The Skirrid Mountain Inn in the village of Llanfihangel Crucorney, Monmouthshire, claims to be one of the oldest public houses in Wales, with parts of the building dating to the 12th century. It is also one of Britain's most reputedly haunted — a place where the dark history of Welsh justice has left what many believe to be a permanent spiritual imprint.
The inn served as a courtroom during the tumultuous reign of the Welsh prince Owain Glyndŵr in the early 1400s, and local tradition holds that condemned men were hanged from a beam above the staircase. The beam still bears rope marks and indentations consistent with this claim. Over 180 people are said to have been executed at the inn over the centuries, and the weight of that history permeates the building.
Visitors and staff have reported a wide range of phenomena. The most frequently encountered ghost is that of a woman named Fanny Price, said to have died at the inn in the 18th century, whose presence is associated with a sudden drop in temperature and the scent of perfume in empty rooms. Others have reported the sensation of an invisible noose tightening around their necks while climbing the staircase — precisely where the hangings are said to have occurred. Glasses have been seen sliding across the bar of their own accord, doors slam shut in rooms with no draft, and dark figures have been glimpsed on the upper landings. The inn has been investigated by numerous paranormal research teams and featured on several television programmes devoted to haunted locations.