In the late
nineteenth century, mainly due to a great deal of press coverage, 50
Berkeley Square was known as the most haunted house in London. Years before,
it had been rented by a Mr. Myers. The man had become an eccentric recluse
after he was jilted by his
bride-to-be,
and took to wandering the house each evening by candlelight. The peculiar
behavior of Mr. Myers attracted the press, and gradually the tale of the
'haunted house of Berkeley Square' began to emerge.
The
room in which Mr. Myers was reputed to lock himself away in during daylight
hours was said to have a terrible, chilling atmosphere, although since the
building has been converted for business purposes there have been no reports
of untoward happenings.
A maid living in the house after Mr. Myers was found rigid with fright in the
upstairs room. It appeared that something there had caused her to go mad
with fear. A skeptical guest asked to stay in the room for the night, and
promised to ring the servant's bell once if he was comfortable and twice
should he become 'disturbed'. That night the bell rang out clearly, and
after a pause, a second, more frantic ring was heard. when the residing
family rushed to his assistance, they found his lifeless corpse in the bed.
These are not the only strange
occurrences within the walls of 50 Berkeley Square. Many other occupants
have allegedly gone mad or died suddenly. Others have told tales of a
'shapeless, slithering, horrible mass', which has left them terrified and
repulsed.
Below is an email sent to us about
50 Berkeley Square
I was in London at the end
of March and I took a Ghost Walk. We did not go to 50 Berkeley Square,
but it was talked about. Our guide told us several interesting things:
At one point, he had a man on the walk who works for the company now
occupying the building. The man told the guide that in the company
policy, it is written that the last two people working at night leave the
building together. No one is to be left alone. Another time,
there was a couple who lived in the adjoining building. Their 8 year
old daughter slept in the top bedroom. When they heard about 50
Berkeley square, they got very frightened. They then said that for the
past 6 or so months, the daughter had been waking up saying that there was a
man at the foot of her bed and she was frightened.
The next day, my friend Aly
and I decided that we wanted to visit 50 Berkeley square, so we took the
tube to area. once we got there, we decided to go inside. We
rang the bell and told the woman that answered that we just wanted to look
around. Inside, on the ground floor, is a notice in a frame attached
to the wall. It was written out by the police around 1950 (I can't
remember the exact dates) and it said that the top floor of the building
(the one that is so violently haunted) was not to be used - for anything.
Not even storage. The premises were declared 'unsafe'. The
building itself seemed perfectly sound. However, the notice was still
on the wall because it still hadn't been revoked.
That night, Aly, myself,
and my parents, were eating at a pub nearby and we decided 'why not, let's
walk by the place.' Thrills and chills, etc. We approached the
building from the opposite side of the square, watching the top window.
I could see some sort of light, but I assumed that it was a reflection of
something and I was just being silly. Then I noticed that Aly was
staring at the light as well. Our first thought was that it WAS a
reflection of a street lamp. However, as we changed position, the
position of the light didn't move. It was inside the room. Our
next theory was that it was a light from the staircase. No go.
Aly and I had been inside the building that day and the staircase was on the
other side of the room. The light sort of seemed like a cloud-shaped
thing. Just a light. We stayed outside of the building for
nearly an hour. In that time we checked the back of the building to
make sure no light was shining through and we watched the window. The
light would get brighter and brighter and bluer, and then it would get
dimmer and more gray. It also got bigger. When we first got to
the building, it took up the 4 bottom corner panes. At one point it
filled the bottom 2/3 of the window entirely. Then, the light actually
moved UPWARDS, and below it, in the bottom row of panes, was darkness,
proving that the light was not coming from the floor or the staircase or
anywhere. That is when the four of us decided that it was time to
leave.
I still have nightmares.
I say that 50 Berkeley
Square is indeed still haunted. One of the only people to ever make it
out of the building alive after seeing the creature said that it looked like
nothing he had ever seen before - a shapeless, hideous being. I've
done my research, and there were plague pits - mass graves for victims of
the plague - in that area of London. The exact location has been lost.
I think it's possible that the building has been built over this plague pit.
The people that died of the plauge were often bundled in sheets because they
thought that it would help the disease from spreading to those who buried
them. This would also explain why the girl in the house next door -
and the woman in your account - feel things occasionally. Those houses
are built on the edges of this pit.
Thanks for your time
Kat
(Kat can be contacted via our GUESTBOOK)