The Skirrid Mountain Inn
The Skirrid Mountain Inn is located in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. The locals of this area say that at the moment of Jesus’ death, a bolt of lighting came down and struck the peak of Monmouthshire mountain that stands at 1,600 feet into two halves. Currently, this mountain is now called Skirrid Mountain, and at the base of the mountain is the Skirrid Mountain Inn. Amongst other things, the inn contains one of the oldest pubs in all of the United Kingdom. The first written records of the building go all the way back to 1104 C.E., and the building may even be older than that for all we know.
The building served as a place to get drinks and food, a courthouse, a place for town meetings, and a place where executions took place. A beam that is displayed by the main stairwell is a witness to 182 people that were killed by the hangman’s rope over the years. The person would stand on a lower step as the rope was tied around the neck. There was not that much room to the floor, therefore the death wasn’t immediate due to the snapping of the neck. Most of the people who were killed were slowly suffocated to death. This building has been known to be quite haunted for a long time.
The most dominating presence at the inn is the spirit of Landlady Fanny Price. Fanny died of consumption in the smallest bedroom in the inn sometime in the early 1800s. She died along with her immediate family who owned the house then, and they were all buried in the churchyard that isn’t too far down the road from the inn. Her apparition has been seen walking around the pub at night. The spirit of Henry Price is also seen pretending to be a soldier as he marches on the cobbles outside. He has also been known to bang on the chimney breasts in an effort to scare away the guests.
Glasses are always flying off the shelves behind the bar. Approximately ten to fifteen glasses are broken every week due to this phenomena. On one night, eight patrons at the pub witnessed an event that they would never forgot. Apparently, paper bills with coins on top traveled along the entire length of the bar and even hovered in mid-air for a second before dropping to the floor. Three guest rooms upstairs have had reported paranormal experiences as well, including one night a man was kept up all night by the toilet paper roll in the bathroom that kept spinning. Photos that are taken at the pub or by the stairwell portray orbs and misty figures.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
