Short read: Not for the faint-hearted.
American read: “deliciously spooky” San Francisco Chronicle
Long read: Nervous disposition? Sure you want to go on this walk? Ok, but here’s some advice: whatever you do, don’t get separated from the group. Where you’re going – and what you’ll hear – is going to get into your life.
Talking full-on mediaeval. Talking alleyways like hideaways. Talking places where things went south big time. Talking peeling back layers to reveal something else. Something – several somethings – seriously nasty. Talking torture and ‘bring out your dead” and the faint, sickly smell of rotting flesh. Talking murder and remnants and revenants and creepy churchyards and slurry in the night “filth” cart.
Talking an actor – your guide – who can do the stainless steel voice and shining-with-madness eyes. Give you the look which ought to be sticking four inches out of your back.
I’ve been on this walk. Seen eyes out on stalks, heard frightened little gasps of horror. Courtesy of a parade of stuff like this: “one gruesome aspect of being stretched too far on the rack was the loud popping noises made by snapping tendons, ligaments and bones.”
History as a pillbox of maggots? Morbid, grisly, tabloid sensationalism? Hardly. Dark secrets, grim goings-on, twisty, sinister little byways are pathways to the past. They ‘ground’ big picture history – reflect social and economic attitudes and structures. They’re an X-ray of the London that was. N.B. this walk shares some of the route and content you get on Friday’s Chilling Tales from Beyond the Grave walk. Guided by Stephen or Andy.
GRUESOME LONDON, GHOSTLY LONDON – THE PRACTICALS
Gruesome London, Ghostly London takes place at 7.30 pm every Sunday evening..
Meet Stephen or Andy just outside the Fish Street Hill exit of MonumentTube.