Odd incident on the Northern Line—still unsettled about it

This happened about four weeks ago (late October, around 11 PM) and I still can't stop thinking about it. I was on the Northern Line heading home after work, fairly crowded train but nothing unusual. Aldwych to King's Cross leg, so only about ten minutes.

At Leicester Square, the lights in my carriage started flickering quite badly. Normal flickering at first but then it got worse - almost a strobe effect. But here's the weird bit: everyone around me was completely unbothered. I was looking around to see if anyone else was noticing and literally nobody reacted. One bloke was just reading his phone like nothing was happening.

Then we pulled into Covent Garden and the lights went completely out for maybe three seconds. When they came back on, there was this elderly woman sitting directly across from me. I would have absolutely noticed her getting on because she had this very distinctive bright red coat. She definitely wasn't there before.

She got off at the next stop and I didn't follow her because honestly I was a bit freaked out. Has anyone experienced anything similar on the Underground? Or am I just being paranoid?

Could have been a genuine power issue. The Northern Line has had some electrical problems this year. As for the woman, you might just not have noticed her - the London Underground is chaos at rush hour, easy to miss people. Also sometimes your brain fills in gaps during moments of disorientation (like when the lights flicker) and later you swear someone wasn't there.

Mate, the Underground has a reputation for a reason. There's been loads of reports of odd stuff on the Northern Line specifically. I'd be curious whether the train had any accidents on it previously. Some of those old lines have genuinely dark histories. Definitely worth logging this properly on a paranormal database.

She definitely wasn't there before

The human brain is terrible at detail work, especially in stressful situations. When you were distracted by the lights, she probably got on and your brain just registered her as always being there because it was processing the flickering. Not saying you're lying - just that memory under stress is unreliable.

This is actually interesting. I've heard several accounts like this on the Central and Circle lines. The theory some people have is that certain sections of the Underground overlay areas with significant historical activity. Doesn't have to be ghosts - could be residual energy or something. Did you feel anything odd physically? Temperature change, tingling, nausea?

Report it to Transport for London if you haven't already. Even if it's nothing paranormal, electrical issues that bad are a safety hazard. Then maybe keep a journal if you use that carriage again. One incident isn't much to go on.