ENGLAND TRIP: Day 2: Part 5c: Ghost/History Walk: St. Bartholomew's Hospital/Viaduct Pub

St. Bart's Hospital. Cr: Wikipedia

During our Ghost/History Walk, our guide, Richard Jones took us by St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the Viaduct Pub, both which have some interesting stories. 

1) ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL - is also known as "Barts." It's a functional hospital in the Smithfield area of London.  It was founded in 1123, and the oldest hospital in the U.K. still on its original site! Of course, it's been updated. London's only statue of King Henry VIII is located above a gate at the hospital.

Nurse's deadly tea/ deathinthestacks.blogspot.com

THE GHOST STORY - Richard told us that the hospital has many stories where a nurse is seen bringing patients a cup of tea in their rooms. The patients have mentioned sipping tea brought from a nurse that none of the other nurses on the floor ever see. About two hours after a patient drinks the tea from the ghostly nurse, they pass away. The ghostly nurse is still reported today. 

2) THE VIADUCT PUB, LONDON - The Viaduct Pub was built in 1869  on the site of the Giltspur Comptor, a debtors' jail affiliated to Newgate Prison. In the basement, employees can still see five of the original cells. The pub was originally built as a gin palace in Victorian style.One of the ghosts that haunt the pub lingers in the cellar. Another lingers upstairs on the first floor. The pub is located near St. Paul's Cathedral.

THE GHOSTS - 

1) GHOST IN THE BASEMENT (haunted-london.com)

In 1996, a manager was tidying the cellar one Saturday morning, when the door suddenly slammed shut and the lights went out. Feeling his way to the door, he found that no matter how hard he pushed it just would not open. Fortunately, his wife heard his cries for help and came down stairs to investigate. She found that the doors, which would not open from the inside, were unlocked and easily pushed open from the outside.

2) GHOST ON THE FIRST FLOOR -  Employees working on the first floor decided to call a male ghost "Fred." When Richard Jones was joined by a medium for a televised event, he said the medium was not told anything about the pub or any haunting. The medium said "there is a Scotsman here named Robert. Further, he asks that people stop calling him 'Fred!'" 

VIDEO FROM A U.K. PRODUCTION: "GHOSTS OF THE VIADUCT TAVERN" gives you a good tour of the Pub, and features Richard Jones! Now you can hear things he told us!

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 2: Part 5b: Ghost/History Walk: Guild Hall (and video!)

Richard Jones and Tom at Roman Arena boundary

Guildhall, Roman ampitheater area in front.

The Guildhall was built in 1411 and was used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative center of London. It is believed to be the site where people paid their taxes. During the Roman period (70 A.D.) it was where an ampitheatre stood. What's interesting is that  the outline of where that Roman arena stood is marked with a black circle on the paving of the courtyard in front of the hall. Keep that in mind...
  Guildhall was also the site where Lady Jane Grey learned she was to be executed at 15 years old, because her husband, Robert Guilford tried to usurp the throne. Queen Mary reclained the throne and executed them both.  BTW- It is the only stone building not belonging to the Church to have survived the Great Fire of London in 1666.
GHOST IN THE DOORWAY - We noticed that in the doorway of a building just south of the arena was a man in a dark suit with his leg bent, leaning against a wall. When we looked again a second later, he was gone!

RETURNED NEXT DAY: BAD ENERGY- We wanted to get inside the hall, so we returned the next day. As we walked in, I (Rob) felt a lot of emotional energy. People who experience emotional events leave energy behind from the experience, like a thumbprint. The energy, however, was anger. What happened next may have been from that... I don't know. All I know is that one of MY teeth chipped and the piece fell out in my hand! Obviously not a good place to be, and whatever was in there wanted us out. At least, that's what I felt!

Guildhall, Roman ampitheater area in front.

- Here's a short video of the inside of Guildhall, so you can see what it looks like. This was right before my tooth chipped!


