From the Kentish Town post office murder to haunted Tulse Hill Station

February 13, 2018 6:09 AM

Grim London - An interactive map of the historical dark side of the Old Smoke.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (10 comments total)

Reading modern fantasies and mysteries set in London leads me to believe it’s all grim.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:02 AM on February 13, 2018

All the pubs are haunted, obvs, though only one of my regulars is marked (The Worlds End). Spooky basement!
posted by Artw at 7:11 AM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Huh. Apparently I used to walk past the site of a haunting a couple of times a week. Who knew?

The guest bedroom of the Smithies family was haunted by an entity which would kiss female visitors on the cheek. One woman ran screaming from the room when she felt something clasp her hand. Men who stayed in the room would complain of icy coldness, no matter how many blankets they piled onto the bed.

(George Lane in SE13.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:58 AM on February 13, 2018

What, no Cross Bones Graveyard?
posted by Paul Slade at 8:18 AM on February 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

Interesting! But I somewhat object to the fact that it seems to go no further north east than Hackney.
posted by garius at 8:50 AM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is neat, but I feel like I'm playing an interactive CD-ROM rather than using something useful. I wish they had an app or something mobile based that I could use while in London.
posted by pashdown at 9:23 AM on February 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

Slightly disappointed that the area around Leicester Square is grim for its garrottings and whatnot, rather than its grey steaks served lukewarm in a somehow still smoke-filled 10 years after the smoking ban sticky floored restaurant at £25 a plate.
posted by ambrosen at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2018 [5 favorites]

Do you like this sort of stuff? I highly recommend getting a copy of Haunted Britain, by Antony D. Hippisley Cox (and not the newer book with the same name by some other author). Scared me out of my wits when I was a little kid. The author also appears to have written something called "The Book of Sausages" - perhaps equally scary.
posted by lagomorphius at 2:19 PM on February 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

I used to live in Tulse Hill. Certainly felt the cold hand of fate on my shoulder waiting for the doomed Thameslink to arrive, aka the Train That Never Arrives, or Maybe Only Has Four Carriages.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:31 AM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Luckily being stuck up someone’s armpit will warm you up again in no time, though there may be mysterious specteral odours.
posted by Artw at 12:33 PM on February 14, 2018