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)
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