Haunted London Tourist Attractions
The final part of our mini series looks at Haunted Tourist Attractions in and around London. Popular with visitors and locals alike these famous sites are visited as a spectacle in their own right but here we are taking a look at the spectres that reside within!
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Originally built in 1663 there has been a Theatre on the current Drury Lane site for over 350 years.
Many actors have walked it’s boards and according to myth and legend many still do.
The Man in Grey
The most notorious of The Drury Lane Ghosts.
Appearing during daylight hours, traversing the upper circle, and disappearing into the wall.
Dressed all in grey, with a powdered wig and Tricorn hat, this ghostly apparision has been witnessed by whole casts of actors.
Although his identity remains shrouded in mystery and intrigue during a renovation in the 1870’s a secret, concealed room was discovered and broken in to at the very point where the ghost is said to dissapear.
Draped in grey rags lay the previously undiscovered skeletal remains of a man stabbed to death.
Joseph Grimaldi
British Pantomime has long been associated with Drury Lane Theatre and Grimaldi as the founding father of modern day clowning.
A comedy kick signifies to actors or staff alike that his ghostly presence is on the prowl.
As per his wish Grimaldi was burried with his head severed from his body giving rise to sightings of a clown-white face floating in the Theatre wings.
The Pantomime Dame
A performer in the late 1800’s Dan Leno fequented the role of Pantomime Dame. Known as a troubled individual he fell deeply into alcoholism and died relatively young at the age of 43.
Leno’s favourite place to walk the boards was Drury Lane. His presence often felt by the unexplained and misplaced smell of strong lavender drifting through the air, a scent most associated with the actor in life.
Though unseen he is mostly credited for the mischievous act of pushing fellow actors from the stage.
Charles Macklin
A distinguished and much loved actor.
Involved in a heated backstage argument over a wig Macklin strikes his fellow actor with a stick inadvertantly impaling his eye and piercing his brain.
Could it be trauma and remorse that retains his spirit bound to earth, trapped within the walls of Drury Lane?
The Tower of London (The Bloody Tower)
https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/#gs.e3m6kl
Built in the 11th Century by William the Conqueror to defend and secure his status as King of England this Magnificent Fortress and Royal Palace is a witness of Treason, Murder and Execution.
The 13 Ghosts
It’s bloody history of beheadings, executions and murder of the innocent Princes locked in The Tower provide plenty of fodder for paranormal speculation.
Thirteen identified spirits are said to walk amongst the living today. Here we will take a brief look at the most macarbre.
Margaret Pole
On Tower Green the Countess of Salisbury was brought to the scaffold by Henry VIII.
Her crime – to be the mother of Cardinal Pole who opposed Henry’s self- created role as Head of The Church.
At 67 years old her execution took place in 1541. Her executioner was a “wretched and blundering youth”.
Unable to perform his task the boy hacked at Margaret’s head and shoulders.
The Echo of her eternal screams can still be heard to this very day.
The Ghostly Monk
The flapping sandals on a stone floor and the ghostly monk is walking the corridors of the Bloody Tower
A Black Bear
Henry III housed his private menagerie within The Towers walls. Lions, Tigers, Elephants and Polar Bears drew curious onlookers to their spectacle.
16th Century London saw Bear Baiting as a popular pastime.
The Black Bear, said to appear behind the door of The Jewel Room, is perhaps testimony to the horrors and brutality experienced within.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
After his part in the plot to assassinate James I Guy Fawkes was taken to and imprisoned in the Queens House.
Subjected to extreme torture, likely on the rack, his screams still echo as his ghost seeks revenge.
The Nameless Thing
Guards of the Tower walk their beat oftentimes accompanied by this petrifying spirit whose presence is deeply felt.
Liverpool Street Station
Ghostly figures on CCTV appear in the dead of night.
An overalled man pacing the platform who cannot be located. These are just some of the strange goings on witnessed in this underground station.
Built on the site of the old Bethlem Royal Hospital or “Bedlam” for short, The Priory and attached infirmary were treating mentally unwell patients by the 1370’s.
“A cruel place where patients were oftentimes mistreated”.
Members of the public could visit and even pay to watch patients perform obscene acts on one another.
The “Crazy Ghost” is believed to be one such inmate of Bedlam
Long rumoured to be built on a mass burial site many believed it to be just that – a rumour.
However in 2015 the rumour became fact as over three thousand skeletal remains were unearthed. Plague victims burried long ago during the time of The Black Death.
Many troubled souls from history and more recent tragic events make Liverpool Street Station probably one of the Most Haunted.
Bruce Castle
Trapped in an unhappy marriage, and held captive in the top tower of the family home, Lady Constantina Lucy jumped from the balcony, killing both herself and her child.
Almost 200 years after the announcement of her death her spirit was seen and documented for the first time.
On the night of the November anniversary when her ladyship died “a wild form can be seen stood on the fatal parapet, her despairing cry heard floating away on the autumnal blast.”
Happy Haunted Halloween!