  

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 2: Part 5a: Ghost/History Walk :Simpsons/Bank of England

Richard Jones is not only the author of ghost tours in the U.K., but brought us to some incredible historic places, so we'll be sharing some of these in the next couple of days (until I can hopefully get our photos  recovered from my computer -the one where the hard-drive crashed). So, next stop is:
 1) SIMPSON'S TAVERN!  This is an historic tavern, located in Ball Court was founded by Thomas Simpson  in 1757. It has a reputation of being a great place to go to get a feel for a true pub (also known as a chophouse). It's located at  38 Cornhill EC3V 9DR. Unfortunately it was closed (as most places are after 5 p.m. in London).  This was in business during the time of author Charles Dickens, who is said to be influenced by Simpson's Tavern in his first novel "The Pickwick Papers." 

Simpson's Tavern in Ball Court

  (What is Dicken's Pickwick Papers about? - The novel's main character, Samuel Pickwick, Esquire, is a kind and wealthy old gentleman, and the founder and perpetual president of the Pickwick Club. To extend his researches into the quaint and curious phenomena of life, he suggests that he and three other "Pickwickians" (Mr Nathaniel Winkle, Mr Augustus Snodgrass, and Mr Tracy Tupman) should make journeys to remote places from London and report on their findings to the other members of the club.)
THE GHOST OF SIMPSON'S RESTAURANT - Richard told us that many people have encountered a gray-haired waiter, who nicely took their order. Once he took an order he would never return and no food would ever be served. People are now on guard for a gray-haired waiter, because there isn't a living one employed in the tavern today.

The Cornhill Neighborhood. Credit: UK Travel

2) BANK OF ENGLAND - The bank of England was around the corner from Simpsons, and there were old counting houses (banks, accountants) around there during Dickens' time. CHARLES DICKENS CONNECTION - Dickens also got inspiration from buildings in that SAME NEIGHBORHOOD for Scrooge's counting house in "A Christmas Carol." In Cornhill, are the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, whose dealers Scrooge heard in his dream dismissing his death as they "hurried up and down and chinked the money in their pockets." 

Bank of England

GHOST FROM THE BANK OF ENGLAND - Richard said that a woman and her brother worked at the bank in the early 1900s. The brother was arrested and charged with embezzlement, and hung, without his sister's knowledge. The sister would ask where her brother was each day, and co-workers never told her. She finally learned of his death and it drove her mad. To this day, people report being stopped by a woman in black on the side of the bank who asks them if they've seen her brother. We didn't see her!

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 2: Part 5: Ghost Walk with Richard Jones

Richard Jones is a famous author, well-known in London for his books on haunted places and as a host of weekly ghost walks around London. Across the Pond vacations managed to get us a PERSONAL GHOST TOUR of London with Richard! It was amazing! Richard is also big into the history of the city, so he showed us buildings that were the inspiration for Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" and told us so much we would never hear.
  London is a very haunted city because its been around since the Romans founded it as "Londonium" in 70 A.D. Richard also took us to an excavation site where roman ruins from that year were uncovered, and to another site where an ancient Roman ampitheatre stood. Richard was funny, informative, personable and a really wonderful guy. In fact, the tour was supposed to be about 1 1/2 hours and wound up being 2 1/2 hours!

The church where the son's body was desecrated

  Now we'll share some pictures and stories with you, so you can come along with us on our Ghost walk of London!

  STOP 1: St. Peter's Church of Cornhill  

Gargoyle with the pastor's face on it, atop the church!

