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 Heathrow International Airport in England is indeed a very busy place. Nowhere in the world is there more hustle and bustle than at this huge airport. It is, therefore, very interesting that such a busy place is the home of several hauntings and, more importantly, so haunted that folks actually notice the ghosts. Perhaps the oldest spirit at Heathrow actually pre-dates the airport being built. The spirit of legendary highwayman Dick Turpin has been seen. Turpin was a popular highwayman during the 1730's in England. He robbed, stole livestock and murdered for more than twelve years before he was hung 1739. Turpin was popular with the poor folk because he focused upon robbing the wealthy and they enjoyed seeing the wealthy get their comeuppance. In reality Turpin was a cruel man who reputedly set people on fire alive, raped and tortured female captives and once even dragged an old woman to death on her own horse. He was a greedy man who cared little whom he robbed, but his death insured that his legend would live on. Supposedly, he approached his gallows with a swagger and a smile. He bowed with courtly charm to the beautiful young women who had come to see him hung. He literally jumped from the ladder which supported him and hung himself. His bravado struck the common people and they quickly stole his body and buried it in quicklime so that it could not be given to the doctors to dissect. Turpin's spirit has been seen throughout England, particularly along the A1 Highway. Turpin has also been reported along B488 near Woughton-on-the -Green, the A-11, and A-5 between Nuneaton and Hinckley, but he is most often seen near Hounslow Heath where Heathrow International Airport is. Turpon's spirit is as colorful as Turpin was in life. He reportedly wears a jacket with blood red sleeves, a black tri-corn hat, a black cloak and high boots. He rides upon a large black stallion, and has been seen galloping down many a country lane. At Heathrow, though, Dick is not seen riding madly upon his black steed. Instead he is seen, heard or felt behind people. Employees of the airline, in particular, report feeling as though someone is behind them. They feel hot breath upon their necks and hear a man barking like a dog and howling. The employee then turns quickly and is most startled to find that there is not a living soul behind him. By all accounts, Dick Turpin enjoyed playing unnerving jokes like this in life and he's still doing so in death. But there are more conventional spirits haunting Heathrow as well. It is an unfortunate fact that most airports have had their tragic landings. Weather, mechanical failure and human error have taken a toll, and there have been terrible plane crashes in the history of Heathrow International Airport. In 1948 a DC3 Dakota plane from Belgian Airlines crashed while on approach to Runway 2-8-Right during a terrible, foggy night. It was a horrible accident and no one survived. The British rescue crew worked feverishly to pull the victims from the twisted wreckage but they knew that there was no hope. As the men worked, a gentleman in a hat appeared in the fog and asked the workers if they had found his briefcase in the wreckage. He took the men by surprise and just faded away as they stared at him. According to the workers, they later found the man's body in the wreckage. Since that terrible night the man has been seen many times along the runway where he died long ago. By most accounts he simply appears out of nowhere and walks along the runway as if searching for his briefcase still. Others say he appears confused or dazed as he wanders along. Could it be that he doesn't quite realize that he's dead and is still trying to complete whatever business deal brought him to England back in 1948? There is yet another businessman who haunts the airport. This spirit is of a businessman in a gray suit who seems harried and worried. He haunts one of the VIP Lounges in the airport and simply materializes at odd moments. A few people have claimed to see him materialize only from the waist down. They are obviously disconcerted to see a pair of gray clad legs walking around the lounge. Are they other spirits at Heathrow International Airport? In a place so busy and filled with people hurrying to various destinations it is hard to tell, but these three spirits have been so dedicated to their haunting that they have been noticed amidst the hub-bub. So if you're traveling through Heathrow, keep your eyes open and you, too, might see a spirit passing through or a man in a hurry who just disappears before he can fade into the crowds. This excerpt is taken from “WHERE DEAD MEN WALK” by Patty A. Wilson and published by Piney Creek Press. If you love Most Haunted or want to go on a real ghost hunt - then visit Fright Nights - Britain's most popular and scariest ghost hunting experience |
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