The Ghosts of the Tower of London: Execution Horrors and Royal Hauntings

A young sentry stood frozen on his night watch, his eyes locked on a brilliant, swirling ball of light materialising on the stone roof of the Salt Tower. Within seconds, the luminescent sphere expanded and solidified into the translucent, grief-stricken figure of a teenage girl clad in Tudor garments. This was not a hallucination born of exhaustion, but a documented 1957 sighting logged by two on-duty military guards. The phantom was none other than the tragic "Nine Days Queen," executing a nightly vigil centuries after her execution.

The terrifying manifestation is merely one file in the staggering case history of the Tower of London. An 18-acre fortress whose weathered stones are literally soaked in the blood of martyrs, traitors, and fallen royalty. But what is it about this historic citadel that keeps its victims tethered to the earthly plane? Could these relentless, centuries-old apparitions represent a literal emotional residue trapped forever within the ancient stone?

While researching this Ghosts of the Tower of London breakdown, you can explore our complete database of phenomena over on our master Ghosts and Hauntings Archive.

1078 — The Construction of a Royal Fortress

To understand this historical case file, we honestly have to look back nearly 1,000 years ago to 1078. That was the year William the Conqueror built the massive White Tower in a strategically significant location right along the north bank of the River Thames. Over the next 500 years, the site was expanded into a formidable fortress. Within these dark walls, a brutal succession of English kings exercised their divine right over the absolute lives and deaths of their subjects, former friends, wives, and political enemies alike.

By the dawn of the 17th century, English royalty had largely moved out of the fortress in favour of more palatial quarters. The Tower dynamically shifted from a royal residence into a heavily fortified soldier's garrison and a dreaded state prison. The local landscape became synonymous with absolute terror.

On the morning of their scheduled execution, condemned prisoners were ceremoniously paraded past jeering, bloodthirsty crowds to the public scaffold erected on nearby Tower Hill. There, they would be brutally beheaded, or hanged, drawn, and quartered. Once the executioner's blade completed its work, their mutilated bodies were brought right back inside the walls for hasty burial.

In days gone by, a truly gruesome ritual awaited anyone executed by beheading. The severed head of the prisoner was stuck onto a sharp iron spike near Traitors' Gate, serving as a grisly public warning to others. Then, when the body was eventually gathered up for burial within the grounds, the head was neatly tucked underneath the corpse's arm. This morbid historical practice perfectly explains a recurring spine-chiller. Why so many headless ghosts are seen carrying their severed head under one arm!

The ancient stone has continued to absorb modern horrors well into the 20th century. On 17 July 1974, a devastating terrorist mortar bomb exploded inside the busy Exhibition Room of the White Tower, tragically killing one visitor and injuring 41 others. Paranormal investigators note that this sudden, modern burst of violence heavily reactivated the slumbering psychic atmosphere of the room, with subsequent staff logging sharp temperature drops and disembodied footsteps marching through the blast zone.

1471 — The Praying King of Wakefield Tower

The earliest royal murder to permanently stain the fortress layout took place during the bloody conclusion of the War of the Roses. Edward IV, father to the famously murdered princes, ordered the cold-blooded death of his Lancastrian rival, King Henry VI, on 21 May 1471.

But it is not the murderous Edward who haunts the specific oratory in the Wakefield Tower where the killing took place. Instead, it is the spirit of Henry VI himself. Sentry guards and visitors have repeatedly seen the phantom king seated quietly outside the stone oratory, deep in prayer, desperately pleading that his unquiet soul might finally find a peaceful rest.

The Haunted Legacy of the Innocent Victims

Among the Tower’s most illustrious and tragic residents were the young princes, Edward and Richard. The innocent boys were declared completely illegitimate and imprisoned inside the chilly corridors of the Bloody Tower by their highly ambitious uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. It is widely believed that he ordered their covert murder so that he could be crowned King Richard III.

The two little princes have been sighted several times by reliable witnesses. Walking hand in hand through the cold stone corridors after dusk, seemingly searching in vain for their murderous uncle. Crucially, the alleged murderer himself has never once been seen skulking around the scene of his hideous crimes. This glaring absence suggests that his conscience was clear, or perhaps that ghosts appear to be an emotional residue of intense trauma rather than a conscious, active presence.

