moon River Brewing Company. Since then, both staff and customers have reported strange, even violent occurrences. Bottles have been thrown by unseen forces, and people have been touched, pushed, and slapped by invisible ghostly presences. One ghostly spirit named Toby lurks in the bar's billiard room and has been known to push both staff and patrons. 

Louisiana

Jean Lafitte’s Old Absinthe House opened in 1807 and is located in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. The pub served absinthe until it was banned in 1914, but is once again legal. The establishment is named after the pirate Jean Lafitte, and if you have a drink here you might even be lucky enough to meet him since his ghostly spirit haunts the bar. He particularly enjoys parties, and even if no one seems to be present you’ll hear laughter, chairs, and dishes moved, and see objects flying across the room.

New York

The Ear Inn is the oldest working bar in New York City and is located on the spot of a speakeasy that was around before Prohibition. The apartment upstairs was once a boarding house, a smuggler’s den, and a brothel. There are some ghostly spirits that call this home. One spirit is called Mickey, a sailor; this spirit is still waiting for his clipper ship to come in. Women who have rented out the upstairs apartment say Mickey enjoys crawling into bed with them.

Another spooky bar in New York City is the White Horse Tavern, which was built in 1673 and is said to be the oldest bar in America. Having drinks at this bar once were the Founding Fathers, colonists, British soldiers, Hessian mercenaries, pirates, and sailors. Among the ghostly inhabitants here is the spirit of an older man in the main dining room near the fireplace. Another unseen entity patrols the building and supervises the staff, counting money, and informing them when it is time to lock up.