Playful pub ghost that’s in high spirits!
By Lynn Barlow.
Publicans Roy and Jeannette Lane have discovered that spirits don’t just come in bottles at their coaching inn near Bath. For work at the 250-year-old Lord Nelson in Marshfield has stirred a mischievous spirit of a different kind into action in the kitchen. A loaf of bread, tins of tomatoes, chopping board and boxes have been flying round the former stable block, as the inn’s friendly poltergeist makes itself at home.
And for Mrs Lane, the spirit’s playful antics are becoming quite fun. “It’s as though someone has come into the kitchen. You catch sight of something out the corner of your eye, but when you turn around there’s nothing there,” she said. “It was a bit creepy at first, but there’s really nothing frightening about it after a while.”
The poltergeist always materialises at the same spot, at the top of the cellar stairs. Mrs Lane, who moved to the Lord Nelson almost two years ago, said: “In fact one particular night it was really funny. I was in the kitchen with one of our staff and about five things flew at us in half an hour. They were comin from all over the place and we just stood there laughing and wondering what was going to happen next.”
Her husband Roy was a little sceptical when she related the tale of bread, tomatoes and cardboard boxes flying from shelves, until he experienced the poltergeist himself. Alone in the kitchen one evening a chopping board took flight and travelled ten feet along the room.
And the couple’s teenage daughter Juliette has experienced the ghostly sensation on a number of occasions. The family’s pet dogs have also been aware of mysterious happening. They spent hours trying to catch something at the top of the cellar steps, no one else could see.
The strange goings on began when the Lanes started to renovate the inn and restaurant eight months ago. But former residents at the Lord Nelson agree the spirit’s been around for sometime. “We couldn’t think of having the place exorcised, it’s a friendly poltergeist and just seems to want some attention,” said Mrs Lane.
Western Daily Press, 11th April 1988.