Darkness

Location: All over London - Skies over the city
Type: Other
Date / Time: 19 August 1763
Further Comments: London was briefly covered by a darkness during the day, blacker than an eclipse.

Fiery Sword

Location: All over London - Skies over the city
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1832
Further Comments: The start of the great Cholera Epidemic in 1832 was accompanied by a vision witnessed by thousands, of a burning fiercely sword hanging over the city.

London Subterraneans

Location: All under London - No fixed location
Type: Other
Date / Time: Current
Further Comments: This legend, which seemingly 'does the rounds' every few years, states that a group of Londoners began to live underground in the late nineteenth century, and now they have mutated. These subterraneans live off the junk food we discard in the underground tube stations and the odd commuter if they are discovered alone on the train.

Unlucky Cat

Location: E1 - 88 Newark Street, Whitechapel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: The family who lived here for six years reported a suppressive atmosphere and terrible luck. Their children reported a phantom cat, while the mother was too scared to enter certain rooms.

Florrie Clark

Location: E1 - Ancient Briton public house, Mile End
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: A worker at the pub reported seeing the ghost of a former landlady, even though she was still alive and living a county away.

Woman in the Gutter

Location: E1 - Durward Street, Whitechapel (was Bucks Row)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1888 onwards
Further Comments: The general area is supposedly haunted by the sounds of the victims of Jack the Ripper, thought only in Durward Street has an apparition been observed; the glowing woman lays in the gutter, the location where Mary Ann Nichols was discovered (the Ripper's first victim).

Headless Woman

Location: E1 - Hanbury Street, near number 29
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This decapitated shade is named by some as Annie Chapman, one of Jack the Ripper's victims.

Lillian Brown

Location: E1 - Magistrates Court, Aylward Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A former employee at the court, Mrs Brown still walks where she worked.

Catherine Eddows

Location: E1 - Mitre Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed by Jack the Ripper, Catherine's torn body is still occasionally seen laying in the gutter.

Magpie

Location: E1 - Residence along Great Russell Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Every morning between 02:00h - 03:00h
Further Comments: A phantom magpie is said to tap on the window of a house along this street before manifesting inside. The bird then perches on a floating stick, both bird and baton vanishing the moment a sound is made.

Grey Lady

Location: E1 - Royal London Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A spectral grey lady has been reported walking around this London Hospital. There is also a tradition ensuring that the shutters are closed at the hospital - if they are left open overnight, it is widely believed someone unexpected dies.

Watcher

Location: E1 - The 'Wood Street Compter' - a basement
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The basement is all that remains of a former debtors prison. Even though access to the basement is now prevented, people walking past report hearing whispers and the feeling that something is watching them.

George Geoffreys

Location: E1 - Town of Ramsgate public house, Wapping High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Geoffreys, the infamous Hanging Judge, was arrested on the steps outside this pub that lead down to the Thames; he was dressed as a sailor, trying to flee the country. His spirit remains trapped on the stairs, reportedly seen by river police in recent years.

Bearded Man

Location: E10 - Private residence along Essex Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: One witness reported a ghostly old man with a white beard and dressing gown who would stand at the foot of their bed. The entity would open the cellar door, even though it would be bolted closed each night.

Mrs Ryan

Location: E11 - Beacontree Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The shade of an old lady haunted one property along this road, frequenting the room where her family would keep her locked up. Another presence, this time male, was more dominating; it would materialise during the night and stand over the beds of any females present in the house.

Faceless Woman

Location: E11 - Beacontree Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: A station employee working alone heard the door to his office rattle several times. Unnerved, the man began to climb upstairs to find a colleague but felt he was being watched. Turning around, he saw a woman standing there with long blond hair but no face - her features were completely smooth. Talking to his colleague a short time later, the employee discovered that he was not the only person to have seen her.

Glowing Headstone

Location: E11 - City of London Cemetery, Aldersbrook Road, Wanstead
Type: Other
Date / Time: Mid 1970s
Further Comments: In the western section of the cemetery, a many local people reportedly a gravestone which glowed at night with a bright orange light. People who investigated the stone could not find an external light source to explain the illumination.

Pusher

Location: E11 - Private house along Fairlop Road, Leytonstone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1960s
Further Comments: This polt was blamed for pushing a pregnant woman down the staircase - fortunately her unborn child was unhurt. The presence also opened drawn curtains and close doors, while one witness heard a woman sobbing on the landing.

Seeking Skeleton

Location: E11 - St Mary's Church, Overton Drive
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghost has been seen pushing a cart designed for corpses, looking for the body of his dead wife that was stolen by grave robbers. The grey female form seen around the graveyard is a poor widow who lost her husband only hours after they were married - she still searches for him today.

Catherine Tylney Long

Location: E11 - Wanstead Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Long committed suicide after she lost her fortune to a series of bad judgements of an immoral lover. Her ghost lives on in the park. Elizabeth I's spectre is also rumoured to pass across the grounds in a coach, en route to meet the Earl of Leicester.

Hitchhiking Girl

Location: E14 - Blackwall Tunnel, Tower Hamlets
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: Killed in a motorcycle accident in the 1960s, this girl now flags down motorcyclists and asks for a lift to Leigh-on-Sea (in Essex); she always disappears from the back of the bike en route, and once the address is checked, it is discovered she died many years previously. Another variant of the story replaces the girl with the male rider of the crashed motorbike.

Black & White Man

Location: E14 - Canary Wharf Underground Station
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 28 December 2007
Further Comments: A black and white figure appeared on a colour photograph taken at this station. The figure, that of a young man, was not spotted when the photograph was taken, even though he was looking directly at the camera.

Horatio Nelson

Location: E14 - Gun Inn, Docklands
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Thought to be waiting for Lady Hamilton, Nelson still patiently stands inside the public house.

Worker in Green

Location: E14 - HSBC building, floor 25, Canary Wharf
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: Killed in an accident during construction, a member of the crane crew dressed in green overalls now haunts the floor on which he died.

Vicar with Walking Cane

Location: E14 - Ratcliff Wharf, Limehouse
Type: Experimental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1971
Further Comments: The Vicar of Ratcliff Cross was once a popular tale in the area - two hundred years ago, the holy man would murder rich visitors to his church for their money. Now the preacher is content with making fleeting appearances near the riverside. Or rather not, as the whole story was invented in 1972 by a paranormal investigator to see if any witnesses came forward. That they did, and several authors mentioning the case in their works, without questioning the source.