The first constructions at the Hampton Court Palace site were established by the religious order The Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem in the 12th century and over the centuries grew to become an important, lavish and royal centre which would bear mute witness to such illustrious characters as Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I and so on. The buildings, opulent and sumptuous, were strictly off-limits to the British public until in 1838, the young Queen Victoria, in the first year of her reign, ordered that Hampton Court Palace ‘be thrown open to all her subjects without restriction’.

Since then, thousands of visitors have flocked to the palace and it has become one of England’s most popular tourist attractions.

Hampton Court Palace is similar to many of the old buildings scattered around the British Isles in that it harbours a multitude of rumours of otherworldly inhabitants; spiritual relics of a bygone age, supposedly lingering after death and occasionally glimpsed by the unsuspecting visitor. Jane Seymour is said to wander the Clock Court, ethereal in a floating white gown and carrying a lighted candle; while Catherine Howard has been seen on numerous occasions in the (appropriately named) Haunted Gallery. Long-dead Cavaliers were perceived wandering the palace’s grounds, and of course, Cardinal Wolsey’s spectre is said to still meander through the edifice’s aged corridors.

Older, resident spooks abound, but it is the event which took place six years ago which has given the palace a new claim to ghostly fame.

Three times over consecutive days in October, 2003, members of the palace security staff were called to attend to one particular fire door near the palace's introductory exhibition. The security staff was alerted to something being amiss when alarms began ringing, indicating that a secured door had been opened without authorisation. Staff members visited the fire door in question and, finding it to be open, made sure it was re-closed securely. There was no other suspicious activity to report. A closed-circuit television camera was well-placed opposite the doorway in question and a review of the footage showed the doors opening abruptly, but no human presence to explain why. This took place around 1pm.

The next day hosted similar events, but this time there was a shock in store for staff members. Once again, alarm bells signalled the impromptu opening of the fire door. Another out to the doors in question revealed that this time they were closed. The CCTV was viewed for a second time. As before, it had captured the flinging open of the double doors, only this time a curious figure could be seen stepping forward, into the frame, grasping the door handles and abruptly pulling them closed. The figure, though grainy, can clearly be seen dressed in a long, furred-trimmed coat with flowing cuffs and a high collar (or perhaps ruff); unusual apparel indeed.

The activity on the next day compounded the mystery. The same doors flew open suddenly at the same time as they had done before. As with the first incident, no figure, or reason for the doors opening was found. Nothing unusual had been spotted by people that had been nearby nor anything suspicious captured by the CCTV footage.

A security guard at the palace is quoted by the UK Press Association as saying:

“I was shocked when the CCTV footage showed an eerie figure in period dress in the doorway. It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn’t look human.

My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides but they don’t own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving!”

It is claimed that some Australian tourists came forward to say that they too had seen a ghost near the exhibition area near the time. Similarly, an entry in the palace’s visitor comments book stated that a sightseer thought she too had seen some kind of apparition in the same area.

The palace has used costumed guides, which would have been the most obvious, earthly, explanation, but this line of inquiry has eliminated the possibility that these theatrical figures could have been mistaken for a phantom because they do not enter the part of the building in question and indeed, do not even possess costumes like the figure wears in the CCTV footage.

Some sceptics have asked if the ghost of a person who lived hundreds of years ago could possibly know how to operate a modern fire door and opined that the figure looks too real, too solid to be an apparition. The website Paranormal-Investigation.com reviewed the footage and concluded:

“When enhanced and stabilized, the video looks far less like a ghost and more like an attendant of some kind who is wearing a period costume. The press and media took the most ghost-like image of the low resolution sequence and circulated the low resolution and shaky images from video without any processing to balance contrast and used this to claim it was a ghost, but when you look at the sequence once enhanced and stabilized it looks less convincing.

Would a 17th century spirit know how to operate a Fire exit door? I'm sure most modern people have difficulty closing them but the 'ghost' seemed quite able to get it to work, closing one side then the other. The motion of the legs, arms and hands appear totally solid and are consistent with that of known human articulation.”

But when the vast majority of ‘ghost’ photographs are dismissed as indistinguishable and indefinite it is refreshing to have a more substantial-looking recording, at least. Indeed, who is to say how solid a ghost should look, or whether a representative of the spirit-world can indeed interact fluently with modern objects? Sadly, the investigators at Paranormal-Investigation.com appear not to have pursued the investigation further than playing with the video footage.

It is hard to track down information that has been released by Hampton Court Palace (beyond the main, regurgitated facts that every website reproduces about the incident). It is difficult to find any details regarding exactly where the doorway at the centre of the incidents is, how old that section of building is, whether further CCTV from the second day had been reviewed to see if there had been a tourist in the palace wearing a long, furred coat and so on. In fact, it took months for the staff to release the CCTV tape to the public after the strange image was captured. This was because the now infamous fire door had a history of being opened without authorisation, thus causing alarms to go off, and so internal memos had been circulated among the staff to stop what was believed to be a troublemaker from tampering with the door. However, no culprit was found until the video appeared to show that the robed figure had been responsible for setting off the alarms on at least one occasion. Even then, an earthly perpetrator was still suspected and an investigation initiated. The investigation bore no fruit, the evidence from the CCTV tape failed to help find a suspect and the footage was soon released to a wider audience.

We’re baffled too; it’s not a joke, we haven’t manufactured it,” said Vikki Wood, a Hampton Court spokeswoman, when asked if the footage the palace had released was a hoax “We genuinely don’t know who it is or what it is.”

The seemingly ubiquitous psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman stated that the spectre, which has now been given the moniker ‘Skeletor’, might prove to be a significant breakthrough. “It could be the best ghost sighting ever” he said, before adding, “I haven’t seen anything that would match that at all.” This of course, is if the figure really is a bona fide apparition. Dr. Wiseman also gave his opinion on what the figure is most likely to be: “It is either a publicity stunt by the Palace, which I doubt, or it is a member of the public thinking they were being helpful by shutting the doors.”

Security staff members at the palace remain adamant that it is not a deception and while providing a new point of interest, it would hardly have increased the palace’s profits by much, especially considering that no new ghostly commodities or publications have been issued to profit from the CCTV footage. It is doubtful whether the figure will ever be proved to be a genuine ghoul or not, but what is certain is that the footage makes transfixing viewing.

Watch The Video Here

Further Reading:

First published in Ghost Voices Magazine, Issue #8: GhostVoicesMagazine.com

Article © 2010 Matt Forde.

Further Articles By Matt Forde: EnvironmentalGraffiti.com

Image Credit: Daniel Newman