I can't believe no one has written in about the Black Lion in Babell. The place is haunted from top to bottom. The staff used to complain about the ghost tipping the mixer bottles but not letting them fall and smash behind the bar. The ladies also used to complain about having their bottoms smacked in the toilets - the lights were on timers which were too short for your trip! - and bar staff and customers were often smacked.
Its owners were well aware of the goings on and even their daughter when she was small used to regularly ask why did the lady come to sit on her bed at night. There were also rumours of Roman soliders marching through the cellars.
My parents had a couple of spooky experiences there. My dad was home from working abroad and holding court at the bar with his mates when he saw a face appear in an iron mask decoration above the bar. Just as he cried out 'there's a face', his glass shattered in a straight line across the bar. Not the stem just the bulb of the glass.
Florence the landlady immediately offered drinks all round and cleared up. There were, of course, the jokes about having too much to drink and imagination etc but my dad was pretty shaken by it and as he had just got there - he hadn't drunk much at all.
About a week later he persuaded my mum to go out for a drink to the Black Lion. Mum was very nervous and didn't want to go so after a couple of hours she was waiting on her own for my dad to finish his good byes and sitting opposite the side door to the car park. The door handles turned and rattled as if someone was coming in and then pushed open and pushed again over the bit of floor where it got stuck.
Mum was opposite looking and expecting someone she knew to be there but there was no one. She screamed and if nothing else it meant my dad didn't keep her waiting long. She was shaken up for months and wouldn't go back. There are many other stories but perhaps others should write in and tell them. 
your comments
J Hughes
My family are from Babell, just down the lane fron the Black Lion, my father also came home with the tale of an American banging on the door of the Black Lion. Also, we have had a few strange sightings on the lane, including a 7ft man in Victorian clothing. May have been an ancestor of ours that used to hide his beer in the hedge after being to the Black.
Mon Jan 26 08:48:26 2009
Maeve, Wednesbury
My dad owned a pub, the Black Horse, Old Park Road. We moved in in the '70s and mom was never comfortable there. She died in 1976 and left my dad a widower. My brother and his wife eventually took over and lived there with him. They were eventually offered a pub in Wales but needed to take over the tenancy before their tenancy ran out at The Black Horse so dad offered to stay on to finish it for them. The upstairs flat was completely empty except for dad's room but it didn't bother him and he had our large labrador dog to keep him company. "Brandy" never left my dad's side. One morning about 3am dad woke to hear every door in the corridor of the flat outside his bedroom door slam one after the other. He immediately got out of bed, opened the door but saw nothing. He turned to call Brandy and saw he was standing stock still, growling and every hair on his back was standing up. Dad called him and set off to investigate but the dog would not move. Dad searched the whole pub alone and found no one at all and all the doors locked. Dad didn't believe in ghosts but this episode really unnerved him.
Wed Jun 25 09:00:33 2008
Mr T Jones, Holywell,
I knew the owners quite well and often asked about the stories, which abound the place, she told me many that happened over the years, but it was upstairs that scared her the most, and the cleaning ladies. As well as the room up the small steps to the right of the bar.
Tue Mar 25 10:21:02 2008
Keith Williams
Ewloe castle and Wepre woodlands for ghost hunting.
Tue Feb 12 16:49:56 2008
A Local
There is definitely a change in the atmosphere when you enter the room to the right of the bar, maybe I should visit the toilets next time!
Wed Dec 12 13:58:33 2007
Slawson
Many strange things go on around there.
Tue Oct 16 09:27:34 2007
A ghost hunter
Good place for ghost hunting: Wepre Woods and Ewloe Castle. There are other places on Deeside that are haunted - Farfield Hall, Old Drill Hall, Wepre Hall, Kesterton Hall.
Tue Sep 4 09:54:23 2007
Colgrave
Richard - there are many stories about the Black Lion and I am surprised there aren't more on here about them. Have you ever heard anything about the white quarries in Pantasph? It was somewhere we used to sneak off to play in and there could be up to 12 or more of us kids but then we'd all decide it was time to go home for no good reason. We'd feel like we were being 'watched' and even on a summer's day it could be the most eerie place.
Fri Aug 25 11:05:49 2006
Richard Holland, Mold
Last year I heard another very interesting story about the Black Lion. A former policeman told me that one night in the early 1970s the Holywell station received a phonecall from the anxious landlord, complaining that someone with an American accent was hammering on the front door and demanding entrance; he sounded very distressed and kept crying 'Help me! Help me!' The policeman was nonplussed. 'Well, why don't you let him in and see if you can help him?' he asked. 'Because,' replied the landlord, 'we're upstairs looking out of the window and there's nobody out there!' Even down the line the cop could hear the thumping and yelling. He and a colleague drove out to investigate because the landlord was so upset. By the time they arrived, the noises had ceased. The landlord confirmed that they had gone on for some time and whoever was making them had to have been invisible - it was a ghost. My informant told me that both he and his colleague were conscious of a weird, unnerving atmosphere around the pub when they each had a scout round. As far as he knows, the eerie event never occurred again. No explanantion was ever forthcoming for the origin of the ghost, if such it was. Do readers have any idea?
Mon Aug 21 11:33:39 2006
Colgrave
Robert - the pub has changed hands a couple of years ago but was owned by the same people for at least 30 years. Why not visit and ask the new landlord about its history. Next time I go home I might make my husband come out for a drink there ...
Mon Aug 7 07:54:25 2006
Ryan Roberts, Llay, Wrexham
That's enough to send chills up anyone's spine, that's a cracker of a story (no pun intended) well go check it out myself one day, every pub is haunted or people claim it to be haunted, and why shouldn't they? It's not good unless it has a truly regular inside, nothin better than telling a story of ghosts or spirits while knocking a couple back aye.
Thu Jul 20 09:21:02 2006
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