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‘As the figure in blue overalls approached along the tunnel, members of the night maintenance team were terrified on seeing the look of sheer horror on its face as it was about to disappear into the tunnel wall.' This would happen regularly on the London Underground, near to Moorgate station, while workmen were employed on adapting the Great Northern and City Tube tunnels during the winter of 1974-5. The spectre was assumed to be that of a maintenance worker who was killed by a train on that section of the line, some years before. Following the Moorgate rail disaster in February 1975, it was thought that the same apparition may have caused the train driver's concentration to lapse during vital seconds before the crash. It has also been suggested that the spectral appearance at that particular moment may have been a premonition of the disaster. Something equally as sinister may have had a long term affect on the fortunes of Alexandra Palace which was built on a hill between Hornsey and New Southgate in the 1860s. The site had originally been a gypsy encampment and when they were evicted for building to begin, they laid a curse, declaring: ‘May death and destruction befall this place and everything associated with it.' Within days of its opening in 1873, ‘Ally Pally', as it became known, famous as a major venue and for its grounds, was destroyed by fire. Later, on being rebuilt, due to a fortune of more downs than ups, it was soon regarded as a ‘white elephant'. When plans for a major relaunch were announced, the ‘Old Pally' was again destroyed by fire in 1980. Originally, a line from Finsbury Park via Crouch End, Highgate, then through Muswell Hill to Alexandra Palace was built. Later, London Transport planned an electrified extension of the Northern City Tube from Archway, taking in Moorgate, to the venue. As a result, the station at Highgate was rebuilt in 1941. Due to austere times following World War Two, however, the extension was never fully completed, and the station eventually closed, its tracks being taken up in 1971. Situated in a deep cutting, partially concealed by thickets of trees and bushes, with tunnels at either end, an eerie atmosphere presently engulfs the beleaguered station. The ghost of a man who committed suicide in the early 20 th century by walking into the path of an approaching steam train in one of those tunnels, is said to haunt the place, while people living close by claim to have heard the sounds of phantom trains in the tunnels, and passing to and fro through the station at night. Those mortals curious-minded enough to climb down to the weed-infested platforms in daylight, have reported an overwhelming feeling of being watched by souls from long past. Perhaps they might not all be those who used the station in its day. Could souls from that original gypsy encampment be looking on with satisfied feelings that they had achieved their revenge – including perhaps, the Moorgate disaster of 1975?
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