by Joseph Exton
The White Hart Inn, located in Edinburgh’s historic Grassmarket, is not only the oldest Pub in Edinburgh (it was opened in 1516), it’s also one of the most haunted. Perhaps that isn’t too surprising given that two of the pub’s regulars were William Burke and William Hare, who would lure fellow drinkers from the pub to their nearby lodgings where they would murder them and then sell their bodies for dissection at the university medical school.
The Grassmarket was also the site of a number of public executions and the White Hart did good business quenching the thirst of enthusiastic spectators. Nowadays, the White Hart Inn attracts visitors not only on account of its history but also because of its reputation as one of Scotland’s most haunted pubs.
There is a low doorway behind the bar which leads down to the cellar (the oldest part of the building). Many staff and visitors have reported seeing a shadowy figure standing in this doorway and then seeming to descend into the cellar. However, on investigation, no-one is found in the cellar and there is no other access other than the door from the bar.
It’s also not uncommon for members of staff to discover that it is no longer possible to pour beer in the bar. On investigation, it is found that the relevant alcohol tap has been turned off even though there is no-one in the cellar. Gas cylinders have also been found to have become detached from their connections and loud banging has been heard coming from the empty cellar.
One member of staff claimed that an unseen entity pulled her hair while she was in the cellar, changing a barrel. A person working in the cellar was disturbed by the sound of revelry from the bar above, despite the Inn being closed. When he came up to check what was happening, there was no-one there.
People using the toilet in this bar have also reported being pushed and struck by an unseen presence and cables have been mysteriously pulled from electrical items. More than one member of staff has left rather than continue to work in the haunted bar…
However, one of the most frequently reported ghosts is that of a woman dressed in red who has been spotted by several staff and visitors. This is said to be the ghost of a young prostitute who was killed in the bar in the 1800s.
In 2013 a family of Australian tourists who were visiting Edinburgh took some photographs in the bar with a digital camera. One of the photographs appears to show a blurred figure in red standing in front of the bar. Many people have claimed that this photograph shows the ghost in red who has been reported so often in the bar. A second photograph of the same ghost was also apparently taken in 2014 by members of the Edinburgh Ghost Hunting Society.
Ghost investigators Scottish Ghost Adventures spent a night at the White Hart Inn in 2014 and they were able to record EVP (electronic voice phenomena) in the cellar area. This recording sounds unnervingly like a human voice saying “Help me, help me” and the name “Connor”.
Excalibur Nightclub, Chicago
In an odd coincidence, on the other side of the Atlantic there is another bar where the ghost of a woman in red has been seen and photographed. The odd, castle-like building at 632 North Dearborn Street in Chicago was originally built in 1892 to house the Chicago Historical Society but from 1985 has housed various bars and nightclubs. Throughout its history, this building has been the scene of a number of seemingly paranormal events.
632 North Dearborn Street, Chicago. This photograph is from 1963 when the building was being used as a recording studio.
Photo: Cervin Robinson Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago_Historical_Society,_632_North_Dearborn_Street,_Chicago_(Cook_County,_Illinois).jpg
The building at 632 North Dearborn Street was commissioned by the Chicago Historical Society for use as that organization’s headquarters in 1890. The building was constructed on the site of an earlier building which had been destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
The building continued to be used by the Chicago Historical Society until 1931 after which it served as the offices for a magazine publisher and a recording studio before being converted into The Limelight nightclub in 1985. The Excalibur Club opened in 1989 and this building has continued to house various nightclubs, bars and restaurants since that time. It is while it has been used for these purposes that most reports of hauntings have been made.
There seem to be several different ghosts associated with this building. One is the ghost of a little girl who is seen on the lower floors of the building. At least one employee of the nightclub caught sight of the little girl and spent time trying to find her and explain to whoever had brought her that she shouldn’t be there, before she was told that the girl was a ghost.
The third floor of the building appears to be a paranormal hot-spot with staff reporting strange cold spots, bottles and glasses moving on their own, balls moving on the pool table and heavy boxes being heard moving in a store-room even though the room was locked and empty. Motion sensors connected to alarms in this part of the building have also frequently been tripped though there is no living person in the area.
Several members of staff have also reported hearing their names being called or whispered by a voice which comes from empty parts of the building. Screams have also been heard coming from the restrooms on the lower floor when these are empty and the club is closed.
However, one of the most common sightings is of the mysterious “lady in red”, a woman, often glimpsed for a moment who appears to be wearing a red dress. A Polaroid photograph taken some years ago appeared to show the woman in red at one of the windows of the building.
No-one is quite certain why this building should be so haunted. One theory is that it was constructed on the site of an earlier building which was destroyed in the Great Fire. It has been claimed that this older building was used as a refuge from the fire by a number of women who were all killed when it burned down, but there is no documentary evidence to support this idea.
