Secrets & Specters: 21 Ghosts of the Tower of London 

The Tower of London stands as a monument to a past filled with intrigue, tragedy, and – as many claim – restless spirits. The ghosts of the Tower of London are, for many, part of the tremendous allure of this historic attraction.

If you’re hoping to visit the Tower of London, here’s a list of the ghosts you might encounter, along with the best Tower of London ghost stories that will blow your mind.

From the mysterious disappearance of the Princes in the Tower to the execution of Anne Boleyn, the Tower’s walls have witnessed scenes that have left an indelible mark on London history. And, as it turns out, the spirits of these infamous occupants may have never left.

Let’s dive into the most famous ghosts of the Tower of London, why they might be haunting this place, and tell some spooky Tower of London ghost stories.

The Most Famous & Commonly Spotted Ghosts of the Tower of London

Here are the most common ghosts that both staff and visitors to the Tower have encountered.

1. Anne Boleyn: The Most Famous Tower of London Ghost

The headless ghost of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, is said to haunt the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula and the Tower’s corridors.

She is often seen carrying her head under her arm, a tragic reminder of her execution in 1536.

Her infamous ghost has been spotted everywhere: roaming the inside of the buildings, along the parapets, and outside on the lawn of Tower Green.

Tower of London Ghost Stories: Anne Boleyn 

“In 1864, a soldier, on duty near the Lieutenant’s lodgings, made…a sighting of Anne’s ghost. He claimed to have confronted and challenged a white figure and when his challenge met no response he plunged his bayonet into the figure. To his complete shock, the weapon did not meet flesh instead went straight through the woman.”

–On the Tudor Trail

2. The White Lady

This unknown ghost haunts the White Tower, often seen waving at children. She is distinguished by her lingering perfume and is believed to have been someone once imprisoned within the Tower walls.

Tower of London Ghost Sightings of the White Lady 

“Almost every castle keep in England seems to be haunted by one common ghost – a spectre of a woman, either dressed in white or black robes.

As you might expect, the White Woman of the Tower of London is spookier than most.

Often, visitors only glimpse a figure in white in the corner of their eyes. Then, quite suddenly, they smell the terrible, pungent smell of an old, overpowering perfume.”

–Exploring Castles

3. The Princes in the Tower (Edward V and Richard, Duke of York) 

The young princes, Edward V and his brother Richard, who mysteriously vanished in the Tower, are seen as frightened, shadowy figures holding each other, embodying lost innocence.

This is the most heartbreaking ghost story of the Tower, especially since we don’t know for sure how they died. Their bodies were uncovered in 1674 during renovations, and their deaths are still cloaked in mystery.

Haunted Tower of London Stories: The Two Princes 

“I’m sure they were trying to communicate with me. As soon as I arrived at the tower I felt a presence. It’s an amazing place for any medium because it’s draped in history but to have contact with the two princes was incredible.“

-Psychic Medium Christine Hamlett who captured a now-famous photo of which might be the ghosts of the Princes.

“And so their two small ghosts, hand in hand, clad in white nightgowns, have been seen around the Bloody Tower, a sight for pity and compassion rather than terror.”

–Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

4. The Countess of Salisbury (Margaret Pole)

Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, is said to relive her gruesome execution by a rookie executioner, with spectators hearing her screams and seeing her ghost fleeing from a phantom axeman on Tower Green. 

The Countess was brutally executed at Tower Green in 1541.

Sightings of the Ghost of the Countess of Salisbury 

“One night in 1975, personnel in the Waterloo Block overlooking the Green were roused in the early hours by the sound of piercing screams. This was confirmed by men on duty in the Byward Tower, and a few nights later the guardsman patrolling the rear of the Waterloo Block also reported that just before dawn he too heard high-pitched screaming from the direction of the Green.

Nothing was found. Could it really have been the death cries of the hideously mutilated countess?”

–Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

5. Lady Jane Grey

Known as the “Nine Days’ Queen,” Lady Jane Grey, executed at just 16 years young, reportedly appears around the anniversary of her death as a forlorn, pale figure wandering the Tower, lamenting her brief reign.

