London Ghost Walk Hampstead.
Richard Jones takes you to Haunted Hampstead and tells the story of the ghosts seen around its ponds.
Hampstead Ponds and Hampstead Heath. NW3.
The Horseman’s Shadow.H Hampstead Heath is comprised of 800 acres (324ha) of wild and rugged moorland, which as well as being a playground for generations Londoners, also provides a lush habitat for an abundance of wildlife.
Yet in parts it is a sinister place, where towering trees cast the rough pathways into ethereal shadow. Numerous ponds dot the heath and hardy swimmers make use of several of them on a more or less daily basis. Some of these swimmers complain of hearing phantom footsteps following them along the piers as they prepare to leap into the cold, murky waters. No explanation has ever been found as to who, or what, might be responsible, although several witnesses believe them to be connected with suicides that, in the past, chose to end their lives in the ponds.
The open spaces of the heath afford little protection from the malevolent forces that lurk hereabouts. From the 17th to the 18th centuries, the rough paths that cross its untamed wilderness, were the haunt of numerous highwaymen, so called "Gentlemen of the Road," who would stop at nothing to relieve travellers of their possessions, and often their lives. It would seem that one such felon found the lure of the heath so irresistible, that he is loathe to leave. Over the years there have been numerous reports of a dark figure on horseback, that comes riding from the dense thickets and gallops towards astonished witnesses. One lady who encountered him, later reported how was so convinced she was about to be trampled to death, that she flung herself to the ground and prepared for the impact. After a few moments, she looked up to find that the spectral rider and his mount had, apparently, vanished into thin air. Only then did it dawn on her that, despite the fact that they were coming towards her at great speed, the horse’s hooves had not made a sound upon the hard ground.
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