On a moonlit night, when all is still, how can any earthly person explain the sound of horses' hooves and the metal rims of wheels turning on the rough cobbles of the courtyard? Yet there is nothing to be seen!
Who can explain the uneasy footsteps heard pacing the corridors in the dead of night? Who is the strange man in a tricorne hat and cloak who appears and then walks through solid doors?
Previous managers of Jamaica Inn have heard conversations uttered in a foreign tongue. Could this be the Cornish language?
For years there have been many stories of hauntings at Jamaica Inn and recently the Ghost Society has made in-depth investigations and compiled a report based on their findings. The areas of substantial interest to the investigation were, The Smuggler's Bar, The Stable Bar, the restaurant and upstairs in bedroom four.
Murder at the Inn
Many years ago, a stranger stood at the bar enjoying a tankard of ale. Upon being summoned outside, he left the half finished ale and stepped out into the night. That was the last time he was seen alive. The next morning his corpse was found on the bleak moor but the manner of his death and the identity of his assailant still remain a mystery.
Previous landlords, upon hearing footsteps tramping along the passage to the bar, believe it is the dead man's spirit returning to finish his drink.
In 1911 there was much interest and correspondence in the press concerning a strange man who had been seen by many people, sitting on the wall outside the Inn. He neither spoke nor moved nor acknowledged a greeting but his appearance was uncannily like the murdered stranger.
Could this be the dead man's ghost? And what strange compulsion drove it to return to the same spot so often?
Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:08 pm