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Over the coming week, I hope to lead you on a journey of discovery and adventure. Briefly taking a glimpse into a past so horrid. Of haunting tales and ghastly ends that awaited so many of her most famous occupants. Firing your imagination, so that you will delve deeper into her history for yourselves. During her long and illustrious 900 years, The Tower of London has developed into one of the most haunted places in Britain. She has been home to beheadings and murders, torture and hangings, as well as being a prison to Queens and Nobles alike. Thomas A. Becket is "the first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower of London." During the construction on the Inner Curtain Wall in the 13th century, Thomas appeared apparently unhappy about the construction, and it is said he reduced the wall to rubble with a strike of his cross. Henry III’s grandfather was responsible for the death of Thomas Becket, so Henry III wasted no time building a chapel in the Tower of London, naming it for the archbishop. This must have pleased Thomas’ ghost because there were no further interruptions during the construction of the wall. The Bloody Tower was the scene of the infamous disappearance of the two princes; Edward V (12) and Richard Duke of York (10), who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 on the probable command of the Duke of Gloucestershire, who was to be crowned Richard the III.
According to
one story,
guards in
the late
15th
century, who
were passing
the Bloody
Tower,
spotted the
shadows of
two small
figures
gliding down
the stairs
still
wearing the
white night
shirts they
had on the
night they
disappeared.
These
figures were
identified
as the
ghosts of
the two
princes. In
1674 workmen
found a
chest that
contained
the
skeletons of
two young
children,
they were
thought to
be the
remains of
the
princess,
and were
given a
royal burial
not long
afterwards.
The most persistent ghost in The Tower of London is the ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn. The King, Henry VIII, after learning the baby she carried for nine months was a boy and still born, accused by her of infidelity.
She was
taken to
TOWER GREEN
and was
beheaded on
May 19,
1536. She floats down the aisle to her final resting place. Queen Anne is buried under the Chapel’s altar. Her headless body has also been seen walking the corridors of the Tower.
Sir
Walter
Raleigh
lived quite
comfortable
compared to
others who
were
imprisoned
within the
walls of the
Bloody
Tower. I hope you have enjoyed Pt1 to The Ghosts of The Tower of London. In Pt2 we discover what happend to Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey as well as the Horrific end to the Countess of Salisbury. If these tales have brought your imagination back to life and you want to discover more ghostly and gruesome stories of times past. Then pay a visit to my Haunted Castles page where you can find out about the grisly goings on at Windsor Castle or read about the Heroic tale of the Two Brothers of Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon. Best wishes and have a great day!
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