Believed
by many to be the most haunted church in London, this Norman building stands
solemnly in Smithfield, close by to the site where hundreds of people have
been executed. One of the unfortunate victims was a priest that was burnt
alive in an iron cage during the reign of Henry VIII. Visitors to the church
grounds have reported tortured cries apparently coming from nowhere, and the
disturbing scent of burned flesh.
The ghost of the founder of the church, a twelfth
century monk named Rahere, haunts the area around his tomb. All witnesses to
this haunting say that the cowled monk is a peaceful ghost, and is not in
the least bit frightening.