‘Ah youth, lost and wind borne. Ah the friends, the family, the dear ones, the departed. Ah those voices from the dead past. Come again, lost ones, forever lost, forever living. Come and haunt me now and through eternity.’ — Ralph Finn, 'No Tears in Aldgate,' 1963

I've spoken alot about my grandad, but I've rarely discussed his battle with Dementia. He is my motivation for signing up for the 50 miles in January challenge. I will be sharing folklore along the way. Please share or donate if you are able. Thank you! fundraise.dementiauk.org/s/27334/2788...

a haunted christmas & a ghastly new year to all our reader. #ghostsoncamera #wapping #terrifyingworldofhauntedbenchproject

#Benchwatch "A ghost of more recent vintage reputedly haunts the public bench on Weald Lane. Sighted early evenings during late autumn through winter, what appears to be outline of a young-trenchcoated man w/ stringy hair staring ahead as though awaiting someone he knows will never arrive."

Too posh to be a fanzine, Jennie Gray's magnificently proper gothic and frequently acerbic 'Udolpho,' quarterly publication of the Gothic Society from 1990-1998 (early issues simply 'The Goth'). 🖤

#nonemoreGothic Monk Lewis's 'The Castle Spectre' as reproduced in 'The Hour of One: Six Gothic Melodramas' introduced by Stephen Wischhusen (Gordon Fraser, 1975) #terrifyingworldofhauntedbenchproject

#vampyrelove #ghoulfriday - another of the bride's, first appeared in an issue of the Gothic Society's #Udolpho during its #TheGoth incarnation.

#fanzinefriday. vols 1 & 4 of obscure #HauntedHarrow fanzine; #ghosts & macabre history/ legends inc. the Phantom Nun of St Mary's, Springheeled Jack, Scarum Castle, Mad Monk of Marsh Lane, man mistaken for headless horseman, haunted Bench (RIP), witchcraft in Stanmore, &c #ghoulfriday

#HauntedBench update. It's still missing, presumed carted away by the bloody council (see also the ancient stone bench in Byron Park) #philistines. I so hope they didn't know to strew the ground with salt. #hauntedbench #wealdlane #fallencomrade

Instant classic loaned this from WatneyMarket #ideastore. Includes (very piss-takey) chapters devoted to 'Chat Show Vampires' (ie, the #does_a_wankyre_walk_in_highgate hoax blokes) and the Whitechapel Anarchists vs the Jack the Ripper museum & Cereal Killers. Also Crowley, Machen, loads more.

Return visit to #HarrowontheHill yesterday [confession, I cheated & took the 258 bus up to the school *shame*] to take more rotten photo's, this time of the 'cottage' where #MaryShelley is suspected of lodging from April 1833-March 1836 (see Margaret L Davies,Mary Shelley in Harrow, 2025)

More from the Graveyard, Wapping Lane on Halloween (can't help it; it was such a lovely night). 🖤

More loveliness from Alan W. Ball's 'Paintings, Prints & Drawings of #Harrow_on_the_Hill: 1562-1899.' Percy Robertson illustration for the Art Journal of 1889. #StMarysChurchyard. #benchland #ghostnunwalk#terrifyingworldofhauntedbenchproject

#PhantomsFriday Bit of a curio. 'Pop Stars in Peril,' a compilation of news items & snippets concerning the true-life spooky experiences of (predom '70s) popular music faves, compiled in a fanzine. Includes Kate Bush, him with the earrings out of Mud, Slade, Alvin, the Cass, etc. #nonemoreglam

None more vampy. One of my favourite Chrissie illo's from vamp fanzine days.

#ProspectofWhitby (beware of the ghost of Bloody Jeffries, the murder vicar of Ratcliffe wharf (if he's stretching his legs) and the man-squid of Pelican Stairs. #Wapping - none more haunted (possible exception: #HarrowWeald)

#TowerHamletsCemetery I don't remember it being an especially overcast day, so grateful this came out so dark.

#paperbackcoversyoulove John Gordon, The Giant Under the Snow (Puffin, 1971: originally Hutchinson, 1968) Cover painting by Antony Maitland. JG also wrote one of my all time favourite ghost stories, 'Never Grow Up.'

This used to be my playground. More Bride of Dem shots of #HighgateCemeteryW #alifeofmorbidity #terrifyingworldofHauntedBenchProject

Katie Jane Garside, photographed by Mick Mercer on Wapping Lane and St. George in the East Churchyard, Shadwell.

I'm detemined to persuade @richardlatto.bsky.social to play the 'Hope All Your Dreams Come True' video on #StereoUnderground. In fact, it's now my life's mission. Here's some photo's of #DaisyChainsaw in #Wapping, circa Eleventeen. Photo's by the very wonderful Mick Mercer

#HighgateCemeteryW Finding these has kind of reminded me why I loved the place. Photo's Chrissie Demant &/or Marion Bondage. Think these were taken on one of the last open days when you could wander around as you pleased.

#HighgateCemeteryWest Circle of Lebanon, photo Chrissie Demant

For variation’s sake, one from #TowerHamletsCemetery.

#HighgateCemeteryW Welcome to the Columbarium ... Photo Chrissie Demant

#HighgateCemeteryW again. Photo by Chrissie. #melancholy #gloom #morbidity and all that other great stuff.

