Top 5 Most F****d Up Facts About the Tower of London
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Send them to the tower, sharpish! Welcome to WatchMojo UK and today we’re counting down the Top 5 Most F***** Up Facts about the Tower of London.
For this list we’ve picked some of the most surprising, shocking and creepy facts about one of London’s most famous tourist attractions, The Tower of London. This will either make you want to visit even more, or put you off for life.
#5: The Ravens
It’s not just history seekers and out of towners you find flocking around the Tower of London. For longer than anyone can remember, a pack of six ravens has roamed the grounds, and their continued presence there is steeped in superstition – lest they fly away and leave the monarchy and Blighty in ruins. The birds are actually clipped as a means of keeping track of them, and spares are even kept in holding so that if something should happen to ravens one-through-six they can be replaced post-haste. It may be rooted in a tall tale, but some things just aren't worth tempting fate over.#4: The Princes in the Tower
The infamous Richard III is linked to plenty of negative and not-so-nice stories. But probably the most famous of them focusses on his treatment of his young nephews. He was trusted to watch over them after the death of his brother, and so they were kept in The Tower of London for their own safety. At least until they... “disappeared”. The boys’ remains were found many years later, earning the building the nefarious nickname, “The Bloody Tower”. To this day, no one is quite sure what happened to the princes, but it's safe to assume that ruthless Richard had something to do with it – and that by apparently protecting them he was more likely imprisoning them.#3: The Place is Haunted
It’s no real surprise that there have been various reported ghost sightings at The Tower of London, given the building’s sinister and deathly history. It’s famously said that the ghost of Anne Boleyn can be seen there, cradling her severed head under her arm. And the previously-mentioned Princes? They’ve allegedly been seen both crying and playing – though perhaps not at the same time. And these are only the high-profile cases… According to popular belief, the Tower is way more haunted than your average haunted haunt! But perhaps the strangest sighting of all was that of a grizzly bear, which had once been held in the Tower’s zoo – and now lives past its days, trapped between bear heaven and bear hell.#2: Torture Methods
It may be one of London’s premier visitor attractions now, but the Tower was a prison for centuries, and an infamous scene of terror to turn even the hardiest criminal into a weeping wreck. Large parts of the Tower’s bloody history boil down to the torture of prisoners, by eye-watering means – not least the Gunpowder Plot fall guy, Guy Fawkes. The notorious Fawkes was stretched on the rack, hung from his wrists and beaten, until a confession was finally forced out of him. We all “remember, remember the fifth of November”… But the brutal history of the Tower of London sometimes skips our minds.#1: Public Executions
One of the darkest parts of the Tower’s history – even more so than the hauntings, torture, and alleged child death – are the executions that took place there. There were less than 10 inside the tower (on Tower Green) but more than 120 outside (on Tower Hill). The reason why most took place on Tower Hill? So that the public could stand by and watch, of course. Only an elite handful of unfortunates were given a private execution, after all. And to round the event off, the executed person would often have their head paraded through London… Or placed on a spike over Traitor’s Gate as a warning to any other potential ruffians. Like “Game of Thrones”, but a lot closer to home.Have an idea you want to see made into a WatchMojo video? Check out our suggest page and submit your idea.
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