Ghost Tour of London
DIRECTIONS
Cross over the two pedestrian crossings opposite the main gate of the palace and walk along Pall Mall to turn left into the second alleyway, which is Angel Court. This dark, forbidding passageway, probably named after an ancient inn that once stood here, rises gradually upward to bring you to the Golden Lion, a palatial pub where a ghost of unknown gender is regularly glimpsed in the upstairs bar. Staff clearing up here at night cross to the stairs when, from the corner of their eyes, they glimpse someone at the table to the right of the window. When they turn and look there is nobody there. Customers, too, have seen the ghost from the corner of their eyes, never clearly, and when they look directly at the table it is empty.
DIRECTIONS
Leave the pub and go left along King Street (keeping to the right pavement), cross St James’s St by the pedestrian crossing and go straight ahead into St James’s Place. A plaque on the wall of number 28 commemorates the statesman William Huskisson (1770–1830), the first person to be run over by a steam train.
The large, stately building next door is Spencer House, former ancestral home of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
DIRECTIONS
Follow the road as it bends and, at the very top, go into the almost concealed courtyard on the right. The dilapidated, yellow building you are standing outside was, for many years of the last century, the home of two spinster sisters, Ann and Harriet Pearson, who were deeply devoted to each other. After Ann died, in 1858, Harriet lived in the house alone. But in November 1864, while on a visit to Brighton, she fell seriously ill. She was brought back to her London home and nursed by her two nieces, Mrs Coppinger and Miss Emma Pearson, and her nephew’s wife, Mrs John Pearson.
On 23 December heavy snow began to fall in the street outside, and a thick mist swirled around the windows of the house. Mrs Coppinger and Miss Pearson retired to bed, leaving Mrs Pearson to look after their ailing aunt. They left their door open and the landing gaslight burning. At about one in the morning both jerked awake and saw their dead Aunt Ann go past their open door and into the sick room. Mrs Pearson then rushed into their room in a state of great agitation, having also seen and recognised the dead woman. All three returned to their aunt’s bedside, where she told them that she had just seen her sister and knew Ann had come to call her away. Shortly afterwards, Aunt Harriet slipped into a coma, dying peacefully at 6 o’clock that evening.
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