Iron Duke - Anecdotal Evidence
Local accounts
"I was in the ladies a couple of months ago, when I distinctly heard the door open then close again like someone had walked in. When I came out ofthe cubicle I was in, there was nobody but me in the toilets. I thought nothing of it and washed my hands - it was only when I looked up that I realised that the ladies door was open and was staying open."
(The ladies toilet door does not stay open on its own as has a spring hinge. Unless wedged open, it will close automatically)
Local in The Iron Duke
"I lived in room X upstairs for 18 months and I had a very strange thing happen to me and it happened about 3 or 4 times whilst I was there. I would wake up in the morning and feel like there was someone lying next to me. I could feel their arm over me and the depression in the bed by my side. It was alarming at first, but I wasn’t frightened. It actually felt quite calming, and then it would be gone... just like that. I was told once that a chambermaid was murdered in my room, so that could have been it."
Kevin, ex resident in The Iron Duke
"I am quite often kept awake by a shadow in the alcove of my bedroom and I have had some 'apparition' sit down on the end of my bed."
Ian, resident in The Iron Duke
"Once when I was coming back up the stairs from the cellar, I got that horrible feeling that someone was behind me, I had tingles running all down my back and I had to run away from the area as fast as I could. I always felt watched."
Former barmaid at The Iron Duke
"I have been drinking here on and off for about ten years and I have heard many stories on the place being haunted. The only thing that I found really strange was that when I used to bring my dog in here he would stare at the back wall all the time, like he was watching something. He would bark at the wall too.". (This lady pointed out the exact spot by the back wall that other people had noticed a cold spot)
Local at The Iron Duke
Other Research
Here are some other stories we heard but they are all second or third hand accounts:
Several stories of cold spots near or around the piano area.
People have seen a ghostly ginger cat sat on the old bar top in the back room (pool room).
The housekeeper has seen a figure of a little boy on the back stairs more than once.
The landlord said he’d heard that the magistrates used to meet in the bar upstairs and they quite possible used the three chambers in the cellar as holding cells.
We also were told that there are rumours of a second tunnel, possibly used for smuggling, in addition to the tunnel that leads to St Andrews.
Various members of staff have said that there is a very nasty presence in the back left hand side of the cellar. Also a previous staff member, a self confessed sceptic, said that he always felt very uncomfortable going into the cellar.
A local Ghost Walks guide had felt a heavy hand on his shoulder as he stood at the bar. He now refuses to stand in that spot again.
Mediums View
Presence of an old man that has visited or possibly been a resident on the top two floors. He has walking issues and is stronger on one leg than the other. Possibly owned a sheep dog or a similar breed. Stayed in room 8, or the location of room 8.
Presence of a lady, possibly named Elizabeth or Sarah, in or around her forties looking out of a window. Stayed in the hotel around the area of room 2. She is looking out of the window for her husband or lover, who was connected with the area, who went out to a meeting but never returned. The man she is looking for possibly had underworld connections.
Presence of a large man in the cellar. He has an intimidating appearance with staring eyes.
Presence of a lady that had a miscarriage or an abortion around the sixties, either in the building or somewhere connected to it. She was having an affair with someone she shouldn't have been.
Presence of an old man who sits in the window area of the bar. He also stands next to the piano and the chairs in the window bay on the right of the bar.
Presence of a young gay man that has some connection with the location that was stabbed.
Possible second tunnel to the south wall (not the St. Andrews one).
Presence of a man who was stabbed outside the building. Although he didn't die there, he did die later that year when he was beaten in his home in the same street.
