In 1787, the landlord of the Lamb Inn (now known as Henry's) was 51-year-old John Aggas. Popular with both his family and customers, Aggas had an engaging personality and, when it came to telling stories, no equal in the city. Many customers would bring their children with them when visiting the inn knowing that Aggas would keep them entertained with his stories of witches and ghosts. Unfortunately John Aggas had a less friendly and worthy member of society for a brother-in-law, a man by the name of Timothy Hardy.

The Lamb Inn before it was renamed the Rat & Parrot.

Hardy lived with his wife in Newton Flotman and on Saturday, November 10, 1787 they made their way together towards Norwich. Suddenly Hardy stopped and claimed he had to return home as he had left his knife behind. His wife said that it wasn't important but Hardy replied that if he didn't have it with him he would be damned and insisted on returning for it. However, he then discovered that the knife was, in fact, in his pocket and they carried on making their way into the city.

Later that afternoon Hardy went into the Lamb Inn when he became involved in an argument with his sister who was married to Aggas. The argument took place in the kitchen and when Aggas entered he tired to stop it. In what seemed to be an act of friendship, Hardy turned and offered his hand to Aggas, saying he did not wish to argue with him although he disagreed with his wife. However, as the two men shook hands Hardy drew his knife and plunged it into the stomach of Aggas and ripped up his belly for about three inches causing a large portion of the bowels to fall out.

There were several witnesses present at the time who claimed that once the stabbing was over Hardy shouted: "I have done for you and you were my brother, John Hardy of Lynn, here I would serve him the same. And now I'll stab myself for I know I must die for it." Hardy then made a feeble attempt to stab himself causing only a superficial wound. At this point he was overpowered by others in the kitchen and held till the police and doctor arrived.

Despite the efforts of the doctor, John Aggas died the following morning and Hardy was charged with murder and taken to the castle. At the following Summer Assizes he was sentenced to hang and his body be dissected.

The modern-day Lamb Inn, then known as the Rat & Parrot, before changing its name again to Henry's.

Following his death, the Lamb Inn was sold by John Aggas' family but it seemed that Aggas wasn't ready to leave yet and almost immediately unexplained happenings began. Footsteps would be heard walking up the corridors at night after everyone was in bed. Knocks on bedroom doors would be made by unseen hands and cutlery in the kitchen, the scene of the murder, would be washed and put away overnight. But perhaps the most enduring stories of John Aggas' desire to remain at his inn came from the children of successive landlords.

Generations of children would tell their parents how they would awake at night to find a kindly man sitting at the end of their beds. None ever claimed to be scared by the apparition but told, instead, of the stories that the uninvited guest would tell them. Stories of fairies and goblins, witches and ghosts, the same stories that John Aggas had told his own children and the children of his customers many years before.

Two young girls conducting market research in one of the upstairs rooms at the inn in the late 1970s, were surprised when a man walked into the room, past their desks and exited through another door at the end of the room. When he hadn't reappeared by the time they were due to leave, they opened the door to tell him they were going. Imagine their surprise when they found the door led only to a cupboard, and an empty one at that. Old plans revealed that during the time of John Aggas the door had led to another part of the building but over the years it had been bricked up.

The most recent sighting of Aggas came in 1999, after a relief manager had locked the inn and gone upstairs. Quickly checking the security monitor he spotted a man in his 50s sitting in a chair by the window. Believing he had locked somebody in he went back downstairs to let them out. However, when he got downstairs there was nobody in the chair and despite a thorough search of the inn, he could find nobody left inside. He returned upstairs to recheck the video recording on the monitor but when he got back to the pit where he had seen the man the monitor recording showed only an empty chair. It would appear that despite his willingness to tell stories, John Aggas remains camera shy.

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This ghostly tale has kindly been provided by Ghostly Dave - visit his Norwich Ghost Walk website here.