Visiting
The Pub is located across the road from Northampton Train Station and is a popular stopping point for Saints Rugby Fans on match days. Most of the time it is a quite local pub for local people. There is a function room and they do sometimes have live music of open nights. Worth a visit.
History – The Ghost Pub
For almost three centuries, ghosts and poltergeists have plagued the Old Black Lion. It is a Second-grade protected building of stone. There is history from 1675 when it locals knew it as the Plasterers Arms. Rebuilt and named the Old Black Lion in 1720, it has recently been investigated by a team of paranormal experts.
Staff and residents have reported footsteps from empty rooms and an ‘evil’ presence. A previous ‘Ghost Detective’ reported incidents of something pulling off bedclothes as guests as they slept, voices in corridors and unseen dogs barking and scratching. In 1892, a proprietor here, Andrew George McRae murdered his mistress, Anne Pritchard and their young child in the pub. He dismembered their bodies and left the remains in a suitcase at a railway station.
The suitcase had the name of his brother’s company on it. The authorities arrested McRae. He later hanged for the double murder. McRae was the last murderer that authorities hanged at Northampton in January 1893. There has been a great deal of paranormal activity at the Old Black Lion over the years, including a child crying and a woman screaming. Black, human shaped figures have manifested upstairs and in the bar.
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