Greater London Gazetteer

The famous 18th century actress Sarah Siddons (born 5 July 1755) bought 27 Upper Baker Street in 1817 and it was here that she died on 8 June 1831. Because of its connections with Sarah, in 1876 the house became the first building to receive a nationally recognised memorial plaque for a woman. Read More »

During the Victorian era 50 Berkeley Square was popularly believed to be the most haunted building in London. Now occupied by the famous antiquarian book dealers, Maggs Bros, there is no evidence that haunting like experiences persist but the case of the haunting of 50 Berkeley Square, which has probably developed into a kind of urban legend has become infamous. Read More »

The café Solneve can now be found at 523 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, an address that in the 1960’s was associated with a four month canine haunting.  The dog in question would be seen coming and running through the building and sometimes out through a locked door. Read More »

Following an eight year search, on 22nd August 2004, Christian Francis of Lebanon Divers found the wreck of HMS Victoria near Tripoli. Standing vertically with her bow and the first 30m of her length buried in the seabed, she was the victim of naval blunder and her sinking in 1893 is directly linked to reports of an apparition being witnessed. Read More »

Aldgate Railway Station which serves the Circle Line and Metropolitan Line opened on 18 November 1876 and is said to have been built on a Plague Pit where hundreds of victims of the Bubonic Plague of 1665 were buried. Daniel Dafoe mentions this ‘terrible pit’ in the churchyard of the Parish of Aldgate in his ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ published 1722*. Read More »

St Mary-at-Hill is a Grade I listed building on Lovat Lane. The founding of the church dates from 12th century though it has been rebuilt and renovated many times since then. It was during one period of renovation that it became linked with Alice Hackney who’s body was found preserved after being buried for nearly two hundred years. Alice also reputedly haunts the church still. Read More »

John Ingram in his ‘The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain’ (1897) recounts a reported experience by the authoress Anna Maria Porter (also referred to as 'L'Allegra') (born 1780 – died 1832). Born in Durham and spending her earliest years in Edinburgh, Anna’s family moved to London sometime in the 1790’s. Read More »

The Bank of England on Threadneedle Street is sometimes referred to as ‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’ and is reputedly haunted by the apparition of Sarah Whitehead, also known as ‘The Black Nun’. Read More »

The Bank-Monument Station complex is comprised of the two interlinked underground stations of Bank and Monument. The complex is the eighth busiest station on the London Underground network and it serves the Waterloo & City Line, Central Line, Northern Line, Circle Line, District Line and the Docklands Light Railway. Read More »

On 19 March 2007 The Richmond & Twickenham Times published the following article concerning The Beast of Bexley. Read More »

On 25th May 2005 News Shopper published the following article by Linda Piper entitled ‘Return of the Beast’ It focuses on a potential shared sighting of the Beast of Bexley in Bexleyheath. Please note that the map does not show the exact location of the experience. Read More »

On 11 August 2008 News Shopper published the following article entitled Beast of Bexley Sighting by Robert Fisk.

A Beast of Bexley-type creature is believed to have been spotted in Thamesmead. Read More »

On the evening of 23 September 1916, the L-33 a German Zeppelin under the command of Kapitan Alois Bocker bombed Upminster and Bromley during a World War I air raid. Anti aircraft fire from Victoria Park, Wanstead or Beckton damaged the L-33 whilst it was at 13,000 feet. Needing to shed weight it dropped more bombs, one of which destroyed the Black Swan on Bow Road. Read More »

A phantom hitchhiker reputedly haunts the Blackwall Tunnel which runs under the River Thames between Greenwich and Tower Hamlets in London. The usual account of a motorcyclist picking up the hitchhiker in 1972 seems to have changed slightly over time. In some versions the hitchhiker is male, others female. Read More »

There is a Devil legend associated with Bleeding Heart Yard that ends in the horrific death of Lady Elizabeth Hatton. The scene of the legend is a grand ball at Hatton House on 26 January 1626 (though sometimes shown as 1662). Lady Hatton attracted a lot of attention as she danced throughout the night being both a young beauty and very wealthy. Read More »