Tower of London Ghost Stories: Lady Jane Grey 

“One house in particular stands on the site of that occupied by Lady Jane Grey before her decapitation by the axe, and in the 1920s Nellie and her family moved there from the Bloody Tower.

Coming home with friends one night, they walked across the cobbles, then stopped as, approaching the house, they saw the face of a young girl looking out of Nellie’s bedroom window.

Entering the house they hastily told her parents and a search was immediately instituted but, as usual, no trace of anything untoward was discovered.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

6. Josef Jakobs

A German spy executed at the Tower in 1941, he is said to haunt the grounds, trying to hide from his would-be executioners. The chair in which the injured spy sat during his execution is still within the Tower, riddled with bullet holes.

Tower of London Ghost Stories of the Tortured Soldier

“In 1979 a poodle owned by a Yeoman Warder’s family living opposite, took to staring at the place where the [firing] range once stood, barking and growling as if witnessing something only it could see. Whether the apparition was that of Josef Jakob or not, may he, a brave and loyal soldier who died for his country, find eternal peace.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

7. Sir Walter Raleigh

The spirit of the famous explorer lingers in the Bloody Tower, where he was once held. Visitors report feeling a mysterious presence and occasionally seeing an apparitional figure in Elizabethan attire.

Tower of London Ghost Stories of Sir Walter Raleigh 

“Over the years it has been reportedly seen flitting noiselessly through the forbidding rooms of the Bloody Tower; seen too on moonlit nights by those whose duties take them past Raleigh’s Walk, his ghostly figure floating along the battlements.“

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

8. Thomas Becket

The ghost of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reportedly haunts the Tower’s Salt Tower, with an angry presence possibly protesting his violent death.

Haunted Tower of London’s Spooky Specter Thomas Becket

“Above the archway is St Thomas’ Tower, named not as is often thought after St Thomas More but St Thomas a’Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, for he it is whose ghost is reputed to have appeared when arch and tower were being built.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

9. The Yeoman Warders

The ghosts of these former guardians, also known as ‘Beefeaters’, are said to still patrol the grounds, possibly remaining loyal to their duty centuries after their deaths.

Yeoman warders are not only the most common witnesses to supernatural activity, but have also seen their brethren long gone still holding their posts.

10. Lord Guildford Dudley

The spirit of Lord Guildford Dudley – Lady Jane Grey’s husband – haunts the Beauchamp Tower, often seen weeping in his cell.

Spotted: Tower of London Ghost of Lord Guildford Dudley 

“An old story recounts how the spectre of Lord Guildford Dudley was seen, shedding ghostly tears, drifting around the State Prison Room. Poor Dudley, so soon to be parted from his young queen-wife, to be reunited after death beneath the cold altar stones of St Peter’s Chapel.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

11. The Phantom Bear

A ghostly bear, believed to be linked to the Tower’s former use as a menagerie, prowls near the Martin Tower, terrifying those who encounter it. This spectral bear is reported to have charged at a guard, leading to his death, though this report is unconfirmed.

Another of the menagerie – the barbary lions whose skulls were uncovered in the Tower’s moat in 1947 – are said to haunt the Natural History Museum where they now reside.

Haunted Tower of London Menagerie: Ghostly Animal Sightings 

“Midnight was striking when, to his sudden horror, he saw the figure of a huge bear emerge from beneath the door. Desperately he lunged with his bayonet, only to have the weapon pass through the shape and embed itself in the oaken door.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

12. The Grey Lady

This mysterious ghost exclusively reveals herself to female visitors in the Queen’s House.

The Spectre of The Grey Lady: Sightings 

“Across the ancient timbered floors [of the Queen’s House] walks the ‘Grey Lady’. Only a woman will ever discover her secret – for she has never been seen by a man.“

Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

13. Henry VI

Haunting the Wakefield Tower, Henry VI appears at the last stroke of midnight, a reminder of his gruesome end in the War of the Roses.

Sightings of Henry VI

“It is said that the King’s pale figure has been seen wandering fitfully outside the chamber in which he was so brutally slain – and that the figure appears between eleven o’clock and midnight!“

Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

14. “Daniel” 

The ghost only known as ‘Daniel’ is sometimes seen clad in a cloak, and is known to touch visitors to the White Tower.

