The Cylinder Ghost at The Tower of London
This is the memoir of Edward Lenthal Swifte Keeper of the Crown Jewels in the first half of the 19th Century
“In 1814, I was appointed Keeper of the Crown Jewels in the Tower where I resided with my family until my retirement in 1852.”
“One Saturday night in October, 1817, I was at supper with my wife, her sister, and our little boy in the sitting room of the Jewel House. The room was, as it still is, irregularly shaped, having three doors and two windows, which last are cut nearly nine feet deep into the outer wall. Between these, there’s a chimney piece projecting far into the room, and then surmounted with a large oil picture.”
“On the night in question, the doors were all closed, heavy and dark cloth curtains were let down over the windows, and the only light in the room was that of two candles on the table.”
“I sat at the foot of the table, my son on my right hand, his mother fronting the chimneypiece, and her sister on the opposite side. I had offered a glass of wine and water to my wife, when on putting it to her lip.
“She paused and exclaimed, “Good god, what is that?”
“I looked up and saw a cylindrical figure, like a glass tube, seemingly about the thickness of my…
