It is said that this is Matilda, the young daughter of one of the first landlords of this ancient coaching inn, whose foundations were laid in time immemorial. On the eve of her wedding, she was heartbroken by the man of her dreams who never came back for her, and she hanged herself from the beam in Room 11.

Traditionally, she is spotted in the spring - the time of her wedding - and only when a young man is staying in Room 11. She drifts towards him and tenderly lays her arm upon his shoulder, hoping no doubt that he is her lover returning for her after all these years.

However, in recent years she has been broadening her appeal by appearing outside both the spring and Room 11.

In September last year, she appeared downstairs in her full wedding outfit before an eightyear-old boy.

He had no idea about Matilda's story; there was no wedding or bridal party at the hotel and he was clearly too young to have been drinking.

Yet he kept saying he had seen a bride. There is said to have been a second incident at The George which could have raised the spectre of a ghost.

The body of a young lady who had drowned was pulled from the Tees and taken to the downstairs of The George ready for the undertaker to collect. It seems not to have been recorded if this poor girl was wearing her wedding dress at the time of her death.