Top 5 Historical Venues with Haunting Histories
It’s unusual to pass a shop window at the moment without spotting displays of pumpkins or cobwebs. Although Halloween is a festival that London has only fully embraced in recent years’, its rich history actually makes it the perfect backdrop to any Halloween celebration. Check out our top 5 favourite London venues with a haunting past.
From 1100 to 1952, The Tower of London was used as a prison by the Royal Family. Many beheadings were reported to have taken place here including that of Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Guy Fawkes and Sir Walter Raleigh. Visitors and employees at the tower have long reported voices and apparitions, which they attribute to the large number of ghosts believed to dwell within the tower walls.
Spooky goings on: In 1483 two young princes, Edward V and his brother Richard were banished by Parliament to the tower for being considered illegitimate, shortly after arriving they disappeared without a trace. Their skeletons were found years later beneath the staircase in the White Tower. Witnesses to this day have reported seeing them in nightgowns holding on to each other in panic in one of the castle rooms.
Anne Boleyn’s ghost is known to haunt the Queen’s House at the Tower. One sentry who challenged her headless figure fainted during the episode. His commanding officer, who found him, assumed he was drunk and he was court-martialled for dereliction of duty. Luckily for him, he was saved from disciplinary action by two witnesses who testified that they had seen the entire thing.
2. Hever Castle
Hever Castle in Kent, is the former home of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s wife and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. She was beheaded in 1536 (at the Tower on London), and is still believed to haunt the grounds of her former home.
Spooky goings on: Anne’s ghostly apparition has been seen wandering the gardens of the castle, often drifting over the bridge that crosses the River Eden. If you want to catch a glimpse of her ghost, it’s believed she appears most often on Christmas Eve.
Other ghosts at Hever Castle include an unknown unhappy ghost who wanders the gallery, often groaning and banging and a phantom horse has also been seen, galloping through the long gallery.
The idea for the National Maritime Museum as we recognise it dates back to 1927, when a public appeal was launched by the Society for Nautical Research to develop a ‘national naval and nautical museum’. Ten years in the making, the National Maritime Museum was opened by King George VI on 27 April 1937, with the Museum’s name having been suggested by Rudyard Kipling.
Spooky goings on: Perhaps one of the most famous paranormal photographs ever taken was at the museum. Taken by Rev. and Mrs Hardy from Canada in 1966. It showed a shrouded figure ascending the Tulip Staircase.
The museum also plays host to another ghost known as the White Lady. She has been seen walking near Blackheath Avenue dressed in period clothes. Staff have also heard metal pans banging and being moved around in the Tea Rooms when nobody was there.
The Langham Hotel is one of the largest and best known traditional style grand hotels in London. Designed by John Giles it was built between 1863 and 1865 and cost a total of £300,000.
Spooky goings on: Room 333 is thought to be the most haunted room in the hotel. In 1973 the announcer James Alexander Gordon is said to have awoken in the middle of the night to see a fluorescent ball floating on the opposite side of the room. It became irritated when he asked what it wanted and floated towards him, arms outstretched. He rushed from Room 333 and, when he recounted his experience, colleagues told of similar sightings.
This palace was originally built for the Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514 and eventually given to the King when he fell out of favour. It was last inhabited by the Royal Family in the 18th century.
Spooky goings on: Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife died at Hampton Court from complications after giving birth to Edward (1537). Visitors have reported seeing her walking through the courtyard of Clock Court with a lighted taper.
Sibell Penn – ‘The Lady in Grey’ was a nurse to Prince Edward and died in 1562 in Hampton church. It is said her remains were disturbed when the church was pulled down. At this time her spirit returned to the rooms where she lived when she was at the palace. Throughout the years, many people heard the sound of a spinning wheel from behind a wall in the palace. When the wall was demolished, excavators found an old room with an aged spinning wheel.
A Dog – The Wosley Closet: Many visitors get a strange feeling from this corner and a ghost dog has been seen here more than once.
