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[Take the Central Line from Holborn to Liverpool Street Station and then take the Circle Line to Tower Hill]
[Stand on Trinity Gardens, looking over Tower of London.]
Tower of London
The Tower of London is thought to be the most haunted building in the entire world, and contains some of Britain's most famous ghosts. Over it's 900 year history, the Tower of London has been a place for torture, imprisonment and execution, so it's no wonder that there are so many unsettled spirits that wander its grounds.
Perhaps the most famous ghost here is Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. They were married just three years before Henry got bored of her and decided to have her executed for treason, adultery (Henry claimed that she had sex with her brother) and witchcraft, all of which were probably untrue. She was beheaded here at the Tower of London, and is said to roam the corridors, holding her head in her hands.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking of the Tower of London ghosts are the Princes in the Tower, Edward V, aged 12 and Richard Duke of York, aged 10 were imprisoned and killed by their Uncle in 1483, who didn't want either of them to become King. Their ghosts have been seen wandering around the Bloody Tower where they were imprisoned.
As well as human ghosts, the tower is also home to many animal ghosts. For hundred of years, exotic animals were kept at the tower as pets. The most well known animal ghost is a phantom bear, who was seen in January 1816 by a guard. The bear appeared to be real so the guard attacked it with his sword, but it went straight through the bear and struck the wall behind. The guard collapsed with fear and died a few days later from shock.
The area where we are standing now is said to be haunted also, but not by any famous ghosts, because here is where you were executed if you were a commoner. Only celebrities were executed inside the tower. You can imagine back then, they had no TV and no Facebook, so executions were one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Thousands of spectators would come to watch the hangings or beheadings. They even erected seating similar to what you would see at a football match today so that people could watch. Once, one of these seating areas became so crowded that it collapsed, and hundreds of spectators were crushed to death. The prisoner was said to be so amused by this that he couldn't stop laughing, and when the executioner held his head up for all to see, he had a big smile on his face.
[Turn right, continue until you see All Hallows by the Tower.]
All Hallows by the Tower
This church was founded in 675, over 1300 years ago, which makes it the oldest church in London. It was often used as a temporary resting place for those who lost their heads at the tower. However, this church's main ghostly resident still has her head. The ghost takes a form of a little old lady who watched the choir practice. She was first seen in 1920, when a choir boy noticed her sitting in the practice room. They didn't know how she got in, because the room was locked. When they finished rehearsing, she was gone and they couldn't figure out where. Thus, they came to the conclusion that this spectator had to be a ghost.
[Head right into Byward Street, and then when the road forks, take the right fork, Great Tower Street, Not Lower Thames Street]
Hung, Drawn and Quartered
This pub may not be haunted, but it serves as a reminder to London's most gruesome form of execution. From 1351 until 1870, to be hung, drawn and quartered was the punishment given to men accused of treason.
2) Drawn (an old word for dragged) to the site to be executed
3) Quartered: each arm and leg tied to a separate house and then the horses made to run in different directions so your limbs are ripped off painfully
[Take the 2nd left onto Idol Lane, Take just far enough to see the church. If it's open, go inside]
St Dunstan in the East Church
This church was built in 1100, and completely destroyed during World War II. However, rather than rebuild it, the council decided to grow plants inside and turn it into a garden. No particular ghosts reported, it's just an extremely creepy place! What better place to spend Halloween than in an abandoned church?
[Go back the way you came, turn left and walk straight until you see St Paul's]
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's is haunted by a ghost known as the "Whistler", an elderly priest in old fashioned robes with long flowing grey hair. Before he makes his appearance, the room becomes very cold, before the sound of very out of tune, and sad whistling starts. He then floats across the room and exits through a wall. Interestingly, when builders were working on St Paul's, they found a secret door in the wall where the ghost is said to disappear.
[Continue past St Paul's and turn right on Old Bailey]
Old Bailey
The Old Bailey is London's most famous criminal court and has stood here since 1585. Before the death penalty was abolished in the UK in 1965, this was where many prisoners were told that they were going to be executed for their crimes, which is probably why there are so many ghost sightings here. The most evil of all of the ghosts is Amelia Dyer, who was a "baby farmer" in the Victorian era. Baby farming was a Victorian practice where parents could no longer look after their child, so they paid somebody else a small amount to look after them (like adoption). Some people saw baby farming as a lucrative business, so after taking payment to look after a child, they would neglect the child, letting it starve of freeze to death, or murder them straight away. Amelia Dyer is thought to have killed over 300 babies over a period of 20 years. She was eventually found out when a doctor became suspicious about the number of child death certificates he had to make for children under Dyer's care. She was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey in 1896, and was hanged later that year.
Interesting story: Some people suggest that Amelia Dyer could have been the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper; she was a murderer at the time of the Jack the Ripper killings, so it's possible that she killed the 5 prostitutes who were found murdered in East London in the autumn of 1888. Many think that Dyer could have murdered the prostitutes by accident, by performing abortions on them that went wrong. This theory is strengthened by the fact that Dyer Had trained as a nurse, and that the majority of the wounds found on the Jack the Ripper victims were around the reproductive organs.
[Walk to the end of Old Bailey and turn left on Holborn Viaduct. Turn right on Snow Hill (just after the church) and walk to the end until you reach Farringdon Street. Turn right and walk straight (for a long time!) until you reach cross roads. Turn left onto Greville Street and continue until you see the Bleeding Heart restaurant. The alleyway next to this is Bleeding Heart Yard]
Bleeding Heart Yard
Urban legend has it that this alleyway's name comes from the murder of Lady Elizabeth Hatton whose family owned this area. It is said that her body was found here on 27 January 1626, "torn limb from limb (so her arms and legs were detached from her body) but with her heart still pumping blood."
Of poor Lady Hatton, it's needless to say,
No traces have every been found to this day,
Or the terrible dancer who whisk'd her away,
But out in the court yard, and just in that part,
Where the pump stands, lay bleeding a Large Human Heart!
At last, I told myself keep thinking about the happy things instead of the another way round.
=D