Ghosts of Famous People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Horatio Nelson

Lord Horatio Nelson was a naval commander best known for his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. His ghost has been seen late at night, strolling through the pub or its corridors. It is said that Lord Nelson often secretly met with Lady Emma Hamilton, his mistress, at this spot.

Answer: Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, died on October 12, 1537, of childbirth complications from giving birth to a son. Her ghost is seen in a white gown carrying a long candle, wandering back and forth between a door in the Queen's Old Apartments and the Silver Stick Gallery.

The place is also haunted by the specter of wife number 2, Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded in 1536 on charges of adultery. Her ghost has been seen floating through the halls in a blue dress. The last of the trio of ghostly wives is Catherine Howard, wife number 5 and the second to literally lose her head over Henry. On November 4, 1541, Catherine broke free from the room in which she was being held and ran down the corridor to the chapel, where her husband was praying. Although she hysterically begged for his mercy, the king had her shooed away and placed in the Tower of London, where she was beheaded the following year.

It is said that every November 4, Catherine's ghost replays the emotional scene, running down the halls of the Renaissance Picture Gallery.

Answer: Paracelsus

Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or Paracelsus for short, was born in 1498. He moved to Austria at age 9, intending to pursue a career in medicine. However, he was expelled from several medical schools for his strange ideas and beliefs that were contradictary to those of the times. (The word 'bombastic', meaning energetically belligerent, comes from his name) He died alone in a small room at the White Horse Inn on September 24, 1541, of unknown (or undisclosed) causes.

He was quickly buried in the graveyard of St. Sebastian Church, but his ghost is said to roam the grounds of Salzburg Castle looking for manuscripts that were taken from him and hidden.

Answer: Merlin

The specter of Merlin, the legendary magician of King Arthur's court, is said to haunt a hill in Wales known as Bryn Myddin (Merlin's Hill). Nearby is a hidden cave where the sorcerer is supposed to have spent his last days and been buried. His ghost has been seen on the hill and sitting on a carved rock called Merlin's Chair. Is Merlin fact or fiction? No one seems to know, but a grove of trees nearby was sealed off to the public in the 1950s due to a series of freak accidents.

Answer: Nero

The spot where the church now stands was supposedly haunted by the ghost of the demented Roman emperor for centuries. Nero committed suicide in 68 AD and was buried at the spot. After his death a large oak tree grew up from his grave and attracted his spirit to the earth, according to legend. People were so tired of his menacing ghost that in 1099 they submitted a petition to Pope Padschall II to do something about the situation.

The Pope fasted and prayed for a period of time, after which the Virgin Mary appeared and gave him instructions on how to deal with the emperor who would not die.

The oak tree was cut down, Nero's bones were dug up, and both were burned and tossed into the Tiber. In celebration of the successful exorcism, the chapel was built on the spot in 1472.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth was allegedly the most psychic of the British monarchs, with a belief and interest in psychic phenomena. She is said to have had a vision of her own death, which occurred in 1603. Her ghost has been seen in a black mantilla walking the castle ramparts or in the Queen's library.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

The beautiful Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of Paris is said to be haunted by Queen Marie Antoinette and members of her court. First reported in 1870, the apparition wears a pink dress and big shepherdess hat. The most eventful sighting so far occurred in 1901, when two women touring the palace were somehow witness to a scene from the late 1700s, the last happy days before the royal family was imprisoned and later executed by revolutionaries: Marie Antoinette was seen on the lawn drawing a landscape surrounded by outbuildings that were present when she lived there.

Answer: Ivan the Terrible

The appearance of the ghost of the unpopular tsar is said to bode disaster for Russian rulers. The ghost is an unsightly thing, with a flaming face. The most sightings occurred in 1894, before the marriage of Nikolai II to Alexandra Fyodorovna. The ghost of Lenin, the Soviet leader, has also been seen in the building.

Answer: Al Capone

Al and the rest of the Capone family are interred in the Mount Carmel Cemetery, in the Hillside suburb of Chicago. It is said that Al's ghost appears to 'disrespectful' people who visit the plot.

Answer: Henry Flagler

Henry Morrison Flagler, one of America's richest men of the gilded age, has been credited with 'discovering' Florida. A co-founder of Standard oil, he invested tons of money into railroads to Florida, which in the early 20th century was not a popular destination.

In 1900 he built Whitehall, his Palm Beach mansion known as 'the Taj Mahal of North America', for its opulence and splendor was unequaled in those days. Today you can tour the mansion and say hello to Henry's ghost, which has been seen a number of times.