D:Many
L:Blickling Hall, Tower of London and Hampton Court
S:Joan Forman

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII. Their marriage changed the course of English History: Henry was already married to Catherine of Aragon and could not obtain a divorce from the Roman Catholic Church. In order to obtain his divorce he therefore created a reformed version of the Church, putting himself at the head - a direct challenge of authority to the Pope.
Having obtained his divorce and married Anne, the king's most driving need was a son. His previous queen had only given him a female heir (Princess Mary). On 7 September 1533 Anne Boleyn gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth (who was to become Queen Elizabeth I). The relationship between the king and Anne Boleyn deteriorated; he began to court a new queen in Jane Seymour.
However, Anne became pregnant again, and there was a brief reconciliation, but the child was stillborn. Henry determined to be rid of Anne and trumped up a charge of treason, arresting and confining her to the Tower of London. Her execution had been scheduled for 18 May 1536 but in fact took place the following day as there had been a delay while a skilled executioner was brought in from Calais.

Anne Boleyn's ghost is a prolific one and there are many reports of her appearances. Undoubtedly many reports arise because ghosts seen will be attributable to the most 'famous' source when that may be inappropriate; however, some have the suggestion of a little more substance.
Among the more hysterical there are the stories of headless horses galloping to Blickling Hall in Norfolk, her family home, ridden by a headless horseman and of course the headless young woman herself. Traditionally the apparition appears on the anniversary of her death. Further elaborations of the tale include a severed head in her lap.
Anne's ghost has been seen by several people in the corridors of Blickling Hall although the present building dates from virtually one hundred years after her death. Nonetheless, it is on the same site as the original building and there are many accounts of ghosts which do seem attracted to particular locations.
The administrator of the building, Mr Steve Ingram, had an experience of a more specific nature in 1985. Mr Ingram and his wife share a flat in Blickling Hall. One night he was awakened at 1.30am by the sound of footsteps in the passageway outside the bedroom. The sound was of light female footsteps on rush matting, changing briefly to someone stepping on thinner material, then back onto the carpet. Mr Ingram worked out the path of the footsteps, down the rush matting in the corridor outside, across the thin mat by the doorway and across the carpet of the bedroom. Evidently the person causing footsteps was now standing at the foot of the bed and Mr Ingram merely assumed it was his wife returning from the bathroom.
When he switched on the bedroom light he discovered his wife asleep next to him and the bedroom door shut; noone else could be seen in the room. It was the following morning when someone pointed out that this incident had occured on the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's execution.
The National Trust took over Blickling Hall in 1946; one of it's administrators was Mr. Sidney Hancock. One one occasion Mr Hancock looked out of the kitchen window of the hall towards the lake and saw a woman walking down towards the lakeside. She was wearing a long grey gown with a white lace collar and a white cap. Hancock was concerned that she was either lost or trespassing and went out to ask if he could help or if she was looking for someone. The lady apparently replied "that for which I seek has long since gone". Hancock briefly turned away and on looking back discovered that there was no one there and nowhere she could have gone to. Although the description of the clothes worn by the figure did not match those which Anne wore to her execution, they would well have been the clothes she might have been wearing in the days leading up to it.
Anne Boleyn is also reputed to haunt Hampton Court - along with most of Henry VIII's wives in fact- although there she apparently wears the blue dress in which she appears in a portrait in that building. Predictably, she is also said to haunt the Tower of London where she was executed. She is traditionally seen, again, predictably as a headless female figure identified by her clothing.

She is a very famous ghost for sure, but something I've always wondered about her ghost is this, do you think if people see a female ghost in these locations that they know it's her? or just assume it's her? I've seen portraits of Anne but I don't think I could pick her out of an identity line up?

Also, if a ghost is headless, how do you know who it is - especially if they haven't got their head under their arms!

I think it's a bit of both. people simply assuming it's Boleyn. Then again, she is said to have a specific set of clothing attributed to the hauntings.

Well, if my death had such horrific details, then I would haunt, too. But I would have haunted Henry so badly he would have gone mad before he had a chance to do that to another woman.

I was just reading that Anne "dressed all in white and carrying her dripping, severed head, she arrives in a coach driven by a headless coachman and four headless horses. She usually manifests on the anniversary of her death" - which was 2 days ago, the 19th May, I wonder if anything was seen this year??

Well spotted!

yeah i totally agree that would be the logial thing for her ghost to do. but didnt another two of henry's wifes get beheaded after that.
and for the same reason of not having a son and/or child.

Actually, it was only one more wife he had beheaded after that. He beheaded her, for the reason of infidelity, and I think that a charge of treason was put in there, because she dared to do that toward the King. Jane Seymore, the wife after Anne Boleyn, gave him his son, but she died soon after, because of an illness attributed to childbirth. Anne of Cleves was the wife after that, but he divorced her, because he found her unappealing. She actually outlived all the other wives. It was Katherine Howard after Anne of Cleves, who had beheaded for infidelity. Since Jane Seymore gave Henry a son, it wasn't because of that. Where she was concern, there was actually infidelity. The sixth and final wife, outlived Henry, but died in childbirth, when she was married to the husband after Henry.

wow its like henry himself was haunted and everyone around him died

From what I have read about him and his 'legacy', it seemed atleast to me, he was haunted in more than a lot of ways. On the more topic of his own personal life, it seemed male heirs of his never lived long, thinking about his son, King Edward, who died at, I believe at the age of 14. Anyone else correct me if I am wrong. I do believe an illegimate son of his also died young. I could be wrong.
To me, it seemed a lot of his wives fates, were his own doing, being driven by his own purposes. (if it was a haunted feeling he had, I don't know. *shrugs*)

I have also read various accounts of his ghost being sighted around the palace's grounds and other areas of England. Again, I could be wrong on that too.

I bet she was upset because of the treatment she had recieved from Henry and she came back to haunt him and scratch his bedroom furniture and let him know she will be with him for ever and ever.