#HighgateCemeteryW The Circle of Lebanon Photo Chrissie Demant

Joy! My beloved bride of death exhumed her copy of Felix Barker & John Gay's very lovely 'Highgate Cemetery: Victorian Valhalla' from 1986. Also a stash of non-toxic (i.e. 'v*mp*re'free) H.Cem-related items inc. loads of gloomy photos from various visits to Western grounds. Tops! 🖤

Whizzed through another of Lee Brickley's Cannock=the Hellmouth masterpieces recently. Includes Ghouls on the Golf Course, #poltergeist activity at Slitting Mill & the further adventures of #Pig-Man.

Been so looking forward to this. Out now & available via am*z*n.uk, Harrow-based historian Margaret L. Davies' ' #Mary_Shelley in #Harrow. #HarrowGothic www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G33BZPS...

More blind man with a camera chuckles. St George in the E churchyard this AM, featuring derelict nature study building (formerly #Shadwell mortuary). Incidentally, the SAAB store that stood on site of the Marr's long obliterated tailors (ie Ratcliffe Highway Murders) has now itself been demolished.

This one is lovely, too. Aidan Chambers' Book of Ghosts & Hauntings (Puffin, 1973, 1979) anthologises stories and snippets from works by WH Barrett, Augustus Hare, Andrew MacKenzie, Sir Ernest Bennett & co. Cover illo by Antony Maitland. Nice, isn't it?

Currently engrossed in 'It Happened to Me Vol 3.' Includes #SkinheadInvasionpanics #ChelseaSmilers #dooms_green_blanket #phantom_nurses_bum_of_Staffs #invisible_childhood_friends, invasion of 8ft tin foil man, a Clerkenwell #SpringheeledJack tribute act, peanut salesman from Uranus, etc.

Richard Felix, The People's Ghost Stories (Felix-Lilley, 2020). Posting it here because none of my other books will talk to it. I still 🖤 the cover photo.

A new bench to haunt. The Case is Altered, Old Redding, on Wed 4th. Closed in 2022, beginning to show signs of wear and tear, and personal favourite ... haunt. It's a soul thing. #ghostlyvibes #terrifyingworldofhauntedbenchproject

Terrible to admit, but I miss the News of The World, if only for their regular 'undercover investigations' into Satanists, Black Magicians, "evil" witches & co, though I'm guessing they were no fun for the non rabid self publicists among their victims. Anyway, here's a poster from 1994.

Some photos from the Wapping Walk last night, all taken by the bride of dem. Conditions, rainy - in other words; perfect.

Wapping Halloween Trail, Friday 31st October 4pm-7pm. Annual organised trick or treat event - very fond memories of bumping into an undead nun on Wapping Lane near Hermitage Walk this time last year.

Day25: Graveside Ornament. Not an ornament, exactly, but I don’t know what it is about little benches placed graveside. Big feelings when I see them. Kensal Green cemetery, London, Uk. #31daysofgraves

FOHC 'Keep the Cemetery Alive' flyer and photo of angel monument taken in Cemetery on one of our turn of the century visits.

Found some more #HighgateCemetery ephemera. These from late 90s/ early 00s. Maybe they still print them? The guide to Western Cemetery graves & mausoleums is well handy. Found its Eastern Cem companion too, if anyone wants it. #FOHC #FriendsofHighgateCemetery

1/2 #HighgateCemeteryWest leaflet circa late 90s (are they still doing these?)

#Booktoreadonahauntedbench. J. A. Brooks, 'Britain's Haunted Heritage,' 1990. Think his #Ghosts_of_London may be better known. This one is just as beautiful, with added benefit of mostly full colour photos & illos throughout.

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.” It costs a lot less to house people.

Current library loan, KR devotes maybe a third to growing up in Harrow/ attending St Gregs, Kenton/ St James, Burnt Oak. Mentions meeting the 'arra in the Wealdstone Wimpey Bar, drinking in Red Lion, Harrow Weald, etc. Guaranteed seeped in 2nd generation Irish Catholic guilt. #Dexys #Burn_it_down 🖤

#Facebook_demands ... "Confirm your identity with a video selfie: To make sure you're a real person, we need you to record a video selfie. We'll ask you to move your head during the recording to help us capture your face at different angles".

1/2 .. .Swallowing down sick, I registered with faceb**k yesterday simply to ask a question of author Margaret L Davies about her forthcoming 'Mary Shelley in Harrow.' I did, received gracious & helpful reply, posted a few local history related bits - & got suspended. They're demanding ...

#books_to_read_on_a_haunted_bench_(that's_gone_missing). Harry Ludlam, '#Ghosts Among Us: Eye witness Accounts of True Hauntings' (#Janus 1994), inc. The Murderous Mother Superior, The #Highgate Shocker, The Head of Anne Griffith, A Night at Skull Cottage & news from the haunted 'Emmerdale' set.

Felham Fatberg #fatberg_thursday

Today is the 73rd anniversary of the Harrow & Wealdstone tragedy which claimed the lives of 112 passengers and railway staff. Would love to see a statue of Abbie Sweetwine, 'the angel of platform six,' either on the High Street or maybe inside the station itself?