The Mermaid Inn, Rye

HISTORY AND HAUNTINGS OF THE MERMAID INN.

This inn is reputedly one of the most haunted in the whole of England. With parts of the building dating back to the mid-12th Century and once frequented by smugglers, the Mermaid has a long and rich history; perhaps ghostly associations are only to be expected.

Modern guests have reported seeing people walk through the walls, having their clothes rearranged by a ghostly figure of a woman being awoken by a man dressed in old-fashioned clothes sitting on their bed in the middle of the night.

The inn was once famously the location for a ghost watch, arranged by a local psychic in the early years of the last Century. The then landlord and assembled watchers are said to have witnessed a vicious ghostly duel culminating in the victor running his opponent through with his rapier, before hiding the body and fleeing into the dawn. As well as the periodic re-enactments of this fight, there are other phantom duellists, a Grey Lady and the ghost of a servant girl supposedly killed by a smuggler for speaking too freely about his illicit activities.