The Tale Of George Napper

His crime was being a Catholic priest. He might well have got away with it and been released by the court, had he not taken the trouble whilst in Oxford Jail to convert Protestant prisoner to Catholicism and on top of that, he swear to be true to the Protestant faith.

So, he was executed. His head was impaled on to either the top of Tom Tower or on to the steeple of the cathedral at Christ Church, no one knows quite which.

But either way, his four quarters were then places on to the gates leading into the city. His spirit is then said to have gathered up his four quarters and now in the dead of night, listen very carefully and you may well hear the ghost of George Napper as he gallops for all eternity on his ghostly steed, through the streets of Oxford in a never ending quest for his head.

Bill Spectre guides his guests around Oxford every Friday and Saturday evening no matter what the weather is doing.

For the brave, the 1 hour 45 minute tour starts outside Oxford Castle's gift shop but the more cowardly or less energetic can pick up the tour twenty minutes later at the Tourist Information Centre on Broad Street. There's no need to book, just show up and pay on the evening.