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Spooks On The Tube: Ghosts Of London Underground

Spookdaddy said:
Although often claimed as Polari apparently none of the older lexicons list it, and it's not noted in Paul Baker's excellent book, Fabulosa. I dare say though that few such lists are absolutely exhaustive.

I don't doubt that Bruce Robinson had a working knowledge of Polari when he wrote Withnail and I, but I've also wondered if it might have been one of those made up words coined by families, groups of friends or work colleagues that he just decided to employ because it sounded right. There's also the possibility that Richard Griffiths brought it to the part himself - maybe from a similar source.

I use it all the time. It's one of those words that even when the listener doesn't know what it means, they kind of get what it means.
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Richard E. Grant was born in Swaziland and is of Dutch Afrikaner/German descent. Perhaps it’s derived from a word in common usage somewhere in that lot.

maximus otter
 
Spookdaddy said:
Although often claimed as Polari apparently none of the older lexicons list it, and it's not noted in Paul Baker's excellent book, Fabulosa. I dare say though that few such lists are absolutely exhaustive.

I don't doubt that Bruce Robinson had a working knowledge of Polari when he wrote Withnail and I, but I've also wondered if it might have been one of those made up words coined by families, groups of friends or work colleagues that he just decided to employ because it sounded right. There's also the possibility that Richard Griffiths brought it to the part himself - maybe from a similar source.

I use it all the time. It's one of those words that even when the listener doesn't know what it means, they kind of get what it means.
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I've always thought it sounded Yiddish, it's sort of satisfying the way that so many borrowed Yiddish words are, and me too, everyone knows what it means. I'll have to look up Paul Baker's book, I always associate Polari with Round the Horne, which I suppose many people do.
 
Sogna said:
I've always thought it sounded Yiddish, it's sort of satisfying the way that so many borrowed Yiddish words are, and me too, everyone knows what it means. I'll have to look up Paul Baker's book, I always associate Polari with Round the Horne, which I suppose many people do.
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Round the Horne also had Rambling Sid Rumpole and his nonsense, made up words. They really pushed the boundaries of language, didn't they?
 
catseye said:
Round the Horne also had Rambling Sid Rumpole and his nonsense, made up words. They really pushed the boundaries of language, didn't they?
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they pushed the boundaries in a lot of ways, not least their laughing at the BBC but always funny and never spiteful or unkind. I don't always get the cultural references though.
 
I've just come across this on Facebook.
Name supplied.
I've copy/pasted and only added paragraph breaks.

Hi guys. My story is when I worked on London Underground (now TFL) back in the late 80s, to mid 90s.

In 1994 I was a Station Supervisor at Covent Garden. It was a Friday and I settled down to start my night shift. This particular week I had a trainee supervisor with me, so I had company.

After seeing the last trains away and securing and locking the station, we settled down for the night.

Checking the ‘Traffic Circular’ (TC) for any engineering works that night, we gratefully found that this particular night was free of such works, so we could settle down without being disturbed.

Around 02.30ish we heard outside the office, footsteps coming up the emergency stairs. Assuming they were P-Way engineers we waited for the knock at the door. None came.

As I opened the office door, my colleague mentioned that there were no workings that night per the TC.

Nodding I said sometimes they work without telling us, as working sometimes overruns.

Closing the door and settling down again, we chatted, listened to the radio and read, till about 03.30, there was once again footsteps outside.

This time we checked the platform cameras, as P-Way sometimes walk the track and enter the Stn via the track and platforms, but they showed nothing.

Just as we settled again there was three sharp knocks on the door. Jumping up, I opened the door while my colleague checked the cameras.

There was no one at the door. The cameras showed no one, either outside the door, nor up or down the emergency stairs, or platforms.

Twice more this happened. Footsteps then three sharp knocks.

By now she was getting a little nervous asking me what it was, finally telling me abruptly to stop mucking about.

Only realising I had nothing to do with it when for the fourth time, again footsteps,sharp knocks, but this time we could distinctly hear the sound of children laughing and their footsteps running away.

It was now 04.30 and we started readying the Stn for the first train and customers.

At 06.30 our relief arrived. Not waiting to pass pleasantries she shot out the door vowing never to come back.

“ What the bloody hells got into her. You two ain’t had a row have you? “ he asked laughing. as he made himself a cuppa . When I didn’t respond he asked.

“ oh you’ve had a visit from our mischievous kids have you?”.

“Yeah “ I replied, “what’s that all about?”.

