The Steamship Pub in Poplar does not appear to be listed among the haunted public houses in London. However I have it on good authority that it is, or was, haunted.
The Steamship today no longer resembles the one described by my father who worked there before WW2. Around the late 1920s I believe. In those days he described it as "a spit and sawdust" place. He and his sister Florence lived there when the pub was owned or managed by a distant relative.
It was my aunt who saw the ghost. She was sitting in front of a mirror brushing her hair when she saw a grey nun reflected behind her in the mirror. Scared out of her wits she turned and flung the hairbrush at the apparition which moved away and faded into the wall.
There was one other story which they related to me. When the pub was renovated a skull was found in the attic. There was no way of knowing if it was male or female. But obviously some skulduggery had occurred there long before. If you will excuse the pun.
Hauntings are not unusual happenings in London buildings and public houses. Some maintain that they relate to traumatic events in the past. London has certainly had witnessed more than its share with carts lumbering from the Tower and Newgate Prison enroute to a grisly climax in Tyburn.
Personally I do not adhere to the idea of a soul being trapped between this world and the next, but such sightings are fascinating. One day science will give us an explanation. Meantime I remain intrigued.
