Horrific Hauntings : The Haunting of a Berkley Square House

 Throughout the 19^th Century, the 50 Berkley Square house had claimed the life of at least four of its inhabitants along with a number of other lives that had not been officially verified. Stories of terrifying apparitions, occult rituals and demonic entities surrounding the house had populated the pages of London’s newspapers for a good deal of time thus, dubbing it the “Most haunted house in London”.

History

 The property by itself was nothing but ordinary until the tragic death of Adeline, a resident of the property, in 1789. The young lady was found dead on the pavement outside the house. It appeared as if she had fallen from the second-floor bedroom window during her attempts to escape the abuses of her tyrannical uncle. Soon afterwards, the local police began receiving reports of a female figure that desperately held on to the same window ledge before screaming and magically disappearing. Succeeding residents reported seeing the silhouette of a female figure walking in the corridors of the house. Also, they reported encountering the ghost of a young girl who had apparently been murdered by her nanny. Furthermore, Furniture reportedly moved on its own and a strange stench allegedly infected the air within the house.

 George Canning, a former Prime Minister, purchased the house in 1800 and during his stay on the property he frequently heard loud bangs and inexplicable sounds. Following his death in 1827, the house was rented out by Elizabeth Curzon. Soon afterwards, bizarre rumours about Thomas Myers, one of her lodgers, spread across the community. The dysfunctional son of a Tory MP, Thomas had moved into the property with his fiancé who would go on to jilt him at the altar.

 Following the traumatizing event, Thomas became reclusive. He took to sleeping in the daytime and was only glimpsed moving around by candlelight during the hours of darkness. He was often heard making eerily strange noises and rumours about him using the cellar to dabble in the occult in order to win back his ex-fiancé began spreading.

 The cellar features as a backdrop in the story of another lodger named Dupre. It is believed that his mentally unstable brother was imprisoned in the cellar of the house instead of being institutionalized. He was apparently being fed through a small hole in the cellar door until his death.

 As disturbing as these ghostly tales are, they are insignificant compared to the property’s most horrifying uninvited guest, an inexplicable entity that was fondly called “The Nameless Thing of Berkley Square”.

The Nameless Thing of Berkley Square

Robert Warboys' Encounter

 The first incident accredited to the terrifying entity occurred in the year 1840. Robert Warboys, a 20-year student, was drinking at a Tavern in the neighbouring town of Holborn before discussions about the 50 Berkley Square house commenced. Intrigued by the tales of the infamously haunted house, drunk Robert subsequently arrived at the doorstep of the house, demanding to spend the night inside.

 Through persistence and money, he was able to overcome the landlord’s denials. However, he was only permitted to sleep in the second-floor bedroom under two strict conditions. Firstly, he was supposed to remain armed during the entirety of his stay with a pistol that was entrusted to him. Secondly, he was supposed to pull a cord hanging beside the bed if he witnessed anything unusual. This would, in turn, facilitate assistance. Accepting the terms, he headed into the upper floor of the house and settled in for the night.

 Just an hour later, the quietness of the house was disturbed by the distraught ringing of the bell which was soon followed by the loud sound of a gunshot. The landlord immediately sprinted up the stairs where he found Robert in an unintelligible state. He was backed into a corner with the empty pistol still raised in his self-defence. Apart from a hole made in a nearby wall by the fired pistol, the landlord couldn’t find anything else inside the room. Despite repeated efforts, Robert was not able to explain what he had witnessed inside the house and he fled the house soon afterwards.

Lord George Lyttleton's Encounter

 In the year 1872, thirty years after Robert Warboys’ encounter, Lord George Lyttleton decided to spend a night in the house and he brought his own gun with him in precaution. A former MP, a member of the Privy Council and an accomplished writer with an obsession for the paranormal, he had confessed his desire to explain the odd happenings in the 50 Berkley Square house.

 Lyttleton was allowed to stay in the same room that Robert had occupied many years before and with his hunting rifle by his side, he settled in for the night. The outlandish character was soon woken up from his slumber by a strange noise and he quickly reached for his weapon. Exiting the bed, he searched for the source of the sound, eventually tracing it to a dark corner beside the bedroom window. Then, the sound suddenly stopped before a “disgusting mass of tentacles” jumped at him from the darkened zone. Making a strange sound, the creature rushed towards him causing him to fire his gun. Blinded by the flash from the rifle’s barrel, he immediately retreated and reloaded. However, this proved to be of no use as the creature had already disappeared leaving behind a slimy residue.

The First Fatal Encounter

 Six years later, the house was purchased by a new owner, a woman with two teenage daughters. The family employed a local girl as their maid and they eventually agreed to allow her fiancé, a naval captain named Kentfield, to move in with her. Soon afterwards, the excited maid headed to the second-floor bedroom to prepare it for her and her future husband. Unbeknownst to the poor girl, she was heading towards her untimely death.

