Ghost town

Many out there believe that the capital's streets, pubs and even hospitals are home to myriad ghosts-a few friendly, some less so. On a walk through some of these supposedly haunted sites, Carla Passino tries to separate fact from fiction

- Carla Passino

THE sun dances on the red bricks of Covent Garden's Tube station, piercing the morning's cloudy veil and putting paid to any hope of sighting William Terriss, the ghost of the Underground. Once a celebrated 19th-century actor, Terriss is a particularly restless spectre: he haunts not only the Adelphi Theatre, where he was murdered by another thespian, but also, bizarrely, the station. Story has it that he was partial to the pies of a bakery that once stood there and returns to search for them in vain-although he may have now given up on his quest, because he has not been spotted for a few years.

London has a reputation for being one of the world's most haunted cities, with Terriss and other phantoms roaming not only the obvious places-such as Highgate Cemetery, N6, Jack the Ripper's Whitechapel, El, or the Tower of London, EC3-but also the crowded hubbubs of Covent Garden, WC2, and the City. The Royal Opera House, WC2, is so thick with spectres that it made it to Classic FM's list of the world's spookiest concert halls. Among the many presences is a poltergeist that, when the building was undergoing renovation work in 1999, defied security to hurl bricks, bolts and metal pieces -perhaps, as did many local residents, it took issue to the expansion of the opera house.

By comparison, the ghosts of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, WC2-one of the world's most haunted venues (late-night tours take place on October 24-31; www.lwtheatres.co.uk) are positively tame. Dan Leno, the cross-dressing Pantomime Dame, spreads a scent of lavender across the theatre and the behatted Man in Grey, who could be forgiven for having an axe to grind, having been stabbed to death in the upper circle, limits himself to shushing people. Only Joseph Grimaldi is a little cheekier, as befits the greatest clown of his times: his ghost apparently loves nothing more than kicking fellow actors when they are on stage.