The Black Nun of the Bank of England

The Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom, sits at the heart of London’s financial district. Its imposing neoclassical facade projects authority and permanence, but within its walls walks one of London’s most tragic ghosts—a woman dressed in black who has been searching for her brother for over two centuries.

Sarah Whitehead’s tragedy began in 1811 when her brother Philip, a clerk at the Bank, was executed for forgery. Sarah’s mind could not accept this horror. The next day, dressed entirely in black like a nun, she appeared at the Bank’s entrance asking to see her brother. When told he no longer worked there, she left, only to return the next day with the same question. This pattern continued for twenty-five years—every single day, Sarah would come to the Bank, dressed in her black clothing, asking after Philip. Staff nicknamed her “The Black Nun.” When she finally died in 1836, she was buried in the old churchyard of St Christopher-le-Stocks, which was later absorbed into the Bank’s expanded grounds.

The hauntings began almost immediately after her death. Bank employees working late have reported seeing a woman in old-fashioned black clothing walking through the Garden Court, which now covers her burial place. She appears solid and real until she either vanishes or walks through a wall. Security guards have tracked her on CCTV cameras, only to find empty corridors when they investigate. The ghost always seems to be searching, looking around anxiously, just as Sarah did in life. Some witnesses report hearing her plaintive voice asking “Have you seen my brother?” before she fades away. The Black Nun has become such an established part of Bank lore that new employees are warned about her during their orientation, and she remains one of the City of London’s most persistent and well-documented ghosts.