Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana of London's SE1 District
Raining Stones
Location: SE1 - 56/58 Reverdy Road, Bermondsey
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 27 April 1872, 16:00-23:30
Further Comments: This building was bombarded with stones, smashing every window, injuring people nearby, and even destroying furniture inside - a heavy police presence failed to stop the attack, though it ended almost eight hours after initiation.
Tailless Dog
Location: SE1 - Anchor Inn, Clink Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn is haunted by a dog which lost its tail while trying to protect its master from press gangers.
Teleporting Items
Location: SE1 - Anchor Tap public house, Horselydown Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This tavern's resident ghost (Charlie to his mates) moves items around the building and has been known to hide things for months on end before returning them to their rightful location.
Tailless Dog
Location: SE1 - Anchor Tavern
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This mangy looking mutt failed to save his master from the press gangers who operated here in the 1700's - it now appears around closing time, sniffing around for the owner.
Tall Woman in Black
Location: SE1 - Blackfriars Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely early twentieth century
Further Comments: A postman watched as a tall woman wearing black stood on the edge of the bridge and leapt into the river. The postman ran to the edge of the bridge and would have followed the woman in to save her if a policeman had not rushed over and stopped him. The postman told the officer what had happened, only to be told it was a ghost who performed the same action every day. The policeman told the postman to return at the same time the following day to see the woman make the suicidal jump again. The postman returned as requested and did indeed see the same woman in black repeat her suicide.
Walter?
Location: SE1 - Boat moored close to London Bridge
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: December 2015
Further Comments: An employee on this boat reported seeing an image taken on board which shows the side view of a figure with ruffled collar. The figure disappears at the knee and looks as if it floats on a white cloud.
Footsteps
Location: SE1 - British Transport Police Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: More than one officer working alone has heard the distinct sound of footsteps walking along and stopping a short distance away. One witness reported the sound of footsteps was followed by a loud bang and the floor shaking. A shadowy figure was spotted running through the area by one detective, while a builder on the site walked past a lady who was not actually there...
Lost Child
Location: SE1 - Czar Bar (was the Horns public house), Crucifix Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This little lost spook has been heard moving around the building, crying and calling for her mother. Another witness said, perhaps more sinisterly, that it sounded like the little girl was crying in fear of her mother. More recently, a ghostly old lady has also been reported.
Old Priest
Location: SE1 - East Lane, Bermondsey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1894
Further Comments: This entity, dressed in clothing that the witness dated as late eighteenth century, was seen standing by a window in the presbytery.
Tapping
Location: SE1 - Elephant & Castle Station, Northern Line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Footfalls and rapping have been often heard in the station when it is closed - on investigation, no source can be found. Another story says the last train of the night is haunted by a lone girl who walks from the last carriage to the tip of the train, vanishing as she reaches the engine.
Misty Figure
Location: SE1 - George Inn, George Inn Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The nondescript shape of a female figure has been seen drifting in the bedrooms of this old coach house.
Sound of New Boots
Location: SE1 - Guy's Hospital, St Thomas Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969?
Further Comments: A nurse dressed in late nineteenth century garb has been seen walking down the corridors of the hospital, sometimes placing her hand on patient's shoulders to reassure them. When not seen, she is heard - pacing loudly down echoing walkways.
Anne Boleyn
Location: SE1 - Lambeth Palace, & River Thames near the building
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Carried in a Thames barge crewed by faded grey figures, the shade of Boleyn is taken to the Tower of London where she met her maker. The palace itself sometimes echoes with Anne's voice, pleading and crying for her life to be saved.
Blitz Bodies
Location: SE1 - Leather Exchange public house, Leathermarket Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The cellar of this pub was used as a makeshift mortuary after a heavy bombing raid during the Second World War. Staff maintain that the presence of the dead remains.
Self-Locking Door
Location: SE1 - Lollards Prison
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The prison is Thought to contain the spirits of many a former inmate, with one door renowned for locking and unlocking itself.
Nun
Location: SE1 - London Road Depot (Bakerloo Line)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area is thought to be haunted by a nun who is connected to a nearby Roman Catholic school.
After Hours Drinking
Location: SE1 - Market Porter public house, Stoney Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: People walking past this pub late at night have reported seeing ghostly figures standing at the bar, just visible through the windows.
Bloodied Hands
Location: SE1 - Old Vic, Waterloo Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly woman has appeared several times, always clasping her bloodstained hands. Some believe that she was an actress, and that the blood is fake - used for a stage production of a Shakespearian play.
Angel of the Thames
Location: SE1 - River Thames, close to the London Eye
Type: Other
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: At least four people have reported seeing an angel hovering over the River Thames in 2006. Some people say the sightings date back to 1666, the Great Fire of London, while other recent sightings have occurred around war time. Others have called the sightings a hoax, naming people behind a charity event as being responsible for the 'sightings'.
Slamming Doors
Location: SE1 - Site of Waterloo Necropolis Railway, now a training school
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990 onwards
Further Comments: Some staff at this railway training school allegedly now refuse to work at night in 'A' block, due to classroom and other doors slamming shut by themselves.
Great Armies
Location: SE1 - Skies west of London Bridge
Type: Other
Date / Time: 21 March, year unknown (but likely nineteenth century)
Further Comments: Said to have been watched by many people, two great armies were watched as they engaged each other in the sky. During the fight, a flame was seen to head towards the city. As the flame faded, the armies vanished.
Grey Nurse
Location: SE1 - St Thomas' Hospital
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century, prior to a death of a patient
Further Comments: St Thomas' Hospital, London. A ghostly nurse dressed in grey, reluctant to leave her job, has been mistaken for a real person - until she vanishes into thin air. Other stories say that the nurse's legs abruptly end at the knees. Although her facial details are perfect and of utmost clarity, no one has been able to place or identify her. Some tales report that patients who spot this phantom woman died soon after, a theme repeated in a few other hospitals in the UK.
Noisy Room
Location: SE1 - Thomas a Becket public house, Old Kent Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: At one time, the landlord here claimed he had a room so haunted upstairs that nobody could spend more than five minutes inside without fleeing in terror.
Faces
Location: SE1 - Three unidentified houses on Stamford Street (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1872
Further Comments: After the death of the landlord of these three, long term empty, properties, lights would be seen flitting around, and the occasional ghostly face seen at the windows.
Body Movers
Location: SE1 - Unnamed inn, West Street, close to Fleet River (entire area redeveloped, no trace of inn remains)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A clergyman heard screams coming from the inn and watched two people emerge from the site carrying a headless body, and head towards the nearby river. After throwing the corpse into the water, the people vanished. The same spot if the river was also said to be haunted by a woman with a slit throat.
Records 1 - 25 of 25
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