Route starts at Hyde Park Corner

 

Preamble

 

Richard Jones, author of Haunted Britain and Ireland says: "There are more ghosts per square foot here than anywhere else in the world. There's barely a house, let alone a street, that doesn't have some sort of supernatural activity." Although usually, he adds reassuringly, it passes totally unnoticed.

 

All the stories you’ll hear on this ride are, of course, completely true, although some of the facts may have been ‘embelished’.

 

STOP: Hyde Park Corner tube station

LOCATION: The Wellesley Hotel on Knightsbridge (visible through the trees)

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The station was opened in December 1906. The original station building still remains to the south of the road junction, notable by its ox-blood coloured tiles; it was until June 2010 used as a Pizza Express, and since December 2012 it has been the Wellesley Hotel.  This is one of a series of stations on the deep tunnel sections of the underground designed by chief architect Leslie Green during the first decade of the 20th century. They are in the art nouveau style.

 

The building was taken out of use when escalators were installed in place of lifts leading to a new sub-surface ticket hall that came into use in 1932.  The old lift shafts are now used to provide ventilation. The 1932 station had showcases inset to the walls that showed a series of dioramas depicting the development of the London bus – long gone, some of the scale models survive in the LT Museum Collections.

 

In 1978, two station workers had closed the station for the night, shutting down and locking the escalators. At around 2:30am they heard a commotion and went out to find one of the escalators had started up again. They were confused: There was no way for it to start without a key.

 

When they were back in their office, making tea, the room suddenly became ice cold. One supervisor noticed his colleague had gone completely white and was pressed back against the wall. "Did you see it?" he stuttered. He'd seen a face loom through the door and peer into the room. The station worker left his job there and never returned.

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STOP: Cadogan Hotel

LOCATION: Junction of Sloane Street and Post street

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The Cadogan opened in 1887. Eight years later the hotel acquired and incorporated these gabled mansions which are built a little earlier in the style nicknamed ‘Pont Street Dutch’. 

 

One of these houses, 21 Pont Street, was the home to Lillie Langtry (the 'Jersey Lilly' 1853 - 1929), the famously beautiful actress and mistress to the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) whom she met in 1877.

 

The hotel was bought by local landowner Earl Cadogan in 2011. This is the first time in its history that the Cadogan has been owned by the family whose name it bears.

 

Celebrity connections give this haunting some added spice. The restaurant is said to be visited from time to time by the ghost of Lillie Langtry. Ghostly Langtry is altogether more modest than her real-life predecessor, reportedly only making appearances when the hotel is almost empty, and usually only around Christmas time.

 

On an entirely-less-ghostly-but-still-very-interesting note, it was here in room 118 that Oscar Wilde was arrested for gross indecency in 1895.

 

STOP: 50 Berkeley Square

LOCATION: The west side of Berkeley Square

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In the early 20th century this house was reputed to be London's most haunted.

 

From 1859 until the 1870s Thomas Myers, who was rumoured to have been rejected by his fiancée, lived in the house. He lived alone and it was said that he locked himself inside and slowly went mad until his death at the age of 76 in November 1874. During his residence in the house it fell into gross disrepair and its reputation began to develop.

 

In 1872, on a bet, Lord Lyttleton stayed a night in the building's attic. He brought his shotgun with him and fired at an apparition. In the morning he attempted to find the apparition, but could only find shotgun cartridges. He was so paralysed with fear that he could not speak. 

 

The following year the local council issued a summons to the house's owners for failure to pay taxes, but it is claimed that they were not prosecuted because of the house's reputation for being haunted.

 

In 1879 a piece in the Mayfair Magazine reported that a maid who stayed in the attic room had been found mad and had died in an asylum the day after.

 

In 1887 two sailors from HMS Penelope stayed a night in the house. By morning one was found dead, having tripped as he ran from the house. The other reported having seen the ghost of Mr Myers approaching them aggressively.

 

Strangely, no phenomena have been reported since the house was bought by the Maggs Brothers in the late 1930s.  

 

STOP: Handel Hendrix House (Museum)

LOCATION: Brook Street

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German born Handel (born 1685) made his home in London in 1712 and eventually became a British citizen in 1727. Handel was the first occupant of this house (25 Brook Street), which he rented from 1723 until his death here in 1759. 

