Tower of London: the ghosts with dates, names and witnesses

Most reputedly haunted castles offer a vague white lady and a cold spot on the stairs. The Tower of London offers dates, names, military ranks and, in two cases, letters published in a Victorian journal.

Tower Green and the Tudor dead

The fortress was founded towards the end of 1066, and William the Conqueror began the White Tower in 1078 — at first a resented symbol of Norman oppression, later a royal palace, and eventually a prison. Even the building work attracted a ghost story. Around 1240, the story goes, the ghost of Thomas Becket knocked down a nearly finished tower with his crosier, and Henry III placated him by adding a chapel dedicated to St Thomas.

The darker reputation is Tudor. Anne Boleyn was beheaded on Tower Green in 1536, three years after lodging at the Tower in triumph before her coronation. She is said to glide across the grass at the head of a silent procession of dignitaries, towards the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, where she lies buried. One Yeoman Warder reportedly saw a light flickering in the chapel at night. In 1864, an officer named Captain J. D. Dundas reportedly watched a sentry charge a whitish female figure with his bayonet, and the figure passed straight through him. Historic Royal Palaces tell that one themselves, with due caution.

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was executed on the same patch of grass in 1541, largely for being the mother of a cardinal who would not accept Henry VIII as head of the Church. Accounts describe the executioner as a "wretched and blundering youth" who failed to kill her cleanly. Her ghost is said to re-enact it: a screaming woman running across Tower Green, pursued by an axe. Warders tend to tell that one with real feeling for the woman behind it, which is the right instinct. Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days' Queen, was executed here in 1554 aged about seventeen.

Quieter and sadder are the Princes in the Tower. Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were lodged here by their uncle in 1483 and never seen again. Staff and visitors have reported children's laughter and light, playful footsteps in the White Tower.

The bear, the cylinder and the Salt Tower

The Tower housed the Royal Menagerie for centuries, which explains the strangest report of the lot. In January 1816, a sentry on duty at the Jewel House in the Martin Tower reportedly saw a huge bear appear before him, lunged with his bayonet, and watched the blade pass through the animal. He collapsed and, so the story goes, died a few days later — but not before telling a fellow sentry and Edmund Lenthal Swifte, Keeper of the Crown Jewels from 1814 to 1852.

Swifte had his own experience in October 1817: a glowing, glass-like cylinder that floated around the family dinner table and seemed to reach for his wife. He swung a chair at it; the chair passed clean through. He published both accounts in Notes and Queries in 1860.

Then 12 February 1957, exactly 403 years after Lady Jane Grey's execution. Two guardsmen reportedly saw a shapeless white form high on the roof of the Salt Tower, described it separately, and their accounts matched. It is often attributed to Lady Jane, though nobody can say. The Salt Tower has its own grim record: the Jesuit John Gerard was imprisoned and tortured there in 1597, and his written account still makes hard reading.

Why these stories stick

It comes down to who reports them. The Yeoman Warders are retired senior non-commissioned officers with long military careers, and they live inside the walls with their families. In the 1980s, one Warder working in the early hours reportedly looked up to see two Beefeaters in the uniform of a much earlier period either side of a fireplace, smoking pipes and talking. One turned and stared back at him. Both vanished.

The sceptical view deserves an airing. Most of the famous tales were first written down in the nineteenth century, when appetite for ghosts ran high, and the lists circulating now — thirteen spirits, twenty-one spirits — include figures like Becket and Henry VI whose sightings are traditions rather than witness accounts. Historic Royal Palaces publish them as stories, not claims. Two centuries of sentries and jewel keepers is still a lot of paperwork.

Visiting, and where to sleep on it

The Tower opens year-round bar a few days over Christmas and New Year, and it is one of London's busiest attractions, so book ahead and check the Historic Royal Palaces site for times. Entry covers the Crown Jewels, the White Tower and a free Yeoman Warder tour that takes in Tower Green and the ghost stories. There is no vigil or ghost hunt. The closest thing to an after-dark visit is the Ceremony of the Keys, the nightly locking-up at 21:30 precisely, with around forty to fifty visitors admitted under escort. Tickets are free, booked online, released monthly and gone quickly.

Tower Hill is the nearest tube and there is no visitor car park. Cobbles and spiral stairs make parts of the site hard going for wheelchair users. For a 21:30 start, stay within walking distance: citizenM Tower of London is 0.1 miles away, with hub by Premier Inn at Tower Bridge, Tower Suites by Blue Orchid and the Four Seasons all at 0.2 miles. More haunted nights out in our haunted places guides.