apprehend the man coming up the stairs. Hayden himself took the lift up and met a puzzled clerk, who said no one had emerged from the stairs. Together the two men searched the spiral stairs from top to bottom and all parts of the station but there was no sign of the mysterious stranger.
A few days later, Hayden was having a meal around midnight in the staff mess-room at the station, which is just below ground level. The last train had gone and Hayden knew that the station was deserted, yet suddenly a door opened and he saw the same tall man standing looking in at him. This time he noticed the old-fashioned cut of the man’s grey suit, his old-style shirt collar and his light-coloured gloves. Thinking that some passenger must have lost his way, Hayden asked the man what he wanted, but instead of answering, the figure moved out of view. Hayden quickly moved through a communicating door that gave him an uninterrupted view of the whole passage where the figure had stood, but there was no sight or sound of the man he had seen.
Covent Garden Underground Station, where the ghost of actor William Terriss has been seen more than a dozen times.
Four days later, at midday, he and Rose Ring, a station worker, were in the mess-room together when they both heard a loud scream and the next moment Victor Locker, a nineteen-year-old porter, burst into the room gasping that he had seen a strange-looking man standing in a corner of the next room and when he had moved towards the figure to ask what he was doing, he had experienced the feeling of something pressing down heavily on to his head and the man had vanished in front of his eyes. Subsequently, Locker added that the man he saw was wearing ‘funny-looking clothes’ and pale gloves. When Jack Hayden described the figure he had twice seen, the porter agreed that it was the same figure that had frightened him. Locker asked for a transfer and left Covent Garden Station shortly afterwards.
Subsequently, Eric Davey, a foreman at Leicester Square Station told me that he was satisfied that there was something strange at Covent Garden Station. He was clairvoyant and had been aware on several occasions of an unseen presence in the mess-room there. Furthermore, he believed that the spirit was trying to give a name sounding something like ‘Terry’. When Hayden was shown a photograph of William Terriss, he immediate1y stated that Terriss was the man he had seen. William Terriss always wore light-coloured gloves.
Over the next ten years the ghost was seen more than a dozen times and when Hayden left the station in 1965 he said the apparition invariably appeared during November and December and always looked exactly the same, and it usually appeared near a wall. He spoke to it several times but it never answered. The last time he saw it, late one November night in 1964, he was walking down the spiral stairway when he encountered the ghost walking up the same stairs. He hurried past the silent figure that did not seem to notice him and almost fell down the last few steps. But the knocks, the footsteps, and the feeling that he might see the figure at any time was all becoming too much of a strain and so he asked for a transfer and left the station. However, the ghost still walked, and inexplicable footsteps have been reported on many occasions, especially on Sundays when the station is closed to the public, and usually the footsteps seem to come from just within the tunnel that runs from Covent Garden to Holborn. The figure of William Terriss (if William Terriss it is) was seen several times by a signalman, a station master, an engineer and other workers in March 1972. Small wonder that some of the station staff at Covent Garden refuse to use the mess-room there.
THE DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE, ST MARTIN’S LANE
Although the Duke of York’s Theatre in St Martin’s Lane has no resident ghost that I know of, it was the scene of some very odd experiences some years ago when a certain costume
A few days later, Hayden was having a meal around midnight in the staff mess-room at the station, which is just below ground level. The last train had gone and Hayden knew that the station was deserted, yet suddenly a door opened and he saw the same tall man standing looking in at him. This time he noticed the old-fashioned cut of the man’s grey suit, his old-style shirt collar and his light-coloured gloves. Thinking that some passenger must have lost his way, Hayden asked the man what he wanted, but instead of answering, the figure moved out of view. Hayden quickly moved through a communicating door that gave him an uninterrupted view of the whole passage where the figure had stood, but there was no sight or sound of the man he had seen.
Covent Garden Underground Station, where the ghost of actor William Terriss has been seen more than a dozen times.
Four days later, at midday, he and Rose Ring, a station worker, were in the mess-room together when they both heard a loud scream and the next moment Victor Locker, a nineteen-year-old porter, burst into the room gasping that he had seen a strange-looking man standing in a corner of the next room and when he had moved towards the figure to ask what he was doing, he had experienced the feeling of something pressing down heavily on to his head and the man had vanished in front of his eyes. Subsequently, Locker added that the man he saw was wearing ‘funny-looking clothes’ and pale gloves. When Jack Hayden described the figure he had twice seen, the porter agreed that it was the same figure that had frightened him. Locker asked for a transfer and left Covent Garden Station shortly afterwards.
Subsequently, Eric Davey, a foreman at Leicester Square Station told me that he was satisfied that there was something strange at Covent Garden Station. He was clairvoyant and had been aware on several occasions of an unseen presence in the mess-room there. Furthermore, he believed that the spirit was trying to give a name sounding something like ‘Terry’. When Hayden was shown a photograph of William Terriss, he immediate1y stated that Terriss was the man he had seen. William Terriss always wore light-coloured gloves.
Over the next ten years the ghost was seen more than a dozen times and when Hayden left the station in 1965 he said the apparition invariably appeared during November and December and always looked exactly the same, and it usually appeared near a wall. He spoke to it several times but it never answered. The last time he saw it, late one November night in 1964, he was walking down the spiral stairway when he encountered the ghost walking up the same stairs. He hurried past the silent figure that did not seem to notice him and almost fell down the last few steps. But the knocks, the footsteps, and the feeling that he might see the figure at any time was all becoming too much of a strain and so he asked for a transfer and left the station. However, the ghost still walked, and inexplicable footsteps have been reported on many occasions, especially on Sundays when the station is closed to the public, and usually the footsteps seem to come from just within the tunnel that runs from Covent Garden to Holborn. The figure of William Terriss (if William Terriss it is) was seen several times by a signalman, a station master, an engineer and other workers in March 1972. Small wonder that some of the station staff at Covent Garden refuse to use the mess-room there.
THE DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE, ST MARTIN’S LANE
Although the Duke of York’s Theatre in St Martin’s Lane has no resident ghost that I know of, it was the scene of some very odd experiences some years ago when a certain costume
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