Covent Garden Underground Station, situated in the heart of London’s West End, is not only a gateway to theatres, markets, and restaurants but is also renowned as one of the most haunted sites on the London Underground. Its ghostly reputation is inextricably linked to the tragic story of William Terriss, a celebrated Victorian actor whose violent death left a supernatural legacy that has persisted for more than a century.
William Terriss was a leading light of the Victorian stage, beloved by audiences for his roles at the nearby Adelphi Theatre. His life was cut short on 16 December 1897, when he was fatally stabbed by Richard Archer Prince, a disgruntled former actor, just outside the theatre’s stage door. The murder shocked London, and Terriss’s funeral was a grand affair, drawing thousands of mourners. The proximity of his death to the present-day location of Covent Garden station is central to the legend that would later emerge.
When Covent Garden station was constructed in 1907, it replaced a bakery that Terriss was known to frequent. Local lore suggests that the demolition of this familiar haunt may have disturbed his spirit, setting the stage for the supernatural events that would follow. The first credible reports of ghostly activity at Covent Garden surfaced in the 1950s, when staff began to notice a tall, sombre man in Victorian dress wandering the station’s corridors after hours. These sightings were often accompanied by a sudden, inexplicable chill and a sense of unease, as if the very air was charged with sorrow.
One of the earliest and most compelling witnesses was Jack Hayden, a station foreman, who recounted several encounters with the apparition. Hayden described the figure as silent and melancholy, appearing and vanishing without warning. The ghost was always impeccably dressed in period attire, with a tall hat and cloak, and never seemed to acknowledge the living. Hayden’s experiences were corroborated by other staff members, including porters and lift operators, who reported seeing the same spectral figure in various parts of the station, particularly late at night.
The frequency of these sightings increased during the 1960s and 1970s, leading to growing anxiety among staff. Some employees became so unnerved by their experiences that they requested transfers to other stations. One particularly memorable incident involved a lift operator who, after locking up the station for the night, turned to find a man in old-fashioned clothing standing in the ticket hall. Believing he had accidentally locked in a late passenger, the operator apologised and turned to fetch his keys, only to find the man had vanished. When the shaken operator described the encounter to his colleagues, he was shown a photograph of William Terriss and immediately recognised him as the man he had seen.
The mounting unease among staff prompted the station’s management to call upon Eric Davey, a foreman with a reputation as a spiritualist, to investigate. Davey conducted a séance in the station’s ante-room, attended by several reluctant employees. During the session, Davey claimed to sense the presence of a murdered man and received the partial name “Ter…”. When Terriss’s name was suggested, photographs were produced, and witnesses confirmed the resemblance to the apparition. The séance did little to allay fears, and sightings continued sporadically for several years.
Sightings of Terriss’s ghost are most commonly reported in the winter months, particularly around the anniversary of his death. The apparition is typically seen near the spiral stairway or along the corridors, moving silently and seemingly unaware of the living. Other unexplained phenomena, such as sudden drops in temperature, phantom footsteps, and the sensation of being watched, have also been reported by both staff and passengers. Some have described hearing faint whispers or feeling an icy hand brush past them in otherwise empty spaces.
While the frequency of sightings has diminished in recent decades, the legend of William Terriss’s ghost remains a fixture of Covent Garden’s identity. The tale has been retold in books, documentaries, and on ghost tours, ensuring that the station’s haunted reputation endures.
