It's spooky season, and what better way to celebrate it by exploring spooky stories in my country of Surrey. 

First up Hampton Court Palace! 

Hampton court palace began being built in 1515 for Thomas Wolsey, one of Henry VIII favourite advisors. When Wolsey fell from grace in 1529, Hampton court palace was passed to Henry's possession, and became one of his most favoured residences. In the 1600's King William III expanded the palace, destroying much of the Tudor palace. Work was stopped in 1649, meaning the palace was left as a mix between Tudor and Baroque styles. The last monarch to reside in Hampton Court Palace was George II. 

As with any old building comes the inevitable ghost stories ... Hampton Court Palace is no different. 

In the 1900's the best selling postcards at Hampton court were fakes of ghosts. They double exposed the image so that the person in it looked faded and then sold it claiming to be an actual picture of Catherine Howard haunting the palace. But although this might have been faked, maybe Hampton court has some real ghosts? 

The spooky postcard of Hampton court Palace

So who haunts Hampton Court? 

There are three or four main reported ghosts, which have been seen over the years at Hampton court palace. 

The 'Haunted Gallery'  The Grey Lady The Grey Lady has been sighted on many occasions over the years at Hampton Court Palace, first beginning in 1829 when the grave of Sybil Penn (who is believed to be the Grey lady) was disturbed.  Sybil Penn was a servant for four Tudor monarchs, including as a wet nurse for Edward VI. Sybil nursed Elizabeth I through Smallpox in 1562, but unfortunately she ended up catching it, and died not long after. Sybil was buried in nearby Hampton church but her soul seemingly still lives on at Hampton Court palace ...  Extra spooky fact: The Ponsonby family who were living at Hampton court at the time, were the first to report the strange occurrences. They complained about being disturbed by the whirr of a spinning wheel from behind the wall of their apartment. Legend has it that a small sealed chamber was later discovered close to their apartment, containing none other than an old, much-used spinning wheel… This is apparently a sighting of the Grey lady in a photo ... Skeletor  On three consecutive nights in 2003 a fire alarm went off and in the security footage a door was seen opening, security staff were baffled as when they went down there no-one was there, in a security camera footage an eerie figure in period clothing is seen closing the doors. A guest even wrote in the guest book they had seen a figure on one of the days the fire door was opened... But who is Skeletor? The dress suggests 16th century but is it a man or woman? We will never know, unless you have the nerve to go looking for Skeletor ... Extra spooky fact: To this day no living soul has ever come forward to admit that this was their prank. So maybe this was a real ghost sighting ...