The Tulip Staircase Ghost
Queen’s House. Greenwich, London. A beautiful seat of power and former royal residence. Construction was completed in 1635 and the house is considered one of, if not the most important building in British architectural history.
As you can see from the above picture, it’s an imposing country pile, full of history. Inside is a very famous staircase known as the Tulip Staircase. This spiral staircase is a wonder of engineering of the time and draws visitors from all over the world.
And it’s here, on that very staircase, that our story takes place.
The Reverend Hardy
In 1966, the Reverend Ralph Hardy and his wife decided to take a trip. He had recently retired and his wife wanted to see the world. Having heard about the Queen’s House, they decide to visit. And while there, they of course took in the magnificent Tulip Staircase. They even took a photograph of it. A memento of a once in a life-time trip.
When they returned home and had the pictures developed, they noticed something very strange.
A Shadowy Figure
As you can see above, there appears to be a figure, clinging to the banister of the stairs.
The Reverend Hardy and his wife were absolutely adamant that there was no other people there when they took their photograph.
So what’s the explanation? Simply put. Nobody appears to know. Apparently the picture was examined by experts, from Kodak no less, but nothing untoward could be seen. No tampering or manipulation.
On the 24th of June 1967 The Ghost Club had seven members spend the night here. Nothing untoward was seen, heard or even smelt.
But that’s not quite the end. According to Royal Museums Greenwich, a gallery assistant there was talking to a couple of colleagues in 2002 when a saw a figure glide across a balcony. The figure was dressed in an old fashioned, white grey dress and walked straight through a wall! Looks pretty familiar to the attire in the above photo.
Coincidence? Jumpy employee who had seen the picture? Or an actual sighting of the Tulip Staircase ghost?
I’m not sure. What I do know is this. There had been sightings before this picture and there have been sightings since. Whether there is any truth in the sightings or not is open to interpretation.
Sources:
Queen’s House Ghost (rmg.co.uk)