London is a city of ghosts; you feel them here. Not just of people, but eras. The ghost of empire, or the blitz, the plague, the smoky ghost of the Great Fire that gave us Christopher Wren’s churches and ushered in the Georgian city.
A. A Gill
Picture: Ashkan Forouzani
By Dave Jones: Columnist
Despite living in an age of advanced science, stories still persist of things we can’t explain, things that in many cases, we can’t even prove. Whether you believe them or not, there’s no denying the wealth of ghost sightings and stories of haunted locales across England. So many, in fact, that it’s enough to make even the most skeptical of us wonder just how thin the veil between our world and the next really is.
If the rumors are to be believed, England is a haunted place and has been for hundreds of years. Perhaps the old buildings and architecture are the reason, or the country’s harrowing history of tragedy and war. There’s certainly been no shortage of violent deaths – the royal families of old were renowned for having a penchant for beheading at the drop of the proverbial hat.
Could such violent circumstances cause a person’s spirit to cling on to this world? There are a lot of people who think it might. Many of these supposed spectres are right out of the history books, the echoes of chronicled people still enacting their lives before their sudden demise, much to the distress of the people who claim to have witnessed them.
The subject of the paranormal isn’t without its roots in science, though. Back in the late 1800s, The Society for Psychical Research, or SPR, was formed to study phenomena such as hypnotism, mediumship and hauntings. Although these days it’s considered pseudoscience and eschewed by modern scientific methods, it was at one time widely accepted.
Even today, you can still find people who believe – or want to – in its existence. As technology increased, so did the interest in using it to look for scientific proof of ghosts, and in the 2000s the media saw a boom in ghost hunting. These days, there are many guided trips to spirit ‘hotspots’ and YouTube channels dedicated to exploring haunted locales. However, without caution it can be a dangerous endeavor, and not because of otherworldly beings.
There are multiple cases of people being injured or killed exploring locations deemed haunted, because the age and degradation of the buildings have led to them becoming unsafe. Actually, on one occasion a teenager was shot at for trying to explore a “haunted” property that was occupied by homeowners who didn’t appreciate the home invasion.
For the careful ghost hunter, though, there’s no shortage of ghostly goings-on in England and the Tower of London is the most obvious choice. It’s apparently the site of thirteen ghosts, among which are some incredibly famous historical names, such as Guy Fawkes and Lady Jane Grey.
Ruling for a mere nine days, Lady Jane Grey is renowned as having the shortest reign in history before she was dethroned by her half-sister Mary and sentenced to execution in London’s Tower Green. People have reported seeing a white shape believed to be Lady Jane Grey haunting the Tower of London’s battlements into the modern era.
However, perhaps the most bizarre ghosts rumored to haunt the tower are something referred to only as “the Nameless Thing” – an unidentifiable spirit that stalks the tower’s guards at night – and that a black bear from Henry III’s eccentric menagerie, which guards the tower’s Jewel Room.
Is it imagination or
spiritual energy
leading the way?
Seekers hunt the unknown.
York is another location steeped in history since its founding by Romans in 71 AD and boasts the Treasurer’s House renowned for its historical hauntings. Back in 1953, a plumber witnessed a host of Roman soldiers in full armour marching through the cellar. His panicked escape caught the curator’s attention, who simply responded, “You’ve seen the Roman soldiers, haven’t you?”
Ghost enthusiasts will have heard of the stately home Samlesbury Hall in Lancashire, no doubt. It’s considered one of Britain’s most haunted places after all, and it’s free to visit. It’s also host to a plethora of different ghosts, although the White Lady is arguably the most famous. The ghost allegedly belongs to Dorothy Southworth, a woman who was scheduled to elope and marry the love of her life. Dorothy’s brother, who disapproved of the relationship on grounds of differing religions, ambushed and killed Dorothy’s intended husband. Dorothy herself was sent to live in a convent, ultimately dying of a broken heart. Not only has her grieving spirit been seen on multiple occasions at Samlesbury Hall, apparently visitors have photographed ghosts there, too!
Yet life after death doesn’t have to be a scary subject. There are many stories of terrifying apparitions and tormented souls, true, but that’s not always the case. For example, Felbrigg Hall – one of the most haunted places in Norfolk – hosts the spirit of William Windham III.
As a passionate reader, William frequently visited his friend’s library to read until it caught fire in 1809. William risked everything to save the rare books on its shelves and fell in the attempt, succumbing to his injuries in the weeks that followed. However, his passion seems to have transcended mortality, and staff have reported seeing the ghost of William settled in a chair reading his favorite books.
It’s hard to dismiss the many accounts of haunted places across the country when there are so many. You could put them down as mere tourist traps, or hoaxes or enthusiastic ghost hunters seeing what they want to see. But can so many people be wrong?
Part of the appeal of ghost stories perhaps lies in discovering the unknown, or the glimmer of hope that comes with life after death. Mankind has been obsessed with the pursuit of Immortality in some form or another for time untold, but maybe there’s more to it than that. Maybe sometimes people’s spirits or emotions are so strong they leave an imprint or an echo on the world like a manual photograph negative, that stays long after the subject’s passed on.
It could be that some people’s stories and histories are so strong, so personally impactful that their spirit lives on in this world, even if it’s just through the lens of our own memories and passions.
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