The White Hart Hotel

So while my room isn't very large, it is in the oldest part of the building. I'm in room #270. According to the Lincoln Town Crier who did the Ghost Walk yesterday (at left--she's also from Wakefield, Yorkshire--it sounded like a Yorkshire accent to me, and I was right), there are two haunted rooms in the White Hart Hotel, and one of them is #270. Somebody shot himself in the head in my room.

And I also found about the name on the door--John Williams, 1621--all the rooms have plaques on them with the names of bishops of Lincoln. That settles that. What is now the White Hart Hotel used to belong to the cathedral, and was actually accommodation for people visiting the cathedral. My room doesn't look haunted: it's actually quite nice.

Another thing: I was talking to the wait staff at breakfast this morning, and they told me all sorts of stories about people who've stayed at the hotel. Gwynneth Paltrow, the Queen's father (that was awhile ago, as he died in 1953 or 54), and of course Tom Hanks, Dan Brown, et al. when they were filming part of the DaVinci Code in Lincoln. Also of course that guy who was the assassin. According to the staff in the dining room, Tom Hanks, et al. were incredibly nice. He had the suite at the top of the hotel, and learned that it had been booked as a honeymoon suite before the hotel learned the DaVinci Code folks were coming. The hotel was going to move the bride somewhere else, and Tom Hanks wouldn't let them. HE moved. The place is certainly a lovely, gracious, user-friendly place considering its pedigree...

Lillie