This building was also designated for use as a temporary morgue following the Eastland disaster in 1915 when more than eight hundred people died when a passenger ship rolled over at its mooring on the Chicago River.
On July 24, 1915, the passenger ship SS Eastland rolled onto its side while moored at a dock on the Chicago River, killing 844 passengers and crew. The building at 634 North Dearborn Street was designated as a temporary morgue to deal with the large number of bodies recovered from the ship.
Photo: Max Rigot Selling Company, Chicago
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastland_Postcard_-_View_of_Eastland_taken_from_Fire_Tug_in_river.png
However, while historians agree that the building was designated for use as a morgue, most claim that it was never actually used for the storage of bodies from the Eastland disaster which seems to rule this out as a source of the hauntings. This building now houses The Castle and Vision nightclubs as well as bars and restaurants and continues to be the scene of frequent ghostly encounters.
Eastern Station Hotel, Ballarat, Australia
Ballarat is a city in Victoria, Australia located around 100 kilometers east of Melbourne, the State Capital. Within the city is a bar which is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Australia.
The Eastern Station Hotel, Ballarat
Photo: Mattinbgn
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballarat_Eastern_Station_Hotel_001.JPG
The Eastern Station Hotel was originally built in 1862 and the bar seems to be inhabited by a number of different ghosts. Several people have reported seeing the ghost of a young boy running round the bar. This is believed to be the ghost of two-year old James Nunn who drowned in 1863 after falling into a waterhole at nearby Black Hill Flats.
James’ body was brought to the Eastern Station Hotel where it was kept in the cellar until an autopsy could be performed by the coroner, Dr Sutherland.
Just like the other two locations described in this chapter, the Eastern Station Hotel also has the ghost of a woman with long hair wearing a
red dress! This ghost has been seen on several occasions and is believed to be the spirit of a woman called Maggie who arrived at the hotel with her daughter Sarah in the 1870s from Melbourne where she had recently disembarked from a ship from England.
Both mother and daughter died in the hotel of yellow fever which they had presumably contracted on their journey from England. The woman in red is sometimes seen with a younger woman who is supposed to be the spirit of her daughter.
The first owner of the Hotel, Thomas Redshaw Hunt, is also said to make occasional appearances in the bar. Staff and visitors have reported seeing the figure of a tall man wearing dark clothes and a top hat standing next to the fireplace.
He disappears if approached and the appearance of this ghost is said to be accompanied by the smell of pipe tobacco. Sometimes nothing is seen, but the bar is suddenly flooded with the unexplained smell of pipe tobacco. One of the serving staff in the bar has noted that, more than once, she has turned to serve a customer, only to discover the ghost of Mr Hunt.
Other spirits reported at this bar include a soldier who had recently returned from the First World War who was killed in a brawl with another member of staff. This man worked in the kitchen area and his ghost has been seen in the kitchen as well as walking though a doorway leading to the bar which has since been closed off.
Staff working in the kitchen have also complained about unexplained cold spots and a general feeling of unease if they are working in this area on their own. In the bar cellars, staff have seen the figures of two bearded indigenous men who are believed to be the original caretakers of the hotel who were recruited from the local tribe who originally owned the land on which the hotel is built.
For a relatively small bar, the Eastern Station Hotel does seem to be haunted by a very large number of ghosts and spirits...
Chapter 4:
Haunted Railway Stations
The London Underground
The London Underground is the oldest mass rapid transit system in the world. The first part of what would become the London Underground Railway opened in 1863 with a single line, The Metropolitan. Now, the London Underground System includes 270 stations on eleven separate but connected lines. Many of the London Underground stations are associated with ghosts and hauntings.
Bethnal Green Station
Bethnal Green Underground Station is on the Central Line and is located in the East End of London. There have been a number of encounters with paranormal events, mainly the sounds of people in the station which are heard by staff late at night when the station is closed and after the last train has departed. This account provided by Station Foreman John Graham in 1981 is fairly typical:
“It was normal, up till the last train. Staff went home, I had just secured the station and I went back to the office. I started to do some paper work, and all of a sudden I heard the sound of children crying. I dismissed it as nothing really, and then all of the sudden it become louder, and then there were voices of women, people screaming and loud noises. It was a combination that built up to quite a frightening situation. It went on for about 10 minutes, as if people were panicking. I left the office and went up to the hall. I was frightened to go back to the office, because of the noise down there.”
Many of the reports of ghostly noises include the sound of children, screaming and crying. Several members of staff have been deeply shocked and plainly terrified by the sounds and some have refused to work in this station at night.
The explanation for this haunting seems to be fairly clear. During World War Two, some London Underground Stations were used as air raid shelters where civilians could come to be safe from German bombs. Bethnal Green Station was used in this way and by 1943 it was able to provide accommodation for over 10,000 people in its deepest areas.
