Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Ghost Stations of the London Underground

Issue #25: January 1981

Beneath the streets of London lies a network of abandoned stations, sealed platforms, and forgotten tunnels. The London Underground, the world’s oldest metropolitan railway, has closed dozens of stations over its century of operation. These ghost stations, as workers call them, are places where few living souls venture. But they are not empty.

The Closed Stations

Since the Underground opened in 1863, more than forty stations have been closed to the public. Some became redundant when lines were rerouted. Others served areas that no longer needed them. A few were victims of war damage or economic necessity.

Their names read like a roll call of forgotten London: British Museum, York Road, City Road, Down Street, Brompton Road. Passengers on modern trains occasionally glimpse these stations through carriage windows: dark platforms, faded signage, empty ticket halls frozen in time.

But the Underground’s workers know these places better than most. And they have stories to tell.

British Museum Station

Closed in 1933, British Museum station lies between Holborn and Tottenham Court Road on the Central line. Its proximity to the museum’s Egyptian galleries has given rise to persistent rumours of supernatural activity.

Workers report hearing footsteps on the abandoned platform when trains have passed and silence should reign. A figure wrapped in what appears to be linen or bandages has been glimpsed in the tunnel mouth. The phenomenon is so well known among staff that some refuse night shifts in the area.

The legend connects these sightings to the Egyptian mummy collection above ground. Whether the ancient dead truly walk these tunnels or whether darkness and suggestion have created a modern myth, the reports continue.

Aldwych Station

Aldwych station operates today with limited peak-hour service only, a shadow of its former self. During the Blitz, it was temporarily closed and served as an air raid shelter. Thousands of Londoners sought safety on its platforms as bombs fell above.

Staff who work the quiet shifts report an atmosphere of profound melancholy. Cold spots are common. The sound of weeping has been heard when no one else is present.

A woman in 1940s clothing has been seen on the platform, apparently waiting for a train that will never come. She vanishes when approached. Staff believe she may be a victim of the bombing who never left the shelter where she sought refuge.

The Screaming Spectre of Farringdon

Farringdon station, still operational, harbours one of the Underground’s most disturbing hauntings. In the tunnels nearby, a screaming woman has been heard by workers and passengers alike.

The phenomenon is connected to Anne Naylor, a thirteen-year-old apprentice murdered in 1758 by her mistress, Sarah Metyard, and Metyard’s daughter. The girl’s body was dismembered and thrown into a sewer near what would become Farringdon station.

The screams are described as piercing and filled with terror. They echo through the tunnels without apparent source. Some who have heard them describe feeling watched, followed, by something malevolent.

Bethnal Green

The disaster at Bethnal Green in 1943 claimed 173 lives when a crowd seeking shelter during an air raid fell on the station stairs. It remains the largest loss of life in a single incident in British history unconnected to enemy action.

The station is haunted by the cries of the dead. Staff report hearing screaming and sobbing from the stairwell, particularly on the anniversary of the disaster. Children’s voices call out in the darkness. The temperature drops suddenly in areas where victims fell.

Official acknowledgment of the haunting is, understandably, not forthcoming. But workers know. They hear what cannot be explained.

Covent Garden

Covent Garden station has a more theatrical ghost. The figure of William Terriss, an actor murdered outside the Adelphi Theatre in 1897, has been seen both at the theatre and in the Underground station nearby.

Terriss was a popular performer stabbed by a jealous rival. His ghost appears in Edwardian evening dress, walking through walls or standing on the platform. He has been seen by multiple witnesses, including a station foreman who reported the sighting to police, believing an intruder had entered the closed station.

The theatre where Terriss performed is also haunted. His spirit appears to travel between his two favourite haunts, still performing for audiences beyond the grave.

The Phantom Passengers

Not all Underground ghosts are confined to abandoned stations. Passengers and staff report encounters throughout the system:

A gentleman in Victorian clothing rides the Northern line, disappearing before reaching any destination.

A woman in white stands at Bank station, staring at commuters with hollow eyes before vanishing into the crowd.

On the Bakerloo line, a figure dressed as a railway worker from decades past has been seen in tunnels between stations, walking along the tracks where no living person should be.

The Atmosphere of the Underground

Perhaps the Underground’s very nature encourages such experiences. The tunnels are dark, enclosed, and filled with the rush of air from passing trains. The stations themselves exist in a liminal state, places of transition where no one stays for long.

The closed stations are worse. They are places out of time, preserved in the darkness, visited only by maintenance workers who speak of feeling watched, of hearing sounds that have no source, of glimpsing shapes that should not be there.

London’s Underground is more than a transport system. It is a catacomb of sorts, a network of tunnels beneath a city built on centuries of human habitation and death. If spirits linger where trauma occurred, the Underground provides ample reason for them to remain.

Investigation

Underground workers who have shared their experiences, often preferring to remain anonymous, tell consistent accounts: unexplained sounds, cold spots, glimpsed figures that vanish when observed directly. Whether these phenomena represent genuine hauntings or the effects of working in a strange environment, the experiences are real to those who have them.

We invite readers with their own Underground encounters to contact our research department. The ghost stations of London deserve further study.

The closed stations of the London Underground are not open to the public. Trespassing is illegal and dangerous. We urge readers not to attempt to visit these locations.