AN HISTORIC tale around the life of the mysterious ‘Grey Lady’ at a Tynedale castle may have been misleading visitors fascinated with its history for years.

Langley Castle, built in 1350 by Sir Thomas de Lucy, has been steeped in mystery after various reports of a crying female ghost seen walking the hotel’s corridors.

For decades it was said that the Grey Lady was believed to be Maud de Lucy, who was broken-hearted when her knight husband was killed in battle and, on hearing the news, died after jumping out of a castle window.

One visitor in 2014 even reported on Tripadvisor that he woke up to see “what I believe to be an apparition stood at the bottom of my bed”.

However, a study of the genealogy of the De Lucy family has made hotel staff question the true identity of the mysterious Grey Lady.

Maud de Lucy married twice – firstly to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus and Baron of Prudhoe, and then to Henry Percy, First Earl of Northumberland.

Gilbert died in a battle – the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1381 – but Maud remarried that same year.

She died in 1398 and her second husband died in battle in 1408 therefore debunking any claims that the ghost is Maud.

Upon investigation, Langley Castle staff discovered that Sir Thomas de Lucy had two wives, marrying again following the death of first wife Margaret.

Records show that he married an Agnes de Beaumont, a relative of Edward III, whose birth date is said to have been 1323, but whose death is shrouded in mystery.

This has created the question whether the Grey Lady has been wrongly named Maud, when she is in fact Agnes, stepmother to Maud.

The hotel is now appealing to genealogy experts and history buffs to help it determine whether its sole lockdown guest has been checked in under the wrong name for decades, if not centuries, explaining more about her and why she might be suffering such uncontrollable sorrow.

Langley’s executive general manager, Margaret Livingstone-Evans explained: “The story about Maud has been passed down through time and seems to have become a little confused.

“Lockdown has given us some time to try to enrich our hugely popular daily battlements tour information.

“Having delved deeper into the past, we now have one burning question – who is the Grey Lady and has Agnes been living in the shadows for too long.”