Fans of horror shows love the London Dungeons. What began in 1974 as a museum dedicated to the historically horrible is now a hall of black humour. Younger visitors, in particular, rave about the interactive mix of actors, rides and special effects.
The Crypt’s setting is the pre-17th Century crypt at the All Hallows Church. The crypt-keeper tells a few spooky tales to get things started.
The Labyrinth of the Lost is a mirrored maze that leads to a run-in with a metal grate-shaking skeleton. An emaciated woman in black awaits you in her rocking chair. Actors in period costumes sneak around the maze intending to scare you.
Plague takes you to a city in the throes of the 1665 Great Plague of London. With bodies scattered around the set, a survivor of the disease takes the guests down a street packed with actors portraying the dead and dying in grim repose. Bells toll for the victims while bodies are collected in carts.
In the Great Fire of London segment of the tour, visitors assemble to watch a film in a simulated Pudding Lane Bakery, where the Great Fire of London began. Bakery smells and smoke are pumped into the room to add realism.
Surgery: Blood & Guts takes place in a Victorian-era surgery room, in the middle of an organ-harvesting procedure. A doctor labours over a patient, removing the intestines, the heart and a bladder that squirts supposed urine into the crowd. A random visitor is then pulled from the visitors for a re-enactment of an operation. Some are trepanned, some have their blood let and some lose a hand.
The Torture Chamber is packed with implements of terror. Two visitors are subjected to various tortures like being locked in a tiny cage or being seated in the torture chair. The lucky guests have the various tortures demonstrated on them, like an appendage cutter, a neck hook and a red hot tongue puller.
In the Courtroom, three lucky visitors are chosen by the judge to stand trial. Charges are read by a bailiff and are usually funny. You could be convicted of doing just about anything, from dancing naked to being ugly. Most defendants are found guilty in the first degree.
Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell takes guests to Execution Dock where they exit to Fleet Street through the sewers.
The Sweeney Todd segment features Mrs. Lovett’s pie-shop, in all its gory glory. She or one of her employees will quiz visitors on their preference in pies before taking them back to the barber shop. The barber himself examines the visitors to his shop, recommending various procedures.
Jack the Ripper still haunts London’s Whitechapel area, where he caused such a stir in 1888. Visitors tour an alley, a bedroom and a pub where the Ripper did his dirty deeds. Jack himself pays a quick visit to the scene.
If you're in London, be sure to visit the London Dungeons and have the wits frightened out of you.
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