   Richard told us the story of a pastor from this church who had a teenage son who was known to have "the most perfect white teeth." That was unusual back in the 1700-1800s, because dental care was bad. The son came down with a illness that took his young life. His grave was located behind the church and residence of the pastor and his wife. One night when the pastor and his wife were home sleeping, grave robbers violated the young man's grave and pulled out his teeth!  They did that because dentists would pay greatly for a perfect set of teeth, from which to make dentures. As the pastor slept, his departed son came to him in a dream and said "my mouth hurts." The pastor awoke and ran downstairs to the crypt to find his dead son's body on the floor, and his mouth a bloody mess, with his teeth missing! 
    The pastor apparently became a difficult person after that, or maybe he was beforehand. The pastor later commissioned an architect to build an addition to the church. The architect and pastor wound up hating each other, so the architect designed and had sculpted a  gargoyle that sits atop the renovated part of the church, with demon wings and the pastor's likeness for a face! 

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 2, Part 4: The London Eye

Tom and Rob in the London Eye car

One of the great things that Anne Marie of Across the Pond Vacations got us into is the famous London Eye. The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel located on the banks of the Thames River in London. This giant ferris wheel structure carried what looked like giant ski lift cars that fit about 20 people.

The Millennium Bridge

   The entire structure is 443 feet tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet. In fact, she booked us a Champagne trip, where they brought on bottled, chilled champagne that we sipped as the "car" we rode in (it moves at a snail's pace) gave us amazing views of London!  It took 30 minutes to go full-circle and we got great pictures of buildings along the Thames River, including Big Ben and Parliament House! 

   Watch the 45 Second video below to see what it's like to ride the eye with us. 

That's St. Paul's Cathedral in the background

Yes this building is an upside-down cow.

It's Champagne Time!

Big Ben and Parliament House from the Eye!

Parliament House

The London Eye car

Another View of London

Classic  view of Parliament House on the Thames River

New skyscraper

Tom says: I still need my Margarita!

NEXT: The John Soane Architect House/Museum

ENGLAND TRIP, DAY 2, PART 3: The Banqueting House

Inside the Banqueting House

The next place we visited in London on our second day was a place called "The Banqueting House." It is not only historic, but also used to host huge receptions, parties and events today. Not only was this building amazing in its architecture and history, but it was ALSO haunted. As we entered the building, I (Rob) suddenly felt my throat go dry and get sore. I wondered if it was mold, or humidity, but I would learn later what it really was. First, however, you need to know some history. 

Tom says, "It's all mine!"

THE HISTORY: 

According to Historic Royal Palaces in the U.K. (hrp.org.uk), the Banqueting House was originally the property of the Archbishops of York in the 14th century and was used to provide entertainment for King Charles I. It later turned out to be the location of his public execution (outside). It is located near what was the site of the King's principal residence at Westminster. Henry VIII continued Cardinal Wolsey's building program and obtained a large plot of land opposite his new palace  where he built for himself a series of pleasure buildings including tennis courts, a tiltyard for tournaments and a cockpit. On Henry VIII's death the palace covered 23 acres and was the largest royal palace in Europe. It was destroyed by fire on January 12, 1619 and was rebuilt (although all that remains of Westminster Palace across the street is the Jewel Tower, which I wrote about in an earlier entry). 
KING CHARLES I EXECUTED - In 1649, after years of struggle between the authority of Parliament and the power of the King, which culminated in the Civil War (1642-9), Charles I was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.  
KING CHARLES II - The new life of Whitehall began on May 29, 1660 with Charles II's triumphal procession through the streets of London. **Remember King Charles II**

GHOSTS IN THE HOUSE - We learned that when King Charles II thought that he was so powerful when he took the throne that he could heal people of a throat sickness called "Scapula." King Charles II invited all of the people who suffered from this throat ailment (dry and sore, swelled up throat, like I was feeling) to come into the Banqueting House (where his throne was), so he could touch them and "heal them." SO, I was feeling the sickness of the people who went to be healed. Apparently, some of them are still waiting to be healed by the king and are still there!

ENGLAND TRIP, DAY 2, PART 2: John Soane architect house/museum

John Soane's Museum/House

On the second day of our U.K. vacation we visited the John Soane architect house/museum (because Tom is an architect). Of course, it's an old house, and yes, Rob sensed a ghost - it wasn't human, though...

