London in October: The creepiest places to visit
Heading to London this autumn?
If the drizzly, eerie season has inspired you to go on a quest for the creepy you’ll undoubtedly be heading out on one of the capital’s legendary ghost tours,
And with Grange’s luxury chain of hotels situated across the city, you can experience all the thrills of the city but still get a great night’s sleep.
If you’re determined to catch a glimpse of one of the ghouls and grim spirits who have lived and died in the city during its long, gory history, there are a number of places you’ll have to factor into your phantom-hunting mission; below are three. So, settle into the Tower Bridge Hotel and head out to our first suggested destination, where you’ll meet some headless haunters and experience unearthly goings on…
The Tower of London
This is your first stop for gruesome and fascinating facts about the capital’s seriously bloody
past. A number of ghouls reportedly haunt the hallowed halls of the ancient buildings that
make up the Tower’s grounds, and it’s not surprising considering the amount of people who’ve
been executed, imprisoned and murdered within its walls!
Often described as the most haunted place in Great Britain, its spectres include some famous
faces: the whimpering ghosts of the murdered Princes frequently make an appearance, the
tragic Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey pop up to waft about mournfully from time to time
and the spirited spirit of Lady Gloucester (hacked to death when she refused to be executed)
comes back to repeat the scene of her grisly death on its anniversary every year. And watch
out for the White Lady! The Tower’s most notorious ghost, she’s said to be a heartbroken nun
that wanders the Tower in search of her lost love.
Highgate Cemetery
As an old, dilapidated Victorian cemetery, Highgate will satisfy the spooky needs of any
thrillseekers: with gothic architecture, glowing red eyes, spectral cyclists and moaning men
in top hats lurking amongst the tombstones, there’s plenty of atmosphere and a lot of ghostly
legends.
It’s where Dicken’s ghost is said to roam and it’s where Rossetti’s wife and muse, Elizabeth Siddal, is buried. She overdosed on laudanum at the age of 32, and Rossetti was so guilt-
wracked that he buried a one-off handwritten book of his poems with her.
Later in life, and regretting the artistic sacrifice he made, he had her dug up and the poems published: the
gravediggers said that her distinctive red hair had grown to fill the coffin with a glowing, auburn blanket.
But what makes Highgate an especially creepy collection of crypts are the unnatural events
which have taken place in the last fifty years. In the 1970s, it was widely reported that a group
of teens who were interested in the occult had roused a mysterious, vampiric noble from
Wallachia from the grave with their paranormal prodding: many eye-witness accounts of a
spooky grey figure haunting Highgate hit the press.
The Grenadier Pub
Fatigued after a day of phantom spotting? Whether you’re on an organised tour of the
capital or you simply want to sip a pint in some spooky surroundings, make your way to The
Grenadier: the most haunted pub in London. If you head there in September, you might be
lucky (or unlucky) enough to meet the ghost of a young man beaten to death long ago for
cheating at cards. Moaning noises, unexplained moving objects and sudden temperature
changes are par for the course.
