The Highwayman Inn: Devon's Gothic Fantasy

The Highwayman Inn is unlike any other haunted pub in Britain—because it was designed to be spooky. Created in the 1950s and 60s by eccentric artist Buster Jones, it is a Gothic fantasia of salvaged church fittings, coffins, gravestones, and bizarre objects. But somewhere along the way, the theatrical became real. Genuine ghosts now walk among the fake ones.

The History

Buster Jones’s Vision

John “Buster” Jones took over a roadside inn and transformed it into a Gothic masterpiece. He acquired pews and confessionals from demolished churches, authentic gravestones, coffins and funeral equipment, gallows and execution memorabilia, and suits of armor and taxidermy. Jones continued adding to his creation until his death in 1994.

The Transformation

What began as theatrical decoration became something more. Staff and visitors reported experiences that couldn’t be explained by the props. Real hauntings began to occur.

The Hauntings

The Woman in White

A genuine ghost not among the props: A woman in white Victorian dress is frequently seen in the upstairs rooms, predating Jones’s renovations. Her presence is unexpected and genuine, and many believe she is connected to the original inn.

The Soldier

A man in military uniform appears, most often from the World War I or II era. He seems confused by his surroundings, and the Gothic decoration appears to disorient spirits. Researchers suggest he may have connections to the area’s military history.

Buster Jones Himself

The creator has been seen since his death, walking among his creations and adjusting and inspecting objects. He appears pleased with his work, and many believe a creative presence lingers on.

Attracted Spirits

The Gothic atmosphere may draw spirits. The religious artifacts attract activity, the coffins and gravestones create energy, and spirits seem confused between real and fake, blurring the boundaries of what is real and what is imagined.

Poltergeist Activity

Objects move and sounds occur, beyond what props could explain. Items that aren’t animated move, voices are heard in empty rooms, and temperature drops in warm areas.

The Paradox

The Highwayman presents a unique situation: Built to seem haunted, it has become genuinely haunted. Staff distinguish between theatrical and real, and some experiences are unquestionably supernatural. The intention to create a haunted space may have, in fact, created the reality.

Modern Activity

The Highwayman continues to attract attention, with paranormal investigators studying it. The distinction between design and haunting interests researchers, and staff have genuine experiences. The Gothic atmosphere never fades, and it remains one of Devon’s strangest sites. Visitors who arrive without prior knowledge of the inn’s eccentricities often describe a particular kind of unease on first entering, and several have reported that the rooms felt different on a second visit, as though the building had registered their presence in some way and adjusted accordingly. Whether such impressions are produced by the relentless theatrical detail or by something more elusive, they are a near-universal feature of guest accounts.

Skeptical Perspectives

The case of the Highwayman is a useful one for considering how environment shapes paranormal experience. A building filled with church fittings, gravestones, and coffins primes visitors for unsettling impressions in a way that no ordinary pub interior could match. Skeptics suggest that the inn produces ghost reports not because it is haunted in any conventional sense but because it is the most thoroughly atmospheric building in southern England, and that the unusually high rate of reports there is exactly what one would expect from a setting designed, at every detail, to evoke them. Sympathetic researchers concede the point while arguing that the consistency and specificity of certain accounts, particularly those concerning the Woman in White, exceed what suggestion alone can plausibly produce.

Cultural Impact

The Highwayman has become a destination in its own right, drawing visitors who come specifically to experience its strangeness. Its photographs circulate on social media as examples of the most unusual interiors in Britain, and the inn has featured in travel writing, design journalism, and paranormal literature in roughly equal measure. The fact that Buster Jones’s life work survives intact, kept in operation by his family after his death, gives the Highwayman a kind of preserved authenticity that few deliberately spooky attractions can claim.

Visiting

The Highwayman Inn is open to visitors and offers an experience unlike any other pub. Its Gothic interior must be seen to be believed—and its genuine ghosts experienced to be understood.

Buster Jones built a fantasy of Gothic horror from salvaged coffins and church fittings. He created a stage set for hauntings—and real ghosts accepted the invitation. The Highwayman Inn is where theatre became reality.

Sources

• Wikipedia search: “The Highwayman Inn: Devon”
• Society for Psychical Research — SPR proceedings, peer-reviewed psychical research since 1882
• Historic England — Listed Buildings — Register of historic sites
• British Newspaper Archive — UK press archive