Скачать или смотреть The Dark Side of London

Welcome to Chronicles of the Times, the companion channel to News of the Times — and your gateway to Patreon-exclusive stories.
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Mutant Sewer Hogs, Exploding Coffins, Vampires, and a Murderous Pond

Beneath London’s polished surface lies a world far stranger — and far more unsettling — than most people ever imagine.

In this Wicked Wednesdays episode, we journey deep into the capital’s forgotten nightmares.
We begin in the sewers of Hampstead, where Victorian Toshers whispered of giant feral hogs — black, half-blind creatures bred in darkness, born from a lost market sow that wandered underground and never returned. Journalists reported them. Henry Mayhew recorded them. And the Toshers swore they were real.

From there, we climb into Highgate Cemetery, home of Victorian prestige… and exploding coffins. Trapped decomposition gases, sealed inside ornate lead tombs, created horrors that shook families — and cemented Highgate’s reputation as one of Britain’s most haunted places.

But nothing compares to the hysteria of the Highgate Vampire.
A tall, spectral figure with glowing red eyes, said to glide through the cemetery, stopping clocks and leaving dead foxes in its wake. In 1970, the legend sparked a real-life torch-and-pitchfork crowd of nearly a hundred people — and police were called in to contain the chaos.

We then descend to the streets of Cock Lane, where a ghost known as “Fanny” captivated — and conned — half of London, drawing in crowds, investigators, and even Samuel Johnson.

And finally, we end in Epping Forest, at the notorious “Suicide Pool,” the killer pond whispered to lure wanderers to their deaths. Its location changes, its waters blacken, and its victims leave no clues. Legend says it moves when threatened.

These are the tales London prefers to forget — but history remembers.
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