Peter Benner, writing on Sussex ghosts, describes the former King's Head at Cuckfield as enjoying the presence, and the scent, of Geranium Jane. She is described as a housemaid who fell pregnant by the landlord and was killed when he dropped a pot of geraniums on her head.
Benner treats her as one of several sad women ghosts who turn up to those receptive to them, and who are characterised by their clothing or, here, a smell. The detail of the geranium pot is the sort of vivid, symbolic cause of death that often grows in the telling.
No date, landlord's name or inquest has been traced, and the tale reads like a standard moral story of a wronged servant. Benner places it with other sad women ghosts that are characterised by clothing or scent. The pub is described as the former King's Head, so the pin is at village level.
Comments