LONDON’S GHOSTS

Evening Star, Issue 20984, 24 December 1931, Page 12

LONDON’S GHOSTS

NEGLECTED APPARITIONS London is full of ghosts, bub they are sadly neglected in these days of hustle, says the ‘Daily Mail.’ There is a queer little house close to Westminster Abbey that is claimed to bo haunted by the ghost of the second Ea.l of Guildford, a famous Prime Minister of England. Then there is the ghost of Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher, which is said to walk at University College, London. Jeremy Bentham expressed a wish before ho died that his body should be given to the college for dissection. His wish was carried out, and his skeleton is now in the medical museum. When h i goes on his nocturnal wanderings he is said to start from the museum, and his footsteps are claimed to have been heard passing along a corridor One of the most notorious of ghosts is that of the Black Prince. For nearly six, centuries it was claimed to have appeared at intervals at Hall Place, near Bexley, Kent, and after each “ appearance ” some danger threatened

the country. But it has not been seen in the mansion since the war. May Countess of Limerick, who lives at Hall Place, believes that the spirit of that warrior Prince still pervades the mansion. “There is a wonderful atmosphere about this old house.” she said to a ‘Daily Mail’ reporter. “ When people come hero they are hypnotised. I feel sure that it is the influence of the Black Prince.” Hall Place was built in 1332, and, according to tradition the body of the Black Prince rested there while on its way to Canterbury Cathedral. The figure was said to have been seen during the war by Lady Limerick. She said that the last time she saw the “ Black Prince ” he was standing by the fireplace in the drawing-room and he glided through the window into the garden. She has been half expecting him to come recently and has been watching for him, but he has not shown himself. The Black Prince apparition is one of a number of ghosts of famous characters in history which are said to have been seen in the haunts which they knew and loved when they were on earth. A former Duke of Northumberland, the father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, is said to haunt the Tower of London. He has frightened a number of sentries, although he is quite harmless. A very persistent ghost is that of Archbishop Laud, which is said to appear in the library at St. John’s College, Oxford. There is a story that as the ceiling of the rooms beneath the library has been raised since Laud’s Day, lie appears walking on the old floor of the library, his legs being visible in the rooms beneath and the upper part of his body in the library itself.