Haunted London Underground Read online

  2

  A FEW WORDS ABOUT GHOSTS

  The ultimate mystery of life is what happens to us when we die. Is the vital spark, the soul that makes us distinctive individuals, simply snuffed out only to be followed immediately by the decay of our physical parts? Most of us are uncomfortable with the idea that the world with which we are so familiar continues after we have died. How much better it is to hope or believe that something awaits us; that there is indeed an afterlife. Such a possibility, however, is viewed by most of us with a mixture of fascination and trepidation.

  We love mysteries and phenomena that we cannot explain. This is evident by the huge amount of films, books, television programmes, ghost walks and themed places such as the London Dungeon that caters for such interests. Ghosts, it seems, remain as much a part of our culture as they did in the medieval period although our understanding and relationship with the idea has changed. They are part of the rich tapestry of folklore and legend as well as the subject of serious academic study – or at least our desire to want to believe in them (see for example the excellent analysis by Owen Davies, The Haunted, A Social History of Ghosts, Palgrave 2007).

  Traditionally hauntings have been associated with locations that lend themselves to the presence of ghostly experiences such as old houses, graveyards, and historic buildings. These locations usually build on stories related with the death of someone – often violent such as a murder or suicide. London in particular has a rich history of haunted places. However, no book has been published dedicated to hauntings on the London Underground. This is surprising, given the eerie atmosphere of the system with its tunnels, disused stations and close proximity to burial sites and plague pits. The Underground has also witnessed a great deal of human tragedy with many deaths resulting from accident, murder and suicide.

  There are many distinctions to be made when dealing with the subject matter of hauntings and unexplained phenomena. Ghosts and hauntings take many forms. A particular place can be haunted not only by a ghost but also by other supernatural phenomena. For this reason this section will briefly outline a variety of manifestations. The reader will find more comprehensive definitions in the many encyclopaedias on ghosts, spirits and the supernatural, such as Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained (2007) or The Encyclopaedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Guiley (2000).

  Most religions have created destinations for the souls of the departed. In the case of Christianity, this is Heaven, the place for the good where arrivals can expect to enjoy a perpetual idyllic existence; and Hell, a state of continuous torment for those who have given themselves over to a life of sin. Some Christians believe in the older idea of Purgatory, a place where souls have to endure various trials and tribulations until they are judged whether they deserve to proceed to Heaven.

  If it is thought that our souls live on in another world, then it is only a small step to visualise the dead returning to the living world. Ghosts have fascinated and frightened mankind for thousand of years. They have certainly captured the imagination of the British and given rise to the plethora of allegedly haunted sites throughout the country.

  There are many ways in which ghosts manifest themselves. They may be seen or heard. People have claimed to ‘sense’ the presence or activity of a ghost either through smell or a fall in temperature. Many witnesses admit to not believing in ghosts but at the same time have experienced some strange phenomena. These people may sometimes be reluctant to report their experience for fear of ridicule, hence their stories go unrecorded.

  The nearest anyone has come to capturing a ghost is on film but the authenticity of such images has often been disputed. Rarely has more than one person seen a ghost at the same time. But why should ghosts want to haunt the living? Many views have been offered. Some people argue that the souls of the dead cannot rest because of the terrible or tragic way in which they ended their lives. These of course include murder or suicide.

  In the medieval period accounts of ghosts were regularly told and it was important that the Church conveyed certain messages about the sacraments, the forgiveness for sins and the ways in which the living might assist the dead through prayers, Masses and alms giving. The Catholic Church taught that ghosts were the souls of those trapped in Purgatory (a halfway stage after death between earth and Heaven), unable to rest until they had suffered for their sins. Many religions going as far back as ancient Egypt believed that dead were obliged to undergo judgement.

  Before the nineteenth century it was usual for people to want to banish ghosts by various means such as exorcisms. However from the nineteenth century a change in attitude towards ghosts occurred. With the rise of spiritualism and the growth of mediums it became more fashionable to want to contact the dead. Rather than make a spirit materialise, mediums attempted to transmit messages from the dead to the family or friends. Concerned with the number of charlatans and those preying on people suffering from bereavement (and also prompted by the imprisonment of Helen Duncan in the 1940s on charges of witchcraft), the government introduced the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951, which repealed the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Its declared intent was to punish persons who ‘fraudulently purport to act as spiritualistic mediums or to exercise powers of telepathy, clairvoyance or other similar powers.’

  A dictionary usually defines a ghost as the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit wandering among or haunting living persons. Variations on this view suggest that a ghost represents the energy, soul or personality of a person who has died and has become lost or stuck between this plane of existence and the next. Because they are lost they are not aware that they are dead. Sceptics argue that experiences of hauntings and ghosts are the products of our own minds. We see ghosts because we want to see them.

  The word ‘ghost’ has a variety of associations including apparition, phantom, wraith, revenant, poltergeist, spook, spectre and spirit. A spirit is defined as a supernatural being or essence which can come in a multitude of guises. It is often a malevolent being that is bodiless but can become visible and also enter and possess a human being.