  According to the Museum website, www.soane.org:

"John Soane was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished career, in 1837. 

Soane designed this house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and his works of art. After the death of his wife (1815), he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections."

 What's in the House/Museum?  The website says:

"Sir John Soane’s Museum comprises his collections and personal effects, acquired between the 1780s and his death in 1837.  The Museum’s collections contain many important works of art and antiquities, including Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress and An Election, Canaletto’s Riva degli Schiavoni looking West, the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, 30,000 architectural drawings, 6,857 historical volumes, 252 historical architectural models as well as important examples of furniture and decorative arts."

    I found it to be a very quirky 4 level townhome. It's an AMAZING collection of architectural pieces, fragments, statues, paintings and more. The basement is literally a MAZE of things!  In the basement was a little unnerving because of the Egyptian sarcophagus. One of the weird things in the basement were iron chains and manacles from a prison. I sensed that they were associated with people in pain, so I scurried by them quickly. 
  I did notice that John Soane put a lot of skylights in the house to filter light down into the lower levels. It was quite ingenious.

THERE'S A GHOST DOG HERE! - (WATCH THE VIDEO REVIEW BELOW) While walking through the first floor of the house/museum, I sensed a ghost.  I looked out a window on the first floor and there was a monument with the words "Alas, poor Fanny." I told Tom that's where a dog is buried, and I sensed it was a the ghost of dog named "Fanny" that is walking around in the house!

  When we got into the portrait gallery part of the house, that's when we confirmed
the dog was named Fanny and it was a terrier. Fanny turned out to be Mrs. Sloane's dog- a terrier. There was a painting of Fanny with Mrs. Sloane (see below).
 - Later in the gift shop I saw a book about "Fanny" - mostly written for kids but also for adults. I asked the clerk if she ever sensed a dog in the house. She looked at me wide-eyed and said "yes." She said that several people that lived in the house after the Sloane family had reported seeing a ghost dog in the house.
   In fact, the owner after the Sloanes had a dog whom the clerk said "was always anxious and could never settle down."  The next owner had two Dachshunds that were also quite nervous in the house and had to go live somewhere else. The clerk said that "Fanny" has been seen a number of times running around in the basement!!
 - The clerk asked if I could sense a person there, and I told her there was no person haunting the home, just the dog.  She confirmed that's what all the other employees and former owners thought. There were never experiences with a human ghost. SO, although I didn't expect a dog to come to me in an historic home/mansion, I got one - and a definite couple of  confirmations!!

Mrs. Soane and Fanny Credit: London Dog Forum UK

BOOK: Mrs. Soane's Dog Fanny

Here's the book I was driven to buy: The Journal of Mrs Soane's Dog, Fanny, by Herself

This great book chronicles the adventures of Mrs Soane’s beloved dog, Fanny, and her friend Mew (the next-door cat) in the Museum. It is written by Mirabel Cecil, and illustrated by Francesca Martin using original 19th century drawings and paintings of the interiors. Fanny’s elaborate grave in the Monk’s Yard is a well-known feature at the Museum and much admired by visitors. We hope that this book will convey some of the magic of the Museum and help inspire a new generation of Soane enthusiasts.

Here's ROB'S VIDEO REPORT after exiting the Museum!  

ENGLAND TRIP, DAY 2, PART 1: St. Paul's Cathedral

Tom at St. Paul's Cathedral

On the second cloudy, cold and rainy day of our vacation, we visited St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
  - We did have a mis-adventure on the London "Tube" (Subway) because one station was linked to 4 others underground, and we got seriously confused!
     Some history for you about St. Paul's, courtesy of http://www.stpauls.co.uk: The present St Paul's is the fifth cathedral to have stood on the site since 604, and was built between 1675 and 1710, after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. This was the first cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the sixteenth century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Crown took control of the Church's life.  Recently Queen Elizabeth II has celebrated her jubilees at St Paul's , and also her 80th birthday in 2006.

