Hampstead's ghost stories, from the highwayman at the Spaniards Inn to the spectres of the Heath and the old churchyards. A guide to the village's haunted history.
Haunted Hampstead: The Village's Ghost Stories and Spooky Corners
Hampstead does not really do horror. It is too pretty for that, all Georgian townhouses and window boxes. But it is old, and old places collect stories, and once you start looking the village has a surprising number of them. Some are the usual pub-landlord tales that grow an extra detail with every retelling. A few are stranger, and harder to explain away. Here are the ones worth knowing, and where to go if you want to feel the back of your neck prickle on a dark afternoon.
The Spaniards Inn and the highwayman
Start at the Spaniards Inn, on the road between Hampstead and Highgate. It dates from around 1585, which already gives it a head start on most haunted buildings in London. The story everyone tells is about Dick Turpin, the highwayman, who is said to have been born here or used it as a base, depending on who you ask. Drinkers and staff have reported the sound of boots on the floorboards upstairs when nobody is there, and a man in a tricorn hat seen near the bar.
I am sceptical about the Turpin connection. He gets attached to half the coaching inns in England. But the building is genuinely ancient, the rooms are low and dark, and on a winter evening with the fire going it does not take much imagination. Go for the history and the garden. The ghost is a bonus.
The Heath after dark
Hampstead Heath is 320 acres of woodland and meadow, and at night it empties out completely. That alone is enough to unsettle people who are used to London never being properly dark. There are old stories of a woman in white seen near the ponds, and of a phantom coach on the West Heath, though nobody can ever pin these to a date or a name.
The more grounded fact is that the Heath has a long association with death and burial. Highgate Cemetery sits on its eastern edge, and the whole area was open country where bodies were sometimes found in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. You do not need a ghost to find the Heath eerie at midnight. The dark does the work on its own.
Church Row and the old churchyard
Church Row is the finest Georgian street in Hampstead, and at the end of it sits St John-at-Hampstead with its churchyard. John Constable is buried here, along with a long list of other Hampstead residents. Churchyards are reliable ghost territory, and this one has its share of reported sightings, mostly vague shapes among the gravestones at dusk.
What is real and worth seeing is the atmosphere of the place. The older part of the churchyard is overgrown and quiet, with leaning headstones and big trees. Go in late autumn when the light fades early and the leaves are down. It is one of the most genuinely atmospheric corners of the village, ghost or no ghost.
The Vale of Health
Tucked into a fold of the Heath is the Vale of Health, a tiny cluster of houses with a strange name and a stranger feel. It was once a malarial swamp, which is roughly the opposite of what the name suggests, and was drained and built on in the late eighteenth century. The poet Leigh Hunt lived here and hosted Keats, Shelley and Byron. D.H. Lawrence lived here too.
It is not haunted in any specific, named way. It is just one of those places that feels cut off from the rest of London, reached by a single lane, surrounded by trees, easy to get slightly lost in. People who walk through it at night often mention the quiet, which is unusual enough in this city to feel like something.
Burgh House and the old wells
Hampstead was a spa town in the eighteenth century, built on its chalybeate springs, and Burgh House dates from 1704. Like most houses of that age it has accumulated a few stories, including reports of a figure on the staircase. The house is now a small museum and café, so you can judge the atmosphere for yourself over a slice of cake, which is the most civilised way to go ghost hunting I can think of.
How to do a spooky Hampstead walk
If you want to string these together, here is a route that works on a short winter afternoon, finishing in the dark.
- Start at Burgh House for the history and a coffee.
- Walk up to Church Row and the churchyard as the light starts to go.
- Cut across to the Vale of Health through the trees.
- Carry on over the Heath toward the Spaniards Inn for a pint by the fire.
It is about an hour of walking, longer if you linger. Bring a torch for the Heath section, because the paths are unlit and the dark out there is real.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Spaniards Inn really haunted?
People who work and drink there report footsteps and a figure in old-fashioned dress, usually linked to the highwayman Dick Turpin. The Turpin connection is more legend than documented fact, but the building genuinely dates from around 1585, which is part of why the stories stick.
Where is the spookiest place in Hampstead?
For atmosphere rather than a specific ghost, the old churchyard at St John-at-Hampstead and the Vale of Health are the two that unsettle people most, especially at dusk in autumn or winter.
Can you walk on Hampstead Heath at night?
The Heath is open and unlit at night. It is legal to walk there, but the paths are dark and easy to lose, so take a torch and ideally go with someone. The emptiness is the whole point, and also the reason to be sensible.
Is Hampstead good for a Halloween visit?
Yes, if you like atmosphere over jump scares. The old streets, the churchyard and the historic pubs make for a good moody autumn walk. There is no big organised Halloween event, which suits the village.