In the 60s or 70s, a sentry in Water Lane had an encounter with a cloaked figure that left him speaking gibberish and out of his wits. When he finally made sense, he told his coworkers that a headless figure wearing a cloak came up to him in a menacing way. 

15. Arbella Stuart

Arbella Stuart, who died in the Tower after being imprisoned by King James I, haunts the Queen’s House.

Haunted Tower of London’s Stuart Sightings 

“She looked up – to see a woman facing her, a motionless figure who, in her own words, existed only ‘from the waist up, as if in a portrait’.

Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

16. Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland

Also haunting Martin Tower is said to be Sir Henry Percy, the 9th Earl of Northumberland.

He was killed in the Bloody Tower, and can be seen walking his regular nightly constitutionals in the Northumberland Walk battlements.

“His ghost was seen, late in the last century, by sentries who, terrified, would only mount guard in pairs. Not only that, but the innocent passer-by has on occasion felt unseen hands push him – or her! – down the steps by the Martin Tower.”

Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

17. Guy Fawkes

The screams and cries of Guy Fawkes are heard from the Council Chamber in the White Tower. Is he still plotting against the government, even after his death?

Explosive Sightings of Guy Fawkes 

“Suddenly he became aware of a buzzing sound, like that of a fly. Looking up he saw, not the gas-fire, but a roaring fire of logs or coal. In front of it stood two men, side by side.

They both had beards, and he noted their spindly legs, as if they were wearing breeches and stockings. The bright glare of the fire prevented him noticing any details of their dress.

They appeared to be talking to each other, and then suddenly one moved his head, to lean forward and stare at the dumbstruck warder! Next minute both men vanished. The gas-fire reappeared, leaving the Watchman to collect his senses and hope for the dawn’s early arrival.”

–Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

18. The Monk 

The ghostly figure of a monk reportedly haunts many spots in the Tower, and can often be seen and heard walking about Thomas’s Tower in leather sandals. 

Reports of the Monk’s Ghost

“There have been reports of a monk, wearing a brown habit, moving through the shadows, whilst a more recent occupant and his family recounted instances of having heard in 1974 a soft ‘slap slap’, as if of monks’ sandals moving across a wooden floor – disconcerting to say the least, since the residence had wall to wall carpeting!”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott

Other Haunted Tower of London Stories: Unknown Specters  

19. The Faceless Woman

In 1957, while stationed at the Salt Tower on sentry duty, a Welsh Guardsman had an eerie encounter. He was confronted by a nebulous apparition bearing the blank face of a young woman.

This spectral figure could represent one of the numerous women who met tragic ends within the historic walls of the Tower of London.

Many, many faceless women have been spotted over the years, and it’s hard to say who is who.

20. The White Apparition

In 1864, Captain J.D. Dundas reported seeing a Yeoman Warder confront a ghostly, pale female figure with his bayonet. This spectral presence hauntingly emerged in the very courtyard where Anne Boleyn met her tragic fate.

21. Funeral Processions

During World Wars, activity at the Tower seemed to spike. The most intriguing of these stories is recounted below, which is an incredible tale of not one ghost, but an entire group of them.

“…Soldiers who, on duty at the Main Gate during World War I, saw a small procession approaching him from Tower Hill, the ancient site of the public executions.

Two men carrying a hurdle were escorted by others dressed in long black gowns and, heedless of the sentry’s instinctive command that they halt, the macabre group noiselessly proceeded into the Tower, passing so close to the soldier that he could see the corpse which lay prone on the hurdle, the head lying by the side of the body.

The guard was turned out, the whole area searched, but nothing untoward found.”

—Ghosts of the Tower of London, by G.Abbot

Learn More About Tower of London Ghosts

There are tons of great resources to learn more about the ghosts of the Tower of London and hear incredible stories. Here are my favorites:

• Ghosts of the Tower of London by G. Abbott (free PDF)
• The Haunting History of the Tower of London on YouTube
• The Haunted Tower of London on YouTube
• Inside the Tower of London on My5
• Inside the Tower of London: Crimes, Conspiracies & Confessions on Amazon Prime Video

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Ghosts of the Tower of London: FAQ