A SENIOR aide to the House of Commons Speaker has revealed she has seen ghosts haunting Parliament.
Jo-Anne Crowder has worked in the Palace of Westminster for over 30 years and is the diary manager to Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Louis WoodSenior parliamentary official Jo-Anne Crowder says she has seen a ghost in Parliament[/caption]
She told how she has seen the apparition of a mysterious Grey Lady while walking through Parliament after dark.
Ms Crowder, 52, has also felt a ghost dog nuzzle up to her in one of Parliament’s ancient side rooms.
Shortly after she joined Parliament in 1990, one of her colleagues even reported being thrown against the wall of the Palace’s underground car park by a spirit many years ago.
Others she has worked with have heard the hooves of phantom horses trotting through the grounds – which monarchs have visited in horse-drawn carriages for hundreds of years.
Ms Crowder invited The Sun on Sunday into Parliament to the wood-panelled corridors where she saw the spooky image of the Grey Lady in parliament one evening.
She said: “I was walking along the corridor and there is a door at the end of the corridor with a glass panel at portrait level.
“And I thought, Oh, that’s my reflection. I can see myself.
“But then I thought to myself – that is clearly not my face. That looks like me, but that is not my face.
GettyThe Palace of Westminster is said to be haunted by ghosts[/caption]
“And so I looked behind me – I thought then maybe somebody was coming towards me through the door.
“But there was nobody there. It wasn’t me and it wasn’t anyone I worked with. But this Grey Lady was definitely there.”
Whose ghost the Grey Lady is, remains a mystery.
Ms Crowder said that when she first came to work in Parliament 34 years ago other staff members reported hearing the hooves of ghost horses pulling carriages behind them.
But the most spine-tingling incident she heard of – but did not herself witness – was when a colleague said he had been thrown against the wall of Parliament’s underground car park by a spirit.
“Many, many years ago, a colleague of mine was apparently lifted up off his feet and thrown against the wall of the car park”, Ms Crowder said.
“And down there, it’s very dark. Another colleague was with him and actually saw it happen.
“So it was a genuine story.”
The Palace of Westminster is steeped in history – with parts dating back 1,000 years.
It was the home to the King and Queens of England for hundreds of years, including England’s most famous monarch Henry VIII.
In the Tudor times, the Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries was plotted from within its walls.
And in 1649, Charles I was executed just up the road on Whitehall – becoming the first monarch in English history to have his head chopped off.
It is not the first time someone has reported seeing a ghost in Parliament.
The Headless Lady ghost is said to haunt part of Parliament known as Norman Shaw.
Who could the Grey Lady ghost be?
It remains a mystery who the Grey Lady was – but here are some possible candidates.
Nancy Astor:
The first female MP to actually take her seat in Parliament, Nancy Astor was elected as the Tory MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1919.
She was a big supporter of the women’s movement and held the seat until her retirement in 1945. Lady Astor died in 1964 aged 84.
Margaret Thatcher:
Britain’s Iron Lady was the most famous ‘Grey Lady’ to stalk Westminster’s corridors of power.
The Tory leader was Britain’s longest serving PM – in power for over 11 years. She died in 2013 aged 87.
Queen Elizabeth I:
England’s most famous Queen was crowned just across the road from parliament in Westminster abbey in January 1559.
The monarch was famous for her red hair, but she wore a wig to cover up her greying hair as she aged. She died in 1603 aged 69 – bringing to a close the Tudor dynasty.
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