The Ghost of Anne Boleyn | |
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Real Name |
Anne Boleyn |
Origin[]
Anne Boleyn was the 2nd wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Henry had her beheaded on (probably/most likely) false accounts of treason in order to marry his third wife, Jane Seymour.
A number of people have claimed to have seen Anne's ghost at Hever Castle, Blickling Hall, Salle Church, Tower of London, and Marwell Hall. The most famous account of her reputed sighting has been described by paranormal researcher Hans Holzer. In 1864, Major General J.D. Dundas of the 60th Rifles regiment was quartered in the Tower of London. As he was looking out the window of his quarters, he noticed a guard below in the courtyard, in front of the lodgings where Anne had been imprisoned, behaving strangely. He appeared to challenge something, which to the General "looked like a whitish, female figure sliding towards the soldier." The guard charged through the form with his bayonet, then fainted. Only the General's testimony and corroboration at the court-martial saved the guard from a lengthy prison sentence for having fainted while on duty. In 1960, Canon W. S. Pakenham-Walsh, vicar of Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, reported having conversations with Anne.
Notes[]
- Parapsychologist Hans Holzer claims, in his 1965 book, Ghosts I’ve Met (which is still under copyright), that the white figure in George Younghusband's 1918 work, The Tower from Within, is the ghost of Anne Boleyn. However, Younghusband does not make that claim, making Holzer's connection an early example of retconning.