Happy Halloween! Here are Some Creepy Places to Find in London

It’s Halloween! So, I thought I would write about some of the stranger, and somewhat creepy things I discovered in London (at least creepy to me). It makes sense that there would be some unsettling things in this city. London is one of the oldest cities in the world, with over 2000 years of history including battles, executions, plagues, and fire. Couple that with the fact that the city is built upon layers of itself and it’s nearly impossible not to stumble onto a grave or a place where something horrific happened. Below are just a few that stand out in my mind.

I will start this list off with one that I discovered during my second day in London: bathrooms in

Cafe in St. Paul's crypt.

crypts. That sounds pretty odd, doesn’t it? Yet, I found ran into this several times. I guess when
modern plumbing came around, they had to put the bathrooms somewhere that didn’t interfere with the historic architecture. However, it’s came as a pretty creepy shock to me. I don’t want to go to the bathroom standing on top of a gravestone. It feels a bit disrespectful, to me, whether or not there is a person buried directly below the marker. I think that’s my American sensibilities kicking in.

Memorial in St. Paul's.

My first encounter with this was when I was on a bus tour with my study abroad group. We stopped for a quick tour and bathroom break at St. Pauls’s Cathedral. The restroom signs led me downstairs into the crypt. It turns out, not only are the bathrooms down there, but there is also a cafe and gift shop. It was so strange. I walked into the bathroom and saw names on the walls and on the floors. I used the facilities, grabbed a cup of coffee, and wandered around a bit, looking at the names. It’s interesting and I do recommend heading over there, just be prepared for this unusual moment in your life.

The second creepiest thing in London I found was the parks formally known as graveyards. I stumbled upon one of these strange places while taking a walking tour through Little Venice. We ended our tour in the small little park that had an old church in the middle. What set this park apart was all of the ancient gravestones lining the walls of the park. They were shoved up again the fence, some were leaning against it, some were leaning on each other. It looked so strange and out of place for a family area.

As it turned out, that park used to be a grave yard. Years and years before, when the area started to really develop, the community needed a green place for people to play. So, they dug up all of the bodies in the graveyard and moved them somewhere else. Actually, from what I understand, the people had to be moved at the relatives expense, the city wouldn’t do it. I assume that means that there is a very good chance that bodies are still buried within these parks. Tombstones and monuments that weren’t removed were shoved against the wall surrounding the boundary of the park.

Since I was thoroughly spooked, I forgot to take pictures. So, unfortunately, I don’t have anything to show you visually. I also can’t remember the name of the park we went to. If you Google “Postman’s Park London” you will find and excellent example. Or, if you image search "parks in Little Venice in London “tombstones” “ and scroll a bit down, you will see photos of the tombstones against the boundary walls.

So, as you are wandering through London, keep in mind, if you go to a park and see tombstones up against the fencing, that park was once a home for the dead.

My next creepy discover from my time in London also deals with the dead and the fact that London is literally filled with graveyards. You can be walking down a nice street, or take a walking path through a neighborhood, then suddenly you are surrounded by tombstones and crypts. You will find a good portion of these are plague cemeteries. This type of graveyard differs a bit from traditional ones mainly because of how the people were buried and how many people  there are in the ground.

For instance, I walked by once plague cemetery where the ground was as high as my shoulders. The height was due to the many layers of bodies buried on top of each other. So many people died during the Great Plague, that mass graves became the norm as a grave digger simply couldn’t keep up with individual ones. Not to mention, they often ran out of room for burials. You might find that there aren’t as many tombstones in a plague cemetery, which might be another clue to what you are looking at. (It’s also an interesting side note that, up until the late 1800’s, it was common practice to reuse graves.)

I had walked by this cemetery numerous times before I realized what it was. The height of the ground and the fencing made me think it was just a private yard of some sort. I would also like to point out that this wasn’t in the outskirts of London, this was somewhere near central London and right next to a popular tourist attraction. You just never know what you’re going to find in this ancient city.

My last creepy find probably won’t feel unsettling unless you have done it. In that case, I do recommend giving them a try. What I am speaking about are walking ghost tours. We have this sort of thing in the States as well, but in London, it’s far creepier.

If you don’t know what a walking tour is, it is literally a tour of a little area of London with a guide. S/He will lead a group and tell about the history of the area. A ghost tour focuses on hauntings or disturbing events. I enjoy them because they are usually only 5 to 10 pounds, last about an hour or two, and typically take you through areas that aren’t typically on a tourists path.

However, what makes these so unsettling in London is the fact that so little has changed over the centuries. You can find yourself walking through Victorian streets where murders happened and be directed to the exact spot where the grisly deed took place. Search online for pictures of the murders and you can compare them to the photos I’m sure you will take, very little will be different. It is truly like going back in time. So, be prepared to be a little creeped out if you do one of these, but I do highly recommend them.

Well, that’s my lists of some of the weird and creepy things I found when I was studying abroad in

London. I wish I had taken more photos, but if you get the chance, seek some of these things out. You won’t be disappointed.

Until next time!