View my first Spooky Surrey post here
Royal Holloway university is situated in Egham, Surrey. It was founded in 1879, as Royal Holloway college by Thomas Holloway, and was officially opened as an all girls college in 1886 by Queen Victoria.
The Founders building which is the most prominent building on campus was inspired by Château de Chambord in Loire valley in France. The Founders sister building The Holloway sanatorium in Virginia Water is of a similar design and is the height of Victorian design.
Many students over the years claim Royal Holloway is haunted, so who haunts this historic university?
The Picture gallery
The picture gallery is 'haunted' (not sure if that is the best term) by a painting by Edwin Landseer which has been covered by a Union jack flag every exam season since the 1970's after a student complained they wouldn't do their exam in front of it.
As well as always being known as a bad luck charm for those sitting their exams in front of it, wild rumours began to spread. The rumours that spread were that a student had looked at it during their exams, gone mad and committed suicide. Apparently the student before going mad wrote "The polar bears made me do it" onto her exam paper. Spooky!
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Man proposes, God disposes. The portrait in question which is based around Sir John Franklin's unsuccessful expedition to chart the Northwest passage to the Canadian Arctic. |
Thomas Holloway
According to legend the founder of Royal Holloway, Thomas Holloway, haunts the university in the form of a black cat... bit of a strange one! I guess it would be less scary to see a friendly black cat than a ghostly figure, so I like to think Thomas is just trying to look over his college without scaring any of his valued students!
Jane Holloway
According to legend the founder of Royal Holloway, Thomas Holloway, haunts the university in the form of a black cat... bit of a strange one! I guess it would be less scary to see a friendly black cat than a ghostly figure, so I like to think Thomas is just trying to look over his college without scaring any of his valued students!
Thomas Holloway's wife, Jane, is also said to haunt the university. More specifically the Founders building. Apparently students have seen her wandering the corridors at night and you can often hear her dress rustling in the breeze ...
Young boy
Apparently there have been sightings of a young boy running around the corridors in the Founders building, appearing at the foot of students beds and even waking up sleeping students. It isn't clear who this boy is but the amount of sightings lead me to believe something spooky is definitely going on ...
Apparently there have been sightings of a young boy running around the corridors in the Founders building, appearing at the foot of students beds and even waking up sleeping students. It isn't clear who this boy is but the amount of sightings lead me to believe something spooky is definitely going on ...
Suicide victim
Tragically a student who committed suicide haunts the top floor corridor of the Williamson residence. They are said to be seen wandering the top floor corridors which is where they sadly died.
Tragically a student who committed suicide haunts the top floor corridor of the Williamson residence. They are said to be seen wandering the top floor corridors which is where they sadly died.
So what do you think... is Royal Holloway haunted or is it just a way to scare the students in to behaving? If you are/were a Royal Holloway student, did you witness any spooky occurrences or feel a ghostly presence?
Comment below!
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