As he been rostered at Covent Garden a lot longer then myself, I thought he’d know,

“Well, we think it’s something to do with the war and the blitz.

We think it’s the kids who sheltered here during a raid and wanted to see what all the noise was. Unfortunately, they got caught in a blast from a nearby bomb and were killed, along with their parents.

The laughter is them playing and the footsteps and knocking are their parents looking for them”.

I was supervisor at Covent Garden for a further year then moved on, I heard the footsteps etc a further three times.

Each time the same as before. The trainee supervisor never did come back to Covent Garden.I heard she left three weeks later.
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escargot said:
I've just come across this on Facebook.
Name supplied.
I've copy/pasted and only added paragraph breaks.
Click to expand...
So more than one haunting then:

Who is the ghost of Covent Garden Underground Station?

It then went on to inform readers that:-

"A four-page report has been sent to the London Transport Executive divisional headquarters. And this question has been put to officials:-
"Is the statuesque figure wearing white gloves, and seen by members of the station staff, the spectre of William Terriss, the actor stabbed to death at the Adelphi Theatre by a maniac 59 years ago?"
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https://www.haunted-britain.com/the-ghost-of-william-terriss.htm

Also @escargot posted this:

"I’ll relate my experience and see what you think.

Back in the early 90s I was rostered as a supervisor at Covent Garden. A new colleague was ‘seeing’ the last train away. All that was needed was the Green light.

The train sat there waiting. Eventually I asked him if he was gong to let it go? He replied he was looking for the little girls mother.

Watching on CCTV There’s no one there I replied. She’s here right next to me he said.

After convincing him to let the train go, he returns to the office and I showed him the CCTV tapes. You could see him standing there talking to someone.

But there’s no one there.

Flustered I explained to him he was not alone in seeing her. She originated from an incident in the 50s.

When a recently divorced mother had thrown herself and the little girl in front of a train killing both. The little girl asks staff if they can find her mummy. As I said we all saw her at some stage, perfectly formed with a small Teddy Bear clutched in her arms."

On the Uncanny thread:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...-programme-podcast.68873/page-23#post-2270498
 
escargot said:
I've just come across this on Facebook.
Name supplied.
I've copy/pasted and only added paragraph breaks.
Click to expand...
The 'explanation' does sound a bit like someone retconning a story to fit the events though.
"The laughter is them playing and the footsteps and knocking are their parents looking for them”. Looking for them by knocking on a door? Was the office even there at the time of the Blitz?

It's a fascinating event (and I know that the Underground has many spooky stories) but I think we ought to beware of people trying to fit "it is said" conclusions to weirdnesses.
 
catseye said:
The 'explanation' does sound a bit like someone retconning a story to fit the events though.
"The laughter is them playing and the footsteps and knocking are their parents looking for them”. Looking for them by knocking on a door? Was the office even there at the time of the Blitz?

It's a fascinating event (and I know that the Underground has many spooky stories) but I think we ought to beware of people trying to fit "it is said" conclusions to weirdnesses.
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Yup, I believe the knocking etc went on but as you say, the reason given is conjecture.
 
As a Londoner, born and bred a spit from the Elephant and Castle, who has used the tube extensively for work over many years, I have a weird affinity for it and absolutely love the ghostly tales that come from across the network.
I hate travelling on it now as it is much more busy than when I was a kid.
My late mother hated the tube, taking a bus whenever possible.
Mum spent the war as an evacuee in the Lake District but she came home occasionally and sheltered in the tube on some very rare occasions. I wonder if it was her experience of using it as a shelter and hearing some of the horror stories, like the tragedy at Bethnal Green, that provoked such an intense dislike, or maybe it was a sort of fear.
 
MorningAngel said:
Sorry it’s the Daily Star and I had to turn reader view on to see it past all the adverts. But it’s interesting.

Pop icon Gary Numan 'terrified' after 'ghost' encounter on London Underground
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/pop-icon-gary-numan-terrified-32734816
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Here’s a query for others on here who've lived and worked in London - because although I've used the Tube an awful lot over the years, it's not like that makes you an expert.

I'm a little circumspect about the idea of the kind of tunnel 'stub' described in the account - especially in a station as busy as Piccadilly Circus, where you think they'd want to keep pedestrian traffic flow as uncomplicated and free from confusion as possible.

