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Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana of Greater London

Unearthly Sounds

Location: WC1 - Private flat, Great Coram Street (now known as Coram Street)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1872
Further Comments: Harriet Buswell was found dead on Christmas morning, her throat slit. Her killer was never found. The room in which her body was found became so haunted that it was kept permanently locked, although unearthly sounds would be heard emerging at night.

Hospital Visitor

Location: WC1 - Private flat, Red Lion Square
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1971
Further Comments: A female guest at her friend's small flat was woken by another girl who wanted to know why her bed was occupied. The guest apologised and explained that she was invited, after which the girl left the room and the guest fell back asleep. The following morning, she mentioned the incident to her friend - he paled and explained his flatmate who normally slept there was in hospital after a suicide attempt. They later discovered the girl had died during the night.

Knocker

Location: WC1 - Private residence
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: An entity hear would start knocking when a person entered the bathroom. The knocking would stop once the entity was acknowledged.

Chess Hater

Location: WC1 - Private residence off Grays Inn Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Pre 1951
Further Comments: Chess player William Winter claimed that he shared this property with a poltergeist that would pull his chess books from the wall, knock over chess pieces, and pull down pictures of famous players. Non chess related items would remain untouched.

Cromwell, Ireton & Bradshaw

Location: WC1 - Red Lion Square, Drake Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: stormy nights (mostly)
Further Comments: These three ghosts have been seen in the square, walking side by side, heading towards the gallows. On one occasion they were seen walking straight through a set of railing, vanishing shortly after.

Catholics

Location: WC1 - Ship Tavern, Gate Street, Kingsway
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once a secret meeting place for Catholics, it is thought the ghosts of those executed nearby still returned for their rendezvous.

Decaying Man

Location: WC1 - Tavistock Square
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 1878, summer, around 04:00h
Further Comments: A man on an early morning walk through the square watched as a tall, slim figure walked by him. The figure wore a black and white hat with a monocle in one eye. The figure also had a corpse-like face and the man recognised the figure as resembling an old friend who was overseas. A nurse walking close by screamed and ran off when she spotted the figure. A week later the man discovered his friend had died.

Forty Footsteps

Location: WC1 - Torrington Square
Type: Other
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: The area of land that existed here before the square was built upon it was named the Field of Forty Footsteps. Two brothers fought and killed each other over for the love of a girl, each step they took during battle killed the grass, and it never grew back.

Footsteps

Location: WC1 - Unidentified residence, Great James Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely early twentieth century
Further Comments: A flat along this road was said to be haunted by the sounds of footsteps, with the occasional manifestation of a male figure dressed in evening wear with a white handkerchief covering his face.

Jeremy Bentham with Dapple

Location: WC1 - University College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Bentham named his walking cane Dapple, and it never left his side during life. Much the same can be said post-mortem; the man and his stick can be heard or seen walking down the corridors of knowledge after dark.

Marcus Beck

Location: WC1 - University College Hospital
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Before being stolen in January 2001, the portrait of Beck was considered cursed. People who fell asleep under the painting quickly became ill, and in some cases died. It was also said that if the shutters were not closed on the painting at night, a patient would unexpectedly die.

Lizzie Church

Location: WC1 - University College Hospital, Gower Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Lizzie accidentally killed her lover with a morphine overdose when he was admitted as a patient. Years later, her ghost would appear prior to morphine injections as a reminder to be careful. Two buildings along Gower Street itself reported the ghost of a man with a heavily bandaged head.

Anne Yeats

Location: WC1 - Unnamed residence, Cartwright Gardens (was known as Burton Crescent)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1884
Further Comments: Anne's body was discovered in the back room of one of the flats. Her murderer was never found. The flat became haunted, although the haunting seemed to fade when the Crescent was renamed.

Mrs Samuels

Location: WC1 - Unnamed residence, Cartwright Gardens (was known as Burton Crescent)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1878/79
Further Comments: Whoever killed Mrs Samuels was never found, but the flat where the crime was committed became so haunted and notorious that the number was changed in an attempt to lose the reputation.

Woman in Nightdress

Location: WC1 - Whitcomb Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 1959
Further Comments: Seen floating along the street by a witness looking out of their window, this pale figure had her arms held out in front of her.

Human Foot

Location: WC2 - Christ's Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-1902
Further Comments: A human footprint was once visible in the stonework of this hospital. It was said to have been created when a ghostly beadle's wife stamped her foot in response to a disrespectful human.


Cleopatra's Needle, Embankment, London.

Tall, Dark Stranger

Location: WC2 - Cleopatra's Needle, Embankment
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A tall, dark, male figure leaps over the edge of the embankment wall here, but the sound of him hitting the water is never heard. The man is thought to have committed suicide, and one of several entities found along the Thames who took their own lives. There are also reports of laughing coming from the area, the source of which cannot be discovered.


Coliseum theatre, St Martin's Lane, London.

Trench Trooper

Location: WC2 - Coliseum, St Martin's Lane
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 03 October 1918
Further Comments: A small group of friends out for an evening's entertainment observed a man they knew walking down an aisle of the theatre, but he quickly disappeared. They later discovered that he had been killed in trench warfare around the time they saw him. He has been seen in the same area periodically since.

Kids

Location: WC2 - Courtts Bank
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 25 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a Mecca for toy sellers and buyers, the sounds of joyous children can be heard briefly once a year. Another entity, claiming to be an Elizabethan nobleman, was exorcised during the early 1990s - he was thought to be either the Earl of Essex (executed in 1601) or Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.

Legless Woman

Location: WC2 - Covent Garden Piazza
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 31 December 1989
Further Comments: A photograph taken by Mr Webb of his young daughter shows a woman dressed in black floating legless in the background. While it is possible that the woman's legs are concealed behind a post, the angle at which she leans does create doubt that the lady is corporeal.


The Piccadilly Line of Covent Garden Station, London.

William Terriss

Location: WC2 - Covent Garden Station, Piccadilly Line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around midnight, winter months (reoccurring). Last seen 1972?
Further Comments: An actor, Mr Terriss was stabbed to death in December 1897 at a nearby theatre. His ghost, tall in stature, has been seen dressed in a grey suit with white gloves, standing on the platform late at night.


Drury Lane Theatre Royal, London.

Man in Grey

Location: WC2 - Drury Lane Theatre Royal
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a long running show (grey man)
Further Comments: Seeing this ghost, dressed in a long grey coat with a Tricorn hat, is considered a good omen; if it appears either in the morning or afternoon during rehearsals, the performance will go on to be a great success. King Charles II is also supposed to haunt the building (he was a great theatre lover), as does the shade of Joe Grimaldi who helps anyone struggling with their lines. The backstage corridors are home to the wraith of Charles Macklin, a murderer never found guilty, and now walks the scene of his crime. Finally, actors have been known to experience a chill and simultaneously catching a whiff of lavender while on stage, the sensations blamed on a ghost.


Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London.

Violet Melnotte

Location: WC2 - Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1935 onwards,
Further Comments: The builder of the theatre, Violet was known to watch the performances from her own personal box. After her death in 1935, a presence could be heard from within her seating area, and her phantom spotted in the green room in 1967.

Anne Boleyn

Location: WC2 - Durham House (no longer standing) Durham House Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This building held Anne during her last days, and while the house no longer stands, its basement remains, and it is here the ghost still resides.

Oppressive Feeling

Location: WC2 - Embankment Station - Page's Walk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000
Further Comments: Staff who walk along the long dark tunnel known as Page's Walk complain of cold winds, doors which open and slam shut, and an oppressive feeling.

Records 676 - 676 of 676

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