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Hey all, thanks for joining me for this latest episode of our haunted pub
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room. We're still in Wales and we're in the north this time. Just me tonight,
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and I'll be covering off two pubs, the star in and the goat in. Hope you're
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enjoying this revisit to our pub crawl. If you are, please drop us a
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subscribe, drop us a follow. If you like what we're doing and what we talk about on
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our podcast, we're now over five years deep, 350 odd episodes in, going to go
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catching this now, drop us a review, drop us a follow, share this out that
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really helps us. So now let's move in to the first pub. And this time I'm going to
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be talking about the star in. Now this pub is in north Wales this time. We
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were down south before and the historic market town of Ruthen,
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standing inside a pub that has been serving ale since 1639.
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This is the star in a grade two listed building that has watched nearly four
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centuries of Welsh history pass through its doors,
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low beams, thick stone walls, uneven floors, the kind of place that feels like it
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remembers things. But what makes this pub different
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is just not its age, it's what stands directly opposite it.
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Across the road is Ruthen jail, a former prison that operated
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from the 1600s until 1916. Men, women and even children winged
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carcerated there. Punishments were brutal by modern standards and in at least
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one documented case final. In 1903 a man named William Hughes was
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hanged at the jail for the murder of his wife. That execution is a matter of
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record, not legends, not folklore, but printed in newspapers and
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preserved in legal archives. When you sit in the star in the
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front room and look out of the window, you are looking straight at a place
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that held suffering, violence and death for centuries.
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Now here's where it shifts from history to something harder to explain.
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Recently the pub has made national headlines when the landlady captured
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a photograph inside the bar that many believe shows the supernatural
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presence. In the image, and I'll pop it up on the screen now,
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behind some customers, there appears to be a swirling
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mislight formation. It isn't a clean human figure,
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it isn't a clear face. It's more like a dense, smoky distortion darker
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than it's around an hour, although it's almost like a white smoke.
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With what some observers claim resembles a vague facial shape forming within it.
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Others describe it as horned, others have called it shadow manifesting
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out of nothing. Skeptics argue it could be
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lighting, compression artefact, smoke or lens reflection,
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believers say the density and shape are too deliberate.
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But what makes this image compelling isn't just a visual anomaly,
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it's the fact that it was taken by somebody works there in a location
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already known locally for strange activity. It wasn't the stage ghost hunt,
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it was a normal night in a pub that has seen 380 years of human emotion.
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Following the photo, a formal power and almost investigation team
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visited the star in. During their time inside, they reported unexplained
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flickering lights despite no identified electrical fault.
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EMF meters allegedly spiked without obvious source.
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In the spirit box session, when asked who was present,
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a voice reportedly came through saying, I am horrible.
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That phrase alone is enough to send a shiver down your spine.
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Whether you believe in spirit communication or think is
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parodolia in radio noises, but it doesn't end there.
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Staff have spoken about cold spots that don't
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split, stay in one place, but seem to move across rooms.
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Glassware is fallen from shells without contact.
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Patrons have described a distinct sensation of someone standing directly
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behind them, close enough to feel. Only to turn and find nothing there,
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not a vague atmosphere of presence.
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And this is where the theory becomes interesting.
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Is the star in haunted in its own right?
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Or is it absorbing something from across the street?
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Ruth and Jail house prisoners are waiting execution to help people
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at their lowest points. Fear, regret, anger, despair.
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If you subscribe to the idea that places can imprint
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emotional energy, then a prison operating for over 250 years
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would be saturated with it. And the star in has stood opposite that energy
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since the 17th century. Some believe spirit prefer warmth,
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light and human presence, not cold empty cells.
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If someone lingered, would it remain in the jail?
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Or cross the road to a pub where laughter, conversation,
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and life continue night after night?
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The mist image is what brought national attention,
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but the ongoing reports are what sustain the legend.
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And whether you view it as residual energy, intelligent haunting,
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environmental contamination from a historically traumatic site.
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Or simply a trick of the light, there is something
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undeniably heavy about drinking in a place that has overlooked
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centuries of justice, punishment and final moments.
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So tonight, as we raise a glass in the star in, ask yourself this.
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When you feel someone watching, is it just the atmosphere of history?
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Or is there something here that never quite checked out?
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So now we head deep to the half-snodonia to a village that
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already feels like it belongs to legend, nestled between mountain
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rivers and dense woodland, lies bedgillert.
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A famous place for one of Wales's most tragic stories,
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the tale of Gellert, the faithful dog, but just the short work
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from that legendary grave sits another place steeped in history and mystery.
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The goat inn. The goat inn is stood in this village since the 18th century,
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originally operating as a coach in him for travellers
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crossing the rugged mountain routes of north Wales.
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In those days, the journey through Snowdoni was not an easy one,
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roads were rough, weather could turn in minutes,
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and travellers often arrived exhausted, cold and sometimes injured.
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Inns like this were not just pubs, they were safe havens,
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a place to warm up beside the fire, take shelter from storms and rest
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before continuing the journey through the mountains.
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But places that see centuries of travellers also collect centuries of stories.
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Over the years, guests and staff at the goat inn have reported a number of strange
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experiences, many of which seem to centre around the pubs main fireplace.
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Several witnesses have described seeing a man standing near the half
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late at night. A figure is usually described as tall,
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dressed in dark clothing and completely silent.
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What makes these sightings unsettling is that the figure
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appears solid at first, almost like a regular person standing by the fire.
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Until the witness looks again and realises that nobody else should be there.
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In some cases the figure is simply furnished.
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One staff member reportedly described walking through the bar after closing time
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and seeing what they thought was a guest standing quietly by the fireplace,
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assuming someone had wandered in late, they turned away for a moment to check
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behind the bar. When they look back, the man was gone,
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no sound of footsteps, no door opening, nothing.
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The activity isn't limited to the bar either, guests standing in the room above the pub
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have reported here in footsteps moving slowly along the corridor layer night.
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The footsteps that are often described as deliberate, almost like someone pacing.
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In several accounts, the footsteps have stopped directly outside the bedroom door,
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close enough for guests to feel as though someone is standing there on the other side.
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There were also reports of cold patches forming in certain areas of upstairs hallway,
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guests walking down the corridor have described suddenly stepping into a pocket of cold air
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that seems completely out of place in an otherwise worn building.
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Sometimes the chill appears to move as though whatever is causing it isn't staying in place.
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And when you consider the history of the location is easy to see why these stories have grown over
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the years, the pub has stood through centuries of travellers, storms, celebrations, arguments,
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and quiet nights in the mountains, thousands of people have passed through its doors,
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each bringing their own stories, emotions and experiences with them.
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In places like Snowdonia where the landscape itself feels ancient and powerful,
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the line between creaking building, history and folklore can sometimes blur.
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Are these sighting simply tricks of the mind or an old building creaking?
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Or is it the atmosphere of centuries old in playing with our expectations?
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Or could something from the past still linger in the warmth of the fireplace long after the
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travellers it once served have gone? Whatever the explanation that go in remains one of those places
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where history feels close, perhaps a little closer than you might expect when you sit down to drink
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by the fire. So if you ever find yourself in big alert, raise a glass in this coaching in,
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just remember, if you catch someone standing quietly by the fireplace, it might just not be another