Ghosts Of The London Underground

  • By Sam Ashford
  • First Published: January 27, 2025
  • Last Updated: October 7, 2025

The London Underground

The London Underground is one of the great transport systems of the world. It is also a great hotbed of paranormal activity. Unsurprisingly – because what dark secrets were unearthed, and how many spirits were disturbed when the Underground was built?

Let’s journey into this subterranean world and meet some of its spookiest and most disturbing inhabitants!

London Underground – A Brief History

The London Underground was built to accommodate the transport needs of a congested, growing metropolis. Key expansion phases included:

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  • 1863: The Metropolitan Railway opened its first line between Paddington and Farringdon. 
  • 1880s-1890s: The District, Circle, and Central Lines extended the network. 
  • 1920s-1930s: The network continued to grow as existing lines were extended and new links such as the Piccadilly Line were added. The Northern Line was officially consolidated in the 1930s.
  • 1950s-1960s: Modernisation efforts included the development of deeper tube lines like the Victoria Line.
  • 1970s-1990s: The Jubilee Line extension and Docklands Light Railway expanded the network. 
  • 21st Century: The network continues to evolve with ongoing advancements. 

Building the Underground cut through countless graves and many popular venues. Such disruption was bound to disturb a host of supernatural forces. Various tragic events since 1863 trapped more tormented souls in the underworld.

Ghosts in London Underground and Where to Find Them

Let’s venture into the Underground’s most haunted corners.

Liverpool Street Station

Built on a burial ground, Liverpool Street is known as one of the most haunted London Underground stations.

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Tune your paranormal antenna and keep your eyes peeled when passing through Liverpool Street. You may glimpse a mysterious figure – The Worker in White Overalls. Dressed in workwear and carrying his toolbox this eerie entity walks the station as if he’s off to a job.

During a 2000 station upgrade, the figure was reportedly captured on CCTV. But when Underground staff went to investigate, they found he’d vanished into thin air! Ghost hunters will be keen to spot the worker in white overalls toiling away on his eternal shift!

Bank Underground Station

Bank Station, in the heart of London’s financial district, was built in the middle of two church grave sites. The “Bank Nun” or “Black Nun” is an unsettling presence scaring Underground workers and passengers. This ghost is said to be Sarah Whitehead who lost her brother Philip when she was a girl.

In the early 1800s, Philip Whitehead was a Bank of England officer with a fondness for gambling. After he tried to cash a forged cheque at the Bank he was convicted and later executed for forgery. As a young woman, Sarah, dressed in black, would wait outside the Bank asking staff if her brother was in. She had clearly lost her mind to grief. The grieving soul continues to haunt the station area today.

Farringdon Underground Station

Anne Naylor was a young apprentice hat maker in 18th-century London who met a tragic end. She worked for the cruel Metyard family in their millinery shop. The Metyards often dished out beatings to their staff, with the sickly Anne getting the worst thrashings. After trying to escape, Anne was brutally beaten and killed. Her body was dumped in an open sewer near the site of Farringdon Station.

The spirit of the tormented young girl became known to station staff as “the Screaming Spectre of Farringdon”. Many people have witnessed the screaming vision and heard her desperate cries. She often appears after the last train has left the station.

Holborn Station

Are you ready for a haunting from the Land of the Pharaohs? Meet the spirit of Amun-Ra, an Egyptian princess or priestess angry at being wrenched from her tomb and brought to old Blighty. Be warned- she’s not friendly. According to legend, Amun-Ra was part of a mummy-board in the British Museum. Bad things happened to all who handled the artefact; earning it the nickname “the Unlucky Mummy”.

Amun-Ra became a malevolent force around British Museum Station. Dressed like a princess with a fabulous headdress, she terrified all with her banshee shrieks. When British Museum Station closed in 1933 she took to stalking the tunnels and platforms of nearby Holborn Station.

Covent Garden Underground Station

One of the Underground’s most dramatic ghost stories occurs in vibrant Covent Garden. A celebrated actor William Terriss was a captivating performer in the local Adelphi Theatre. In 1897 he met a violent end outside the theatre, killed by a jealous fellow actor Richard Archer Prince. The sad part is that Terriss was a supportive friend to the alcoholic unsuccessful Prince.

Patrons and staff of the Adelphi began reporting sightings of a ghostly figure resembling Terriss. The sophisticated thespian also haunts Covent Garden Tube Station, often dressed in an opera cape, top hat, and gloves.

Aldgate Station

Aldgate Station sits on a dark secret. It was built on a plague pit, a mass grave from the Great Plague of 1665. Chilling tales tell of a screaming young woman wandering the tunnels around Aldgate and even onto the tube. She cries and screams as she runs past passengers. Some have witnessed her passing straight through people.

Are her piercing screams those of a suffering plague victim? Or perhaps the collective anguish of those buried there after succumbing to the horrific sickness that killed an estimated 100,000 folk?

South Kensington

Train spotters and paranormal enthusiasts will delight in the haunting associated with posh South Ken. A ghostly figure of a man in a peaked cap has been seen near South Kensington Station. This spectral gent is usually clinging to the side of a steam train as it disappears into a dark hidden tunnel.

Some believe the hidden recess is a discontinued branch line while others whisper of a secret passage (predating the tube) used for smuggling or other mischief. Who is the peaked cap man? A forgotten worker, a victim of some tragedy, or maybe a villain of a bygone era?

Kings Cross Station

In the depths of Kings Cross Station, a desperate cry echoes through the architecture. Imagine a woman in jeans, her arms outstretched, crying and wailing inconsolably.

This distressed woman is believed to be one of the victims of a terrible fire that engulfed the station in 1987, killing 31 people. Her spirit often manifests in the entrance tunnel. The unnerving presence evokes a disturbing sense of sorrow. She is a reminder of the needless tragedy caused by a carelessly dropped match.

Bethnal Green

A horrific night during World War II plunged Bethnal Green underground into infamy. During the War, London residents sheltered from bombing raids in tube stations. Bethnal Green on the Central Line was one of the deepest stations. In March 1943, locals reacted to sirens and gunfire and rushed into the makeshift air raid shelter.

In the rush, people tripped on the stairs blocking the narrow passage. As more people poured into the stairwell, panic ensued leading to a crush. By the time rescuers cleared the chaos 173 people, mostly women and children, were dead.

Since the fire, disembodied voices in the tunnels and mournful cries on the stairs are heard regularly. Witnesses have seen apparitions in the shadows, sometimes in the form of small children crying.

FAQs

How haunted is the Bakerloo Line?

The Bakerloo Line has associations with ghosts including a nun connected to a nearby Roman Catholic school haunting the area around London Road Depot on the Line.

Are there ghost tours that explore the haunted side of the London Underground?

There are various guided tours exploring the Underground. While not focusing specifically on ghosts, tours by London Transport Museum take you into forgotten stations and disused tunnels. You’re invited to “step into a time capsule of historic posters, signage and vintage tiles in a long-disused tunnel, or stand where history was made during the Second World War.”

Last Stop

If you’re ever alone in the London Underground on the last train in the early hours, near the end of the line things can get eerie. Knowing you’re not alone just might make it even more frightening. Of course, if you’re a paranormal investigator kitted out with your ghost camera, thermal imager, EVP Watch, and spirit pod you may welcome a fellow passenger from the other side!

Sources:

Sam Ashford
Sam Ashford - Author

Hey, I'm Sam Ashford! I'm a ghost-hunting expert, writer and founder of SpiritShack. My mission is to help people like yourself learn about spirituality and how to hunt ghosts!