The Tower of London is a very old building dating back to 1000, strongly backed by William the Conqueror. It’s not a single “tower”, in fact it is a very large complex consisting of 21 different towers and various buildings that over the years have served as a royal residence, fortress and prison.
The tower was the place of many atrocities and torture, renowned for the diabolical instruments developed within it.
In the thousand years of its construction to the present day, were brutally murdered nobles, men of religious belief “wrong” or opponents of the crown.
Most of the prisoners were hanged or beheaded in the hill adjacent to the tower, the Tower Hill, under the eyes of the public ridicule. The most famous and unfortunate, however, were beheaded inside.
Among them, we can remeber the most famouses:
Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII made by him executed. The woman was the victim of a conspiracy that helped put her in a bad light at the sight of the king who came to accuse her of adultery and witchcraft. With her were executed 5 other people involved in the deal.
Also Catherine Howard, just eighteen wife of King Henry VIII, guilty of having betrayed the king with The Thomas Culpepper was executed there. Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, was maid of honor of Catherine Howard. King Henry VIII beheaded at the Tower guilty of having facilitated Catherine Howard in his betrayal.
And still Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. Henry VIII had her executed for alleged treason.
Jane Grey was queen for only nine days. When for acclamation rose to the throne Mary I, she had her executed and husband Guilford Dudley suspected of being heretics. Jane saw her husband die and was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eight months before being decapitated in turn.
So the country remains in the hands of an heir Catholic Mary I (not coincidentally called “the bloody”) and it saw the highest number of important Protestants and political rivals that she imprisoned and executed within the Tower. Mary had her imprisoned even the Princess Elizabeth, the future Elizabeth.
But one of the darkest mysteries of the tower concerns two young princes, sons and heirs of Edward VI. They were imprisoned in the tower by his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, when their father died in 1483.
They were no longer seen, probably they were murdered in the Tower, innocent victims of their uncle that same year he was crowned with the name of Richard III. In 1674 the skeletons of two children were found near the Bloody Tower, during the renovations. It is assumed that the two children were suffocated while they were sleeping in the Tower of London.
Because of this terrible background, The Tower of London is considered one of the most haunted places in the UK. Unexplained sightings and evidence of paranormal events will happen from the thirteenth century.
But the ghost that appears to be more comfortable inside the tower is surely to Anne Boleyn.
The guards of the tower say they have repeatedly seen the unfortunate queen walk around with his face concealed by a veil or no head.
Today, in addition to many secrets and painful memories, the tower houses the crown jewels.
The crows that live within the walls of the Tower of London are very important because according to superstition, “if the ravens of the Tower of London will die or fly away, the Crown will fall and with it the UK”.
