The ‘Thirsty’ Ghost That Hurled a Glass at the Red Lion

What happened

The landlords of the Red Lion Inn near Wimborne posted a CCTV clip on Facebook with the caption: “Every pub has a ghost, especially one as old as ours. They clearly wanted a pint!” They have run the pub for five years. The Daily Star picked the clip up on 3 August 2026 under the headline “Moment thirsty pub ghost ‘hurls glass onto bar because he wants a pint’.” Devon Live ran the same story.

The footage

• Source: The pub’s own CCTV, dated 4 June 2026 by the Daily Star. The landlords posted it on Facebook, and the Daily Star republished it as a video titled “A Dorset pub landlord claims a ‘ghost wanted a pint’ as glass falls from shelve[s].” No original file, frame rate or length has been published.
• What it shows: In the Daily Star’s words, “a glass apparently hurling itself off the shelf above the bar and crashing down onto the bar.” A landlord who was behind the bar putting another glass away “can be seen looking up in a bid to find where the mystery missile came from, as one customer looked on in shock.”
• After the fall: The glass did not break. “It bounced off the bar and on the floor,” one landlord said.
• Watch at the Daily Star.

Timeline

• 2003: Wiseman et al. publish controlled field studies of “haunted” sites, linking reports to reputation and surroundings.
• 14 August 2021: A Solihull landlady shares a “poltergeist” pub video (Birmingham Live).
• 22 October 2024: CCTV of glasses “flying” at the Golden Lion in Fareham is reported (Portsmouth News).
• 2026: The landlords tell the Daily Star they have run the pub “for five years.”
• 4 June 2026: The CCTV records the falling glass.
• 3 August 2026: The Daily Star and Devon Live publish.

What witnesses reported

The landlord who was upstairs at the time said: “I was upstairs, my wife was at the counter and she showed me the video on the CCTV. There’s been a running joke with glasses falling, normally from the bottom shelf and we just thought they’re badly put away.” He added: “When you look at it, it kind of looks like it jumps.” He also said “things in the kitchen have gone flying off before.” He is not worried: “Everyone I show it to says it’s just bizarre, you zoom in on the glass and see it pop off. I’m not really spooked by it.”

What the research found

The owners’ own history points to ordinary falls. Before the clip, the landlords’ working theory was that glasses were being stacked awkwardly. The clip changed their impression only because the glass seems to “pop off” rather than slide. No second angle, original file or test was published.