Navigating London’s complex and busy underground system can be scary at the best of times.
Now commuters have to reckon with paranormal activity on the Tube.
This comes as Transport for London (TfL) revealed a 15-year-old boy once ‘spotted’ a ghost near King’s Cross station and was left terrified.
The sighting occurred on the Metropolitan line in December 2023, when the ‘distressed’ teenager ‘mentioned he had seen ghosts’.
TfL detailed this ghostly encounter in a Freedom of Information request which asked the company to publish any reported paranormal activity on London’s Tube and rail networks.
Officers searched their London Underground incident reports for the keywords ghost, paranormal, spirit, apparition, ghoul, phantom, poltergeist, and banshee.
They otherwise drew a blank, with an overwhelming number of the 156 results referring to being in “good spirits” – likely to mean having had an alcoholic drink.
Other searches also produced results referring only to phantom or ghost Oyster card charges.
There were no reports found of ghosts on the Trams, Elizabeth line, DLR, or London Overground services.
Senior FOI Case Officer Gemma Jacob wrote: ‘We have carried out a keyword search of all London Underground incident reports over the requested timeframe using the following words: ghost, paranormal, spirit, apparition, ghoul, phantom, poltergeist, banshee.
‘The search returned 156 results, but only one of them related to paranormal activity.
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‘This related to a distressed 15 year-old-boy at King’s Cross on the Metropolitan line in December 2023, who also mentioned that he had seen ghosts.
‘We do not have any reports of paranormal activity on our Trams, Elizabeth line, DLR, or London Overground services.’
TfL’s response will do little to shake decades-long rumours of ghosts on London transport.
One of the most notorious is Sarah Whitehead, or the Black Nun.
Sarah’s brother, a clerk at the Bank of England, was supposedly executed for forgery in the early 1800s.
Which Tube stations are haunted?
- Bank – Sarah Whitehead, or the Black Nun
- Kennington Loop – an electrocuted station worker
- Covent Garden – William Teriss
- Elephant and Castle – the ‘girl on the train’
- Bethnal Green – the children of the WW2 bombings
- Covent Garden and Holborn – the ghost of Egyptian princess Amen Ra
- King’s Cross – an inconsolable young woman
- Liverpool Street – a worker in white overalls
- South Kensington – the man in the peaked cap
- Farringdon – 13-year-old orphan Anne Naylor
It is said she returns daily in a black dress to the streets surrounding Bank station, which is sat between two graveyards, to ask: ‘Have you seen my brother?’
Covent Garden is also home to one of the most gruesome reported ghosts in London.
Actor William Terriss was stabbed to death by at the nearby Adelphi Theatre.
Commuters and Underground workers alike now claim the Tube station is haunted by a tall, shadowy figure dressed in Victorian attire, who leaves behind unexplained footsteps.
The Freedom of Information request also asked for ‘any internal staff logbooks/documents for ghost sightings at the Aldgate East station.’
Aldgate East stands in close proximity to the area where the Jack the Ripper murders took place in 1888.
However, TfL confirmed there are no documents which point towards ‘ghost sightings’ at this station.
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