 

Almost all his works after 1723, amongst them many of his best-known operas, oratorios and ceremonial music, were composed and partially rehearsed in the house, which contained a variety of keyboard instruments, including harpsichords, a clavichord and a small chamber organ. 

 

At the age of 38, Handel had become accepted within the higher echelons of British society, with whom he freely mixed. His immediate neighbours on either side were society types from the upper middle classes.

 

The museum was opened in 2001 by the Handel House Trust. In 2016 the museum expanded to incorporate the upper floors of the building next door (23 Brook Street), home of Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s.

 

Right before the opening of the museum the trust board ordered a Roman Catholic priest to carry out an exorcism for a ghost spotted by two fundraisers. Believed to be the ghost of the famous composer himself, the apparition was also spotted by guitarist Jimi Hendrix when he lived here.

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STOP: Room 333, Langham Hotel

LOCATION: Portland Place 

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The Langham opened in 1865 as the then-largest building in London and Europe's first 'Grand Hotel'.  Ten stories and 156-feet high, the first Langham hotel featured 15,000 yards of Persian tapestry, hot and cold running water in every guest room, the world's first hydraulic lifts, known as 'rising rooms', and even an early form of air-conditioning. 

 

Upon opening The Langham, the then Prince of Wales hailed the hotel as having "everything a man, woman or child could desire under one roof".  Electric light was installed in the entrance and courtyard at the exceptionally early date of 1879, and Conan Doyle set the Sherlock Holmes stories ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ and ‘The Sign of Four’ partly at the Langham.   

 

The Langham has since hosted royal, political and cultural dignitaries and celebrities, including French Emperor Napoleon III and wits and writers Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain. However, the hotel closed during WW2 and after the war was bought by the nearby BBC and used as office space until 1986, when it was sold and reopened as a hotel in 1991. 

 

The hotel featured in the James Bond film Goldeneye (1995), its entryway doubling in an exterior shot for St Petersburg's Grand Hotel Europe. Only the exterior was filmed at the hotel, the interior was filmed in a studio.

 

If it’s the most famously haunted hotel in London, room 333 at this renowned property is the most haunted of all the rooms in the capital. It’s here that many have reported seeing the ghost of a Victorian doctor, who murdered his wife and then took his own life while the pair were honeymooning at the hotel. 

 

Amazingly, many people actually request they be put in room 333, hoping for a paranormal encounter. If you’re less choosy, keep an eye out for the German prince (who threw himself off a balcony here), who’s said to move through walls at the property, lowering the temperature of whatever room he ends up in, and generally being all ghostly and unpleasant.

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STOP: British Museum tube station

LOCATION: outside 133 High Holborn (station no longer exists)

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British Museum was a station on the London Underground Central line.

 

The station was opened in 1900. In 1933, with the expansion of Holborn station, less than 100 yards away, British Museum station was permanently closed. It was subsequently utilised as a military office and command post, but in 1989 the surface building was demolished. A portion of the eastbound tunnel is used to store materials for track maintenance, visible from passing trains.

 

Ok, so no trains have been through the abandoned British Museum station in over ninety years. However, the sheer malevolence of its resident ghost means that this is a truly terrifyingly haunted underground stop. 

 

Many people believe that the long-abandoned British Museum tunnels are haunted by the ghost of the Egyptian god Amun-ra. He’s no Casper the friendly ghost, either; people have blamed him for the disappearance of two women from neighbouring Holborn station in 1935.

 

The rumour goes that there’s a secret tunnel connecting the Egyptian room at the British Museum to Holborn. Logic suggests that the ghost of Amun-ra has been using this tunnel to travel to Holborn and snatch tube passengers to take back to his lair. 

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STOP: Theatre Royal Drury Lane

LOCATION: Bow Street, Russell Street junction

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The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, is a Grade 1 listed building.  The building faces Catherine Street (which used to be called Bridges Street) and backs onto Drury Lane. It’s the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built on this site, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, when theatres were allowed to re-open during the English Restoration.  This makes it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. 

 

For its first two centuries, Drury Lane could reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre. For most of that time, it was one of a handful of theatres granted monopoly rights to the production of “legitimate’ drama in London (meaning spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music).

