Avebury's Red Lion Pub
The Red Lion pub is located in Avebury, a village in Wiltshire, within the south-west of England. Having researched not only the pub, but also the village, I find this location could contain one of the most interesting hauntings I will ever discuss on this blog. The location also contains many apparitions, and a few dubious claims of activity.
History
It's impossible to discuss The Red Lion without talking about the surrounding area of Avebury. I won't discuss the many historical sites the village boasts in detail, but I will definitely give them a mention along with a bit of context. As you can see from the above image, the Red Lion is located within the middle of a stone circle, and is in the middle of an area known as Avebury Henge. The henge was built and altered during the Neolithic period, roughly between 2850 BC and 2200 BC. The henge itself is the large circular Bank and ditch you can see in the image, and contains part of Avebury village.
The henge contains the largest stone circle in Europe, which originally consisted of about one hundred stones. There are even two smaller stone circles within the largest circle. Other Neolithic and Bronze age sites within the area include West Kennet Avenue, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctuary, Windmill Hill, and Silbury Hill.
West Kennet Avenue is a line of standing stones linking Avebury to The Sanctuary. West Kennet Long Barrow is a huge burial chamber containing nearly fifty bodies. The Sanctuary, connected to Avebury via standing stones, was a circular collection of wooden posts and standing stones, and is also thought to have been a site to provide offerings, and was chosen as a burial site during the bronze age for a teenage boy. Windmill Hill is a location thought to have been used for festivals, markets, or ritual feasts. It's also thought that a rectangular shaped section near to the circles of the hill was used as a mortuary enclosure where human corpses were left to be picked clean before being entombed elsewhere.
Finally, Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. It was built between 2470 BC and 2350 BC, and is roughly the same size as a standard Egyptian pyramid. It's also a complete mystery as to why this hill was created. Tunnels have been dug into the hill to see if it was used for burials, but no evidence of such a use has yet been found. I think it's also interesting to mention that the base of the hill becomes flooded by underground springs two weeks after heavy rains have occured. To me, this seems a bit too coincidental and makes me think it could have been used as a location of extremely early battle strategy, or potentially as something else relating to the underground springs.
Avebury and it's surroundings are classed as one of fourteen UNESCO world heritage sites, and was listed as so during 1986. It's thought that, during the middle ages, the stones may have been associated with Pagan and Devil worship and as a result this led to certain stones being buried or destroyed. Further damage to the site occured when building and agricultural improvements led to other stones being removed to create more usable land. However, Alexander Keiller, a man who gained a good fortune from Keiller marmalade, bought the land and did some renovation work. During the late 1930s, he cleared away buildings and re-erected many of the stones. His project was cut short though due to the outbreak of world war two. Financial pressures caused him to stop and leave the site only half restored.
Now, with history of the area of Avebury out of the way, the Red Lion pub dates back to 1802. The building itself dates back to the 17th century as it used to be a farmhouse. It's a grade II listed thatched roof pub which has been modernised and expanded ever since it became a public house. One such expansion caused the village well to now reside within the building instead of next to it. This well, which does have a connection to one particular haunting, has even been converted into a table. Even though the building has been renovated, most of the work has only been to revamp the interior.
Hauntings
I've seen the Red Lion be named as the most haunted pub in Britain, and after researching the hauntings I'm not surprised. Due to the quantity of clear individual hauntings, I will list them first and then talk about them in more detail after, just as I did with the hauntings of Chillingham Castle. I should also mention that there may be more hauntings than I've listed, and there may be less than I've listed. Some hauntings may overlap, and you'll see what I mean when I discuss them in more detail down below.
