Ghost Map

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Apparitions

Ghosts of historical figures

Anne Boleyn carrying her head in the Tower, Abraham Lincoln in the corridors of the White House, Barbara Radziwiłł summoned for King Sigismund Augustus – the ghosts of famous people are a chapter of their own in the history of apparitions. The accounts often come from well-known witnesses: politicians, soldiers, palace staff. Historians treat them as part of the figure's legend, yet many of these stories have lasted hundreds of years and still draw visitors.

cases
14
years
1360–2026

Disputed: 3 Legend: 11

  1. 14th century

    1. 1360–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend The Ghost of Maćko Borkowic at Olsztyn Castle Ruins of Olsztyn Castle near Częstochowa, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland A Greater Poland palatine, sentenced by King Casimir the Great to starve to death in the Olsztyn tower, is said to haunt the castle ruins still.

  2. 16th century

    1. 1536–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Anne Boleyn at the Tower of London Tower Green and the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, United Kingdom Henry VIII's second wife, beheaded at the Tower in 1536, is said to appear still near the place of execution and in the chapel where she was buried.
    2. 1541–present Ghosts of historical figures · Disputed Catherine Howard and the Haunted Gallery at Hampton Court The Haunted Gallery, Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, United Kingdom Henry VIII’s fifth wife is said to have broken free from her guards and run screaming down the gallery to beg the king for mercy. Her screams still echo there.
    3. c. 1551 Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Twardowski Summons the Ghost of Barbara Radziwiłł Wawel Royal Castle, Kraków (location according to tradition), Poland Grief-stricken after his beloved wife's death, King Sigismund Augustus is said to have asked the sorcerer Twardowski to show him Barbara in a magic mirror.

  3. 17th century

    1. 1629 Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Lady in Blue – the Nun Who Converted Native Americans from Spain Isleta, New Mexico, United States In 1629 Jumano people asked the Franciscans for missionaries because, they said, a “woman in blue” had taught them. A Spanish nun later claimed it was her.

  4. 18th century

    1. 1773–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Shaniwar Wada – the Cry of Narayanrao Shaniwar Wada, Pune, Maharashtra, India On full-moon nights, the ruins of the Peshwas' palace in Pune are said to echo with the cry of a murdered young ruler: ‘Uncle, save me!’

  5. 19th century

    1. 1801 Ghosts of historical figures · Legend The Ghost of Tsar Paul I in St Michael's Castle St Michael's (Engineers') Castle, Saint Petersburg, Russia Tsar Paul I was murdered in his new fortified residence after only forty nights – and his ghost is said never to have left its walls.
    2. 1815–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Gibraltar Point Lighthouse – the Murdered Keeper's Ghost Gibraltar Point Lighthouse, Toronto Islands, Toronto, Ontario, Canada The first keeper of the oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes was killed by soldiers in 1815. Legend added a dismembered body and a ghost on the stairs.
    3. 1835 Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Le Morne – the Mountain of the Runaways Le Morne Brabant, Mauritius Legend says that in 1835 runaway slaves on Mauritius leapt from the cliffs of Le Morne at the sight of police – who had come to tell them they were free.
    4. c. 1860–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Mae Nak of Phra Khanong Mae Nak Shrine at Wat Mahabut, On Nut, Bangkok, Thailand Thailand's most famous ghost: a woman who died in childbirth yet waited at home by the canal for her husband to return from the war.
    5. 1888–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Federici's Ghost at Melbourne's Princess Theatre Princess Theatre, Spring Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia A singer who died after sinking through a stage trapdoor as Mephistopheles is said to still take a seat in the dress circle of a Melbourne theatre.

  6. 1900–1909

    1. 1901 Ghosts of historical figures · Disputed An Adventure at Versailles – Moberly and Jourdain Gardens of the Petit Trianon, Versailles, France Two Oxford academics claimed that in the gardens of the Petit Trianon they slipped back into Marie Antoinette's time – and may even have seen her.

  7. 1920–1929

    1. 1927–present Ghosts of historical figures · Legend Abraham Lincoln's Ghost in the White House The White House, Washington, D.C., United States First Lady Grace Coolidge, Queen Wilhelmina and – reportedly – Winston Churchill all claimed to have met the murdered president's ghost in the White House.

  8. 1950–1959

    1. 1956–1981 Ghosts of historical figures · Disputed Omm Sety – the Englishwoman Who Went Home to Abydos Temple of Seti I, Abydos, Egypt Dorothy Eady believed she had been a priestess at Abydos in a past life and that Pharaoh Seti I's spirit visited her at night. She spent her last 25 years there.