The “Haunted Gallery”
Most know when you say you are going to “Medieval England”, they think you’re going to explore the old parts of England. You would say “yes, but it’s so much more”! The history that lies in these Medieval areas have so many stories, tales, even songs (London Bridge, Duke of York, etc.) however, most people don’t realize how haunted these places we travel to actually are!
Many places have their own tales/stories about be-headings, suicides, killings that happened hundreds of years ago. For the horror fanatic in me, there was nothing more exciting than walking into the Tower of London or Hampton Court Palace knowing there have been REAL ghost sightings in these places.
As big of a tourist spot the Tower of London is, there has been a lot of gruesome murders and be-headings that happened there.
On Wednesday, January 9th, 9 of us went on a ghost tour and were able to hear about these be-headings (some failed).
Our tour guide, George, told us the story of a woman name Margaret who broke free of her be-heading. Her be-header was thinking “if I don’t kill her my boss (being Henry VIII) is going to be-head me”. So, he ran after her then chopping off her arm, she kept running, then chopping off her leg, finally she fell and he was able to be-head her with all of these body parts everywhere.
The haunted part? Many say you can hear her screams on the anniversary of her death and shadows of the axe used for her be-heading are constantly seen by guards at night.
He also told us that there are only two ways you can get into the Tower of London at night.
1) You have to work there to be able to either stay overnight or keep guard overnight.
2) You have to marry a British soldier because the Tower of London hosts your wedding.
Another great ghost story was told on our last day in Hampton Court Palace. After our tour guide told us the story, I looked up a bit more details.
In the Hampton Court Palace lived Henry VIII and his many wives. Well, his fifth wife Catherine was be-headed in the tower. She was arrested in the Palace for cheating on Henry with one of his servants. She broke free when she was getting be-headed running down what is now called the “Haunted Gallery” to try and apologize to Henry but little did she know he was long gone and she was about to be killed.
So what is so scary about that? Her ghosts is continuously seen screaming and running down the halls repeating her attempted run-away over and over again.
Our tour guide even said that a group of people once stayed the night here and had a very uneasy feeling in that hallway.
A few last stories just for fun but I thought (although sad, interesting).
Many know the great fire of England started at a bakery. Well, our ghost tour guide took us to that spot and behind it was a “skyscraper” (for that time it was a tall building). People were able to climb up this (it was a tourist attraction and still is) however, there was never a cage over the top so people were able to fly out and kill themselves.
Our tour guide told us that one man jumped and many people claim to see his ghost at 1AM continuously living his suicide over.
Last but not least, The Tube story.
The Tube is just like New York City’s Subway only, it is the oldest subway underground station in the world.
With that being said, there is one tube station that is in the center of London and continuously goes around and around. Well, this man must have been killed in this station (while digging) and cannot get out (hence the circle).
Many people say they see his ghost digging in various spots of the circle.
Now think, if it was another station, he would be able to climb the stairs and be free.
I love these stories and think they have so much meaning coming with history.
We did many amazing things in Manchester, York and London and this was an experience I will never forget.
Alanah Abrahams