Nearby, in a well-known London district, is House No. 50 Berkeley Square. Among other places, it was the residence of George Canning (April 11, 1770 – August 8, 1827), Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister of London, who also died there. In the 19th century, the building was considered the most haunted house in London. Today, it houses the antique shop Magg Bros. Ltd.
In 1872, someone wrote to a newspaper asking whether the rumors that the house was haunted were credible. Many readers responded, and an endless stream of letters poured in. In 1879, a certain W. E. Howlett wrote:
"The Berkeley Square phenomenon will remain a mystery... The house has at least one room with a harmful and unnatural atmosphere for both body and soul. A girl saw, heard, and felt this evil in this room, which caused her to lose her mind and never recover. A man who did not believe in the paranormal ventured to spend the night there. The next day, he was found dead on the floor, after allegedly screaming hysterically for help. Rumors mention similar incidents in the mysterious room, incidents that ended in madness or death, or both.
The walls of the building seem to be "electric" when touched. Aside from the elderly caretaker couple, the house is unoccupied. Even this couple has no access to this room, which is kept under lock and key. The keys are in the possession of a mysterious and unknown person who comes every six months, locks the couple downstairs, and has intercourse with the room..."
More and more details about the story began to emerge.
J.F. Meehan published a letter in 1871 addressed to Bishop Thirlwall. The letter mentioned a family who had rented a house for their engaged daughter to familiarize herself with London. The girl's fiancé was invited to stay in the building. The evening before the couple's arrival, a maid was in the room at midnight preparing it for the couple's arrival, when suddenly a piercing scream enveloped the house. The girl was later found lying on the floor, curled up, staring with terrified eyes at the opposite corner of the room. The maid was immediately taken to St. George's Hospital. No one ever learned what she saw. It is known that it was a terrifying experience. The young fiancé arrived the next day and was told everything that had happened and asked not to spend the night in the room. The young man, however, decided to spend the night in the room, dismissing the story as madness. He said he wouldn't sleep until midnight, and if anything happened, he would ring. The bell rang only once, at midnight, and even then faintly. The family waited a few minutes in fear until the bell rang several times, much louder. The family immediately ran to the room and found the young man in the same spot where the maid lay. He, too, was staring at that corner with that terrifying gaze… that terrifying look… Fortunately, the young man survived this "encounter," but he refused to share his impressions. The family immediately left the building.
In the 1770s, neighbors reported strange rustling sounds coming from the house – at that time, the building was empty. There were also reports of something like crying. All these occurrences were accompanied by furniture moving and loud shutters slamming. Books and other household items sometimes ended up strangely on the street. Whenever attempts were made to investigate these events, nothing unusual was observed—everything was in its natural order.
Regarding the "electric" walls, the following newspaper article appeared in 1881:
"In the summer of 1880, a ball was held in the neighboring house, No. 49. A lady and her partner were sitting with their backs to the wall, which was also the wall of house No. 50. Suddenly, for some unknown reason, the woman jumped away from the wall, and the man, wanting to ask what had happened, also jumped away from the wall. After comparing their versions of the event, they felt a strange chill in their backs, as if someone were watching them from behind the wall."
THERE ARE EVEN MORE STORIES
A certain girl named Adela or Adelaide was said to have fallen from a window, and her ghost was seen more than once clinging and hanging from the window.
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Due to a bet, a regular visitor to London, Sir Robert Warboys, who didn't believe in ghosts, decided to spend the night in the house. As a precaution, the man was to ring the bell if anything unusual happened upstairs. Lord Cholmondley and John Benson remained at a safe distance on the ground floor while Robert, armed with a pistol, went to his bed. Around 2:00 a.m., the bell rang, preceded by a louder knock. As the two men were still making their way upstairs, Warboys's pistol shot rang out. When they opened the door, they saw a dead 30-year-old man lying on his bed. The lifeless body lay diagonally across the bed, his head hanging down, almost touching the floor. His face was filled with terror. A shot was heard, but the bullet's impact was nowhere to be found.
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On Christmas Eve 1887, two sailors, Robert Martin and Edward Blunden, from HMS Penelope, broke into a temporarily unoccupied house to find cheap lodging. During the night, they were startled by the sound of someone climbing the stairs. Both listened intently as something indescribable entered the room. Robert Martin fled from the building as fast as he could, onto the road, straight into the arms of the policeman on duty that evening. Both heard Edward's death cries, and he threw himself from the window. He was found impaled on the fence in front of the house.
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There was a rumor of an "indescribable horror" that wandered up the stairs and left sticky trails behind it.
JESSIE A MIDDLETONE WROTE IN THE GREY GHOST BOOK IN 1912:
"Years ago, I heard a story about this house. In it, the ghost of a child played a central role. The girl was allegedly molested and tortured by the house's manager, which was supposed to lead to her death. The child kept appearing to the household until finally no one dared to live there."
For years, no ghost was heard from house number 50 until 1969 when a lady saw and described the only ghost she had ever seen:
"In early 1937, I moved in with my employee in a house on Charles Street, which bordered Berkeley Street. It was New Year's Day, and I arrived home very late. The girl immediately called me into the kitchen, and from the kitchen window you could see the building opposite. In the window, we saw a man in a silver jacket and a white wig, which was normal in those days. He stood motionless, staring straight ahead with a sad expression. I thought he had been to a New Year's ball and was suffering from a hangover or had some problems of his own. I nudged the girl because she was staring at the man. I later learned that he was talking about number 50."
Another incident also occurred near house number 50. The couple who moved there said they were very disturbed by the events. Their 8-year-old daughter still reported that when she woke up at night, she saw a man standing at the foot of her bed – her room bordered the attic of the haunted house. Charles G. Harper wrote in his 1907 book "Haunted Houses": "The famous haunted house, number 50 Berkeley Square, had for years been one of the most frequently visited sights in London. No man visiting the city dared not look into the building."
Even 40 years after the antique shop was established in the building, one Maggs Bros. employee said they still had visitors asking about the ghost. Until 2001, they couldn't say much about the phenomenon:
“This famous room is next to the bookstore, and none of the employees working there have ever heard or seen anything out of the ordinary.”
One Saturday morning in 2001, Julian Wilson was working in the accounting department in the attic. Suddenly, something resembling a brown puff of smoke wafted across the room and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. That same year, a woman preparing the room for a party reported feeling like someone was watching her, even though she was alone in the room. During the party, an invisible "thing" reportedly knocked a glass out of a guest's hand.
Since then, a sign has been posted at the entrance to the room stating that no one is allowed to enter the "haunted room." A new rule has also been implemented, which states that no fewer than two employees can be in the building at the same time. Employees must leave the building at the same time.
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