There have been more ghost sightings across the capital than we’ve had hot dinners, but that doesn’t mean they’re always eager to be seen. Night time is usually the best time to spot them, as the lack of noise and people makes it easier to detect the paranormal beings; alternatively choose a foggy, cold winter’s day for maximum impact. Below you’ll find a route around the most commonly reported visions, but if you don’t see any ghosts don’t blame us. They can be shy too.
Let’s start at the very centre of town, around Holborn. The British Museum tube station closed in 1933, but a highly unlikely tale of the ghost of an Egyptian mummy emerged shortly after. The spirit supposedly haunted the tunnel between here and Holborn station, however despite its fantastical nature, two women disappeared from the platform at Holborn in 1935, on the same night a movie about the ghost story premiered. While we’re underground, night time cleaning staff have reportedly seen a woman hanging around near the disused Aldwych Station, where the Royal Theatre Strand once was. She could be one of the many thesps who are said to haunt this area. Those actors are a highly-strung bunch after all.
Head in the direction of Fleet Street and take a right down Little Essex Street for a beverage in the Cheshire Cat pub. Pick a seat near the fruit machine and watch for its movements, as this Tudor-style pub is said to be haunted by a particularly athletic ghost who likes nothing better than to shake its contents. If nothing happens, walk back up the Strand towards Covent Garden. On a little alley off Long Acre called Rose Street you will find the Lamb and Flag, once called the Bucket of Blood. But it’s not gory apparitions you’ll find here, instead some ghostly spirit is apparently responsible for moving the punters’ possessions around the pub. It could also be pickpockets or people drunkenly forgetting where they’ve left their iPhone, but one never knows.
\n\nBefore you become too inebriated, walk up to Regent Street, turn left onto Conduit Street and straight down till you reach Berkeley Square. Number 50, now home to antique booksellers Maggs Bros, was once considered to be London’s most haunted – and notorious – house, as those who came into contact with whatever lay within were either driven to insanity or killed. There are plenty of reports, even very recent ones, of cloud-shaped lights being visible through the windows of the top floor, which is said to be where the evil being inhabits. Some believe it is the ghost of a Mr Myers, an embittered man who lived here as a recluse, or the spirit of someone killed by the plague, as others think the building was erected on or around the site of a plague pit. There is no doubt that the building’s infamy is partly due to the considerable press coverage it’s been given, but rumours abound of the current employers not allowing their staff to go up to the top floor, as presumably they don’t have insurance for malevolent floating orbs.
Next head to New Bond Street and then take a left onto Brook Street to visit Handel House, where you can figure out for yourself whether exorcisms really work. The former home of the composer was also the residence of a female ghost who may have been either Faustina Bordoni or Francesca Cuzzoni, two sopranos who rivalled each other to perform in his operas. A strong smell of perfume, changes to the air pressure and the shape of a woman have been reported, however the house was exorcised in 2001 as it was feared the happenings might put visitors off. The priest performing the exorcism asked to remain anonymous just in case it didn’t work and the museum demanded their money back.
\n\nWalk back up to Regent Street and head north this time, till you arrive at the Langham Hotel. Apparently London’s most haunted hotel receives regular visitors, including a German officer and a butler, particularly in room 333 where an unsympathetic figure has a tendency to shake the bed during the night. Don’t let that put you off if you get the opportunity to stay here though, as its five star luxury has seen the likes of Dvořák, Oscar Wilde and Napoleon III, not to mention being where the exquisite Roux at the Landau restaurant is located. Perhaps your doctor will be sympathetic enough to prescribe you some Valium if you explain you’ll be staying in a haunted room.
After this jolly, walk up to the end of Portland Place and you will see Euston Road to your right, where the University College Hospital is. Hospitals are renowned for ghostly apparitions and this one is no exception, however one of its darker stories involves a nurse who killed a patient accidentally (according to some accounts it was her lover) by administering a lethal dose of morphine. Ridden with guilt she committed suicide, and both nurses and patients have seen her appear just before an injection as a reminder to be cautious. It must take an unwavering soul to not panic if a woman in an old fashioned nurses’ uniform appears in front of you right before the needle goes in.
Walk up to Euston station from where you can board the 168 bus to Hampstead, a hotbed of sightings, particularly around Church Row. It is believed a woman, possibly a maid, murdered her young child somewhere in the vicinity. Her figure has been seen in the early morning, carrying a large sack believed to contain the child’s remnants which she buried in the churchyard. In another house on the same road a man killed one of his daughters by trapping her within the brick walls of the building. Quite why the residents of Hampstead took on this evil streak towards their offspring is unknown. The Heath is also a hotspot for apparitions at night, so if you’re after a deliberate chill stick around till the sun sets and focus on the long, eerie shadows cast by the trees. Optimists claim to have seen highwayman Dick Turpin, as he was known to frequent the area to relieve passers-by of their belongings. Finally, you’ll need a bevvy after all his ghost-hunting, and the perfect place to end your day is in the King William IV pub on Hampstead High Street, where a woman murdered by her husband lives in the cellar. She is known to rattle the windows, unless you buy her a pint of ale.
