The Ostrich Inn
The Ostrich Inn is located 17 miles from London in Colnbrook, England. It's the third oldest inn in England with over 900 years of history. The foundations date back to 1106, during the reign of Henry I, but the current building dates back to the 1500's. It underwent a major refurbishment in 2006, but many details such as the crooked staircase, the courtyard, the fireplace, and the wooden beams all remain the same.
The sources I will be using:
2. Uniqhotels
4. BBC
6. Spooky Isles
7. News Shopper
History
Surprisingly, the Ostrich Inn has both a simple yet oddly muddled history. As I mentioned earlier, the location dates back to 1106 but the name of 'The Ostrich Inn' is what may date back to the 1500's. It's thought that the name started off as 'The Hospices and that it later could have changed to 'The Oyster Ridge', or 'The Eastridge', and then to 'The Ostrich' as it was highly unlikely any English person would have seen an ostrich during the 12th, 13th, or even 14th centuries.
It is believed that King John stayed at the Inn on his way to Runnymede to seal the Magna Carter in 1215, and it is also believed that the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin also stayed here a few times. It is thought the highwayman jumped from a window to evade the Bow Street Runners, an early version of the London police, during his stay.
The only other bit of history to be found about this building is a tale about a landlord called 'John Jarman' and his wife. The Inn's website says this story occurs in the 17th century, but other sources say it could have been as early as the 12th century. The story tells that John Jarman created a special contraption using pulleys which would allow for him to tilt the bed in 'the blue room' backwards and open a trapdoor. Whenever a particularly wealthy visitor would stay at the Inn, Jarman would say to his wife "there's a fat pig available if you want one", and if her response was "put him in the sty for till morrow" Jarman would allow them to stay in the blue room where they would sleep in the special bed after drinking plenty of ale. During the night, the special feature of the bed would be activated, and the visitor would be tipped out and fall through the trap door, landing in a couldren of boiling liquid in the room below. John and his wife would later dump the body in the nearby river, and sell their victims belongings to local gypsies.
John and his wife were eventually caught when a well known clothier, Thomas Cole, stayed and became a victim of theirs. Apparently they convinced him to change his will before he died. During the night Thomas' horse broke free and was found wandering the streets. People had seen Cole enter the Ostrich Inn and so the locals looked here for him and found his will. This combined with Thomas' body being found in the nearby river led to John Jarman and his wife being arrested. John fled and hid in Windsor Forest for a while before being caught, but when he was both he and his wife were hung. They confessed to the murders of sixty people. It's even thought that these events inspired the name 'Colnbrook' as it could be derived from 'Cole-in-Brook' due to Thomas Cole's body being found in the brook. The story may even have inspired the famous tale of the demon barber of Fleet Street, 'Sweeney Todd'. In that tale, the barber has a special barbers chair where he would slit the throat of his victims and pull a lever that tipped them backwards in their chair and down into the room below where they would be turned into meat pies.
There is some debate on if the events regarding John Jarman occured at all. Back in 1602, Thomas Belony published a book called 'Thomas of Reading' where in the eleventh chapter the main character 'Thomas Cole', a wealthy clothier from Reading, stays a night at a pub called 'The Crane' where he stays in the best room which is directly over the kitchen. During the night he is sent falling into a great cauldron where he dies. This book is why I personally think the events would have occured in the late 16th century as I do think, as do others, that Thomas Belony could have heard the story about what happened at 'The Ostrich Inn' on his travels and then became inspired to write about it. He probably changed the name from 'The Ostrich' to 'The Crane' to keep the real location somewhat anonymous.
The Hauntings
Surprisingly, the reported hauntings here are really quite vague. A number of sources talk about a woman who has been seen to be wearing a victorian dress, but that is the only consistent and specific haunting talked about by a number of sources. Some say she is accompanied by one little girl, others say two. A member of staff has seen a black figure standing behind her boss while she was talking to him. They have also seen someone in white by the specials board. Investigators have said they've seen an old man sitting in the corner of the room. Another staff member has seen someone walk through room 3 from one side to the other while they stayed in there one night. A staff member has also said they've seen a floating lady in a long old fashioned white nighty with shoulder length dark hair. This apparition apparently matches the description of how Mrs Jarman will have looked when she was hung.
Other bits of activity include hearing strange noises, whispers, and groans throughout the downstairs area of the building, along with glasses moving untouched along the bar. A feeling of dread is reported in the blue room, and a sensation of falling is reported beneath room 11. Cold spots occur, particularly in the downstairs girls toilet, which is where Jarman stored bodies, and in the restaurant beside the blue room. In 2003, an investigation team apparently had a conversation with a spirit named 'John' who lived during queen Elizabeth I's reign. Doors have also slammed on their own and technological malfunctions can occur. A staff member has reported leaving a room locked but then when they returned to it, they found the door wide open with all of the electronics, including the lights, switched on. Footsteps have also been heard upstairs, and a customer has reported hearing a horse and cart along with thinking the eyes of the paintings were watching them. Plus, thuds have been heard in the kitchen with the automatic door opening and closing when it shouldn't.
The former landlord, Mark Bourne, was originally skeptical before taking over the pub, but since running it he has said "strange noises, ghostly figures, and objects moving all by themselves are all in a day's work". Back in the early 2000's, the road was dug up to place speed bumps and since then activity has increased drastically. There are thoughts that this has somehow disturbed the spirits that reside in the inn.
My Thoughts
I would say this is possibly the least haunted location I've discussed on this blog so far, judging only from what I've read. There is no doubt that, if the Jarman story is indeed true, that enough suffering has occured here to render some high levels of paranormal activity, but from the stories it doesn't seem that way. This is very good though. This strange dullness regarding the hauntings, I reckon, is an indication that it is in fact more haunted than the other locations. It's just a hunch of course, I could be completely off with that, however I don't think real paranormal activity is going to constantly manifest itself in dramatic screams or frequent apparitions. I think real activity is more likely to be this strangley vague stuff. Wierd noises, the brief glimpse of a shadow, things being not where you thought you'd left them; this is more that I expect from the paranormal, and this is exactly what the Ostrich Inn boasts. Yes, there seems to be some extreme poltergeist activity thrown in there with doors slamming, but I think this is much more real.
I highly suspect that the victims of the Jarman's are haunting the Inn. The poltergeist activity suggests there are restless spirits there, and as I haven't read any instances where the poltergeist is violent, or showing violent tendencies, I would think they just want to make their presence known. I'm unsure on why altering the road would affect them, although perhaps it's because it was the road they would have frequently travelled along? I'm not sure, but it's a location I would love to investigate to try and find out more. The Inn also doesn't mention any of the haunting on it's website, only the story about John Jarman. Usually I'm skeptical of alleged hauntings as I think locations like houses and castles can talk about them, and potentially make them up, just to boost their tourist revenue. I'm impressed though that the Ostrich Inn hasn't buckled to that tactic.
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.
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