Tower of London?!

Good question!  November 1 is Guy Fawkes Day, and I thought I’d give this post over to the Brits!    Guy Fawkes is a member of the famous (and failed) “Gunpowder Plot” of 1605.  The cool part (well, cool for me…) is that instead of being mutilated, Guy jumped off the scaffolding, with a rope round his neck, and snapped his neck instead.  Cheers!  His effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a firework display.  I’ve been to one of these bonfires, and it’s awesome.  It’s not a bad memorial, if you ask me!  

But Six, what does this have to do with Asylum Obscura?!  Well, Westminster Palace, where Guy died, is one of, if not THE most known buildings in England.  While only a few stories of Guy Fawkes’ spirit being seen are floating around, there are many other specters supposedly being seen by throngs of people.  So, to all my UK friends, I’m going to tell a little bit of creepy history of the place.  It’s also the home to Big Ben and the Tower of London, a thought that, at least to me, is synonymous with creepy.

The Tower of London dates back to more than 900 years, and has the distinction of being England’s most haunted location, according to sources.  Anne Boleyn (one of the wives of King Henry VIII) is said to haunt the White Tour, wandering up and down the halls.  She’s also seen guarding her grave, under the alter at Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula.  Catherine Howard, another of Henry’s executed wives, can be heard screaming at the top of her lungs behind the door to the room she was imprisoned in until she got her head chopped off.

The saddest of the Tower Ghosts, are of little Prince Edward and his younger brother, Richard.  They were the sons of King Edward IV, and were declared illegitimate when their father died.  They were sent to the Tower when their uncle took the throne instead.  As soon as his coronation was over, King Richard III set to getting rid of the little Princes.  In the summer of 1483, the boys went missing, and were never seen alive again.  In 1674, the two tiny skeletons were found under a staircase in the White Tower, and the suspicions were confirmed; that they’d been killed there.

Numerous people have claimed to see the spirits of the children, crying, terrified in the rooms where they were locked away.  They’re often seen clutching one another in terror, dressed only in their white dressing gowns.  When worried guests see them and try to reach out to them, the specters disappear into the darkness, wailing pitifully.

I’m not wanting to make this a ghost hunting blog, but I thought it best to tell the above stories.  I’ve always been interested in England, almost as long as I’ve been interested in asylums and other abandoned places, so I thought it appropriate.  Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

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