The Ancient Ram Inn, a twelfth century dwelling house in the village of Wotton-under-Edge, is known as one of the most haunted houses in England. Its proprietor, one John Humphries, first moved in with his family in 1968 when the inn was scheduled for demolition.
[UPDATE – John Humphries passed away in 2017 ~ Ed.] John mounted a rigorous campaign to restore the inn, and eventually succeeded to a degree. But the Ram Inn as it stands today has little in common with the many olde-worlde public houses which have been ‘historically restored’ by breweries and managing agents. No longer licenced as an inn, its owner, who lives on the premises but refuses to sleep in the inn itself, delights in showing curious visitors the many strange artifacts and relics which have been found within its crumbling walls, and regaling them with (true) tales of the inn’s ghostly history. According to John Humphries’ daughter Caroline paranormal activity is still being reported and recorded at the Ancient Ram Inn, which now regularly crops up in the national press.
It is certainly the case that in recent years the Ancient Ram Inn has become a focus of attention for ghost hunters and paranormal research groups, so much so that these days it even has an entry on Tripadvisor! The B.P.O.S. first began making enquiries about the inn in the mid-1990s, and have carried out two major investigations there, first around Hallowe’en 1998, with Ross Gage and other members of the Sheffield Paranormal Society, and again in early November 2002, with Wayne Pickrell and his colleagues from the Wolverhampton-based Black Country Paranormal Society. One of the peculiarities of The Ram Inn is its seeming lack of shyness when it comes to obtaining photographic evidence of the paranormal. Indeed, we were not disappointed in this regard on either of our vigils.
More disturbing, however, was the effect that this seemingly living building, situated on the nexus of two ley lines, had upon some of the investigators. As you can read in the following reports, whilst most experienced extreme feelings of sickness and negativity, one member even had the experience of (in front of witnesses) being violently knocked over by an unseen force. Well they do say to be careful what you wish for!
I do hope that the following articles will be of interest to Ram Inn enthusiasts. And do feel free to contact the B.P.O.S. with any of your own experiences; reader submissions are always welcome. For now, David.
