1. Tower Of London
Quite possibly the most haunted place on earth, the Tower of London is not somewhere you want to be after night falls across our nations capital... In a city still haunted by the spectral wraiths of ripper victims (Hanbury Street, Ten Bells Pub, Mitre Square), card cheats (The Grenadier Pub) and even, in one particularly grisly instance, a hanged child (Durward Street), it is the Tower of London that inspires the most terror and unease...And with very good reason. The Tower has one of the most brutal stories in the history of the world. Constructed by William The Conqueror in 1078, the Tower of London has stood for centuries as a manifestation of the power of England, as well as a warning to all those who would oppose her sovereignty. Successive monarchs have built upon the Tower and each additional layer has brought with it a new reason to fear the dark... Traitors Gate, for example, was built by Edward I and is famous for its ghastly display of severed heads on pikes. This bloody exhibition served as a not-so-subtle threat to anyone who would attempt to challenge the English monarchy.
Famous prisoners held in the tower include various Scottish Kings (John De Balliol, David II & James I), Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, more than a couple of English Kings and Queens (specifically, Richard II, Henry VI - who was allegedly murdered there, Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth I), Sir Thomas Moore (beheaded on Tower Hill), Thomas Cromwell (same again), two of Henry VIIIs six wives (Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard both beheaded on Tower Green), Two Archbishops of Canterbury (Thomas Cranmer and William Laud Laud was executed on Tower Hill), Guy Fawkes, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Penn (founder of the US state of Pennsylvania), famous diarist Samuel Pepys, Rudolph Hess (deputy to Adolf Hitler) and infamous London gangsters The Kray Twins. It would be impossible to list the amount of people who have died in, or around, the Tower of London. So many agonized souls spent their lonely and bitter last days staring at those hard, unforgiving walls, that it would be surprising if the atmosphere after dark was anything other than totally sorrowful. As recently as 1941, executions were still being carried out there (the last person to be killed was a spy who met his end in the Tower, courtesy of a firing squad). A wellspring of pain and anguish has stained the walls of the stronghold, making the Towers twilight hours the exclusive domain of unruly spirits and unquiet apparitions. Royal ghosts like Henry VI are said to haunt the tower. On the anniversary of his murder (he is thought by some to have been stabbed to death whilst kneeling in prayer, by the future King Richard III more on him later), Henrys apparition is said to wander the interior of Wakefield Tower, before fading away as the clock strikes midnight... For her part, Anne Boleyns restless spirit is said to wander the vicinity of Tower Green, as does that of Englands uncrowned Queen, Lady Jane Grey.
Perhaps the saddest of the towers menagerie of royal ghosts are those of the famed Princes in the Tower, Edward V and his brother, Richard. Upon the death of Edward IV in 1483, the two boys were imprisoned in the tower by their uncle, the Duke of Gloucester (later to become Richard III). Despite 12-year-old Edward being the next in line for the throne, Richard had both brothers declared to be illegitimate, then, in summer 1483, the boys mysteriously disappeared... In 1674, the skeletons of two children the same ages as Edward and Richard were unearthed beneath a staircase in the White Tower, indicating that whomever the bones belonged to, they were almost certainly murdered. The ghostly boys are occasionally seen in white nightgowns, clutching at one another in abject horror, visitors who see them are usually moved to assist them, or to call out to the children and reassure them, but as soon as they do, the specters simply fade away into the stone walls, leaving no trace that they were ever there at all... Another hideous psychic imprint appears to have been left on the Tower Green by the execution of Margaret Pole in 1541. Formerly the Countess of Salisbury, poor Mrs. Pole, who was 72 years old at the time of her execution, was completely innocent. Her crime was little more than being the mother of Cardinal Pole, who had disputed King Henry VIIIs claim to be the head of the Church of England. Henry couldnt reach the Cardinal (he was in France at the time), so he had the mans elderly mother brutally murdered instead. Margaret refused to place her head on the chopping block, claiming that she was no traitor, so the executioner chased her around the block until he eventually caught her and hacked her to death with his axe, in what is surely one of the most shameful events in British Royal history. The Countess ghost can still be seen running and screaming from the executioner, as the gory scene is re-enacted, time and time again, across the clipped lawns of the Tower Green. Then theres the White Lady, a silent apparition that is said to float through the rooms of the White Tower. She is apparently harmless, although the smell of her perfume is enough to turn a stomach or two...
However, not all of the Towers spirits are as benign. Stories of violent attacks abound in the tower, especially in the Gallery, where an unsuspecting guard was throttled by an unseen assailant and had the marks to prove it. Phantoms of many kinds haunt the imposing walls of the ancient fortress, lending an extra umbra to its long, angular shadows and an added chill to the icy London nights. These hauntings, and the British peoples responses to them, are perhaps best summed up by the story of an eerie presence in the White Tower that once announced to a slacking guard Theres only you and I here. The Guard, a Mr. Arthur Crick, who was giving himself a foot massage at the time, is reported to have replied Just let me get this bloody shoe on and therell only be you! So there you have it, the five scariest places in the United Kingdom. Five locations forever stained by the brutal, bloody history of Great Britain. Ghosts are
everywhere to be found on our small cluster of rain-dappled islands. The spirits of the damned roam our motorways (in particular the M6, said to be the countrys most haunted road, which plays host to spectral Roman soldiers and a ghostly lorry that drives against traffic), they haunt the hills of the countryside (in particular the village of Pluckley, in Kent, home to a screaming man, a ghostly highwayman and an old Woman who sits atop a bridge, calmly smoking a pipe) and they walk silently alongside us over the busy city streets (in places like The Tudor House Museum or The Medieval Merchants House in Southampton). Even the Theatre Royal in London has its ghosts; particularly an actor who prods and pokes his still living peers if they under perform (and whos eerie voice, a hushed, raspy whisper which simply asked whos there? was recorded by researchers in the 2000s). If it helps, think of these ghost stories as an oral history of the British people, passed down from person to person, from mother to daughter, or from father to son. Many of these stories are older than the printed word, or else date back to a time before the masses could read or write. They traverse all periods of British history (as evidenced by the ghostly RAF pilot who still haunts the St. George Hotel in Middleton). Ghosts may be dead by nature, but maybe they exist simply to keep the past alive... You may feel inclined to dismiss these phantoms as purely
psychological in origin, or, if you like, argue that these poor, tortured souls who bore witness to a glimpse of the other side are simply mistaken, or lying, or mad. You may say whatever you like, as long as it will help you sleep soundly tonight. But maybe you wont be so quick to dismiss these fanciful notions the next time you catch a strange movement in the corner of your eye, or feel a breathy chill at the nape of your neck... Next time youre half asleep in your bed and an unnatural darkness permeates the familiar surroundings of your room, or an unearthly chill descends upon you despite all the windows being locked tight, perhaps youll see things differently. If it feels, even just for a second, that youre being watched... ...Maybe you are.