The Ghosts of Politics IV: The Tower of London

Due to the intense emotions commonly involved with politics- dealing with war, civil rights, employment, etc, you can probably see how an imprint of a politician's spirit could be made on the place they work. The White House is a good example of this with Abraham Lincoln's ghost having been sighted there several times.

Just imagine the emotions that surround a place like the Tower of London- with imprisonment, torture and death a very real part of the political climate during its prime. Surely, a place like that would be ripe for ghosts and hauntings.

And such is the Tower of London's reputation as one of the most haunted locations in the United Kingdom.

The first reported sighting of a ghost there was of Thomas A. Becket. When construction of the Inner Curtain Wall started during the reign of Henry III. The archbishop, who died because of Henry III's grandfather, didn't seem pleased with the construction going on. It was reported that he reduced the wall to ruins when he struck it with his cross. Henry III built a chapel in the tower, and named it after the slain archbishop. It is suspected that, the ghost, having been pleased by this act of penance then stopped causing problems for the construction crews.

Prince Edward V, and Prince Richard, Duke of York, who were aged twelve and ten respectively, are assumed to have been murdered in the Tower of London in 1483. The Duke of Gloucestershire is suspected of ordering their deaths so that he could be crowned King Richard III. Guards in the 15th century reported walking pass the Bloody Tower (as the Tower of London is also called), and seeing the shadows of two young figures in white night shirts gliding down the stairs. They said that when they stopped, they stood hand in hand before disappearing. Workmen found a chest in 1674, that held the bones of two young children. It is generally accepted that these were the two murdered princes, and they were given a royal burial after their discovery.

One of the more famous, and most often seen ghosts is that of Anne Boleyn. She was ordered to be executed for infidelity after the only male heir she bore Henny VIII was still born. One May 19, 1536, she was beheaded. Her spirit is often reported by the Queen's House, near her execution site. Her figure is often reported to be followed by ghostly Lords and Ladies down the aisle of the Chapel Royal, to her final resting place under the Chapel's altar. Anne Boleyn's spirit is also often seen stalking the Tower of London's hallways... with her head under her arm.

One spirit that didn't seem to suffer while alive was Sir Walter Raleigh. His cells were furnished comfortably during his imprisonment, and visitors to the Bloody Tower can see them as they looked back in the 16th century. Executed by James I, Sir Walter Raleigh's ghost is reported to look exactly as he does in the portrait of him hanging in the Tower.

While Sir Walter Raleigh may have had a comfortable end to his life, the Countess of Salisbury did not. Ordered to die by Henry VIII for political reasons, the 70 year old Countess refused to rest her head on the block. The exectutioner wound up chasing her, swinging his ax until she died of her wounds. Not only has she been seen re-enacting this horrible death, but it's been reported that the shadow of the ax has been seen over the scene of her murder.

Another tragic tale of death at the Tower of London is that of Lady Jane Grey. The granddaughter of Mary (the younger sister of Henry VIII), and Louis XII of France, it was arranged for her to marry Guildford Dudley, and her cousin, Edward VI was convinced to name her his successor. This was a political move by the Duke of Northumberland, as he would lose everything if Mary- a Catholic became queen. Dudley was his son. When Edward VI died, Lady Jane Grey was crowned Queen. When she was overthrown by the supporters of Mary, her own father betrayed her by throwing his support behind Mary. Lady Jane Grey, Guildford Dudley, and the Duke of Northumberland were imprisoned in the Tower of London. The Duke was executed, while Mary- showing mercy, let Lady Jane Grey and Dudley go.

Not long after this, Lady Jane Grey's father was part of a rebellion against Mary, and Lady Jane Grey and her husband wound up once again in the Bloody Tower. Dudley was beheaded first, with Lady Jane Grey being executed shortly after. She was 17 when she died. Her ghost has been seen as a "white shape forming itself on the battlements" up to at least February 12, 1957, marking the 403rd anniversary of her beheading. Guildford Dudley has been reported being seen in Beauchamp Tower weeping as the time for his execution draws near.

Escaping from her cell in the Tower of London, Catherine Howard screamed out for help and mercy. After being caught, she was returned to her room to await her execution the next day. A phantom matching her description is often seen running down the hallway, screaming for help.