1. Florrie
2. Unknown Lady - Lady Beth?
3. Little Boy
4. Little Girl
5. Two Children
6. Private room Male
7. Private Room Female
8. Phantom Carriage
9. Headless Horseman
10. Farmer
11. Local Male Murder Victim
12. Waiter
13. Old Fashioned Man
Florrie
The wife of a 17th century cavalier during the English civil war, Florrie was murdered by her husband once he returned home. The story goes that he found his wife with another man, so he shot her lover dead and either slit Florrie's throat or strangled her. Florrie's husband then threw her body down the village well, leaving her body 86ft below ground. The husband was caught and hung for his crimes, but the spirit of Florrie still makes herself known around the location of the well, which is now within the Red Lion.
It's said Florrie hates bearded men, possibly because her husband may have been bearded, and that one particular chandelier swings violently if a bearded man is beneath it. Florrie is also blamed for other poltergeist activity, has been seen in the ladies toilets often, and has even been seen slowly crawling out of the well.
Unknown Lady - Possibly Called Lady Beth?
Within the Avenue Room, there is apparently the spirit of a lady who sits writing at a desk in the room. She's oblivious to any other spirits who may be sighted at the time, and I've seen that one record has referred to this spirit as 'Lady Beth'. It's important to note that due to the lack of information on this spirit, it could be the same spirit as Florrie.
A Little Boy
There are a couple of accounts of a little boy being seen within the Red Lion. There is one who runs around the pub very fast that is seen often. This particular one is sometimes seen with a little girl, and is sometimes seen in the girl's toilets.
A Little Girl
The only information I have on this little girl is that she's often seen with the little boy mentioned previously.
Two Children
I really wasn't sure if I should have the boy, the girl, and then children all as seperate categories or to combine them into one. These children in particular are the ones in the Avenue Room. Apparently two children, I'm unsure of gender, have been seen cowering in the corner of this room. It's speculated that they're frightened of Lady Beth as it seems from my research that they are often seen with her. These two children have also been seen playing together on the landing. These two children could very well be the boy and girl mentioned earlier, but as there are no references to gender, and these two seem to be connected to Lady Beth and the Avenue room, there isn't any particular link between these children and the boy and girl mentioned earlier.
Private Room Male
There is account of a male spirit who stands beside the beds in the Private Room.
Private Room Female
There is account of a female spirit who also stands beside the beds in the Private Room.
Phantom Carriage
Horses hooves have been heard a number of times on the cobbles outside the pub, but with no horse drawn carriage in sight. The phantom carriage is even said to be a harbinger of death. There is a story where some friends of the innkeepers during 1893, Mr and Mrs Neath, heard the sound of a coach arriving a number of times in the evening when visiting. The friends, Mrs Spackman and her husband, never saw a coach. Another account of this coach comes from Mrs Bathe in 1968, and she said that the coach had been heard but never seen.
The Headless Horseman
This one contradicts accounts of the carriage, so I doubt this one is legitimate. It's said that when the carriage arrives, a headless horseman arrives with it. The issue here is that if the carriage has never been seen, only heard, then how do people know the horseman has no head?
A Farmer
It's said that before 1802, so back when the inn was a farmhouse, the farmer who owned the house helped outlaws by letting them stay in the cellar. The outlaws, for an unknown reason, murdered the farmer and he has since been seen holding a knife.
A Local Male Murder Victim
This one is like the non-specific children. It's said that a local man was murdered in the cellar, and that he haunts it, but I can't help but wonder if this is just someone's take on the farmer story given the connections between the cellar and murder.
A Waiter
The spirit of a waiter has been seen standing at tables, but disappears if you speak to him.
An Old Fashioned Man
A man dressed in old fashioned clothing has been seen sitting at the bar.
Other Activity
Some other activity has also been experienced at the Red Lion. Orbs have been seen, people have been touched by unseen hands, there have been sudden and extreme temperature drops, and feelings of discomfort through the building. It's also often unusually cold in the Private Room with sudden temperature drops occuring in there.
Manager Quotes
I've found that a manager of the Red Lion, Ryan Rawal, has been interviewed by Wiltshire Live about the hauntings. He's worked in the pub for eight years, although it's important to mention that the pub has capitalised on the hauntings in the past through a TV advert that showed faked paranormal activity play out on unaware customers, so what he says may not all be completely true.
