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Greenwich’s history stretches back over a thousand years to 1012, during which time it has been the site of a Viking murder of an archbishop and has long played host to royalty. Over the years there have been many tales of ghost stories in Greenwich, and we spoke to tour guide Maria Beadell - founder of Herstorical Tours - to find out some of the most prevalently haunted sites in Greenwich that you can still visit today. Here are just a few of them: The Trafalgar Tavern is one of Greenwich’s oldest pubs, there has been an ale house at the site of the current pub since the 11th century.
The current pub, established in 1837, was named after the Battle of Trafalgar and has been one of Greenwich’s most popular pubs. The pub is said to be haunted by the ghost of an old man who has been seen by staff members, usually after closing time. The pub is said to be haunted by the ghost of an old man who has been seen by staff members, usually after closing time.
(Image: Google) The ghost is said to be of a Victorian gentlemen seen wearing a hop hat and long tailed suit, and is said to be seen from behind standing at the bar. However, on every sighting of him, when staff attempt to speak to him to get his attention he vanishes, and due to his appearance he is believed to be the ghost of a former customer or manager back when the pub was built. Another of Greenwich’s allegedly haunted pubs is the popular Spanish Galleon pub located just a short way from Greenwich Pier.
The pub dates back to 1834 and was a well-known pub for press gangers during the 18th and 19th centuries, when men were forcibly taken on board ships to work as sailors. The pub was well-known for press gangers during the 18th and 19th centuries. (Image: Google) The ghost said to haunt this particular pub is of a small, black terrier dog, believed to be the former pet of one of the victims who tried to protect his master from being taken.
The ghost of this dog, who was allegedly kicked away by one of the press gangers, is said to still haunt the pub, with people claiming to have seen the shape of a small dog scuttling around the venue. From pubs to pie, another allegedly haunted location is Goddards Pie & Mash, one of London’s oldest pie and mash shops, dating back to 1890 when it was first founded. The shop is also said to be built on one of Greenwich’s many plague pits, back when The Black Death swept through Europe killing many in its wake.
The shop is said to be built on one of Greenwich’s many plague pits. (Image: Google) Over the years staff have reported hearing the sounds of plaintive wailing in the cellar, which is believed to belong to one of the victims killed by the plague. Not surprisingly, another one of Greenwich’s most haunted hotspots is Greenwich Park.
The park is famously known as London’s “oldest” enclosed park space, since the area was made into a park in 1433. There have been many ghostly sightings over the years, including the sighting of a spectral funeral procession of Elizabethan mourners, who have always been seen at the crossroads of the park “cut off at the knees”, only to disappear once reaching the end of the crossroads. Ghostly sightings over the years include a spectral funeral procession of Elizabethan mourners.
(Image: Royal Parks) Another famous spectral sighting was documented by Victorian Ghost Hunter Elliott O'Donnell, who wrote about a sight of a paranormal black mass he spotted when sitting under a tree. O'Donnell claimed that he spotted the apparition when lounging under a tree on a summers day, only for the landscape to turn cold and wintry, with the tree behind him becoming bare and wizened. Victorian Ghost Hunter Elliott O'Donnell, wrote about a sight of a paranormal black mass he spotted when sitting under a tree.
. (Image: Royal Parks) Then out of the shadows he described seeing the sight of a black twisted mass that was hunched over and that smelt like rotting flesh. In fact, the sight scared him so much that he never returned to the park again.
The Cutty Sark was a 19th century tea clipper, made into an attraction in 1954 and was named after a line in the poem Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns. The figurehead depicts the protagonist of that poem – Nannie, a witch who both protects the ship and curses sailors who don’t care for it, which was a huge superstition for sailors. The Cutty Sark was named after a line in the poem Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns.
(Image: National Maritime Museum) Since the Cutty Sark became a tourist attraction in the 1950s, staff have reported many strange goings on in the ship over the years, such as cold spots and unexplained mist wafting over the deck. Footsteps have also been heard over the years, along with the sounds of what has been described as the sounds of moaning men believed to be the souls of the cursed sailors..
