The Kings Arms (Closed)

The most active ghost here is never seen but heralds its presence with a slamming door, then heavy footsteps along the upstairs corridor - then silence for a while as the steps reach a window, followed by the sound of a woman crying. This may be connected to the sound of hob-nail boots being heard on a stone staircase, which don't exist in the current pub. A phantom miner from the 19th century is reputed to be observed at this pub too; he is connected to an accident at a local mine, and the inquest was held here as it had a large room. The magistrate was suspicious as he felt he was not getting the information he needed to investigate the death. Soon after, one of the witnesses, a miner, died, and his ghost was then seen walking from the mine to the front door of the pub where he then vanished. During renovation work in the 1980s, the landlady was approached by two men who told her that "no good will come of your work here" - and they promptly vanished! In the lane outside the pub can be heard a shrieking woman. She died when her horse bolted and she was thrown from the carriage. A black monk is also to be seen, but walking away from the pub to a small building at a nearby spring known as The Monk's Conduit, where he was found dead in the 11th century (he may also have been seen inside the pub too; some versions say that he died at his desk in the place now occupied by the bar). Poltergeist-like activity has also been reported, for instance crockery being broken, taps being turned on, glasses jumping from shelves, lights switching on and off, the sound of laughter and items moving without assistance. Other small small phenomena are: a toilet roll placed in the middle of the bedroom floor; interference with the cutlery in the restaurant during the night; and a freezer and washing machine being tipped over in the room above the bar. Finally,the sound of a large bird flying around the bar has been heard, but it is never seen; this is also accompanied by a drop in temperature. The bird is heard to fly through a wall and head off into the distance.

The Weird Wiltshire website adds some more details courtesy of Barnesy, "The Haunted Bartender." He and others heard "heavy, steady footsteps" and Barnsey initially attributed them to the sound of the central heating pumping water through the pipes - except that it was summer. Another time, when he was preparing for opening time, he was wiping down the tables in the games room when out of the corner of his eye he saw something run across the corner of the room. "It was small, around hip height and ran quite swiftly through the bar area" as he said and he thought it was a child. He called out, "I saw you!" Later that day, another staff member said, "Oh, you’ve probably met Miranda! She sometimes sits on the edge of the bed in room 2. Sometimes she cries and you’ll hear it coming from that room. She likes to play hide and seek with the staff." Barnesy had several encounters with Miranda and says she often played hide and seek. He feels she was responsible for swinging the plug and chain of his bath, in the middle of the night.

Update 7/3/22: Dee replied to my email asking about any recent phenomena: "Yes we have had many sightings and odd experiences here since we took over 2 years ago! Both staff and guests have said so, myself included!"

Link: Weird Wiltshire

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