 

Initially known as "Theatre Royal in Bridges Street", the theatre's proprietors hired prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis, including Nell Gwyn.  

 

In 1672, the theatre caught fire and a larger theatre was built on the same plot and renamed the "Theatre Royal in Drury Lane"; it opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years. Joseph Grimaldi was the theatre's resident clown.

 

A larger theatre opened in 1794 and it survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809. The building that stands today opened in 1812 and is now owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 

 

It is one of the world's most haunted theatres. The appearance of almost any one of the handful of ghosts that are said to frequent the theatre signals good luck for an actor or production. 

 

The most famous ghost is the 'Man in Grey', who appears dressed as a nobleman of the late 18th century: powdered hair beneath a tricorne hat, a dress jacket and cloak or cape, riding boots and a sword. 

 

Legend says that the Man in Grey is the ghost of a knife-stabbed man whose skeletal remains were found within a walled-up side passage in 1848. Its usual path starts at the end of the fourth row in the upper circle and then procedes via the rear gangway to the wall near the royal box, where the remains were found.

 

The ghosts of actor Charles Macklin and clown Joseph Grimaldi are also supposed to haunt the theatre. 

 

Macklin appears backstage, wandering the corridor which now stands in the spot where, in 1735, he killed a fellow actor in an argument over a wig.  

 

Grimaldi is reported to be a helpful apparition, purportedly guiding nervous actors skilfully about the stage on more than one occasion. 

 

If you ever get a whiff of lavender while watching a show at the Theatre Royal, pick up your stuff and run, because it means that a ghost is in your presence. 

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TOILETS IN CHARING CROSS STATION 

 

STOP: Coutts Bank

LOCATION: Strand, opposite Charing Cross station

 

Coutts and Company is a private bank, founded in 1692.  It is the eighth oldest bank in the world.  Today, Coutts forms part of RBS Group's wealth management division.

 

The bank which was to become Coutts & Co, was originally a goldsmith-banker’s shop.  It was formed in 1692 by a young Scots goldsmith-banker called John Campbell. He set up business in the Strand, under a sign of the Three Crowns, as was customary in the days before street numbers. Today, the Coutts logo still has the three crowns, and its headquarters is still on the Strand.

 

In 1755, John Campbell's granddaughter, Mary (known as "Polly"), married a mercer and banker, James Coutts. James was immediately made a partner.  The bank became known as Campbell & Coutts, with James running the business and becoming sole partner in 1760 on the death of his wife.  

 

In November 1993, the directors took the unusual step of calling upon the services of the psychic medium Eddie Burks, in the hope that he would be able to lay to rest the phantom that was making a decided nuisance of itself in the bank's computer room.

 

A bank spokesperson told The Times how some staff had reported “strange happenings…like lights going on an off… and an apparition, a shadow was how it was described.”  One unfortunate woman was most alarmed when the ghost appeared before her minus its head!

 

A séance was duly held in the course of which, Burks made contact with the spirit and learnt that it was Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1538-1572), whose plot to marry Mary, Queen of Scots and depose Elizabeth 1st in Mary’s favour, resulted in his execution. “ I was beheaded on a summer’s day,” the dejected Duke informed Burks, “ I have held much bitterness and…I must let this go. In the name of God I ask your help…”.

 

Eddie Burks was able to persuade the spirit that the time had come for him to depart and, on 15 November 1993, a congregation that included the present Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, gathered at a nearby Catholic church, to say prayers for his soul.

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STOP: Clerkenwell Prison

LOCATION: Sans Walk, junction with Clerknewell Close

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There has been a prison on this site since 1616.  By the mid-19th century the House of Detention, as it became known, was used as a holding prison for those awaiting trial, and an estimated 10,000 people a year passed through its gates.  

 

The prison was demolished in 1890, but an entire underground section survived and lay undisturbed until the bombs of the Blitz saw it reopened as an air-raid shelter.

 

After World War II it was again largely forgotten until, in 1993, it became a museum, and such it remained until its closure in 1999 when Customs and Excise boarded the place up owing to the management's failure to pay their VAT.

 

Many visitors to the prison caught sight of a shadowy figure moving swiftly through the darkness ahead of them. Others returned from the cells and grim passages asking who the old lady was who seemed to be searching for something? They always commented that she would never respond should they offer her assistance but, instead, would look up and then simply melt away into thin air.