 A few moments later, the house was filled with the distraught screams of the maid. When the inhabitants rushed upstairs, they found her in an incomprehensible state. Her eyes were fixed on one corner of the house and she kept saying “Don’t let it touch me” repeatedly. With the family not able to calm her down, she was admitted to a local sanatorium.

 Determined to know the cause behind his fiancé’s trauma, Kentfield resolved to spend that night in the same bedroom with his pistol for protection. As the anguished residents desperately tried to fall asleep, they heard a shout of terror from the second-floor bedroom which was followed by the sound of a single gunshot. When they hastily sprinted to the bedroom, they found Kentfield lying dead in a puddle of his own blood. Coincidentally, the maid had also met her demise that same night.

Tragic Demise of a Wandering Sailor

 A few years later, in the December of 1887, HMS Penelope arrived in Portsmouth for refitting. The crew were given leave and a majority of the sailors headed towards London for the festive season. Among these sailors were Robert Martin and Edward Blunden, two enlisted men who couldn’t find themselves a place to stay that night. Their pursuit for shelter took them to the 50 Berkley Square house which was now abandoned and vacant.

 Having broken in, the two sailors decided to spend the night on the second floor as the lower levels were in an inhabitable condition. They settled down and assisted by the alcohol in their system, they soon fell asleep. At some point in the night, Edward suddenly woke due to an alleged commotion in the room. When he opened his eyes, he saw a shapeless form making its way across the floor towards Martin. The creature made a strange squelching noise and it left behind a trail of slime behind it.

 The eyes of the petrified sailor, helplessly darted from side to side searching for a makeshift weapon. He finally spotted a steel poker on the floor but it was lying just beyond his reach. He jumped towards the rusty tool in a heartbeat and frantically waved it with hopes of scaring the uninvited guest. The creature, however, dodged the waving poker and lunged for Edwards’s face.

 The terror-driven screams of Edward woke Martin from his sleep. In the ambience from the outside street lights, he saw a terrifying mass of tentacles tighten around his crewmate's throat. The sailor abandoned his struggling friend and fled the building in horror. Rather sooner than later, he encountered a patrolling police constable a few streets away. When the two men returned to the abandoned house, they found Edward’s lifeless body lying outside the front door. Martin was arrested and interviewed by the police but he was ultimately released without any charges.

Newspaper clipping of the Incident (Source: Cryptid Wiki)

Theories

 The paranormal activity in the house slowly reduced after this incident and eventually, it was sold to the British Petroleum Company and then to an antique book dealership. While the current owners have confirmed that strange bangs and odd noises could still be heard, there have been no visual sightings of ghosts or cryptids. So, what was the malevolent force that stalked this seemingly ordinary townhouse for a century? Although there is no conclusive answer, several theories have surfaced over time.

A Sceptical Point of View

 The logical reasoning provided by sceptics was that there was barely anything supernatural taking place at the house. The paranormal elements could have been included in the recounting of the incidents as a cover-up.

 Robert Warboys, the drunken young man, could have added paranormal elements to his narration in order to avoid losing an alleged bet. Lord George Lyttleton could have possibly pulled off a publicity stunt in order to sell more of his books. The sailors could have apparently gotten into a fight that ended badly. To cover up the mishappening, the surviving sailor could have added supernatural elements to the story.

 Furthermore, sceptics suggest that many of the incidents were fabricated, to begin with. With the house becoming a frightening ruin over time, the creepiness it emitted could have caused the concoction of horrifying stories.

 Even if not an intentional falsehood, the established stories surrounding the house could have had a surely negative effect on those who inhabited it. This could have caused them to search for a paranormal explanation for a perfectly normal occurrence.

 However, the descriptions of the nocturnal attacker detailed in the accounts of the survivors are remarkably similar despite their encounters occurring many years apart. This factor cannot be logically reasoned thus, making this theory inconclusive. Also, the fact that people from different levels of the social hierarchy were involved in the incidents, questions the possibility of collusion or deceit.

A Demonic Portal

 One idea put forward by the media was that the terrible activities performed by Thomas Myers and Dupree could have opened a portal in the cellar of the house that allowed demonic entities to enter our world. Although a far stretch, the idea became highly publicized.

An Unknown Cryptid

 Another theory put forth by the reporters and investigators of that time offered the possibility of the involvement of an unknown cryptid or an undiscovered variety of cephalopods. The creature could have arrived in the city through one of the many boats travelling on the river Thames. It could have been deformed after exposure to chemicals in its new surroundings or it could have been naturally grotesque in appearance.

 The creature might have eventually reached the house through the sewage systems before making it it's home. Seeing the residents of the house as a threat, it could have aggressively protected its territory.

Conclusion

 The incidents at the house were so unnerving that the local police placed a sign within the household forbidding anybody from the owners from accessing the top two floors. Given that the only credible evidence available is the testimony of those involved, it is hard to conclusively theorize what could have happened. Whatever the possibility, there is no denying the fact that the walls of the house had seen great anguish, pain and suffering.