View of London from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral

Tom and Rob atop the Cathedral

Another View of London from the top of the Cathedral

 TICKET TAKER- Although England recognizes gay married couples more than the U.S.  does, the ticket window for the cathedral tour didn't. A family (husband and wife) ticket was about $7.50 less (5 pounds). I asked for the family ticket and the ticket taker (a man) said, "I'm sorry, but unfortunately, the church won't recognize your family - but you'd think that God would." I appreciated his acknowledgment.




 The Cathedral is huge as you can imagine, and elaborate. It's obviously loaded with things that only vast riches can buy.  Lady Diana married Prince Charles in this Cathedral.
   WALK TO THE TOP- Visitors can walk to the top of the cathedral (we did - see photo), and go further to the top of the dome. However, because of Rob's fear of heights and the stairs had no front panels (you could see through them), Rob couldn't go up further. 

  ROB'S GHOSTLY ENCOUNTER - You Know that a Cathedral as old as this,and filled with this much emotion over time is bound to have an earth-bound ghost lingering in it, who didn't want to leave when they died. It does.

  As we were walking near the confessionals in the church, Rob got a headache and sensed a priest/minister. Rob heard "Jonathan," perhaps Father Jonathan. The ghost was bald, and had a beard. In addition to the priest there were a couple of other ghosts in the church, but hard to get a bead on, because there are so many living visitors in the church, that are creating like a "white noise" and blocking out signals.

 CONFIRMATION!  REPUTED GHOST - The Mortonreport.com says that the Cathedral is haunted by the  ghost of an elderly clergyman, who is accompanied by a high-pitched, tuneless whistling sound. He's known to haunt All Souls' Chapel, at the cathedral’s west end, on the ground floor of the northwest tower.
 DOUBLE CONFIRMATION! - Later on the trip, we went on a personal ghost walk with Richard Jones, who authored several ghost books. Richard confirmed my description of the ghost was EXACTLY how the ghostly priest appeared to a docent in the Cathedral!

THE OTHER GHOSTS - So, what of the other ghosts I (Rob) sensed? Well, some of them sensed my disgust for the church's stand against gay people, so they decided to make me feel nauseous. Not a very nice thing to do, but hey, they're ghosts. They also made me start gasping for breath and that's when I told Tom we needed to get out of there. I find it incredibly ironic that people who loved a church would opt to stay in it as an Earth-bound ghost, than cross over and go to "Heaven." Perhaps they're afraid they'll be disappointed when they get to the other side, and realize that their intolerance is something they're going to have to atone for... and they'd be 100 percent correct. The cathedral was impressive, but its the kind of thing you see once and don't have to see again. I'm certainly not going back with the ghostly reception I received.

ENGLAND TRIP, DAY 1, PART 4: Haunted Pub!

Tom at Lord Moon of the Mall, waiting for a hamburger

The Lord Moon Of The Mall is a small pub located next to Whitehall Theatre and less than a minute's walk from Trafalgar Square. We went there for lunch on our first day and enjoyed a hamburger and hot tea. We learned that you have to go pick out a table, read the number on a top corner of the table, then go up to the bar and order - giving the bartender your table number. You pay the bartender, and they will bring your food to the table (but give you your drinks from the bar). Don't make the mistake of waiting at a table for a waiter or waitress - there are none!

Note the multiple ORBS when I sensed Andrew

This is a photo I took immediately after- No Orbs!

   Once we walked in, I (Rob) got the headache that indicated to me that there was a ghost in the house among the patrons at the bar. I turned around where I sensed the ghost and took a photo of the bar. In one of the photos (I took several at the same time) appeared several orbs (the most simple form a ghost can take! They were orbs and not a reflection, because they had color in them. Although I'm not one to put a lot of stock in orbs, this confirmed what I felt. In addition, the ghost told me his name was Andrew Beregen or Bergen. He said that he owned the establishment in the 1700s. He was dressed in a brown jacket. He also mentioned something about "pigs" but I couldn't quite figure that out. Either the establishment was a bar or a store of some sort where livestock moved through. 


