Head's up
The ghost at Gower Street is that of Jeremy Bentham. The image is of him.
The bizarre sight of Jeremy Bentham's clothed skeleton can be seen to this day sitting in the entrance to University College London, Gower Street, his embalmed head resting between his feet.
A philosopher associated with the Utilitarian school, Bentham was one of the founders of the college and was known as the 'spiritual father' of the University. He held the view that the dead should be used to adorn the houses of friends and relatives.
He requested that after his death that his body be dissected, his bones wired into a human form and dressed in his clothes, and a wax death mask rest on his skeleton. Strangely enough he has always been considered a bit of an eccentric!
Bentham's ghost is regularly spotted wandering the halls of the college. Bentham named his walking cane Dapple, and it never left his side during life. Much the same can be said post mortem; man and stick can be heard or seen walking down the corridors of knowledge after dark.
