The Monster at 50 Berkeley Square
Sure it looks nice… BUT MONSTERS!… Allegedly
The door to 50 Berkeley Square opened allowing the 20-year-old Robert Warboys to enter the four-story brick townhouse.
Robert had heard of the stories of ghosts and monsters that reside in the house but being fueled by alcohol, he was there to disprove them. Although the landlord attempted to discourage him, he soon relented.
Of course, he wanted Robert to be prepared, so he handed the young man a pistol and told him of a bell in the bedroom on the 2nd floor. If anything were to go wrong he should ring the bell immediately.
Robert agreed, scoffing at the idea of such accommodations, and proceeded to the 2nd floor. An hour later, just past midnight, a shrill clanging of a desperate bell rang through 50 Berkeley Square. A moment later the deafening sound of a pistol going off awoke the landlord.
He rushed up to the second floor, opening the door to a seemingly empty room. But then he saw Robert, tucked away in the far corner of the room, his face pale and lifeless. Twisted and contorted by terror. Whatever he saw, whatever he shot at, the fear of it, killed him.
Today we’re looking at what is considered the most haunted townhouse in London. If you believe the stories its inhabitants include ghosts of those who have died, a mist that can drive you insane, and a monster that could rival some of the creations from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft.
PART 1 - The Ghosts and The Nameless Thing
“Fear is our deepest and strongest emotion, and the one which best lends itself to the creation of nature-defying illusions.”
H.P. Lovecraft
The Ghost of Adeline
Created by famed architect William Kent, the four-story townhouse at 50 Berkeley Square began its construction in 1740. It wouldn’t be long after its construction that the ghost stories would start. In 1789 a young woman named Adeline suffering from the abuse of her uncle took her own life and jumped out of a window from the top floor.
Immediately after rumors began, people claimed to have seen Adeline hanging from a ledge or window before falling to her death. Others claimed to have seen her pushed out of the window with no intention of suicide. The terrifying aspect of these sightings was they all occurred after she had already died, many claimed to see her ghostly image hanging and then dropping from the ledge on a regular basis for years after.
In the early 19th century the townhouse became home to George Canning, the short-lived Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It’s said during his tenure living at the townhouse Canning had heard strange noises in the night and experienced wild nightmarish dreams but feared talking out in the open about them.
The Sailors on Christmas Eve
By the time Robert Warboys dies of fright in 1840, Canning was no longer alive and ownership of the townhouse had passed to a “Miss Curzon”. After the death of Warboys, the townhouse was said to be locked up but three years later two sailors from Portsmouth named Robert Martin and Edward Blunden would find their way into the same room.
It was Christmas eve 1843 and the two sailors had spent all their funds including the money needed to purchase a room for the night on drinks. They wandered the cold streets looking for a place to rest for the night when they came upon 50 Berkeley Square.
Breaking in through a basement window they made their way up the townhouse to avoid the rat infestation and found themselves in the same room Robert Warboys had died previously.
Edward Blunden immediately felt a presence in the room, as if being watched but Robert Martin convinced him to ignore it for the night and the two were soon asleep on the rotting floorboards. Shortly after midnight, Blunden awoke to the sounds of creaking and the weight of something near them.
He quietly woke Martin and they both stared into the darkness wondering what was now in the room with them. Martin spotted slivers of something grey just beyond the darkness. The two then heard the sounds of something large dragging itself through the room. Martin later described the creature as a slithering, shapeless creature, with a huge gaping mouth.
Blunden tried to reach for his rifle but just as he put his arm out the greyish blob jumped onto his throat. Martin ran out of the room in fright screaming at the top of his lungs and caught the attention of a police officer nearby.
Though the police officer took some convincing due to the smell of alcohol on Martin, the two eventually made their way back to the townhouse only to find the room empty. They searched for Blunden and for whatever the creature was that attacked. Upon reaching the basement they found Blunden’s body, dismembered and with eyes wide with unimaginable horror.
After this event, people claimed to see glimpses of a greyish blob passing by the windows at night. With no one in the townhouse, the paint began to chip, grime built up around the windows and ledges, and the years took their toll on the home.
Lord George Lyttelton
But people still had a hard time believing in the stories, one such man was Lord George Lyttelton who wanted to spend the night in the attic of the townhouse. Despite not believing, he did insist on bringing a shotgun with him just in case. And it’s a good thing he did.
That night he fired his shotgun at what he described as a brown, tendrilled, misty apparition. After the smoke of his blast dissipated he found nothing except the empty shells, it had disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
He later claimed 50 Berkeley Square was “Supernaturally fatal to body and mind.” It’s said he took his own life four years later by throwing himself down a flight of stairs having never recovered from the trauma of the supernatural event.
The Nameless Thing
In 1879 a family consisting of a man and his two teenage daughters moved in. The eldest of the daughters supposedly complained of a musty zoo-like smell coming from the top floors. Several days later her fiancé, Captain Kentfield was due to spend the night and a maid was asked to prepare a room for him on the top floor.
It was only minutes later that her loud screams pierced the home. The family rushed up and found her in the center of the room, collapsed, repeating the phrase, “Don’t let it touch me” over and over.
She appeared to have lost her mind and never explained what “it” was. She died in the hospital the very next day from the trauma. Despite this, Captain Kentfield believed himself to be above whatever frightened the maid and claimed, without fear, he would spend the night in the room.
His screams also pierced through the home several minutes later. The family found him just like they found the maid, except they were too late for him. His face was contorted and twisted in terror. It was determined he too died of fright.
Sightings
With all the incidents in the home, it wasn’t long before investigators and others wanted to experience or explain the strange happenings. There’s an account of a Spiritualist Society wanting to perform an exorcism or seance at the place but never getting the chance.