  We returned to the pub another day because the food was so good and took more pictures (the second set of three photos). However, Rob didn't sense any ghost, and no orbs appeared in the photos. 

The Menu for Lord Moon of the Mall

Photo from 2nd visit- no orbs

Photo from 2nd visit: lots of patrons!

ENGLAND TRIP, DAY 1, PART 3: Westminster Abbey

Tom and Rob near the Abbey courtyard

Westminster Abbey is the church where royal coronations occur (since 1066), and it sits across from Parliament. It was originally the site of a Benedictine abbey, until Edward the Confessor rebuilt it in January 1066. Many of the nation’s Kings and Queens are buried in the Abbey.  Also buried and/or memorialized are over 3,000 men and women, from Charles Dickens to Queen Anne of Cleves. There are politicians, lawyers, warriors, clerics, writers, artists and musicians.
  The Cathedral is huge and somewhat confusing inside to remember where you walked. There are also a number of smaller chapels within, and rooms that just house the bodies of important people (kings, queens, other royalty, statesmen, etc.) The ornamentation is elaborate beyond words.

outside Westminster Abbey

A Well-Known Ghost we didn't encounter:
   According to Westminster-Abbey.org, the ghost of John Bradshaw, a lawyer, politician and regicide is said to appear only on the anniversary of the beheading of King Charles I (which happened in Whitehall on January 30, 1649). So it wasn't him that we encountered.

OUR GHOSTLY ENCOUNTERS: We took the audio tour of Westminster Abbey. Upon walking in I (Rob) got my usual headache indicating ghosts or spirits were present. There was a lot going on in there (ghost-wise) and between the emotional energy that was created by the current visitors touring and those that lived before, it was making my head spin!
1) TOMB OF HENRY VII - Near the tomb of Henry VIII's father, I was very uncomfortable. I felt that that area is where people were told they were going to be executed for something they had done. Why there, I don't know. Regardless, I needed to get away from that area.
2) QUEEN ELIZABETH AND QUEEN MARY'S TOMBS - These 2 queens were buried here, too. However, we both got light-headed there.

Credit: Unofficial Royalty.com

3) A HAIR RAISING EXPERIENCE! - While we were standing in front of the tomb of Anne of Cleves I got my hair pulled! I looked at Tom and he looked at me - I told him "My hair just got pulled!" It was a female entity that was standing behind (and between) us that pulled my hair on the top left side. I'm unsure if it was Anne of Cleves, or the ghost of a woman that haunts the Abbey. The only thing I do know is that she wanted to be noticed. She got her wish.
4) KING RICHARD THE LIONHEARTED - Born September 8, 1157, Richard was the third legitimate son of King Henry II of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey in September 1189. - In front of his tomb I really got dizzy...

Poet's Corner. Credit: ChestofBooks.com

5) THE MALE GHOST IN POET'S CORNER OF THE ABBEY - Poets' Corner can be found in the South Transept. It was not originally designated as the burial place of writers, playwrights and poets; the first poet to be buried here, Geoffrey Chaucer, was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey because he had been Clerk of Works to the palace of Westminster, not because he had written the Canterbury Tales. (according to (www.westminster-abbey.org). It was here that I got a very clear message. It was the ghost of a man who died at 38  years old. He told me he was killed from a blow to the head. He gave me the year 1678, which was likely the year of his death. He said he fell on the floor in that Poet's corner. **In this corner we saw the burial places of Henry James, Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas, Thomas Elliott, Alfred Lord Tennyson, George Elliott, D.H. Lawrence, Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens.
6) THE GHOSTLY MONK - In the Cloisters area I got a stabbing pain in my left hip. It felt like someone was jabbing me with a sword and didn't want me to be there. I believe it was the Monk that haunts the Abbey.  ** I later found out (when I got home) about the ghost that haunts that area. Ghost-Story.co.uk noted that the ghost of a Benedictine Monk called "Father Benedictus"  haunts the Abbey and is seen hovering over the floor (the floor level was progressively lowered over time, so the Monk's ghost is walking where the floor level used to be). He is most often seen floating around the cloisters at five or six in the evening.

