Ghosts · Oxfordshire

Mr Bonnell Walks Out

The Queen's College and the High Street, Oxford

Spooky: for older readers

There was once a student at Queen's College, Oxford, called John Bonnell. He came from Stanton Harcourt, and you could pick him out a long way off, because he walked in a way all his own and held up the back of his gown as he went. People said you could know him from behind as easily as from the front.

At noon on Sunday the 18th of November 1750, a member of Queen's named More was standing outside Parker's door on the High Street, talking with his friend Mr Ballard of Magdalen. More was waiting for the trumpet that called the college to dinner.

Suddenly Ballard cried out: “Dear me, who is that coming out of your college?”

More looked, and saw, as he thought, Mr Bonnell. “He's a gentleman of our house,” he said. “His name is Bonnell. He comes from Stanton Harcourt.”

“Why, bless me,” said Ballard. “I never saw such a face in all my life.” More thought Bonnell looked much as usual, perhaps a little red and swollen, as if his collar band was buckled too tight. But Ballard was badly shaken. “I shall never forget him as long as I live,” he said.

The two of them watched the figure come down the quadrangle, out through the gate and away up the High Street, until it reached Catherine Street and they lost sight of it. Then the trumpet sounded, and More went in to dinner and thought no more about it.

That evening, prayers were asked in chapel for someone who was very ill and in danger. Afterwards, standing by the kitchen fire with some other students, More asked who it was. “Mr Bonnell, senior,” he was told.

“Bonnell senior?” said More. “What's the matter with him? He was very well today. I saw him go out to dinner.”

“You are very much mistaken,” said the scholar, James Harrison. “He has not been out of his bed for some days.”

More's old tutor, Dr Fothergill, took him aside after supper and said he was sorry the matter had been talked about so openly, for Mr Bonnell was dangerously ill. The next day Mr Bonnell died.

No plate yet. We are still looking for an old picture of this place.

What people said

  • A wraith. Ingram calls it the apparition, or wraith, of a person on the point of death, seen by more than one person, and says such stories are “by no means unique”.
  • Every college has one. Ingram begins: “Like most of the older foundations of Alma Mater, Queen's College has had its ghost.”

Other tellings

  • The story comes from the Reverend Mr More himself, later of Leyton in Essex, who died in 1778. It was found among his papers after his death and printed in the Gentleman's Magazine and other magazines of the time. Ingram says people named in it confirmed the details, and that Mr Ballard, when asked, agreed that it was Bonnell they had seen. [TODO: the issue of the Gentleman's Magazine]

What the history says

This is one man's account of something he believed he saw, found among his papers after he died. We can't check it. The Queen's College is real, and its front stands on the High Street, just as in the story. [TODO: Catherine Street is probably today's Catte Street; confirm]

Go and See

Where
The Queen's College, on the High Street in central Oxford. You can stand where More and Ballard stood and look along the High Street, as they did.
Access
The college is mostly closed to visitors, but opens on some days, such as Heritage Open Days and Oxford Open Doors, when you can drop in without booking. Check queens.ox.ac.uk for dates. The High Street is open to everyone.
Allow
A few minutes on the High Street, or longer on an open day.
Families
A quiet, eerie story with a sad ending, better for older children. There's nothing frightening to see.

Visiting details checked 24 October 2026 with The Queen's College. Always check before you travel.

51.7533° N, 1.2513° W · Open in OpenStreetMap

Make a day of it

From our sister sites

Haunted Hotels UKOxford Twilight Ghost TourFor grown-ups: an evening ghost walk through the old heart of Oxford.The Name GeneratorsName a ghost of your ownPale ladies, grey monks and headless horsemen.

Sources

  1. John H. Ingram, The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain (1884; illustrated edition 1897), “Oxford University: Queen's College”, quoting the Rev. Mr More's own account. Internet Archive.
  2. Visiting: The Queen's College, Oxford, queens.ox.ac.uk, checked 24 October 2026.

This is a legend, told as people told it. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.