With a history going back hundreds of years, Windsor Castle has its fair share of paranormal activity, with many past members of the Royal Family reluctant to leave. Not to be outdone, the College of St George is also no strangers to ghosts and ghouls, including some very famous ones.
The ghost of Henry VIII is purported to walk through the cloisters, dragging his ulcerated legs and groaning from the pain. Perhaps he is on his way to meet Anne Boleyn, who is also claimed to haunt the cloisters, her ghostly form peering out from a window overlooking the Dean’s Cloister. Elizabeth I has also been seen at the same window. Charles I, beheaded and buried in an almost forgotten grave, is said to walk through Canons’ Cloister, looking very much intact.
However there are many other places that are supposedly haunted by these Royals, so what about the ghosts of ordinary people?
Horseshoe Cloister has several supernatural residents, including a horse and groom, a white lady and a little girl dressed in blue. The groom leads the horse through a wall in the kitchen, while the little girl has been seen standing by a Christmas tree [SGC CL 480].
The Deanery is alleged to house the ghost of a small boy, who doesn’t “want to go riding today”, footsteps can be heard in the passageways, and various sightings are reported of the ghost of a woman in grey near the north door of the Deanery.
Ghostly footsteps have also been heard on the staircase in the Curfew Tower, the basement of which was formerly a dungeon.
In all, Windsor is one of the most haunted castles in the country, if not the world.
Eleanor Cracknell, Assistant Archivist