We arrived at the location at 23:30hrs to start the Investigation at 01:00hrs, from Abbey Ghost Hunters where Mark, Angie, Tracey, Jazz and Ian, we where joined by Adam the owner, Bar staff Dan, Laura, Louise, and his friend Dave, who has had several experiences in the pub. We were also joined by Jill, who is studying Anthropological studies at Aberdeen University, who wanted to take part in an investigation as part of her coursework.

History: It originally Started out as Great House Farm, it was long known as the Fleece Inn until 1997. The buildings date from around 1610, and its long history has left it with much character. A fight in the early 19th century ended in murder, and a bloodstained hand-print on the stairs believed to be Leathery Coits that could not be erased until part of the old staircase was burnt in the 1970s. It has many ghosts a serving girl murdered being pushed down the stairs breaking her neck, a pregnant prostitute murdered with an axe and its most famous is a ghostly headless coachman, Leathery Coit, who would ride full tilt down Westgate, in a carriage pulled by a similarly headless horse.

23:30hrs we arrived at the pub and met up with Jill and Ian. We sat around until last orders had gone and everyone left. So we started the investigation at a quarter to one in the morning.

0:45hrs We entered the are by the pool table, and where the original farmers fireplace is situated. Once there Angie became aware of a lady present with us. She says she worked here, in a similar role to a chambermaid. She then asks Ian to stand in one corner to the left of the fireplace and asks Tracey to stand in the other corner on the right. As she walks around the table a little she becomes aware of male spirit, who she says is angry, he had an argument once to do with ownership, with her back to Ian she does notice Ian putting his hand on his throat and gently massaging it, when Angie comments about an illness, something to do with the throat area, she turns and sees Ian so asks him why he was doing this. Ian explains he feels his throat is very sore, raspy like, he feels drained and run down as if an illness has come upon him. One that lasted only a couple of months. Angie turns to look towards Jazz and says there is a lady behind him and reaching out to Dave who is on Jazz's left. Angie invites the lady in asking her to join us. Angie says touch the man, meaning Dave as she can see the spirit holding her hand over Dave's arm. Tracey also complains of a sore throat and feels dizzy and she is cold, Angie is also cold but Ian says he is sweating. Angie asks Ian and Tracey to trade places, then she turns and says Catherine, that is the name of the lady near Dave. Dave also tries to encourage Catherine to touch his arm, he says he can feel an incredible weight on his shoulders, he asks her again to reach out to him and touch his arm, but he feels she will not as she does not know him. Just then both Mark and Jazz saw what looked like a figure move in the other room, through the bar. Mark goes to check it out, but no one there. There is also a locked off camera in that room which does not show anything happening prior to Mark entering to check it out. Back by the pool table, and Angie is feeling pain she says is connected to Catherine, Dave is also experiencing some discomfort. They feel it from the back of the neck down to the lower back. Dave says she is saying she wasn't hurt and never was, she often gets mistaken for another spirit who was. It was another who was hurt she explains to Angie. Sam's daughter was hurt. Angie asks what did Sam do, as she felt he was responsible for someone being hurt. Angie then comments on an injury to the stomach area, she feels the daughter died from bleeding within. Dave comments he can hear Catherine saying "she is close" referring to what Angie is picking up on. Angie starts talking about a small barn outside saying the daughter was placed in it. Dave says Catherine is saying to Angie "you know the answer" Angie then says, "Sarah, that's my name, I'm scared and cold" Dave says Catherine is saying "Thank you, Thank you," to Angie, she is so grateful you have got it and said it. Angie says Sam is here with us, (Sam is Sarah's father). Angie explained to us who each of them were, Sam is not happy we are finding out what happened, Sarah was hurt and died as a cause of this, and Catherine was reaching out to Dave for help in this. Angie continues to tell us that Sam had locked Sarah in the small barn, she was hit by him in the stomach, which caused the bleeding as she was pregnant, about 3 or 4 months gone.
At the same time this was happening Ian tells me, he is so cold, he feels like he has been working in the fields all day, and got soaken to the bone, trying to get warm by the fire, but he is freezing. And cannot warm up. Tracey is feeling the same and still has a sore throat and numbness in her back, and felt as though she was ageing quickly. She also says she could hear a woman's voice, but it was not understandable as it sounded very muttered.
Adam asks Angie, is that why you were getting upset, Angie says, yes it was because of what he done to her, he was ashamed and lost his temper. He was an abrupt little man who held no regard for females, she then tells us Sam does not like her (meaning Angie), he is stood directly in front of her trying to shout in her face, he backs off a little and calls her a Harlet in anger and frustration. Angie explains he makes her feel anxious but not too scared. Then she comments "he stinks" Dave says he can smell it too, but no one else can, they both explain it is like manure they can smell, and that he is putting the smell on them to deter them. Dave says it is because you know his dirty secret, he wants to talk at you, not too you. Sam is stood a little away from them now, near the bar. Jazz asks were exactly and goes and stands in the spot where Sam is. Dave says he can feel the negativity from Sam. Angie tries to explain to Adam what kind of person this Sam was, and Adam can smell damp. Louise comments she feels really cold down one leg, she is sat on a stool directly next to where Sam is stood. She explains it is like when a door is open and you feel the cold brush passed you.
Adam asks Angie, does Sam feel threatened in anyway because of the amount of us that are there, both Angie and Dave, say no, it is because his secret is out. Angie and Dave stand next to each other facing Sam. Angie calls out to him, "I know you can hear me, I come here in respect, I would like to talk to you, Can we talk about Sarah" both Angie and Dave take a step back, this is because he does not like being questioned and made a sudden approach to them. Angie says, he just replied," I do not know what you are talking about". So Angie tells him that both Catherine and Sarah are here too, and asks him wouldn't he like her help to get this story out, it needs to be out in the open. She then asks him "why, why did you hurt her" Angie takes another step back as he edges closer still, "You must want some peace, please do not shout at me, it would have been a boy you know" she says. Angie tells us, he trying to push me over, but he cannot, she then says "Sarah is at peace now". It then went quiet for a bit when Angie tells us Sam is weakening and has left us for now.

