The Phantom of the Fleur De Lys Room

Room 10 at The Mermaid Inn, known as the Fleur De Lys, has produced one of the inn’s most remarkable sightings. Two witnesses watched a man appear through one wall, walk across the room, and disappear through the opposite wall, as though doors existed where solid masonry now stands.

The Legend

The Mermaid Inn has been rebuilt, extended and modified over the course of nearly nine centuries. Doorways have been bricked up, walls have been added, and rooms have been divided or combined. The figure seen in Room 10 appears to follow a route that predates the current layout of the building, walking through walls that were once open passages.

The Hauntings

A bank manager and his wife were staying in Room 10 when they both witnessed a man walk through the bathroom wall, cross the room in front of them, and pass through the wall on the opposite side. The figure moved with purpose, following a straight path as though walking along a corridor that no longer exists in the building’s current configuration. He did not acknowledge the guests or deviate from his route. The experience was witnessed simultaneously by both occupants of the room.

Witness Accounts

The account is strengthened by the fact that two people saw the same thing at the same time. The bank manager and his wife both described an identical sequence of events: a figure emerging from the bathroom wall, crossing the room, and vanishing into the far wall. Neither was asleep. Neither had consumed alcohol. The professional standing of the witnesses, combined with their corroborating testimony, gives this account particular weight among the many reports at The Mermaid Inn.

Investigation and Evidence

The phenomenon of figures walking through walls is well documented in buildings that have undergone structural changes over centuries. The Mermaid Inn, with its layers of construction dating from the 12th century onwards, contains numerous blocked doorways, sealed passages and altered room layouts. The figure in Room 10 may be following a route that existed in an earlier version of the building, unaware that the architecture has changed around him. This type of haunting is consistent with a residual imprint, a recording of a repeated journey that replays regardless of the current physical environment.

This ghost story is part of the haunted history of The Mermaid Inn.