The haunted Chichester pub where everything is not all as it seems

The Royal Oak is a popular, bustling and elegant 18th-century establishment on the foothills of the South Downs, but it was in the 1950s when the pub started capturing the public attention.

Rumours spread of sightings and noises, with some talking of a bearded man appearing in the back rooms or climbing the stairs during the evening. There were also reports of a woman in white visible in one of the upper floor windows.

One example of this came from Wilfred Miles, who moved to The Royal Oak as the licensee in the 1950s and quickly encountered an apparition of a man with a thin beard, as did his two sons, who saw the man sitting on their bed at night. This bedroom had a reputation of being haunted by a male figure prior to the Miles family moving in.

Naturally, the pub grew in popularity, with ghost hunters and paranormal investigators filling the bar, desperate to glimpse the grey ghoul and the witchy woman.

However, this now looks to have all been made up by a young girl.

The story goes that in the late 1940s, there were a few public houses in East Lavant, and there was a rivalry between them. In a bid to generate more custom for the Royal Oak, Marjorie, the daughter of landlord and landlady James and Lillian Pafford, made up a grey man and a woman in a white dress who stood at the foot of her bed.

The story spread like wildfire, and soon others claimed to have seen a ghost or knew someone who had done so.

Marjorie kept her ghost secret for many decades until she was elderly, when she told her daughter the truth.

Despite Marjorie’s confession, stories of ghosts at the picturesque pub still prevail. One anonymous commenter on Tumblr described their story: “I moved from New Zealand to Chichester in 1998 to play rugby. I got a job at The Royal Oak in East Lavant, working for Steve (the proprietor). He was the chef at the time. He asked me to move in. I went out. I bought a new bed and furniture and moved in.

“On the first night, when I had finished up, I went upstairs to retire. I fell asleep. In the early hours, I was awakened by what I thought was someone banging his knees into the end of the bed. I was frozen! I could not yell. The feeling of someone standing over me and watching me was the scariest experience I have ever felt.

“At the end of the bed was a window, with a streetlight shining in. There was no one there. The next day I moved out and never returned. It scared me that much. Today, I saw an article about ghosts at the pub. It all just clicked. It gave me the willies again. I am feeling shocked!”