02:15hrs. We stopped for a break in order to allow everyone to settle down a little and catch some breath.. Dan and Laura were both tired and left.

02:50hrs. We went to the area we called the top bar. As we did Angie commented she was prodded in her back by a spirit man called Joe. She says it is because she is sat in his seat, and he wants it back. He then says to her, "when Jeff/Geoff was here I got away with murder" (not in the literal sense, he means he was allowed to do almost what he wanted) "he left me to do what I wanted, and that lazy cow A" (he spoke about 2 previous barmaids next, so I am withholding their names for obvious reasons and will refer to them as A and B) by now Adam complains of a headache and Tracey is feeling nervous. "A she took money out of the till, I saw her do it, so did that B she did it too, all she ever done was stuff her face with crisps, she was untidy too" Angie says he is now looking at Adam and he points to him and says " You, don't shout too much, I like you. You're okay for Young un". Angie then tells us, how he always had his newspaper to the side of him, so he could pick it up and pretend to read it, but he was really spying on people when he done this. He tells Angie he hated A, he continues by telling her, stuff always went missing one minute then be found elsewhere. He also hopes Adam will stay as he likes him, he then tells Angie about another regular called Murray. "He used to come in and sit there" pointing to the other end of the bar, "he was having a drink one day, and collapsed at the bar, chest pains caused it, he liked a little gamble on the horses too". Angie says, he has backed off for now and she is aware of a little girl running around, her name is Lucy, she is often seen as a ball light, very bright. People catch a glimpse of it, but put it down to a reflection of some sort.
Everything went quiet again so we stopped for another quick break at 03:45hrs.

03:45hrs. Break. Adam had got tired and went to bed.

04:20hrs. We went back near to the pool table area, Angie says she can hear Harry whispering, Jazz comments he heard a noise but thought it was someone trying to whistle. There is also a James, Angie tells us, who was an overseer, who worked on the farm. He got upset when the cooper befriended Charlotte, one of the girls and they eloped. We were distracted by some movement at the end of the bar so we went over to that area and stood for a while to see if anything happened.