The physical validity of this royal legend took a dramatic turn in 1674. While workmen were demolishing an old wooden staircase against the White Tower, they unearthed a decayed wooden chest buried deep in the rubble. Inside lay the skeletal remains of two young children whose bone development perfectly matched the ages of the lost princes, providing grim evidence that their uncle's executioners had hidden them right under the staircase.

This fascinating parapsychological theory is thoroughly borne out by the very nature of the other ghosts haunting the battlements. They are entirely the innocent victims, not the ruthless perpetrators, of the many historic crimes which took place there.

1536 — Anne Boleyn’s Spectral Procession

Perhaps the most famous resident of the historical case file is Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Anne was ruthlessly despatched to her heavenly kingdom in 1536 via a French swordsman, but only after making her final peace with God inside the quiet confines of the Tower Chapel.

Her unquiet spirit refuses to leave the site of her trauma. Sentry guards have filed chilling reports of seeing Anne leading a slow, silent, spectral procession right through the chapel. In a terrifying twist of parapsychological projection, she has been witnessed walking both with and entirely without her head.

1541 — The Splatter Movie on Tower Green

One of the most gruesome, botched episodes in British history involved the execution of Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury. Margaret was 70 years old when she was condemned to death in 1541 by Henry VIII. Even though the elderly noblewoman posed absolutely no physical threat to his royal dynasty.

Standing resolutely regal upon the wooden scaffold on 27 May, she proudly refused to submit to the hooded executioner. She refused to lay her neck upon the block, commanding the man to sever her head from her shoulders while she stood upright. When the executioner refused, the terrified countess fled the scaffold. The executioner was forced to pursue the elderly woman around Tower Green, wildly swinging his heavy axe like a serial killer in a modern splatter movie. Within minutes, the hideous spectacle was at an end, and the last female Plantagenet had been literally hacked to pieces.

Basically, if you find this story far too gruesome to be true, you only have to ask permission to remain inside the locked Tower gates after dark on 27 May. On the exact anniversary of her execution, witnesses have seen the entire bloody scene re-enacted by the principal players themselves. As Margaret's screaming ghost tries once again to outrun her executioner across the grass.

1554 — The Tragic Fate of Lady Jane Grey

Arguably the most tragic figure to haunt the site of her untimely death is Lady Jane Grey. The young girl was used as a mere political pawn in the Duke of Northumberland’s complex stratagem to usurp the English crown from the rightful heir, Mary Tudor.

Lady Jane, who was only 15 years old, ruled for less than two weeks before she was arrested for treason. She was condemned to death alongside her young husband and his father in February 1554. Her grieving, youthful ghost has been sighted drifting near the execution site by reliable sentries on several occasions.

Sir Walter Raleigh and the Amiable Earl

One would naturally imagine that a spell inside the dreaded state prison would be more than sufficient to bring even the most rebellious subjects to their senses. But the legendary explorer Sir Walter Raleigh managed to incur the monarch's severe displeasure more than once.

In 1592, Queen Elizabeth I ordered him to be thrown into the dark cells. Upon his release, Raleigh arrogantly continued to bait the Queen, firmly believing he was simply too popular with the public to ever be executed. After Elizabeth’s death, King James I quickly lost all patience with Raleigh’s preening and boasting, having him convicted on a trumped-up charge of treason.

He was temporarily freed in 1616 on the strict condition that he journey to the New World to fill the royal coffers with gold. Raleigh completely ignored the King's express orders, plundering gold from England’s Spanish allies, and he was promptly beheaded upon his return. His ghost still walks the high stone battlements near his old apartments in the Bloody Tower.

Not all of the Tower’s non-corporeal residents have returned because they cannot rest or because they desire violent revenge. The ghost of Henry Percy, the 9th Earl of Northumberland, has been sighted strolling quite amiably on the roof of the Martin Tower. His enforced incarceration began in 1605 after he was heavily implicated in the famous Gunpowder Plot.