1864 saw a sentry guarding the Queen's House challening an apparition that was so solid and detailed that he thought it was a real, living person. After ignoring the soldier three times, the guard lunged with his bayonet, only to fall through it to the ground. He was found unconcious and put up on charges of neglecting his duty. He would've been court martialed if two others hadn't come forward to confirm his encounter.

And it's not just people that haunt the famous Tower of London. The location once was home to the Royal Menagerie. Here, various animals ranging from lions, birds, monkeys, and even an elephant that was a givft from the King of France were exhibited. It was reported that one night in January, 1815, as the clock struck midnight, a bear from the menagerie was sighted coming through a doorway. The guard on post lunged at it with his bayonet, but struck nothing but air. He was found unconcious, and died two months later from fear.

There is "something" stalking the Salt Tower. This area of the Tower of London complex is claimed to be the most haunted of them. Dogs refuse to enter, and no guards will enter after nightfall, espectially after one of the Yeoman Warders was attacked, and nearly strangled by an unseen power.

Phantom funeral carriages, and a woman in a veil and no face have also been reported as haunting the famous Bloody Tower.

Borley Rectory (Essex, United Kingdom)

In Essex, located in the United Kingdom, there was built one of the most famous British haunted houses. The rectory is located in Borley, a lonely part of the eastern coast of England- not far from the Suffolk border.

A newspaper, carried an article in June of 1929, reporting the sighting of a phantom nun at the rectory. The newspaper contacted Harry Price, a now famous paranormal investigator, to conduct an investigation into this apparition. Price's contact at the paper informed him that in addition to the ghostly nun, footsteps, unexplained whispers, a unseen coach have been heard, and that inexplicable lights, the figure of a headless man, and the apparition of Henry Bull- the homes builder had been seen. The nun was reported as drifting through the garden hanging her head in sadness.

Locals told accounts of how in the 13th century, when the location had been a monastery, a monk, and an attractive young nun had been killed when they tried to elope together. They said that the monk had been hung, while the nun had been sealed within the walls of her convent while still alive. Even though, skeptical of this tale, Price was curious about what was happening at Borley Rectory.

Harry Price is known today as one of the earliest, and most accomplished paranormal investigator, and was the creator of the standard "ghost hunting kit". He used tape measures and meticulous measurements of walls in order to see if there were any secret rooms or passages ways that would allow a hoaxer to perform their tricks. The use of still cameras for indoor and outdoor investigations were common in his investigations, and he even used a remote-control motion picture camera. In addition, he applied various police techniques, such as lifting of fingerprints, as well as portable communcations devices to keep investigators connected and up to date.

During his investigation, Price would report bells ringing, knocking on the walls, objects moving from one place to another. Witnesses were interviewed, gathering a large collection of experiences from them.

Rev. Henry Bull disregarded the local warning about the land being haunted, and built Borely Rectory when he became the Borley Church pastor in 1862. Soon afterwards, came reports from servants and family members of strange noises and apparitions. Rev. Bull and his son, Harry seemed to find the unusual phenomena to be rather entertaining- go so far as to build a summer home where they could sit, enjoy a cigar and watch for the phantom nun.

Rev. Bull passed away in 1892, and his son, become pastor, and lived on the property until his own death in 1927. Rev. Guy Smith became the new pastor, but quit the rectory within a year due to the strange occurances, and the crumbling state of the house.

Things picked up at the rectory in 1930, when Rev Lionel Foyster and his wife, Marianne moved in. Now people were being locked out of rooms, furnisher and household items would move, and window would break by themselves. Mrs. Foyster got the worst treatment of all when she would get thrown out of bed, slapped at all hours, and even smothered by her mattress. Notes soon appeared on the walls. Some of the notes read, "Marianne, please help get," and "Marianne light mass prayers".

Harry Price suspected that, since Marianne Foyster was the centre of most of the poltergeist type activity, these occurances weren't necessarily caused by spirits. He felt, rather, that she was unknowingly manipulating things with psychokinetic energy. Even though he didn't believe that the events surrounding Mrs. Foyster were ghostly in nature, he did believe that the notes where. Price indicated that the notes were from a young Catholic woman- possibly a nun that had been killed on the property... though not the same nun of local legend.