  An ‘apparition’ is the supernatural appearance of a person – dead or living, animal or inanimate object. Apparitions only appear briefly and tend to disappear very quickly. Most experiences of an apparition involve hearing, smelling or feeling as much as seeing. They can move through walls, cast shadows or be reflected in a mirror. Most manifestations are associated with communicating a message or giving a warning to the living. Some explanations for their sightings suggest they may be visual hallucinations. A crisis apparition is usually a vision of a person that appears before a recipient. The vision is usually a person who is undergoing some form of crisis such as a serious illness, an injury or even death. The recipient learns at a later stage that the person has died. These eerie cases have some conviction about them largely because the person who saw the vision tells someone else before any confirmation of the death. A similar definition is that of a’ wraith’ which is also the apparition of a living person and it appears as a portent just before a person’s death or at the moment of death. Such experiences are similar to the type of dreams that have an uncanny habit of actually happening shortly after. The term ‘phantom’ has similar characteristics to an apparition although phantoms are sometimes feared.

  A ‘revenant’ is the spirit of a person who returns after a lengthy absence. Revenants also demonstrate the belief that if the dead are not buried properly, they will not be able to find their way into the ‘other world’ or might even be barred from entering it. Such a state, it was believed, led the spirit to wander between the world of the living and the world of the dead in search of their resting place. These lost souls might turn their anger against the living who failed to provide them with the proper passage to the next world. Revenants were usually thought of as people who used to be wrongdoers when they were alive – wicked, vain or unbelievers. They were associated with spreading disease and the only way to be rid of them was exhumation followed by decapitation,
burning or removal of the heart.

  A ‘poltergeist’ is a ghost or spirit which manifests its presence by noises and knockings. Poltergeists are also blamed for hiding possessions, throwing things across rooms or even pulling people’s clothing or hair or scratching them. They are defined as a mischievous demon or spirit and can generate very real fear. These small grotesque supernatural creatures usually make trouble for human beings and in medieval times were associated with the Devil.

  Other unexplained phenomena include ghost lights or orbs – mysterious lights usually seen as white or blue balls or yellow spheres. There have been reports of these as well as some photographs allegedly showing them in the London Underground. Sightings of orbs evolved mainly with the advent of digital cameras in the 1990s and there is some scepticism about what they actually represent. Advocates of them have suggested there is a link between suicides or violent deaths and the sighting of an orb.

  What other notable features are associated with ghosts? Well, we nearly always think of hauntings taking place at night or in the dark – these are much more common than daytime experiences. To this extent the Underground is particularly well-placed for unexplained phenomena.

  Their presence will continue to haunt a building even when that structure has been demolished and replaced by another. Ghosts are often seen as grey or white rather than in black although the shadow of them might give that impression. In the medieval period it was believed that when a soul passed through Purgatory it changed from black to white. Ghosts, like vampires, demons and witches for that matter, cannot cross running water.

  Is there a limited duration of life for ghosts, or put another way, how long do ghosts exist? It is rare for ghosts of Iron Age, Bronze Age, Stone Age and prehistoric people to be documented. A general view is that spirits make a one-off appearance shortly after their death to people close to them in order to bring messages of comfort. Yet there are those that persist in haunting a particular place for years. We often hear of a ghost from a period hundreds of years ago whose presence continues to haunt a house. However, the persistence of such stories may be more to do with the transmission of collective storytelling through time.

  Finally, can inanimate objects such as trains, coaches or clothing take on a ghost-like appearance? After all, such objects do not possess consciousness and were never ‘alive’. This has proved to be something of a conundrum and has been discussed over many years. Why should a ghost choose to wear particular types of clothing? Although many people were buried in shrouds ghosts are often seen wearing everyday clothing. It is rare to see a ghost in the ‘all together’. The afterlife would be a very cluttered place if items of clothing as well as untold other types of objects resided there. One explanation suggests that inanimate objects are mirages or pre-recorded impressions of some kind, rather than actual manifestations. Other explanations hold that ghosts have the ability to represent to the viewer whatever they want to see and that clothes are an important item of identity, especially when it comes to recognising a ghost from a particular period in the past.

  This book is not concerned with proving or disproving the reality of ghosts. As social and cultural historians we are interested in all manifestations of popular culture and want to record, analyse and attempt to explain their significance. It is not necessary as historians that we should believe or disbelieve in ghosts. There are many reports that more than stretch the imagination of a believer whilst other accounts are sincere, believable and difficult to explain. It is up to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions but we hope that readers will agree that the Underground provides one of the best locations to interest both believers and sceptics.