3 February - Blessing the throats at St Etheldreda's Church, Ely Place, London.  Throat complaint sufferers are blessed by invoking St Blaise, the patron Saint of people with throat problems

There are many locations that have and unjust reputation of being haunted and I feel this may be the case with the Boston House in Chiswick. The earliest account I have found of the haunting comes from Christina Hole’s Haunted England: A Survey of English Ghost Lore 1941. Read More »

Established in 1753 and opened to the public on 15 January 1759, the British Museum has over seven million artifacts mapping human history and culture from all around the globe, spanning from the earliest civilizations to present day. One of those artefacts though has become entwined with the story of a curse, which although being fictional does persist and continues to draw attention. Read More »

Opened on 30 July 1900, British Museum Station at Bury Place served the Central Line on London’s underground rail network. The station was closed on 25 September 1933 when platforms for the Central Line opened at the nearby Holborn Station. Read More »

Now a museum, Bruce Castle, which was formerly known as Lordship House is a Grade I listed manor house dating from the 16th century. It is associated with an anniversary ghost identified as Lady Constantia Coleraine who committed suicide in the late 1600’s and is said to be seen screaming and jumping to her death from an upstairs balcony. Read More »

The sixty five room Cadogan Hotel is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in London and is reputedly haunted by the actress and lover of King Edward VII, Lillie Langtry (born 13 October 1853 – died 12 February 1929). Read More »

Cambridge House is a Grade I listed Palladian style building dating from 1761. Throughout its 250 year history it has been associated with many notable people, but it was during its time as the Naval & Military Club that it gained its reputation of being haunted by a World War II serviceman. Read More »

Dating from 1884, the 41.5 acres Chingford Mount Cemetery is reputedly haunted and was mentioned in a 2005 article by Mark Killiner on the Guardian website entitled 'Things that go bump in the night'. Read More »

There is a tradition that during the Victorian times a Night Watchman came across the ghosts of two beautiful ladies in the ancient burial ground of Greyfriars. The two ladies had haunted the site oblivious of each other for centuries, but, once they noticed each other and saw that they were of equal beauty, they got angry and started to fight. Read More »

Cleopatra's Needle is made of red granite and stands 68ft. It is one of three ‘Needles', the other two being in Paris and New York. Although named after Cleopatra they actually date from 1450BC and the reign of Thutmose III. The inscriptions date from roughly 1250BC and were probably added on the order of Ramesses II as they mention his great victories. Read More »

Covent Garden Station opened on 11 April 1907 and serves the Piccadilly Line. It is said to be haunted by the apparition of a tall man wearing white gloves, a top hat and a frock coat and grey suit. This figure has been reported many times since the 1950’s though recent sightings are uncommon. He has been seen in the tunnels and the staff rest room. Read More »

69 Dean Street is a Grade II listed, 18th century four storey Georgian Townhouse. It is currently called the Dean Street Townhouse, a new nine bedroom hotel and restaurant, which opened on 24 November 2009. Prior to being opened as a hotel, 69 Dean Street was home to the Gargoyle Club which had a reputation of being haunted by one of King Charles II famous mistresses, Nell Gwyn (Gwynne). Read More »

On 30th November 1222, dragons were reported to have been seen over the city of London, after the sighting severe thunderstorms caused severe flooding.

During December 1927 the family home of Mr Henry Robinson in Eland Road, Battersea came to the attention of the Police and the local media following reports of suspected Poltergeist like activity. On 19th January 1928 Harry Price, president of the Ghost Club started to investigate the case. Read More »

The Elephant and Castle Underground Railway Station serves the Northern Line and the Bakerloo Line (originally named the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway). The apparition of a young woman has been seen several times by both staff and customers on the Bakerloo Line part of the station. She boards the train at Elephant and Castle Station, walks through the carriages then disappears with a trace. Read More »

Elizabeth Siddal was an artist and a model, who posed for many of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A mystery arose following her death, as her grave in Highgate Cemetery was opened and her body, though dead for seven years, was said not to have decomposed at all, which has even led to speculation in some quarters that she was undead. Read More »