After the Foysters moved out, Price leased the house for a year in order to run a round-the-clock investigation. On May 25, 1937, he placed an ad in the Times:

"HAUNTED HOUSE: Responsible persons of leisure and intellegenceintrepid, critical, and unbiased, are invited to join rota of observers in a years night and day investigation of alleged haunted house in Home countiesPrinted instructions supplied. Scientific training or ability to operate simpleinstruments an advantage. House situation in lonely hamlet, so won car is essentialWrite Box H.989, The Times, E.C.4"

Forty people were chosen, and Price printed up the first-ever paranormal investigation manual. Each member of the investigative team received a copy. It outlined procedures, as well as the type of equiptment needed. The various investigators still had a fair bit of freedom to examine things as they wished. Some used their own equiptment, some kept meticulous journals, while other used seances- these would prove interesting between 1935 and 1939

One seance gave Price information that made him confident that the mystery behind the haunting was solvable. During the sitting, a spirit using the name Marie Lairre claimed she'd been a french nun that had left in order to marry a Henry Waldegrave. Waldegrave belonged to a wealthy family, whose house once stood where Borley Rectory was. After they married, Marie was strangled by her husband, and buried in the cellar. Price felt this information fit in with the notes left for Marianne Foyster, and the reports of the ghostly nun.

March of 1938 saw another spirit communicated with the investigators. This entity claimed that the rectory would burn down that night, and that the nun's remains would be found in the cellar. The rectory may not have burnt down that very night as promised, but exactly eleven months later, when Captain WH Gregson- the new owner, was unpacking books in the library, an overturned oil lamp lead to the rectory being gutted.

After the fire, Price returned, taking the opportunity to excavate the cellar. He discovered some fragile bones- which turned out to belong to a young woman. Harry Price felt that this was proof of his theory that the ghost was that of a nun that had been murdered on the site. A Christian burial helped to settle things down, though from time to time, people still experience odd things on the property...

"The Brown Lady" of Raynham Hall (Norfolk, United Kingdom)

One of the most famous ghost photos is that of Raynham Hall's "Brown Lady". This photo was taken in 1936 by Captain Provand, and Indre Shira. They were on assignment from the magazine Country Life, doing an article on Raynham Hall.

While they were taking photos graphs of the stairwell, Shira sensed something on the stairs and immediately triggered the flash. When they developed the photo, they discovered the shape of a woman in a veil coming down the stairs.

The ghostly figure is suspected of being Lady Townshend, the wife of Charles Townshend, who was known for a quick temper. As the story goes, Townshend learned that his wife had been unfaithful, and imprisioned her at Raynham Hall. Lady Townshend stayed there until her death as an old woman.

The Brown Lady has been sighted a few times over the centuries roaming through the halls. It is claimed that King George IV, while staying at the estate, saw her standing beside his bed, wearing a brown dress, with a pale face and disheveled hair.

Another report from 1835, around Christmas time has Colonel Loftus seeing this famour phantom. On his way to bed, one night, the figure was seen in the hall. When he tried to get a better look, the mysterious woman in the brown dress disappeared. A week later, the Colonel saw her again, and got a better look this time. The dress was made of brown satin, while her skin seemed to glow slightly. Gruesomely, however, her eyes were gone. After reporting his experience to the other staying at Raynham Hall, many of them came forward with their own stories of meeting the spirit. An artist even did a painting of the Brown Lady, which was hung up in the room where she had been seen the most.

Captain Frederick Marryat, a novelist, was staying at Raynham Hall later, and spent a night in the room where she was reported to be the most. She did not make an appearance that night. Less than a week or so later, however, Marryat saw her when he and two friends were walking down a hallway in the upstairs area. They said she had a lantern as she quietly passed them while they hid behind the door. Marryat claimed that she grinned at him in a "diabolical manner" before vanishing. Just as she did, Marryat fired his pistol at her, but it passed through her harmless, to lodge into a wall nearby.

Sightings of the Brown Lady continued through the years, until the famous photo was taken on September 19, 1936. There are many who claim the photo is fake, with a photo analyst by the name of Joe Nickell stating that it was a composite of two images. While argument continues about the factual integrity of the photo, there is no argument about the existance of the spirit. Sightings of her have dropped off as time has passed, though in the 1960, the late Marchioness of Townshend reported to Denniss Bardens that she had seen the ghostly figure several times.