Courtyard in the middle of Westminster Abbey

7) MONKS IN THE PYX CHAMBER - The chamber was probably made into a treasury in the 13th century and may have been used as a sacristy when Henry III was rebuilding the main Abbey. Sometimes when I touch objects, I get a sense of the person or people that had handled them. In this case, I touched a door here (that has been there for hundreds of years) and saw a lot of robed monks walking around in the room. They kept showing me their robes. I didn't understand why until we looked further around the room and saw a wooden  "cope chest." On the wooden chest was a plaque that read "Circa 1450, this cope chest stored monks' robes."

Funeral Effigy of King Henry VII. 

Credit: Shakespeare.berkeley.edu

8) GHOST POKING - One of the last rooms we entered in the Abbey was the gift shop. This turned out to be a place where I got a physical sign of a ghost. The shop was also part museum that had display cases of effigies of queens and kings that were held up and paraded in the city after the king or queen had died. While looking at a large glass case with a few effigies, I was suddenly poked in my back. I turned around and no one was behind me. Of course, I still had the headache in the back left side of my head, which I get in the presence of a ghost or spirit, so I knew it had to be a ghost that was poking me!

ENGLAND TRIP DAY 1, PART 2: Ghosts: Jewel Tower Woman

England is very haunted, anyone will attest to that, even people that haven't seen ghosts. It's well-known and there are ghost walks and many books about the multiple hauntings. When you have the ability to sense them, you're twice as busy on vacation- looking at historic sites and paying attention to those that are now ghosts. Rob had a busy vacation!
THE JEWEL TOWER:  Walking from our hotel and across the street from Parliament, this was our first historic stop. The tower wasn't open, but it didn't have to be. The Jewel Tower is all that remains of Westminster Castle. We hadn't even seen any historic information or pictures of what people were wearing - we were simply walking by on our way to Westminster Abbey. That's when Rob caught a glimpse of a ghostly woman walking through the courtyard.
BACKGROUND INFO FROM Wikipedia; The Jewel Tower in London is one of only two surviving sections of the medieval royal Palace of Westminster, the other being Westminster Hall. It was built in 1365-1366 to house the private treasures of Edward III and its alternative name was the "King's Privy Wardrobe." In the early 17th-century it became a records office for the House of Lords. From 1869 until 1936 it was the home of the Board's Standards Department.
THE GHOST OF JEWEL TOWER: As we walked by I (Rob) saw a ghost of a woman come through the wall to the right side of the photo. There was apparently a doorway there at the time the woman was alive. The ghostly woman had brown hair and was wearing a long beige-like gown, with a white collar. HERE'S THE AMAZING PART: Once we got home,  I found the SAME type of dress from the U.K. Bath Costume museum on-line! Bath is a city that we visited later (outside of London). It was  We tried taking photos late at night, but no orbs seemed to materialize. Whomever this woman was, she lived in the Westminster Castle sometime in the 1660s and continues to walk around in the area where the castle once stood, even though most of it is gone!

Courtyard of Jewel Tower where Rob saw the ghost.

1660s dress in England. Credit: Bath and Somerset Council/Museum of Costume, Bath, U.K.

Jewel Tower courtyard at night

No action in Jewel Tower Courtyard

LATER IN THE WEEK - We walked past Jewel Tower at night later in the week and I snapped a couple of pictures, but didn't sense the ghost. When we got home I analyzed them and didn't find any orbs or shadows in them, just a dark courtyard.
(Photos Right)

The female ghost apparently stayed in for the night