Percy was one of the incredibly few high-profile prisoners allowed to keep his head. He happily whiled away his 16-year sentence debating the latest advances in science and philosophy with other highly educated nobles. He was eventually released after paying a massive fine of £30,000. Since he is clearly reluctant to leave the Martin Tower centuries after his death, perhaps the old Earl simply feels he hasn't quite had his money's worth.

The Headless Cavalier and Sentry Accounts

Other apparitions haunting the grounds are significantly less active but no less terrifying. The headless ghost of James Crofts Scott, the illegitimate son of King King Charles II, is a classic example. He does little more than silently walk the high battlements connecting the Bell and Beauchamp Towers dressed in flamboyant cavalier attire.

James was not satisfied with being made the Duke of Monmouth as a mere compensation package for losing the crown to his uncle, James II, in 1685. He chose to assert his royal claim by force of arms. His brief rebellion was entirely short-lived, and he paid for his disloyalty by forfeiting his head on the block.

These processions of sombre, historical figures are not ancient lore. They have been witnessed in modern times by active military sentries. Guarding the silent stones at night, these trained watchmen have been able to describe with flawless accuracy the exact period-correct uniforms worn by the phantom burial parties moving through the dark. Along with the sentries' reports, others have recorded seeing the weeping spirit of the Duke of Monmouth sobbing quietly at the window of the Beauchamp Tower, exactly as he had done on the traumatic morning of his execution.

The Terrifying Phantom Bear Sighting of 1816

Not all of the non-corporeal residents inside these battlements are of human origin. For centuries, the fortress housed the exotic animals of the Royal Menagerie, creating a unique energetic residue of wild beasts. In January 1816, a sentry guarding the Jewel House was plunged into absolute terror when a massive, spectral grizzly bear emerged silently from beneath the heavy wooden door.

The panicked guard immediately lunged at the beast with his metal bayonet, but the blade passed straight through the cold entity and slammed into the stone wall. The bear vanished into thin air, but the psychological trauma was absolute. The sentry was carried away unconscious and died of sheer shock two days later, leaving a terrifying file in the annals of psychical research.

Ghosts Of The Tower Of London Frequently Asked Questions

Why are ghosts at the Tower of London headless?

Historically, high-profile prisoners were executed by beheading. Their severed heads were displayed on spikes near Traitors' Gate. But during final burial within the fortress, the head was tucked under the corpse's arm, creating a lasting visual archetype for their apparitions.

Where were the princes in the Tower hidden?

In 1674, workmen demolishing a staircase against the White Tower discovered a hidden wooden chest containing the skeletons of two young children matching the exact ages of the lost princes, Edward and Richard.

What was the phantom bear sighting of 1816?

A sentry guarding the Jewel House was confronted by a massive, translucent spectral bear coming out from under the door. He lunged at it with his bayonet, which passed straight through the entity. The guard died of shock two days later.

Does Anne Boleyn haunt the Tower of London?

Yes. The second wife of Henry VIII, executed in 1536, is frequently sighted leading a silent, spectral procession through the Tower Chapel, appearing both with and entirely without her severed head.

Who was the oldest person executed at the Tower?

Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, was executed at age 70 in a famously botched proceeding where she refused to put her head on the block and was chased around Tower Green by the executioner.

Did the 1974 bombing affect the hauntings?

Paranormal investigators note that the tragic 1974 terrorist mortar explosion inside the White Tower's Exhibition Room heavily reactivated the psychic environment, leading to increased logs of cold spots and phantom footsteps.

Sources and Further Reading

• Historic Royal Palaces. (2022). The Execution Registers and Burial Records of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. HRP Fortress Archives.

• Owen, George. (1971). Emotional Residue and Parapsychological Blueprints in Historic Stone Structures. Academic Press.

• Paranormal Encyclopedia. (1998). Spectral Sightings and Sentry Records of the British Royal Garrisons. Soul Book Publishing.

• Sentry Log Archives. (1957). Official Military Incident Report: The Salt Tower Manifestation (File Ref: UK-MOD-TOL-1957). War Office Records.

• Sumpter, Richard. (1818). The Royal Menagerie and the Tragedy at the Jewel House. J. Hatchard Printing.