Around eight o’clock in the evening of 3rd March 1943, the air raid siren sounded and large numbers of people began to make their way to the station and down the steep staircase towards the escalators. At first, everything was calm when, suddenly, the station was filled with a terrible roaring noise.
People began to panic and rush to get into the Station. Someone near the bottom of the stairs tripped and fell, and suddenly there was pandemonium as people were crushed as more and more people tried to get in to the safety of the shelter. When emergency services were finally able to get to the casualties, they were horrified to find that 173 people had been crushed to death in the stampede on the stairs – 27 men, 84 women and 62 children...
The steep stairs leading down to Bethnal Green Underground Station haven’t changed much since World War Two – this photograph was taken in 2009.
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entrance_to_Bethnal_Green_Underground_station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1597366.jpg
Ironically, the roaring sound which had precipitated the crush was not dangerous – it was the sound of a new rocket-firing anti-aircraft unit stationed in nearby Victoria Park. Not a single German bomb fell in the East End of London on March 3rd 1943. Wartime censorship ensured that news of the disaster was suppressed until much later. However, from this time on, terrified night staff in Bethnal Green Station have heard the ghostly sound of screaming children…
British Museum Station
You won’t find the British Museum tube station on any current map of the Central Line in the London Underground system. The station was closed and abandoned in September 1933 (there are many such closed and abandoned underground stations beneath the streets of London and these are generally referred to as “ghost stations” by railway staff).
The official reason for the closure was that a new Central Line station, Holborn, had been built nearby and this station provided a direct interchange with the Piccadilly line – passengers using the old British Museum Station had to ascend to street level to reach the Piccadilly Line. However, many people thought that there might also have been other, darker reasons for closing this station.
The British Museum tube station had been the location for persistent sightings of a very unusual ghost – the apparition of an ancient Egyptian Priestess associated with the tomb of Amen-Ra. The apparition, dressed in a loincloth and head-dress, was seen late at night in the station, screaming horribly. Strange moaning sounds were also heard, seemingly coming from the tunnel walls themselves.
The British Museum certainly has the mummy of an Egyptian female who has been claimed to have been a priestess of Amen-Ra. There have been stories that this mummy is cursed, with many people involved in its discovery and transport back to the UK suffering a variety of early and unexpected deaths.
The story that this mummy was the origin of the ghost at British Museum tube station became so well known and there were so many sightings of this ghost that a British daily newspaper offered a substantial reward in the 1920s for anyone willing to spend the night alone in this tube station. No-one claimed the reward.
There have also been persistent rumours that there is a secret tunnel between British Museum tube station and the Egyptian Room of the British Museum – this actually formed part of the plot of the 1935 movie Bulldog Jack.
Many London Underground stations and passages were used as air raid shelters during World War Two, including disused stations such as British Museum.
Photo: Ministry of Information Second World War Official Collection
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Londoners_sleeping_in_the_passageway_of_a_London_Underground_station,_probably_Aldwych,_in_November_1940._D1678.jpg
After its closure, British Museum was used for a time as some form of military establishment and during World War Two it was used as an air raid shelter. Now, the station is completely closed and inaccessible, but there are persistent stories about distant screaming being heard from the platform of Holborn Station coming from the tunnel leading to the abandoned station just 100 yards away.
Other Ghosts of the London Underground
The network of rail lines whi
ch make up the London Underground system is vast, covering more than 250 miles in total. As a safety check, every foot of the line is inspected every night once trains have stopped running by patrolmen who walk the tracks and tunnels.
In the early 2000s, an experienced patrolman was walking the line on part of the new Jubilee Line Extension (opened in 1999). This new line cut through the grounds of what had previously been several monasteries, and the remains of nearly 700 graves were relocated during construction. Ghosts wearing monk-like cowls have been reported at several locations on this line since it opened, but what the patrolman encountered that night was something even more strange…
As he was sitting by the track taking a break in one of the tunnels, the patrolman heard the sound of footsteps approaching, crunching on the gravel between the sleepers. The footsteps were very distinct, heavy and, to the man’s astonishment, as they got close to where he was sitting, he could actually see the gravel being displaced with each step.
It was, he said later, as if a large, invisible entity was walking past right in front of him. The footsteps continued for almost ten yards beyond where he was sitting before ending. The man sat, terrified, watching and listening but nothing further happened.
He completed his track walk and reported what he had seen to his supervisor. To his surprise, the supervisor didn’t seem particularly perturbed, and said that several track-walking patrolmen and other maintenance workers had experienced something very similar on that stretch of line. No-one has any explanation for what might have caused the ghostly footsteps on this stretch of line.
The London Underground also incorporates a number of sections of track known as “balloon loops”. These are, as the name suggests, loops which can be used to allow trains to change direction. One such loop is the Kennington Loop, south of Kennington Station on the Northern Line.