"I've seen things in the bar which can't be explained. I once saw someone waiting in the queue. I was the only person serving at the time and there was a bit of a rush on. There were three or four people at the bar waiting, including a man dressed in tweed. I told them all it wouldn't be long, and when the queue went down the man in tweed had disappeared. I asked around if anyone had seen a man dressed in period drama dress - which isn't that unusual here - but no one had seen him."
Rawal has also said that he's heard a loud knock on his door at 3am, and that a brass lion's head in the main entrance room sometimes changes position. He's also said in the upstairs guest room, at the front of the building, he's heard the sound of two children laughing and giggling. He's also heard the same in the cellar.
A Dubious Photo
It's important to say an investigation team, Paranormal Site Investigators, investigated the Red Lion back in 2004 and caught the image featured above, and that an online source swears by the legitimacy of this image. I've asked people I know and they, like myself, think it's a faked image. A BBC article discussing the investigation say, right at the end of their article, that a number of specialist groups can't verify the legitimacy of the image with many claiming it has been digitally enhanced. The image, however, was used on the cover of articles, including the online one by the BBC.
Summary of Activity
1. A number of different apparitions
2. Children's laughter/giggling
3. Horse and carriage audio
4. 3am knock on door
5. Orbs
6. Touching
7. Temperature drops
8. Feelings of discomfort
9. Chandeliers move untouched
10. Brass lion's head changes position
My Thoughts
The Red Lion pub in Avebury is very interesting to me for a number of reasons. It's pretty much right in the middle of the largest stone circle in Europe, it's above a natural water source, plus a body was thrown down the well into that water source. The location has many landmarks around it tied to ancient festivals, plus burial mounds, and within the pub there are a number of extremely lifelike apparitions sighted.
When researching the pub, I was very surprised at the balance of information I found. I couldn't find much on the building, but I could find a fair bit about the hauntings. This, plus the lack of detail on some hauntings, leads me to think some of these hauntings may be fabricated, and that others may be the same haunting which people have made sound like it's different. I think the headless horseman is likely untrue as this leans too far into horror cliche and I found very little information on it, but I do think the phantom coach is something people have experienced.
I think there is likely just one boy child and one girl child in the building, and I wouldn't be surprised if 'Lady Beth' was Florrie. I also wouldn't be surprised if the man who was murdered in the cellar was the farmer. I was very surprised that not much activity has been cited outside of apparitions. There's your standard orbs, touching, discomfort, and temperature drops, but not much variety in audio or visual phenomena. It's also very interesting to me that the apparitions aren't bits of people, or translucent, they're fully fleshed out beings people have mistaken for being alive.
I suspect there is a connection between the strength of the activity and the location. I think Florrie is likely the strongest spirit present, and seems to be from what I've written she can do I feel this is because her body is within a natural water source that lies in the middle of a sacred site. In religion, and mythology, there are a fair few connections between the spirit, death, and water. I'm still working on the theory, and need to look into possible connections between natural water sources and the paranormal, but I really think these details have helped to preserve Florrie's spirit and keep it as strong as it is. I will do a post fully fleshing out this theory at some point next year, so keep your eyes out for that whenever it may be.
Regardless of the quantity of spirits present here, from what I've researched I would certainly expect for the Red Lion to show some very promising activity whenever investigated. I also think it's reputation for being one of the most haunted pubs is warranted due to how powerful these spirits seem to be.
Thank you very much for reading to the end of this post, and a special thank you to Damain and everyone who wishes to remain anonymous for your fantastic support towards The True Paranormal! It is very much so appreciated. If anyone wishes to follow The True Paranormal, you can do so through Facebook, X (formerly known as twitter), Tumblr, YouTube, or you can recieve email notifications by subscribing directly to this blog for free. If you wish to contact me with any questions or suggestions, then you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com
Sources I Have Used
31. BBC: PSI Report
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