‘Haunted’ pub near Taunton seeks eighth landlord in 16 years

Visitors to the Blue Ball Inn in Triscombe have reported witnessing ghostly shadows and freak weather events at the rural watering hole. 

The 18th century pub has on average seen a new landlord every two years since 2008 and now appears to be unoccupied since plans to convert the building and associated cottages into holiday accommodation fell through. 

To the North of the 400-year-old Blue Ball Inn is the so-called Dead Woman’s Ditch, an ancient earthwork of unknown origin, which in recent times has been used by murderers to dispose of their victim’s bodies. 

Due East from the gruesome gravesite is the Great Wood, which might be associated with historic activity by the Druids, a class of ‘magical’ priests in Celtic culture. 

And nearby lies the Triscombe Stone, an historic meeting point along the road between a smuggler’s cove and the seaside town of Lyme Regis. 

The 18th century pub has averaged a new landlord every two years since 2008. (Image: Mario Laghos/Tindle /SWNS)

Caroline McKendrick, lead investigator for Somerset Paranormal Investigators and contributor to Haunted Magazine, said: "We don’t believe in curses, personally, that’s not our belief system.

"Curses are in the mind of the person receiving it, they are strong religious belief systems. The mind is a powerful thing, and this is how these voodoo juju situations arise.

“There’s nothing majorly historical for that area to have caused that problem.”

She added: “It is not far from Watchet, so it is possible the pub was used for smuggling or something like that. 

"If people are coming from the coast along the old drover’s road that would bring them past the pub. 

“Dead Woman’s Ditch is quite close, and some hold the belief that if a spirit dies suddenly, it can be trapped in the area.”

Ms McKendrick and her partner, Martin Gibson, visited the site with a toolkit of scientific environmental instruments but said their findings were unremarkable. 

Equipped with a thermal imaging camera and a TriField meter, the pair examined the pub for paranormal activity. 

Their environmental detection instrument, or EDI, registered higher than expected levels of EMF, however, the pair said this "could be due to old electric lines running into the pub".

Commenting on reports of shadowy figures spotted standing at the bar, Mr Gibson said: “When you think it is a 400-year-old pub there have been thousands of visitors over all those years. 

"It could be residual energy from past patrons echoing through time.”

But the only "remarkable" finding was when the investigators measured the pub’s heat signature, and found a building at the heart of the pub complex was colder than the other buildings by a few degrees.

Ms McKendrick said: “If the new landlord has any complaints we would recommend a full investigation, which we would be happy to help with.”

Patrons have previously described how the temperature would suddenly drop, before a bank of mist would roll in and an "elongated shadow of a person" could be seen standing at the bar. 

The paranormal investigators said they didn't know if the pub was the victim of an “intelligent haunting” as they'd not stepped foot into the pub, and said it was possible visitors were feeling the effect of residual hauntings.

Ms McKendrick added: “We think the pub failed as it is just off the beaten track and they’re not getting enough custom, we wouldn’t know if it is haunted as we haven’t stepped foot inside.” 

The owner of the building, Grant Fowler, has now put the pub on the market for £650,000 a year freehold or to lease for £50,000, following a High Court decision to quash his holiday let plans.