04:40hrs. We went back to the top bar area, Angie says she feels as though she has been stabbed, and places her hand on her rib area on hr back. She comments “it was quick, and from behind”. She says someone was attacked, this happened a long, long time ago, and it is repeated over and over again, like a loop in a video recording, the event is often replayed. This is a residual recording. She tells us the victim was a male. But there is confusion as to who the attacker was. She tells us the victim is unsure if his attacker was male or female. It all happened so fast and there were several people present at the time. The attack was for financial gain. The man was carrying a small leather pouch, or purse, and Angie can hear coins rattling around in it. "This is why he was killed, the murderer and accomplices thought there was more money in the bag than there was. They attacked him from behind and all he felt was a sharp pain, that turned to a dull ache quickly and he died". Dave is also feeling the pain and describes it exactly the same as Angie. He then continues to tell Mark that this is what he experiences every time he comes into the pub. He says he went away for two weeks on Holiday and was free from the pain, until he returned home and went into the pub, as soon as he walked in the pain come back, and he has been feeling it all night. He continues by saying he felt the conditions as Angie had, a stabbing, money involved, but he too was confused as to who the murderer was, male or female. Angie then says this took place in the 18th century. Jazz had thought he had seen a man prior to this behind the bar area, and he was dressed in a long leather type coat.
There have always been two murders were the stories have been mixed up, Firstly, most tales refer to Leathery Coit being murdered upstairs, and the story behind the blood stain on the stairs being his, when his body was dragged down, However this is false as Leathery Coit was murdered outside the building, in a barn to the rear of the pub, where he stabled his coach and horse. His Ghost was mainly witnessed outside. As people could hear the wheels and horses hoofs thundering outside the front of the pub, down the passageway, now part of the pub, but was at one time an archway to the rear of the pub. Accompanied by a gust of wind. This story was though to be mid-1800’s but has it’s origin from the 1700’s. He was often witnessed as a headless apparition when actually seen as opposed to being heard. Locals would often comment when they heard a gust of wind, ‘there goes Leathery’.
The second story. Was of a murder in the 19th Century, At the time the Fleece had become somewhat of a rough place. A traveller staying at the Fleece had gone to the market in Elland, and defrauded a local man, but was discovered during the attempt, he was chased back to the Fleece, and as he tried to make his way upstairs he was stabbed in the back, placing his hand over the wound and dropping it to the stair, hence the story of the blood stained hand on the stairs. Which when washed away would re appear! That was until sometime between 1978-1980 I believe it to be, during work in the pub the staircase was destroyed. Now many people go to the newest looking staircase believing it to be the replacement. But the staircase was then actually near the bar! So how many have got that wrong.
So as you can se the stories often get overlapped and told wrongly. And no one knows the real name of Leathery Coit, and it would appear to be a nickname given to the man, How could this name have evolved, we need to look at the meanings of the words to try to understand it further. Coit could mean Quoit (a round flat piece of iron in Olde English or Australian for buttocks) and leathery comes from the drab leather coat he wore. Together they could mean he was fat or round shaped, Hence Leathery Coit, or he had a large backside, and it means simply, Leather Bum !

04:50hrs. We went upstairs to the function room, as we did and stood to observe if anything happened. Angie could hear a child laughing, she says it is a little girl, she is just being playful and means no harm. There is also a woman present who appears to be crying, she had some sort of accident, Angie talks about an argument that took place on the stairs, and realises we had this information from our last visit so withdraws from the story as it has already been covered. She says the room feels full of secrets and has a lot of residual energy left behind, which causes the uneasy feeling people experience up there. Dave comments not many people spend time in that room and he feels the sadness emanating from that room too. Ian says he feels as though he is court! This can be explained as the pub has been used as a court in the past.

05:20hrs. We went back downstairs for a summary of the night, and to allow Mark to explain to the team the connections they had picked up on.
06:00hrs. Finished the investigation and packed up.

MARK's FINAL THOUGHT: The return Investigation was very interesting and we would like to thank Adam for inviting us back.

Copyright warning: All material, information, images, recordings, video and sound are protected by copyright © And is Copyright © 2004-20010 Abbey Ghost Hunters.