Another investigator was arrested for trying to break in possibly because he was also drunk when attempting it as he needed to build up the courage to approach the home.
This only made the stories spread further and faster, the spirit of the young woman who jumped out the window had now become a white mist or brown mist that was seen passing by the windows. Other claims of a young ghostly girl skipping in front of the home persisted and of course sightings of a hideous shapeless creature were also told.
With all these stories abound other investigators took a more analytical approach to answer their questions and it seems this is where most of these tales of spirits and monsters break down.
PART 2 - The Theories and Real History
“Stare at the dark too long and you will eventually see what isn’t there. ”
Cameron Jace
It doesn’t take long in researching the history of 50 Berkeley Square to start finding contradictory information. Across many websites and books, the stories I’ve recounted are almost never exactly the same.
Let’s start at the beginning, the story of young Adeline seems the most likely to have actually occurred but I could find no evidence of it actually happening. Some histories of the townhouse don’t even mention it as having occurred.
Robert Warboys
The next story of Robert Warboys seems to be the most consistent with only very slight variations. Some variations tell of him bringing his own pistol instead of the landlord supplying him with one and other variations tell of the bell having been rigged up by the landlord as part of the deal for him to stay in the room as opposed to it already being there. The part where the story changes the most is the ending.
While many accounts have Robert dying from fright, other accounts say he lived having run out of the room when the landlord opened the door. Other accounts say he died of fright the next day in the hospital.
Other Versions of the Sailors
The next story of the two sailors, Robert Martin and Edward Blunden on Christmas Eve, varies wildly depending on who you're asking, some versions take place in 1843, others in 1887, and even some in 1943. Some versions have Blunden not dying from an attack but dying by tripping while running out of the room with Martin.
Other versions have Martin describe the thing that attacked them as a silhouette of an abnormally large man appearing from a mist. And finally, other versions have Blunden’s body not being found in the basement but instead having been tossed through a window and impaled by the cast iron gates surrounding the townhouse, which you would think would be much bigger news and very easy to corroborate.
The Other Stories
So far none of the stories involve a real person and all appear to be made up. The next story involving Lord George Lyttelton differs slightly only because he did exist and did take his life in 1876 but there’s no record of him actually spending the night in 50 Berkeley Square or firing a shotgun within its walls.
Unsurprisingly the final story we covered also could not be verified or even partly verified. Some variations have the family regarded as the Kentfields and not the unfortunate fiancé.
So how do so many stories involving so many different beings, entities, and spirits happen in one location? For that let’s look at the actual history of 50 Berkeley Square which is also marred in mystery and legend.
The Real 50 Berkeley Square Occupants
After its construction in the late 18th century, it’s said the ghost stories were purposely started by counterfeiters who took residence in the building in 1790. With all the sounds they needed to make with their machines they began spreading rumors the location was haunted so no one would be willing to investigate.
This seems plausible but again I couldn’t find any records stating it actually happened. The allegations come from Harry Price, a renowned psychic researcher looking to disprove the tales of haunting in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Regardless, in the early 19th century Prime Minister George Canning did live in the home until his death in 1827, where it was then leased to Miss Curzon until she died a peaceful death at the age of 90 around 1859. In 1859 a new owner took the place and here is where most of the stories really began to spread.
The True Mystery
No one knew who occupied the home for decades and anyone who came knocking was shooed away by a tight-lipped servant. But the owner of the place didn’t keep up with the maintenance of the building. Soon the building became dilapidated to the point where people thought it was abandoned.
But there was an owner who was nocturnal and would be up at night wandering around his home by candlelight. When people saw this they started to spread rumors of the hauntings of the abandoned townhouse.
It wasn’t until 1880 before people knew who the owner was but before then the magazine Mayfair would run almost all the stories we went over earlier in an issue in 1879. This cemented all the ghostly and monstrous rumors as facts for those that feared the unknown.
These would be further reinforced in the book Haunted Houses by Charles Harper in 1913 where he claimed the home was no longer haunted but used to be. Other magazines and books would be printed throughout the years and decades further reinforcing these tales.
Thomas Myers
All overshadowed the truth of what the magazine Notes & Queries revealed in 1880. It turned out that the owner from 1859 to his death in 1874 was a man by the name of Thomas Myers. A recluse who purchased the home in 1859 and never left the home until his death. The only way the magazine was able to verify this was due to the lack of payments in property tax leading to a tax summons in 1873.
Yet, the reason the stories continued to spread despite the truth being out is that no one knew who he was. They had a name but no story, that is, until 1906 when writer and socialite Lady Dorothy Nevil released her memoir entitled “The Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill”.
It turned out Lady Nevill was related to Thomas Myers and she was able to shed light on his story through her memoir. Thomas Myers had purchased the home in 1859 for himself and his bride-to-be but just days before the wedding she left him for another man. Lady Nevill described Thomas as “eccentric, to a degree which bordered on lunacy.” And once he was left at the altar so to speak, it’s no wonder he became such a recluse.
With the truth being out, the claims of hauntings died down a bit in the 1880s and then further in the early 20th century despite the few upticks whenever a new book or magazine claimed it was still haunted.
In the early 20th century the townhouse was purchased by Maggs Brother Limited, an antique bookshop. With no reports of any ghost or monster activity all the way up to when they moved a few years ago.
Of course, the early years of the townhouse are shrouded in mystery and we may never know if anyone truly died there out of hate or fear. On top of that, there are other stories that supposedly occurred in the 19th century in the townhouse, ones of people losing their minds and others being locked in the attic.
Even today there are rumors floating around like Thomas Myers’ ghost supposedly being seen or locked rooms within the townhouse to protect people but it seems like the stories that plagued 50 Berkeley Square and earned it the title of “the most haunted townhouse”, were just that— stories.