 

Managers of the place lost count of the number of people who heard the heart-rending sobs of a little girl reverberating from the inner depths of the jail.

 

"They genuinely believe that a lost child is wandering the dank maze of corridors and passageways," one of the managers said.   When pressed a little further for information as to the invisible girl's likely identity he simply shook his head before attempting an explanation. "Children were imprisoned here and the anguish they suffered must have been terrible. Perhaps this little girl's grief has somehow impregnated the stone and some people are just sensitive to that sort of thing."

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STOP: Bank of England

LOCATION: Lothbury, junction with Moorgate

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On 2 November 1811, Philip Whitehead, "...a man of genteel appearance" who had been employed in the Cashier's Office at the Bank of England, was brought to the dock of the Old Bailey, charged with forgery.  Found guilty, he was sentenced to death and was duly hanged in early 1812.

 

News of his crime and execution was, however, kept from his devoted sister, Sarah Whitehead, who was removed by Philip's friends to a house in Fleet Street.  

 

But, one day, Sarah turned up at the Bank of England to enquire of her brother's whereabouts, and an unthinking clerk promptly blurted out the story of Philip's crime and ignominious death.

 

The shock of the discovery turned the poor woman's mind and, thereafter, she took to turning up at the Bank everyday asking after her brother in the belief that he still worked there.

 

She became known as the "Bank Nun" on account of her peculiar attire that consisted of a long black dress and a black crepe veil worn over her face and head.

 

The city merchants took pity on her and never let her pass "without extending their assistance," whilst the directors and clerks of the Bank of England saw to it that she was frequently provided with "sums of money in compliment of her misfortune."

 

But she became convinced that the Bank governors were keeping an immense fortune from her and this led to her frequently hurling insults at them during business hours.  On one occasion Baron Rothschild was going about his business at the Stock Exchange when she suddenly appeared and called him a "villain and a robber" telling him that he had defrauded her of her fortune and demanding the £2,000 he owed her.

 

He responded by taking half a crown from his waistcoat pocket, handing it to her and telling her as he did so:- "There, then, take that and don't bother me now; I'll give you the other half tomorrow." Accepting the money, she thanked him and went away.

 

By 1818 the Bank governors had grown tired of her daily disturbances and so gave her a sum of money on condition she agreed never to return to the bank again.

 

In life she kept that contract, but in death her ghost has broken it many times.  Indeed, more than one late night wanderer, wending their weary way home along Threadneedle Street has been surprised by her ghostly figure appearing before them and, with downcast eyes enquiring sadly, though politely, "have you seen my brother?"

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STOP: St Botolph

LOCATION: Bishopsgate, soon after the turn from Wormwood Street

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St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate lies outside the City's (now demolished) eastern walls, so is part of London’s East End. 

 

The church and street both take their name from the Bishop’s Gate in London’s defensive wall which stood approximately 50 metres to the south.

 

John Stow, writing in 1598, describes the church of his time as standing "in a fair churchyard, adjoining to the town ditch, upon the very bank thereof". The City Ditch was a defensive feature, that lay immediately outside the walls and was intended to make attack on the walls by mining or by scaling more difficult.

 

The church was one of four in medieval London dedicated to Saint Botolph - a 7th-century East Anglian saint, each of which stood by one of the gates to the City. The other three are Aldgate, Aldersgate and Billingsgate.  Before the legend of Saint Christopher became popular, Botolph was venerated as the patron saint of travellers, which is thought to be why churches at the City gates have this dedication.

 

The first known written record of this church is from 1212, however it is thought that Christian worship on this site may have Roman origins, though this is not fully proven.  The church survived the Great Fire, and was rebuilt in 1724–29.

 

In 1982, photographer Chris Brackley took a picture inside this historic old church. The only people present were himself and his wife.  When the photograph was developed, he was astonished to note that a woman in old-fashioned clothing was standing on the balcony to the right of the altar.

 

The negative was subjected to considerable expert analysis, which revealed that that there was no double exposure to the film and it was also proved that none of Chris's equipment was faulty.  The only explanation for the mysterious figure was that someone must have actually been standing on the balcony when the picture was taken.

