Ghostly Residents: The Tower of London

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The Tower of London is one of the most famous historical buildings in the world. Constructed by William the Conqueror in 1078, this grim, grey, and awe-inspiring tower, is the most haunted building in England. Perhaps the most well known ghostly residents of the Tower of London are the spirits of Anne Boleyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Princes in the Tower and among others.
Founded nearly a millennium ago, The Tower of London has been expanded over the centuries. The first foundations built by William the Conquer have been constantly improved. “The Tower of London is the oldest palace, fortress and prison in Europe (“The Tower of London”, “Tower of London”). The Tower of London was never supposed to be a prison.The Tower was originally a Royal Palace also serving as a defensive fortress (“Twenty-Five Facts”). Phil Wilson, a yeoman sergeant, once commented that “hundreds of people have been held prisoner and died [there]” (Go World Travel).
Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, is the most common well known resident that haunts the eerie corridors. The second day of May in 1536, Anne Boleyn was arrested and accused of adultery along with incest (Tower of London Ghost). Seventeen days later she was beheaded and buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad
Vincula where she is “watching over her own grave under the altar” (“The Tower of London”,“Your Ghost Stories”). Anne Boleyn is also seen as a headless ghost sometimes carrying her own head on the Tower Green along with the Tower Chapel Royal (Wagner). “Catherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, would meet a similar fate when she was imprisoned and then executed at the Tower of London in 1542” (History.com).
Walter Raleigh, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, was “knighted and appointed cap...

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