Ghosts at Hampton Court Palace .
Hampton Court Palace, with its 500 years of history, has seen many dramatic royal
events from the death of Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, to the condemnation
and house arrest of his fifth, Catherine Howard, for adultery. Over the centuries, staff,
visitors, workmen and residents have experienced strange phenomena for which there
is often no practical explanation. Many of these experiences have been recorded, the
better known of which are below.
Catherine Howard and The Haunted Gallery
• The hauntings of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of King Henry VIII, at Hampton Court
Palace are so well known that the Haunted Gallery was given its spine-tingling
name.
• In November 1541, Catherine was charged with adultery, placed under house
arrest and confined to her rooms at Hampton Court. It is claimed that she broke
free from her guards and ran down the corridor to reach King Henry, who was in his
private chapel, and plead for her life. Her guards soon caught up with her and
dragged her back to her rooms, despite her protests. Catherine was later executed
at the Tower of London.
• It is said that a female form, dressed in white, has been seen floating down the
Haunted Gallery ‘towards the door of the Royal Pew, and just as she reaches it,
has been observed to hurry back with disordered garments and a ghastly look of
despair, uttering at the same time the most unearthly shrieks, till she passes
through the door at the end of the gallery’. (A Short History of Hampton Court by
Ernest Law, 1897)
• During totally separate evening tours of the palace one evening in 1999, two female
visitors fainted on exactly the same spot in the Haunted Gallery approximately one
hour apart. Both of them felt frightened and uncomfortable and one lady declined to
re-join the tour.
Jane Seymour wanders in Clock Court
• Catherine Howard isn’t Henry VIII’s only wife whose presence is still felt at
Hampton Court. His third and favourite wife, Jane Seymour, died at the palace
following complications after the birth of Henry’s only son, Edward, in 1537.
• Jane is said to walk through the cobbled courtyard of Clock Court carrying a lighted
taper.
Sibell Penn and ‘The Lady in Grey’
• Sibell Penn was nurse to Prince Edward, Henry VIII’s only son.
• She died in 1562 and was buried in a nearby Hampton church. When the old
church was pulled down in 1829, Sibell Penn’s remains were disturbed and it is
said that she returned to the rooms she inhabited during her time at Hampton Court
Palace. The sound of a spinning wheel could be heard from behind a wall in the
south-west wing of the palace shortly afterwards. When the wall was demolished, a
small forgotten room was found, containing an old spinning wheel.
• Sibell Penn is the most persistent ghost at Hampton Court Palace. There have
been sightings as recently as 1986 when a ‘lady in grey’ was reportedly seen in
various Tudor courtyards and cloisters.
The Wolsey Closet Dog
• This Wolsey Closet has long been commented on by visitors, warders and other
staff as having a “strange atmosphere”. A caterer at an evening function refused to
enter the little alcove in the room because he felt it was “evil”.
• A dog has been seen and heard in the room on more than one occasion, and the
presence of a dog felt by somebody “sensitive” to paranormal activity.
Caught on camera!
• In October 2003 something very spooky was caught on the palace’s CCTV
security footage.
• On several occasions palace security guards were alerted to an open Fire
Door. After securing the door each time, they returned to their office to view
the CCTV footage to see who opened them. On the first occasion the footage
showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had. On the
second occasion they were stunned when a ghostly-looking figure in period
dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors. The same thing
happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.
• It wasn’t just security guards who thought they were seeing things. A visitor
noted in the palace’s visitor book that day she thought she had seen a ghost in
that area.
• The footage of the figure caught to world’s media attention with reports in
newspapers and on TV and radio as far afield as India, Australia and Peru.
• To date palace officials have no idea who the figure was!
