If I asked you to name “the most haunted house in London”, you probably wouldn’t pick Berkeley Square as your location. Yet for almost a century, No. 50. Berkeley Square had quite the supernatural reputation. It’s part of the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, built in the mid-18th century by architect William Kent. Famous residents of […]
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Tower of London Ghosts: From Anne Boleyn to the Phantom Bear
The Tower of London has been many things through its over 900 years of history. Royal palace, fortress, menagerie, armoury, treasury, Royal Mint, public record office, and now, a tourist attraction. Given the sheer amount of death, torture, and violence associated with the building, ghosts are somewhat inevitable. And the Tower boasts a whole range […]
Two London Ghosts and Messages from Beyond the Grave
There’s a particular branch of ghost stories that sees the dead appear to warn the living of their own impending death. They act as a form of death omen. It’s not the same as those ghosts of the living that appear to family at the point of their death. These ghosts appear to offer help […]
The Hammersmith Ghost: The 1803 Hoax That Went Wrong
Given the sheer age of London and the number of people that have passed through its gates over the centuries, it would be difficult to imagine it not being haunted. Though, as the tale of the Hammersmith Ghost will show, ghosts aren’t always what they appear to be. This tale takes us to 1803. George […]
Exploring the myths of the Charterhouse Plague Pit
Watching the progress of the Crossrail construction project was fascinating in terms of what was unearthed. The Charterhouse Plague Pit was one such buried secret, first uncovered in March 2013. Charterhouse lies between Clerkenwell and Smithfield, just north of the City of London. The area is allegedly rife with plague pits, although if you believe […]
Why does a London pub hang hot cross buns in the bar?
Go to Devons Road in London in Bromley-by-Bow and you’ll find a pub with a net of hot cross buns hanging above the bar. I know, it’s pretty weird – even for a pub. But a legend has grown up around The Widow’s Son. Every year, a sailor arrives on Good Friday and places a […]