  3

  HAUNTED UNDERGROUND STATIONS A TO Z

  ALDGATE

  Aldgate Station is on the Circle Line between Tower Hill and Liverpool Street, as well as being the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan Line. The station, which dates back to 1876, has some notable associations. In addition to the ghost of an old woman, it features in one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Bruce-Partington Plans, where Holmes becomes involved in solving the mystery of a dead body which had struck the lines just before the train reached the station. In September 1888 the body of Ripper victim Catherine Eddowes was murdered nearby in Mitre Square, Aldgate. Not surprisingly the station provides the starting point for the popular ‘Jack the Ripper’ walks.

  The area has a long history and was the easternmost gateway through the London Wall from the City of London. Aldgate Station has suffered bombing and tragedy. It was badly damaged by German bombing during the Second World War, and in July 2005 one of the four bombs in the London suicide bombings exploded on a Circle Line train as it left Liverpool Street and was approaching Aldgate Station, killing seven innocent people and inflicting awful injuries on others.

  With its open-air platforms it may seem a less likely location for ghostly sightings than a deeper level station. However, given the rich history of the area it would be surprising if the ghosts of the past did not cast their presence there in some way or other. Aldgate Station is built almost on the site of one of the biggest plague pits in London. Next door to the station stands St Botolph’s Church where over 1,000 plague victims were buried in the graveyard in the space of two weeks in September 1665. In A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe described the horrors of death at Aldgate:

  I went all the first part of the time freely about the streets, though not so freely as to run myself into apparent danger, except when they dug the great pit in the churchyard of our parish of Aldgate. A terrible pit it was, and I could not resist my curiosity to go and see it. As near as I may judge, it was about forty feet in length, and about fifteen or sixteen feet broad, and at the time I first looked at it, about nine feet deep; but it was said they dug it near twenty feet deep afterwards in one part of it … Into these pits they had put perhaps fifty or sixty bodies each; then they made larger holes wherein they buried all that the cart brought in a week … At the beginning of September, the plague raging in a dreadful manner, and the number of burials in our parish increasing to more than was ever buried in any parish about London … they ordered this dreadful gulf to be dug – for such it was, rather than a pit …the pit being finished the 4th of September, I think, they began to bury in it the 6th, and by the 20th, which was just two weeks, they had thrown into it 1,114 bodies when they were obliged to fill it up.

  Catherine Eddowes was the fourth of five confirmed Ripper victims. This sign marks the place near to where she was murdered in Mitre Square, close to Aldgate Station.

  Catherine Eddowes was found lying in a dark corner at Mitre Square.

  Aldgate Station opened in 1876.

  Deaths from plague in Aldgate exceeded 4,000. In the history of excavation of the Underground the disturbance of bodies from old burial sites during excavation is not uncommon. Given London’s huge population over the centuries it is not surprising that burial sites have been found located near Underground stations or tunnels. During redevelopment in 2005 by the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) a number of burials were uncovered relating to the Aldgate burial ground. The majority of bodies were interred in wooden coffins with some showing traces of name plates. A total of 238 burials were recorded with several bodies having been truncated by nineteenth-and twentieth-century construction. MoLAS suggested that as some of the graves contained the remains of more than two individuals (four or five in some cases) it was possible that internment was the result of plague.

  Aldgate Station has been associated with a great deal of unexplained activity involving unusual noises and sightings. So frequent yet so strange are these sightings that they have reputedly been recorded in the station log. A well-known story concerns a track worker who was working a late shift at the station a few years ago. The man suddenly slipped as he bent over the rails and came into contact with the 20,000 volt conductor rail which caused a massive surge of electricity to pass through his body. The shock knocked him unconscious and h
e was fortunate not to be killed. Remarkably he survived, albeit with some general bruising. One of his co-workers working nearby witnessed the incident but also saw a most eerie sight. Just seconds before the man touched the live rail, his colleague saw the figure of half-transparent old woman gently stroking the man’s hair. The old woman was believed to have been killed during the Second World War by falling onto a similar rail.

  St Botolph’s Church, which stands next door to Aldgate Station, was the site of a mass plague pit.

  Other strange stories have been associated with the station. Apart from many unexplained sightings, passengers have reported the sound of footsteps in the early hours of the morning approaching them, then fading away into the distance, but there has been no visible sign of anyone being around to produce footsteps. Strange and mournful whistling has been reported although this is an occurrence experienced on other Underground stations.

  One explanation for this has been the extent of infrasound. Infrasound is sound with a frequency too low to be heard by human ear and has been often used to monitor earthquakes. It is known to cause feelings of sickness but as it is not consciously perceived, it can make people feel that they are experiencing supernatural events. Vic Tandy and Tony Lawrence of the psychology department at Coventry University wrote a paper called ‘Ghosts in the Machine’ for the journal of the Society for Psychical Research. In this they cited infrasound as the cause of apparitions seen by staff at a so-called haunted laboratory in Warwick. Tandy appeared on the Channel 5 programme, Ghosts on the Underground (2006), in order to detect similar phenomena at London Underground stations where high levels of supernatural activity had been recorded. Escalator motors, moving trains or wind from the tunnels can produce distorted sounds, particularly on deep-level tube stations although Aldgate has open-air platforms.