This hostelry derives its name from Dame Alice Kyteler. The authorities accused her of witchcraft. Putatively, she would conjure a black dog, an evil spirit. The creature, along with Petronilla (her lady in waiting) managed to rid her of four husbands. The established order was to publicly flog and burn both of them the stake. Alice escaped to England but her counterpart was not so fortunate. Witnesses maintain that a shadowy benign phantom manifests and drifts slowly here.