Elsie Marshall was born on 9 November 1869 in Birchfield, Birmingham where her father Rev J W Marshall was the parish minister. In 1874 they moved to Blackheath in London her father became minister of St Johns Church, which had been built in 1853. Read More »

'What IS the truth about the Enfield Poltergeist? Amazing story of 11-year-old London girl who 'levitated' above her bed' is the title given to the following article by Zoe Brennan which appeared on the Mail Online 28th October 2011. Read More »

Green Park is a Royal park near Buckingham Palace that covers about forty seven acres. Originally the park was an area of swampy land used as a burial ground for the nearby leper hospital of St James. This hospital was closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the land was enclosed by King Henry VIII and then became part of the estate of the Poulteney family. Read More »

The Greencoat Boy public house can be found on Greencoat Place (formerly Coburg Row). The pub is on the site of the old St Margaret’s Hospital and Green Coat School, after which it was probably named. The old prison Tothill Fields Bridewell (Westminster Bridewell) was located beside St Margaret’s Hospital and was on that site between 1618 and 1834. Read More »

Hampton Court Palace and St James's Palace are the last two surviving palaces built by King Henry VIII. King Henry had acquired Hampton Court in 1525 when his Chief Minister, Thomas Wolsey, Arch Bishop of Canterbury fell from favour. Wolsey had spent seven years rebuilding the 14th century manor that would form the core of Henry's new palace. Read More »

Brook Street in Mayfair runs from Grosvenor Square to Hanover Square and its buildings date from the early 1700’s. In 1723 the German/British baroque composer George Frideric Handel (born 23 February 1685 in Germany) began renting the newly built 25 Brook Street where he lived for the next thirty six years before dying there on 14 April 1759. Read More »

Over the past 147 years, the London Underground network has grown to cover 253 miles and 270 stations, covering most of central London, extending out into Greater London and beyond. Read More »

The disused High Level Station at Highgate is reputedly haunted by the sounds which it is said have been heard by the local residents. However, without any actual witness accounts I cannot be sure whether this reputation unfounded or not. Read More »

Situated in a 500 acre estate, some of which is now survives as Holland Park, the house was originally known as Cope Castle and was built in 1605 for Sir Walter Cope. His daughter married Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland (1590 - 9 March 1649) who inherited the property and is said to haunt it. Read More »

In November 2008, Michael Kent reported seeing a strange hairy bear like creature whilst fishing one evening with his brother and father. Read More »

I have known the name David Farrant ever since I first started reading about and investigating the paranormal. Read More »

In 1696 the antiquarian John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) published his Miscellanies which included the following account of an apparition being seen in a house on James Street, Covent Garden. Read More »

On 25th April 1871 a policeman discovered a young woman named Jane Maria Clousen on her hands and kness on Kidbrooke Lane in Eltham. She had been beaten by a hammer and died of her injuries five days later in Guy’s Hospital. She was only seventeen years of age. Read More »

Keats House is a museum based in a building that was originally two semi detached houses known as ‘Wentworth Place’. Read More »

Ludgate is commonly accepted as having been named after the mythical King Lud, who according to legend founded London. King Lud who is said to have been buried at Ludgate appeared in texts such as Geoffrey of Monmouths (born circa 1100 – died circa 1155) Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain). Read More »

The Langham Hilton which opened in 1865 as Europes first grand hotel is situated on Portland Place and is supposed to be haunted by a number of ghosts. It was once owned by the BBC and many of the accounts come from journalists staying there. Read More »

Ghostly happenings around Highgate are not only confined to Highgate Cemetery and The Flask. Read More »

There is a strange tale of a phantom bird like creature that in 1913 attacked and killed a young barrister named Charles Appleby in offices connected to Lincoln’s Inn, the oldest of the four Inns of Court in London. An account of this haunting appears in True Ghosts & Spooky Incidents by Vikas Khatri. Read More »

Receiving roughly 123 million visitors per annum, Liverpool Street Station is considered to be the third busiest station in the United Kingdom. It is built on the site once occupied by the original Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam) and is reputedly haunted by an ex-patient of the infamous asylum. Read More »