THE bar at the Elephant Bridge Hotel at Darlington is more crowded than it appears.

The Western District pub is home to four ghosts, some of whom have been there for more than 50 years.

Publican Leone de Ferranti said locals were quick to tell her about the resident ghosts before she bought the pub, about 20km east of Mortlake, about five years ago.

She said the dominant presence in the bluestone pub, on a bend in the Hamilton Highway, was Adeline Gellie, who was the publican from 1889 until her death in 1942 at the age of 82.

Mrs Gellie inherited the pub from her father.

"There were few women serving as publicans at the time, but because it was hospitality, it was one of the jobs that was acceptable for a woman to do," Ms de Ferranti said.

Ms de Ferranti is a firm believer in Mrs Gellie's ghost, having felt her presence while closing up the pub after midnight one night.

"Adeline is definitely here - one of my staff members sees her regularly," Ms de Ferranti said.

"I felt her presence near the front window where she used to sit. I shivered and I thought: 'All right Adeline, I know you're here'."

Ms de Ferranti said Mrs Gellie was a "warm and friendly ghost".

"It's her business and she wants it to thrive," she said.

The other ghosts are a young woman, a man who stabbed himself on the roof of the pub, and a young girl who drowned in a bluestone tank behind the pub. Ms de Ferranti said her staff member had heard the little girl calling out on the anniversary of her death.

The bluestone tank, a water supply for the pub, remains out the back.

She said a psychic had come to the pub, a few years before Ms de Ferranti became the owner, and sketched the ghosts.

"Adeline was quite recognisable in the sketches, because she was quite statuesque," Ms de Ferranti said.

She said Adeline's ghost was missing from the pub between October and December last year, allowing the other ghosts to make their presence felt.

"A psychic told us Adeline had gone away, due to a family emergency," Ms de Ferranti said.

The kitchen and cellar of the pub were built in 1842 and the bar and accommodation above several years later.

It is believed to be one of the oldest continuously licensed pubs in Victoria.

Ms de Ferranti said the cellar was prone to filling with water and had been filled in years ago.

"Some of the locals remember barrels being delivered and put in the cellar," she said.

Ms de Ferranti said the pub was originally a Cobb & Co staging post.

"People would change their horses here before they crossed the Mt Emu Creek and headed further west," she said.

Although the stables no longer remain and a small beer garden has been added, there have been few other changes to the pub's exterior.

The interior has undergone a facelift, with a wall removed in the front room. Rendering on the interior walls was removed and bricks exposed, and the woodwork finished with paint in heritage colours.

Ms de Ferranti said the Victorian-era patrons probably wouldn't have approved of the new look.

"They would think it was unfinished," she said.