Hauntings

The Barmaid of the Ball Inn

The Ball Inn, Upwell Street, Sheffield

Undated

The Ball Inn stands on Upwell Street in north-east Sheffield. Spooky Isles, which places it in Darnall, gives its address as 23 Upwell Street, S4 8AJ, and says the haunting rests on local lore.

The story is that a young barmaid, abandoned while pregnant, ended her life in the pub. Her restless spirit is said to remain. The article lists glasses crashing from shelves without warning, cold patches in corners, drinkers feeling unseen hands press their shoulders, and sobbing heard upstairs in an otherwise empty pub. It quotes a landlady saying "you just get used to her".

No name, date, inquest or newspaper report for the barmaid is given, and the story follows a pattern found at many British pubs. It is a pub tradition worth recording but there is nothing in the source to confirm that the death happened. The tale involves a suicide, so it is told here briefly and without detail beyond what the source gives.

A working pub if still open; not checked.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open, admission charged
Location
53.406, -1.433 (Sited to the building or field)

Sources: Spooky Isles, "Haunted Sheffield Pubs" [other]

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