Uncanny capital
LONDON is a great place to live – but it would be unfair to expect only the living to enjoy it. So we really don’t blame former Londoners for wanting to, well, hang around a bit.
Here are the spots in London that you have may well have been to but didn’t know were haunted.
The Langham Hotel, Room 333
The rooms of the Langham have hosted plenty of celebrities since it opened in 1865, including writers Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The hotel is home to several ghosts, including that of a German prince who jumped out of a window in the hotel before the First World War, and now lurks around the area in a military uniform.
Room 333 is the most haunted of all, with several guests shocked to discover they were sharing their room with a phantom dressed in Victorian attire.
It was in that same room that a BBC broadcaster woke to see a fluorescent ball of light above his bed which slowly morphed into the figure of a man. The ghost hovered towards him with its arms outstretched before the man fled from the room.
The Tower of London
The Tower has seen its fair share of grisly endings, so it’s no surprise that this is one of the most haunted spots in London.
Visitors have reported seeing the ghost of a lady in white, waving from a window in the White Tower.
Two princes, Edward V and his brother Richard, also came to a sorry end at the Tower, after they were allegedly murdered by their Uncle, The Duke of Gloucester, so he could take the throne for himself.
The ghosts of two frightened children in dressing gowns have been spotted, clutching each other in several different rooms of the Tower. Guardsmen have also told of a terrible crushing sensation on their chest when they enter the gallery where Henry VII’s impressive armour stands.
Ten Bells Pub, Commercial Street
It is believed several of Jack the Ripper’s victims frequented the pub before they were killed. Elizabeth Stride was kicked out of the pub for drunken disorderly behaviour in 1888, the same year she became one of Jack’s victims, and Mary Kelly used to stand outside the pub to attract customers.
Jack the Ripper’s victim Annie Chapman was last seen drinking at the bar before she saw her grisly end. Now her ghostly figure has been seen sitting at the bar.
Staff living have also reported seeing a ghost dressed in Victorian clothes.In 2000, the new landlord was clearing out the cellar when he found the wallet of a man named George Roberts. The wallet contained a press cutting with details of George’s murder with an axe at a cinema in Swansea. The landlord later discovered that George Roberts had been the landlord of the pub in the 1800s, and concluded that the man in Victorian clothing was in fact the pub’s for- mer boss.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre site still in use in London since it was estab- lished in 1663, with the current building built in 1812.
The Man in Grey is the most commonly seen, as he glides with his powdered wig and three-cornered hat from one side of the upper circle to the other. In the 1870s reparations were taking place at the theatre and a skeleton was discovered behind a wall with a dagger through its heart.
The Man in Grey been seen by cleaners, actors and even the cast of a 1939 musical.
Joseph Grimaldi, accredited with the first pantomime performance, was an actor at the Theatre Royal. In 1818, he was suffering from a crippling disease, so the theatre arranged a benefit performance. Since his death in 1837, Grimaldi’s ghost has been known to kick members of theatre staff.
Highgate Cemetery
The most fashionable graveyard of Victorian London, Highgate was ornately decorated with lavish headstones, each family trying to out-bury the other.
It is the final resting place of Karl Marx and George Eliot, but we can’t imagine they get much rest here.
Newspapers were flooded with accounts of ghost and ghoul sightings including a vampire, in a cloak with a terrifying face, floating just above the ground. ‘Vampire slayers’ arrived, opening plots and plunging pikes into supposedly undead bodies.
More bizarrely, the vampire hunt became the source of a modern-day magicians’ feud. Member of the British Occult Society David Farrant and self-proclaimed exorcist Seán Manchester both claimed to be capable of catching the vampire, culminating in an organised ‘Magicians’ Duel’ which never took place because Farrant was jailed for “damaging memorials and interfering with dead remains in Highgate Cemetery.”
Grenadier Pub, Belgravia
Dubbed the most haunted pub in London, this pub is home to a friendly ghost who goes by the name of Cedric.
The man who haunts the pub is thought to have cheated at cards one evening and was caught and beaten to death right on the floor of the pub.
The tables chairs are regularly shaken by the cheeky punter, and there’s an icy chill in the air when he decides to visit.
In 1982 the pub featured in a live segment about haunted pubs for the BBC’s Six O’clock Show. Several publications were also there to cover the filming, and weeks later one of the photographers who had been present returned with his pictures.
Having blown up one of the photos, they could see the clear image of the face of a man with a handlebar moustache and wearing what appeared to be a fez-like hat in the front window.
50 Berkeley Square, Mayfair
The townhouse is one of the creepiest residences in London. The spirit of a young woman called Adeline, who killed herself by throwing herself out a top floor window to escape her abusive uncle, has been haunting the corridors.
Maids are said to have become mad with fear when entering various rooms. One was found on the floor of her bedroom with her face twisted in fear, and she spent the remainder of her days in a mental asylum.
Former Prime Minister George Canning was the first long-term resident of the house, and even he reported strange goings on. Not that we would normally believe everything a politician says.
It has since been converted into an antique bookstore, but a notice still stands on the door from the 1800s stating that the top floors of 50 Berkeley Square should not be used under any circumstances, even by the owners.