Here's a view of the fortress after we just crossed the famous Tower Bridge:
Here's another view of the Tower of London from on the Thames river. The White Tower is the one most prominently featured in this picture:
In my book, I interviewed Yeoman Serjeant Phil Wilson, one of the Yeoman Warders (also known as Beefeaters) who live and work at the tower. This is not an easy position to acquire. You had to have served in the armed forces for at least 22 years, reached the rank of staff sergeant or higher, be a recipient of the Long Service and Good Conduct medal, and have a character reference of "exemplary" when you leave the service. And all of that only allows you to apply for the interview process. Phil invited Megan and I to visit the Tower of London after hours to explore some of the more haunted rooms and passages and to watch the changing of the keys -- a ceremony that has taken place every single night for the last 700 years!
Here is a picture of me with Serjeant Phil Wilson in the Yeoman Warder's club in the Tower:
If you read the chapter on the Tower of London, Serjeant Wilson talks about the time a young visitor to the tower senses a ghostly presence in one of the back rooms not open to the public and places her fingers blindly onto an engraving that she couldn't have possibly known about identifying a man named "Thomas Talbot" as the entity. Here is the actual engraving mentioned in the book:
The engraving says, "Thomas Talbot 1496." Please note in my book I made a mistake and spelled his name "Talbert."
Here is a picture from within St. Thomas More's Cell in the Bloody Tower:
The Tower of London is a fantastic stop if you're ever in London. Everyone there has ghostly experiences to talk about -- and most of them are first-hand experiences. There is so much history there and so much lore surrounding (and sometimes even within) those walls that it's a must-see for any fame of history and/or the supernatural!
