Twelve Nightmares of Christmas, Day 11 — The Ghost of Anne Boleyn

The Tower of London comes by its ghostly reputation honestly. Built by William the Conqueror in 1078, it has stood as a symbol of the might of England for nearly a thousand years. It was originally a royal palace as well as a defensive fortress. In fact, Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, The Tower … Continue reading Twelve Nightmares of Christmas, Day 11 — The Ghost of Anne Boleyn

The Tower of London comes by its ghostly reputation honestly. Built by William the Conqueror in 1078, it has stood as a symbol of the might of England for nearly a thousand years. It was originally a royal palace as well as a defensive fortress. In fact, Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, The Tower of London (to use its proper name) is still officially a residence of the monarch. The King even has a house on site called, appropriately enough, “The King’s House”.

The kings and queens of England realized quite soon after its construction that the Tower was just as good at keeping people in, as it was at keeping people out. So it has been used as a prison since 1100, when Ranulf Flambard was imprisoned within the Tower by Henry I. Flambard was also, by the way, the first person to escape from the Tower.

There have been many prisoners, royal, noble, and otherwise, who have met their ends either on the Tower grounds or on nearby Tower Hill. Only seven people were executed within the Tower before the twentieth century. One of these unfortunates was Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, who was beheaded for treason in 1536. Her ghost is said to haunt the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, where she is buried, but she is also known to roam the grounds of the White Tower while carrying her own severed head.

Anne Boleyn is arguably the most famous ghost who wanders the Tower, due to her ill-fated relationship with Henry VIII. Queen Anne even almost got one poor sentry court-martialed.

The guard was found unconscious at his post outside the King’s House one winter morning in 1864. He was accused of falling asleep while on duty, and put on trial.

At the hearing, though, the sentry had a really good explanation for his unconscious state. He had been standing guard when a white figure came towards him out of the early morning mist. The sentry challenged the figure three times, but the silent figure never answered … it just kept walking slowly towards him.

Alarmed, the sentry lunged at the figure with his bayonet fixed, intending to run it through, whatever it was. But a flash of fire raced up the rifle barrel and knocked the sentry out cold.

Luckily, other guards (including officers) came forward to testify at the hearing. They said they had seen the apparition too, from a window in the Bloody Tower. After some discussion, members of the court realized that the phantasm had been seen by multiple witnesses just below the room where Anne had spent her last night alive, the night before her execution on May 19, 1536.

The sentry was cleared. As for the doomed queen, she still wanders the Tower “with her head tucked underneath her arm”, as far as anyone knows.