The Green Lady of the Golden Lion

The Golden Lion Hotel in St Ives is home to one of Cambridgeshire’s most famous and enduring supernatural residents: the mysterious Green Lady. First documented in 1893 in the ‘Official Guide to the Great Eastern Railway’, this enigmatic spirit has been captivating guests and staff for well over a century, making her one of the county’s most established paranormal phenomena.

According to witness accounts spanning generations, the Green Lady primarily haunts rooms 12 and 13, though her presence has been felt throughout the upper floors of this historic coaching inn. Her most notorious activity involves a rather intimate form of supernatural mischief - she is known for pulling bedclothes off sleeping guests, often in the dead of night. This startling behaviour has earned her a reputation as one of England’s more mischievous hotel ghosts.

Historical Context and Origins

The identity of the Green Lady remains shrouded in mystery, despite numerous attempts to uncover her origins. Some local legends suggest she may have been connected to Oliver Cromwell, who lived in St Ives from 1631 to 1636. The tale claims she was his mistress who met a tragic end, but this romantic notion lacks any credible historical evidence. As researchers have noted, such stories often emerge from “active local imaginations working with a surfeit of genuine Cromwellian associations” in the area.

What we do know is that the current Golden Lion Hotel stands on a site with a much longer history of hospitality. A modest inn called The Red Lion existed here as early as 1728, later becoming The Golden Lion in 1784. The present building dates to the 19th century, when it was transformed into the town’s premier coaching inn. This rich historical layering provides ample opportunity for spiritual attachments to have formed over the centuries.

Witness Accounts and Phenomena

The Green Lady’s reputation rests on decades of consistent witness testimony. Guests have described encountering a woman in a green dress, sometimes appearing as a full apparition, other times merely sensed as a presence. Her activities extend beyond the infamous bedclothes incident to include:

• Opening and closing doors without explanation
• Ringing bells throughout the hotel
• Creating cold spots in affected rooms
• General poltergeist-like disturbances

The phenomena became particularly well-documented during the 1970s, when multiple instances of paranormal activity were reported. Ornaments would move on their own, doors would swing open and closed, and the mysterious bell-ringing would occur at all hours.

Scientific Investigation

In the early 1970s, the Cambridge University Society for Psychical Research decided to investigate the claims surrounding the Golden Lion’s ghostly inhabitants. Led by researchers equipped with tape recorders and thermometers, the team spent three intensive nights at the hotel, hoping to document any unusual activity.

To their disappointment, the investigators experienced absolutely nothing during their stay. No unexplained sounds, no temperature fluctuations, no moving objects - the hotel remained frustratingly quiet throughout their visit. However, local folklore maintains that as soon as the researchers departed, the supernatural activity resumed with renewed vigour, as if the spirits had been deliberately avoiding detection.

This pattern of evasive behaviour isn’t uncommon in paranormal research, where the very act of scientific observation seems to inhibit supernatural phenomena - a ghostly version of the observer effect.

The Green Lady Today

Despite the skeptical conclusions of formal investigations, reports of the Green Lady’s activities continue to this day, though perhaps with less frequency than in earlier decades. The hotel has embraced its supernatural reputation, and staff remain diplomatic about the various ghostly encounters reported by guests over the years.

Modern visitors to rooms 12 and 13 still occasionally report unexplained disturbances, and the adjacent corridor is said to experience sudden temperature drops and the sensation of being watched. Whether these experiences represent genuine paranormal activity or the power of suggestion influenced by the hotel’s well-established ghostly reputation remains a matter of personal interpretation.

The Green Lady stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of ghost stories in British hospitality. Her century-plus residency at the Golden Lion has made her an integral part of the hotel’s character, ensuring that a stay here offers not just comfortable accommodation, but also a connection to one of Cambridgeshire’s most persistent supernatural mysteries.