Permanent Londoners

It has been estimated that as many as two in every five people “seen” on a busy London Street

are “Permanent Londoners”: the undead doomed to spend eternity among the living…

 This is the claim made by London Ghost Walks.

 Last night under a glowing full moon we met up with some friends at St. Paul's Station.

There we joined one of London Walk's ghostologist

to hear the stories of the "Permanent Londoners" that haunt the

narrow streets of the old City of London. 

We met him in the shadows of St. Paul's Cathedral to explore this ancient section of London.  The original walled city built by the Romans was in this area and the rest of London grew up around it. 

It is about one square mile and contains some of the most interesting historical sites in London.

And it is reportedly one of the most haunted.  

This area includes St. Bartholemew's Hospital which was founded in 1123.  

It is also the original site of the notorious Newgate Prison 

which was called by William Defoe "...an emblem of hell itself."

We also stopped outside of St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate were you can see the original hand bell that announced the executions at Newgate.  

Hospitals, prisons and churches... places of life and death and untold stories.

 

We stopped at the bombed out ruins of the Christ Church Greyfriars

to hear about the She-Wolf of France, Queen Isabella who is said to still roam the gardens.

We spent the next few hours walking along dark, cobbled streets, through courtyards and churchyards stopping every so often to hear another story.  

Is she being followed by an orb of light?

 

London is even more beautiful at night.  It's so hard to capture the atmosphere with a camera.

Our guide was a wonderful storyteller and really brought the history to life.

This is the only exterior statue of Henry VIII found in London at the entrance to St. Barts.

We are definitely going to explore this area again in daylight. 

 

Our guide shared many fantastic tales of hauntings including the stories of the

Cock Lane Ghost and the Baby Farmer executed at Newgate Prison. 

If you have some free time, you really should click on some of the links in this post.

So much good stuff out there.

It was the perfect way to celebrate Halloween in London.

We really appreciated that the focus was on the stories and the history.

It wasn't cheesy and silly with people in white sheets jumping out at us for a cheap fright. 

The temperature was quickly dropping so we popped into a local restaurant

to get warm with some squash soup with roasted pumpkin seeds.

After a late dinner with good friends, we headed home.  

 I would highly recommend London Walks.

They have ghost walks all over London, seven days a week, 

year round (excluding Dec 24th & 25th).

They also have a full schedule of other interesting walks:

Jack the Ripper, Harry Potter, Pub Walks and more.

It's a terrific way to experience and learn about London.

We will definitely be joining them for some more walks.

Happy Halloween, my friends!

What about you?  Do you have a good ghost story to share?

xoxo

Selena 

This is NOT a sponsored post.  We paid the full £9 each for the walk and all opinion are my own.  All photos are by me.