With its Dickensian streets, historic architecture and cavernous spaces, London oozes a bygone atmosphere that intensifies at this spooky time of year. Give yourself the jitters at the capital’s most macabre museums, writes Beatrice Squires.
The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities
Housed in a small Hackney basement, the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Unnatural History is packed with founder Viktor Wynd’s collection of rare and bizarre objects.
Pick your way through dodo bones, two-headed kittens, mad women’s doodles and occultist paintings. Marvel at Old Master etchings, a living coral and everything in between; then calm your nerves with a tipple in The Absinthe Parlour.
Settle down among the freaky finds for Ghostly Tales for Halloween on 26 October, you’ll need that absinthe courage.
The Hunterian Museum
Named after the 18th-century surgeon John Hunter, the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields (reopens 8 Oct) houses thousands of anatomical specimens from Hunter’s original collection.
The museum traces the history of surgery from ancient times to the present and features England’s largest public display of human anatomy, but be warned: some visitors may find the displays disturbing.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret
For a visceral insight into the horrors of anaesthetic-free surgery, visit the Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret. Built in 1822, it’s the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe for female patients.
Housed in the attic of the old St Thomas’ Hospital church, the space was originally a herb garret used to dry medicinal plants. Tour the theatre, recreated with original equipment, and check for regular re-enactments of the grisly procedures once performed here.
The Clink Prison Museum
Dating back to 1144, the Clink Prison near London Bridge was one of England’s oldest and most notorious jails. The Clink Prison Museum, built on the original site, brings to life more than 600 years of brutal punishments, desperate inmates and grim survival.
Handle torture devices, view chilling artefacts and discover tales of harlots, heretics and rebels such as Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger.
The Jack the Ripper Museum
One “most-wanted” who escaped life behind bars was the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper. At the Jack the Ripper Museum in Whitechapel, plunge into the Victorian underworld with special effects and immersive sets as you explore the lives of the victims and the terror that gripped 1888 London.
Then, if you dare, join a walking tour to retrace the killer’s footsteps…
