(including the ‘haunted room’ — now used as an accounts department) and reported nothing untoward or inexplicable. Perhaps at long last the house is at peace, sobered by the down to earth staff of Maggs Brothers Ltd.
BROADCASTING HOUSE, LANGHAM PLACE
The British Broadcasting Corporation have a ghost that haunts the upper floors of one of their premises in Langham Place. The third and fourth floors harbour the ghost of a limping butler who walks the corridors, carrying an empty tray. The form has usually been seen in the early morning, and one engineer took the figure to be a real waiter, until it disappeared as he watched. Another member of the BBC staff described the form as completely lifelike but moving abnormally slowly, almost like a slow-motion film. A couple of years ago, broadcaster Brian Matthew told me that a room at Broadcasting House was occasionally visited nocturnally by a dark, bat-like creature that seemed to jump out of a wall. The old home of the BBC in Savoy Hill, off the Strand, was, and perhaps still is, haunted by the ghost of actress Billie Carleton, who died in her flat there in 1918. The doors of the flat have opened, silently and by themselves, literally hundreds of times in the presence of scores of people.
BURLINGTON ARCADE, PICCADILLY
There is a flat near Burlington Arcade that was the scene of a murder by strangulation over fifty years ago. Some people who spend a night at the flat find themselves awake at two o’clock in the morning in a cold sweat with the overpowering feeling that they have been almost strangled. The present occupant of the flat sleeps undisturbed but many visitors, who know nothing about the history of the place, say that they cannot spend another night in the flat. More recently, Burlington Arcade itself was the scene of apparent poltergeist manifestation when a leather-goods shop and a tobacconist seemed to attract the attention of ‘Percy the Poltergeist’. Four times in as many months objects in the leather shop were moved from shelves during the night. Once, three leather folios were found placed in a semicircle on the floor around an electric fire; the previous night, after everyone left for home, they had rested on a shelf five feet from the floor. Some weeks before other articles had been removed from shelves and arranged in circles on the floor. At the tobacconist’s shop three heavy pewter tobacco jars were removed from a shelf in the first-floor showroom and placed in a semicircle around a table. There was never any sign of forced entry and Scotland Yard could offer no explanation. Nothing was missing and nothing was damaged. There has never been a logical explanation, although I recall talking to a president of the Society for Psychical Research about the case and he said that he could not help but notice the extra trade that the publicity brought to the shops concerned.
Burlington Arcade, the scene of two poltergeist infestations. Nearby there is a flat where a fifty-year-old murder is re-enacted.
THE GARGOYLE CLUB, SOHO
This is one of the oldest clubs in Europe, and the building once housed a musketry school that belonged to Charles II. Among those who have lived here is Nell Gwynne. She might well have some sympathy and understanding for the strippers who once worked at The Gargoyle.
Several girls at the club experimented with wineglass and letters a few years ago, and they happened to hold the ‘séance’ in the Nell Gwynne Room. They obtained what appeared to be the beginning of a message when one of the club’s owners stopped the proceedings and told the girls they were foolish to play around with such a subject. Two of the girls were determined to carry on with the experiment and one night they hid themselves in the Nell Gwynne Room until everyone else had left the club. With only candles for lighting (the electricity had been switched off) they started another séance, and almost immediately obtained a name that could have been a
BROADCASTING HOUSE, LANGHAM PLACE
The British Broadcasting Corporation have a ghost that haunts the upper floors of one of their premises in Langham Place. The third and fourth floors harbour the ghost of a limping butler who walks the corridors, carrying an empty tray. The form has usually been seen in the early morning, and one engineer took the figure to be a real waiter, until it disappeared as he watched. Another member of the BBC staff described the form as completely lifelike but moving abnormally slowly, almost like a slow-motion film. A couple of years ago, broadcaster Brian Matthew told me that a room at Broadcasting House was occasionally visited nocturnally by a dark, bat-like creature that seemed to jump out of a wall. The old home of the BBC in Savoy Hill, off the Strand, was, and perhaps still is, haunted by the ghost of actress Billie Carleton, who died in her flat there in 1918. The doors of the flat have opened, silently and by themselves, literally hundreds of times in the presence of scores of people.
BURLINGTON ARCADE, PICCADILLY
There is a flat near Burlington Arcade that was the scene of a murder by strangulation over fifty years ago. Some people who spend a night at the flat find themselves awake at two o’clock in the morning in a cold sweat with the overpowering feeling that they have been almost strangled. The present occupant of the flat sleeps undisturbed but many visitors, who know nothing about the history of the place, say that they cannot spend another night in the flat. More recently, Burlington Arcade itself was the scene of apparent poltergeist manifestation when a leather-goods shop and a tobacconist seemed to attract the attention of ‘Percy the Poltergeist’. Four times in as many months objects in the leather shop were moved from shelves during the night. Once, three leather folios were found placed in a semicircle on the floor around an electric fire; the previous night, after everyone left for home, they had rested on a shelf five feet from the floor. Some weeks before other articles had been removed from shelves and arranged in circles on the floor. At the tobacconist’s shop three heavy pewter tobacco jars were removed from a shelf in the first-floor showroom and placed in a semicircle around a table. There was never any sign of forced entry and Scotland Yard could offer no explanation. Nothing was missing and nothing was damaged. There has never been a logical explanation, although I recall talking to a president of the Society for Psychical Research about the case and he said that he could not help but notice the extra trade that the publicity brought to the shops concerned.
Burlington Arcade, the scene of two poltergeist infestations. Nearby there is a flat where a fifty-year-old murder is re-enacted.
THE GARGOYLE CLUB, SOHO
This is one of the oldest clubs in Europe, and the building once housed a musketry school that belonged to Charles II. Among those who have lived here is Nell Gwynne. She might well have some sympathy and understanding for the strippers who once worked at The Gargoyle.
Several girls at the club experimented with wineglass and letters a few years ago, and they happened to hold the ‘séance’ in the Nell Gwynne Room. They obtained what appeared to be the beginning of a message when one of the club’s owners stopped the proceedings and told the girls they were foolish to play around with such a subject. Two of the girls were determined to carry on with the experiment and one night they hid themselves in the Nell Gwynne Room until everyone else had left the club. With only candles for lighting (the electricity had been switched off) they started another séance, and almost immediately obtained a name that could have been a
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