ADELPHI THEATRE

The theatre is rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of William Terris. Terris was a popular actor who was killed by a jealous rival. Terris was killed on December 16, 1897 during the run of the "Secret Service". Actor Richard Prince hated Terris and killed him as Terris was unlocking the Adelphi stage door. Terris died in the arms of his Mistress, Jessie Milward. As he was dying he whispered "Ill be back". The first reporting of the ghost of Terris was 1928. A stranger saw a male figure in Maiden Lane which he said was a ghost. He later identified the figure as Terris from a photograph. Poltergiest activity started to manifest in the dressing room once used by Milward. In 1956 the ghost of Terris was reported at the Covent Garden Underground. Later again there was a sighting in the Adelphi Theatre

ALDWYCH TUBE STATION

Aldwych station was open in 1907. The line was originally part of the Piccadilly line. With being so close to many West End theatres, it gained the unofficial title of the Theatre Line. Aldwych station itself was built on the site of an old London theatre - the Royal Strand. During the Second World War the line was closed and the tunnels used as an air raid shelter and to store various national treasures from the British Museum, including the Elgin Marbles. On 30th September 1994 the line was closed because the cost of refurbishing the lifts at the station could not be justified. However, the line lives on and is used by TV and film companies as a working set of an underground station. At street level much of the original station can now be seen. The ghost who haunts Aldwych station has been seen on the tracks at night by staff who clean the tunnels and stations. They believe it is the ghost of an actress coming back for another curtain call as Aldywch was built on the site of the old Royal Strand Theatre.

AMEN COURT

Amen Court is situated close to St Paul's Cathedral in London, backing on to the site of the old Newgate Prison and its graveyard. This site is now known as Dead Man's Walk. It is thought that many prisoners tried to escape by climbing over the wall into Amen court. Many people have witnessed a dark, shapeless figure crawling along the wall in the court, accompanied by the sound of clanking chains. It is thought that this figure may be the ghost of Jack Sheppard, a Newgate prisoner who escaped three times before being executed.

ANCHOR TAP

A rather elusive ghost called “Charlie” is said to haunt the Anchor Tap, where several licensees have reported objects mysteriously disappearing only to reappear at the oddest of places and the oddest of times. On one occasion a lady’s watch was found to be missing from it’s usual place on the dressing table in what was then the licensee’s bedroom and was missing for two months before being found in a laundry basket. The odd thing was that although the watch had been missing for such a long time it was still ticking and the time was accurate.

BANK OF ENGLAND

It is generally not well known that the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street has a ghost, an apparition that many people have seen wandering about the Bank garden. it is known as the Black Nun. The story of the haunting goes back to 1811 when Philip Whitehead, a former employee of the Bank was arrested for forging cheques and was condemed to death at the Old Bailey. This tragedy caused Whitehead's sister, Sarah, to lose her reason and for some 25 years, the rest of her life, she daily journeyed to the Bank, loitering there and looking for her brother. Some people think she gave the name The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street to the Bank. She died suddenly and was buried within the Bank premises, in the old churchyard which afterwards became the Bank garden. here her figure has been glimpsed on many occasions.

BANK TUBE STATION

The story says that workmen building Bank station awoke the spirit of the "Black Nun”. The "Nun's" brother Phillip Whitehead was a cashier and was executed in 1811 for forgery. The Nun - Sarah, wearing black waited for him outside the bank every evening for 40 years until she died. It is said that she still searches for him along the platforms.

50 BERKELEY SQUARE

50 Berkeley Square was the most famous of London's hauntings in Victorian times. The house in Berkeley Square contained at least one room in which the atmosphere is supernaturally charged, fatal to mind and body. A girl saw, heard and felt such horror in it that she went mad, and never recovered sanity enough to tell how or why. A gentleman, a disbeliever in ghosts, dared to sleep in it, and was found a corpse in the middle of the floor, after frantically ringing for help in vain. Rumour suggests other cases of the same kind, all ending in death" Mayfair Magazine, 10 May 1879. In 1840, there were reports of "supernatural" noises coming from the house, which was often empty and deserted for long periods. Jessie Middleton in her Grey Ghost Book wrote that a little Scots girl in a kilt haunted the house. The child was supposed to have been tortured to death in the top-most room of the house. Another of Jessie's stories suggests a girl called Adeline jumped from the top floor window to escape from her lecherous Uncle and since has haunted that room. Whatever it is, has been sufficiently awful to have caused death, in convulsions, of at least two fool hardy persons who have dared to sleep in that chamber. The story is told of one who was not to be deterred by the fate of an earlier victim. He was sceptical and practical as well. Before retiring to bed he gave some parting instructions to those who occupied the rest of the house. "If I ring once," said he, "take no notice, for I might be only nervous, without due course; but if I ring twice come to me. They bade him good night. When the clock struck twelve they heard a faint ring, followed by a tremendous shout. On opening the door they found the unfortunate man in a fit. He died without ever being able to reveal what it was. A shuddery pendant to this story is that which tells how, a dance being given next door, a lady leaned against the wall dividing the Haunted House from its neighbour, and distinctly felt an inexplicably dreadful shock." Two sailors were scared out of their wits when a "shapeless and horrible something" appeared. One of the sailors leapt to his death; the other arrested for his murder, claiming that a ghost had pushed his friend out of the window