Famous ghost stories of the Tower of London

Tower Green spectres

Tower Green is one of the most chilling sites in the Tower walls, where royals and nobles including Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were executed. The scaffold site is overlooked by residences, including the King’s House (sometimes called the Queen’s House), which is itself the site of countless ghostly legends.

The prize for the strangest supernatural encounter in this area goes to a rifleman found collapsed outside the King’s House in 1864. Court-martialled for neglecting his duty, the soldier defended himself by stating that he had been approached by a white figure. He challenged the figure to step away three times with no response, so charged at the figure with his bayonet – only to pass straight through. 

This strange tale was apparently confirmed by two witnesses, who had watched the incident from a window in the Bloody Tower. The rifleman was acquitted – but probably still quite shaken by his terrifying ordeal!

The stories get even stranger when you step inside the walls of the buildings on Tower Green. Residents have reported being shaken and even pulled out of bed by ghostly figures – in one account, a bed was tipped up!

Is this a forgotten prisoner? A grieving noble? Or something else entirely? 

Henry VI in the Wakefield Tower

Each year, on 21 May, a mournful figure is said to stir among the ancient stones of the Wakefield Tower, part of the Medieval Palace. Some say this is the ghost of Henry VI, the king who lived under the shadow of his father, and possibly died on the orders of Edward IV.

Henry ascended the throne as an infant and ruled during one of the most turbulent periods in English history – the Wars of the Roses. Gentle and pious, Henry was ill-suited to the brutal politics of the time. Deposed twice, he was finally imprisoned in the Tower of London by Edward IV.

On the night of 21 May 1471, by tradition, Henry was murdered while praying in the chapel of the Wakefield Tower. Though official accounts claimed he died of 'melancholy’ (an excess of black bile), many believe he was killed on the orders of the King.

Since then, an eerie legend holds that Henry’s ghost returns each year on the anniversary of his death. At around 11pm, his spectral form is said to appears, pacing solemnly through the Wakefield Tower. He apparently then fades slowly into the stone, vanishing until the next year’s vigil.

The phantom bear

At least one (living) bear has prowled the Tower of London – a white bear given as a gift to Henry III for the Royal Menagerie in the 1200s. But this is not the only ‘grizzly’ story to come from the Tower walls. According to one Victorian tale, the apparition of a fearsome bear is said to haunt the Tower grounds. 

This ‘phantom bear’ is allegedly so terrifying that it is responsible for the death of a soldier, who collapsed after one encounter in the 19th century. 

According to one dramatic account, while resting in his quarters in the Martin Tower, the Jewel House Keeper was startled by a mysterious apparition. Before his eyes, a cloud of smoke took the shape of ‘a pyramid of dark thick gray [sic], with something working towards its centre’. In a panic, he threw his chair at the figure, but it passed through and struck the wall behind. 

Hearing the commotion, a frantic soldier attended the scene, only to be attacked by the figure himself.

The soldier died just two days later.

The fact this story is Victorian is perhaps not a coincidence. Recounted in William Gregory’s On Animal Magnetism, the Martin Tower bear tapped into, and encouraged, a widespread Victorian interest in spiritualism and the occult.

The Salt Tower ghost(s)

The medieval Salt Tower has been used both to store salt, and to hold unfortunate prisoners. Its most famous inhabitant was the Jesuit priest John Gerard, who was imprisoned and tortured here in 1597 during the reign of the Protestant Elizabeth I. 

Gerard recovered from his ordeal to make a daring escape from the Tower and record his experience. His account of the horrific torture used to force him into giving up his Catholic contacts makes difficult reading.

With such visceral stories associated with the imposing Salt Tower – built in the 1230s – it is perhaps unsurprising that people have felt their senses heighten in this area. 

In 1957, two guardsmen reported seeing a ‘shapeless white form’ high on the roof of the Salt Tower. Then in 1973, a Yeoman Warder reported seeing a glow emanating from a prison chamber, before feeling something touching the back of his neck. Even now, some Yeoman Warders say that dogs refuse to enter the building.

Lady Jane Grey

Known as the ‘Nine Days’ Queen’, Lady Jane Grey was a teenage monarch caught in the deadly politics of Tudor succession. After being deposed by Mary I, a terrified Jane was imprisoned in the Tower and executed in 1554. She may have been as young as 17 when she died.

Lady Jane Grey’s ghost is said to appear at the Tower of London on the anniversary of her death, walking silently along the Battlements.

This apparition has apparently been seen by two Guardsmen as recently as 1957. On 12 February, the 403rd anniversary of her execution, a white shape was seen ‘forming itself on the battlements’.

'Whatever spirits haunted this place…'

Not all ghost stories from the Tower have such terrifying endings. In 1789, the Hereford Journal reported that soldiers on patrol had been horrified by a supposed spectre on the steps between Mint Street and the Martin Tower.

Thankfully, the 'spirit' was revealed to be just a mannequin in a sheet, placed there by a female resident as a prank. But by this account, it was pretty convincing!

If you ever visit the Tower of London, keep your eyes open and your senses sharp. You might just catch a glimpse of the past lingering in the shadows.