Tonight between 8 and 9pm London time (GMT), Yeoman Warder Phil Wilson is going to be leading a LIVE social media tour of the Tower of London’s historic haunted hotspots on the Tower of London’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. Here is the blurb from the Historic Royal Palaces website:
This Halloween, join Beefeater Phil Wilson for a unique after-dark experience of the Tower of London’s bloody history … through the ghost stories told of its ill-fated inhabitants and infamous incidents.
- Be guided around the top-ten sites for historic accounts of ghosts, hauntings and inexplicable occurrences – including the Bloody Tower, Queen’s House and the Martin Tower
- Stories, photos, videos and Vines will bring the spooky sights and sounds to life
- The cast of creepy characters include the ‘ghosts’ of Anne Boleyn, Guy Fawkes, the Two Princes, Walter Raleigh – and even a ghost bear!
You can take part by visiting the Tower of London on Facebook or Twitter:
- Twitter: @HRP_Palaces
- Facebook: Tower of London
The tour is followed by a Q&A session with Phil.
See http://www.thetimenow.com/time-zone-converter.php for help with time zones. For example, it looks like 8pm London time is 4pm in New York, 3pm in Chicago and 1pm in Los Angeles. For those of you in Australia, it works out as 7am Sydney time on 1st November.
Source: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/HalloweenSocialMediaTour
I found this fascinating.Especially,the part about how no ladies will sleep within the Queen’s tower due the ghost of a grey lady and other ladies who have slept there saying they have had a sensation of being choked.Creepy!
Also,the Tower says there have been no reported sightings of the ghost of Anne Boleyn since the Victorian era.
Hang around an old place like the Tower at night often enough and I am sure you will imagine you see and hear all sorts of things. Ghosts are not real but the stories are great fun.
As I just said in the other thread, “there are more things in heaven and on earth..”etc. Talk to any Catholic or Anglican exorcist (these types of exorcists are strictly licensed and supervised) and they’ll tell you that although many hauntings are myths dreamed up for publicity or fun(these priests tend to treat situations with caution and scepticism in the first place until proven otherwise), there are also situations and happenings that cannot be explained by any rational means.
Unfortunately, most hauntings have been shown to be something other than a genuine haunting. They are either caused by stress, lack of sleep, imagination, being in a place like the Tower at night can give you to thinking you see or hear things, tricks of the brain or senses, natural causes, and many other things. Some stories are just that as well, a good bedtime story, and one or two may never be explained. However, as a sceptic, I take a neutral view of these things and in some cases keep an open mind; that is the right approach until I can personally see the evidence. Most priests are sceptical; they have to be; as most priests are not actually allowed to have anything to do with an exortism. unless specially trained and licensed. It is even more difficult these days as so many fake exorcisms have taken place and are open to abuse and the media get hold of the stories. As you say, Jane they have to be supervised. We had the pleasure of one of the two licensed priests in Liverpool some time ago at our youth meeting and he was rather down to earth and agreed that many things today can be explained in ways they could not years ago. Other factors have to be taken into consideration when dealing with someone who believes they are being haunted and procession. Mental illness is one factor; imagination, attention seeking and so on, as well as the genuine, but remote possibility of demon procesion. Even in all these cases you approach the person with comfort and compassion, pray with them, do a blessing and refer to aftercare if it is needed. Sometimes all is needed is a blessing. Sad to say, though, the majority of hauntings are either made up or imagination. But famous hauntings do make for good stories and the back story is normally of great interest and study.
I remain sceptical but I will say this: demon procession is not a a haunting and it is not a mere ghost: it is something far more serious that only a trained expert can know how to deal with. Again, peace and repose.
I totally agree. At one time, any priest could perform an exorcism, but both the Catholic and Anglican churches came to realise that only trained experts should be allowed to deal with these matters. They have to have understanding of psychology and mental disturbances as well as the spiritual side, and the exorcists I have spoken to would describe their attitude as “sceptical, but sympathetic” and they will look at facts and background before leaping in with bell book and candle.
I am certainly of the opinion that the mind could play tricks in a spooky place like the Tower, especially in the dark…
I looked on Facebook at the scheduled time and saw no media, just 1 picture. Others, like me, were on the site and just not being able to get it. BooHoo
There were photos of the different towers with snippets of info on each bit, ghost stories, links to video etc. Then there was a 30min Q&A with the yeoman warder. The posts happened in real time between 8 and 9pm so I don’t understand why you couldn’t seem them. They’ve still there so do check them out, I shared some of them on The AB Facebook page too. So sorry you missed them live.
Unfortunately, I miss this show; I would have loved to have seen it and will search it out to watch soon. However, as to whether ghosts are real or not; whether there are supernatural events that we cannot explain – until you live one, you cannot understand those who have experienced something out of the norm. In elementary school I become very close to a friend that I came to love as a sister. We shared secrets we told no one else and were closer than best friends; we had a connection that would span time. In high school I became very self conscience of my alcoholic mother and started to withdraw from all my friends, including my very dear, close friend, Dee. I transferred schools in our last year, finishing school and getting married all in one month. I did not contact her to be in my wedding although we had dreamed of standing for one another since we were 10 years old. In fact, I stopped all contact with her for over 10 years. In 1979, one Saturday morning I woke from a dream of her. I knew I had to contact her immediately but how? I had moved over 2,000 miles away from my childhood home and I had no idea where she could be, if she was married or what her name was now. But I remember her parents address and called directory assistance; I learned that her brother was living in their old childhood home. I called the number & spoke to her sister in law; I convinced her that I must contact Dee immediately and after telling her about my dream, she gave me Dee’s number. I called and the person who answered would not call her to the phone; after begging she agreed to tell Dee that I was on the phone. Then I heard her voice say, “Sho! My Dear Lord – how did you know to call today?” I explained about my dream. She then told me that just that morning she and her husband had buried both his parents who had been killed in a private plane accident and immediately after the funeral her husband had packed his bags, told her he wanted a divorce and left her and their 3 children without means of support having cleaned out all bank accounts. Why after all those years did I have a dream that spurred me to contact her? I had no way to know that she needed me; and had that morning been thinking she would like to talk to me about her problems. Of course, we took up our relationship where we left off. She moved forward to a new, happy marriage that ended only with the death of her second husband, has survived over 20 years after breast cancer, nursed an adult son through a life threatening car accident and is now helping him raise his children, and is the grandmother of 8. She is happy, living in mid-America and while neither of us have been able to afford a trip to visit one another, we stay in contact and I always know when something is going on and she needs me to call. When I do, she always picks up the phone with this question, “What did your dream tell you and I’ll fill in the rest.” Weird, creepy, strange, wonderful, loving and after all these years standard operating practices for us. So don’t write off the supernatural too fast; you just might find evidence that it all could be true.