 

A few years later Chris was contacted by a builder who had been employed on restoration work in St Botolph's crypt.  He explained that, in knocking down a wall he had inadvertently disturbed a pile of old coffins.

 

One had come open to reveal a reasonably well-preserved body the face of which bore an uncanny resemblance to the figure that had made an uninvited appearance in Chris's photograph.

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STOP: Liverpool Street Station

LOCATION: Bishopsgate

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The station opened in 1874 as a replacement for Bishopsgate station as the Great Eastern Railway’s main London terminus. By 1895 it had the largest number of platforms on any terminal railway station in London. During the First World War an air raid on the station led to 162 deaths. In the build-up to the WW2, the station served as the entry point for thousands of child refugees arriving in London as part of the Kindertransport rescue mission.   

 

Staff at Liverpool Street station are accustomed to otherworldly events and mysterious happenings. 

 

Many workers have spotted strange figures on the CCTV system in the dead of night, and passengers have reported seeing a man in overalls pacing up and down the platforms waiting for a train that never comes.  

 

In 2000, a man in white overalls was spotted on CCTV at 2am standing on the platform at Liverpool Street, long after the station had closed. The station supervisor Steve Coates went to investigate, but couldn't see anyone there. When he reported back to the line controller who was monitoring the CCTV, the controller said: "But the guy was right next to you. How could you not see him?"

 

The station was rumoured to be built on a mass burial site, which is admittedly a bit cliché. Unsettlingly, this turned out to be true, as over three thousand skeletons were unearthed in 2015, the remains of plague victims who had been buried during the black death.  That was around eight bodies per cubic metre.

 

STOP: Bethnal Green tube station

LOCATION: Junction of Bethnal Green Road and Cambridge Heath Road

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There have been some ghostly goings on out in the East End, and there’s a truly sad history behind many of them. Workers at Bethnal Green station have heard children sobbing, women screaming, and the general sound of panic. Usually, this starts quietly and then rises to the sound of a cacophony, leaving anyone who hears it understandably terrified.

 

It can all be traced back to a dark night in March 1943. As one of the deepest stations in East London, Bethnal Green was doubling as an air raid shelter when the Luftwaffe circled for an attack. Hearing sirens, residents streamed down the steps into the supposed safety of the station. Tragedy struck when an anti-aircraft gun went off nearby, and started a panicked rush which led to a stampede. 173 people, including 62 children, died in the ensuing crush, and the screams still echo around Bethnal Green today.

 

STOP: Ragged School Museum

LOCATION: On the left after turning into Copperfield Road after crossing the Regent Canal

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Originally opened in 1867 by Dr Barnardo the Ragged School (now a museum) has a very colourful history.  Thomas Barnardo came to London from his home city of Dublin in 1866 intending to train as a doctor and then a missionary in China. 

 

When he arrived he was confronted by a city where disease was rife, poverty and overcrowding endemic and educational opportunities for the poor were non-existent. He watched helplessly as a cholera epidemic swept through the East End, leaving thousands dead and many destitute. 

 

Barnardo gave up his medical training to pursue his local missionary works and in 1867 opened his first Ragged School where children could gain a free basic education. Ten years later, Barnardos Copperfield Road Free School opened its doors to children and for the next thirty-one years educated tens of thousands.

 

This was the largest Ragged School in London.  

 

When it closed in 1908 government schools had opened in the area to serve the needs of the local families. These buildings then became warehouses for the goods that were being transported along Regent's Canal, before being rescued by The Ragged School Museum Trust.

 

Kids can be pretty scary even when they’re alive, so it really is no surprise that The Ragged School Museum has built up a reputation as one of the creepiest spots in all of London.  

 

Those who visit the school hoping for an insight into the Victorian education system often see a whole lot more than they bargain for. Many have reported hearing both laughter and ear-piercing cries. Some even claim to have come into contact with the spirits of the boys and girls who spent their childhood years in the stuffy classrooms of The Ragged School.

 

The museum has also been the site of some of the most startling poltergeist activity ever reported in London.

 

Due to its reputation, it has been the focus of many paranormal investigations. Ghost hunters invited to inspect and explore The Ragged School Museum have encountered mysterious floating orbs and disembodied voices, some of which have been captured on tape.

 

The ride ends at the View Tube cafe on the Greenway