Brighton Journal's round-up of local ghosts names the phantom of the Black Lion as Deryck Carver, a local Protestant who was burned in a barrel of pitch in 1555 in the reign of Mary I. He is said to be met occasionally in the pub cellar and attic. The year is the date given by the writer; the pub is named as the place the ghost is met, not where he died.
A separate tradition, repeated by a Brighton ghost-tour company, calls the pub and its neighbouring lane the home of the Amorous Apparition, a spirit known for embracing visitors from behind with nobody there. No dated sighting or named witness is given for it.
The Black Lion sits at the centre of the Lanes' ghost geography, close to where the Blue Nun is most often reported, and the stories tend to overlap in tour patter. The two Black Lion stories rest on one local article and one tour-company page, so the entry is honestly tagged traditional rather than documented.
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