These kinds of disused pedestrian tunnels do, I'm sure, exist - but you would think that they'd be blocked at the point of access, not any further into the body of the tunnel. I can't really see any logical, practical reason for doing the latter; in fact, in an emergency situation a blind tunnel would surely be a considerable health and safety issue – even at the best of times, which this wasn't. (I’m guessing from timeline hints, this account describes events some time from ’72 to ‘73. For context: stations at Baker Street, Victoria, King’s Cross, Euston and Sloane Square were targeted by IRA bombers in 1973).

I don't know, I do find it a bit odd - does anyone know if such publicly accessible blind tunnels do actually exist?
 
Spookdaddy said:
Here’s a query for others on here who've lived and worked in London - because although I've used the Tube an awful lot over the years, it's not like that makes you an expert.

I'm a little circumspect about the idea of the kind of tunnel 'stub' described in the account - especially in a station as busy as Piccadilly Circus, where you think they'd want to keep pedestrian traffic flow as uncomplicated and free from confusion as possible.

These kinds of disused pedestrian tunnels do, I'm sure, exist - but you would think that they'd be blocked at the point of access, not any further into the body of the tunnel. I can't really see any logical, practical reason for doing the latter; in fact, in an emergency situation a blind tunnel would surely be a considerable health and safety issue – even at the best of times, which this wasn't. (I’m guessing from timeline hints, this account describes events some time from ’72 to ‘73. For context: stations at Baker Street, Victoria, King’s Cross, Euston and Sloane Square were targeted by IRA bombers in 1973).

I don't know, I do find it a bit odd - does anyone know if such publicly accessible blind tunnels do actually exist?
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I was bought up in the East End and I used the underground often. I can't remember any tunnels blocked off after a short way which doesn't mean there weren't any. It also makes no sense to have a tunnel blocked off after a few feet. Surely if a tunnel was going to be blocked off it would have been block off at the point it met the other tunnel.

I'm wondering if Gary Numan means those big watertight steel doors mean to be used should a WW2 bomb have gone through the bottom of the Thames or something like that. Regardless, they were to be closed should the underground in central London be flooded.
 
Spookdaddy said:
Here’s a query for others on here who've lived and worked in London - because although I've used the Tube an awful lot over the years, it's not like that makes you an expert.

I'm a little circumspect about the idea of the kind of tunnel 'stub' described in the account - especially in a station as busy as Piccadilly Circus, where you think they'd want to keep pedestrian traffic flow as uncomplicated and free from confusion as possible.

These kinds of disused pedestrian tunnels do, I'm sure, exist - but you would think that they'd be blocked at the point of access, not any further into the body of the tunnel. I can't really see any logical, practical reason for doing the latter; in fact, in an emergency situation a blind tunnel would surely be a considerable health and safety issue – even at the best of times, which this wasn't. (I’m guessing from timeline hints, this account describes events some time from ’72 to ‘73. For context: stations at Baker Street, Victoria, King’s Cross, Euston and Sloane Square were targeted by IRA bombers in 1973).

I don't know, I do find it a bit odd - does anyone know if such publicly accessible blind tunnels do actually exist?
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One reason is the nature of the tunnelling devices used. It sometimes made economic sense to drive the device beyond the required end of the tunnel and then just abandon it or wall it in.
 
Cochise said:
One reason is the nature of the tunnelling devices used. It sometimes made economic sense to drive the device beyond the required end of the tunnel and then just abandon it or wall it in.
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But that still wouldn't explain why a stub was left in place as opposed to walling it up flush to the main tunnel (unless it was/is used for storing certain items perhaps)?
 
Gary Numan says he was on the Piccadilly Line going to Piccadilly Circus. Maybe a member on here who lives near or goes near that way to work could have a look although over the years there may have been changes made to the layout.

I'm half tempted to get on a train one day next week and go and have a look. London is less than an hour away from here.

Piccadilly Circus was also where a time slip allegedly happened. I don't seem to be able to find the thread on here.
 
MorningAngel said:
Sorry it’s the Daily Star and I had to turn reader view on to see it past all the adverts. But it’s interesting.

Pop icon Gary Numan 'terrified' after 'ghost' encounter on London Underground
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/pop-icon-gary-numan-terrified-32734816
Click to expand...
Weirdly enough, I have read about this before. My memory may be wrong but the description of the ghost actually sounded like one that has been seen in Covent Garden tube - I remember assuming he must have been in Covent Garden rather than Piccadilly Circus.
 
I was a regular commuter all over the London Underground, especially the Piccadilly and Northern Lines, up until about 15 - 20 years ago. Can't recall any stub lines.
I was - and am still - fascinated by the Kilburn river culvert that crosses over Sloane Square tube platform! :)
 
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