A local’s guide to creepy places in London from Victorian cemeteries to abandoned places, disused stations, strange museums, crypts, catacombs and weird shops!
London’s beautiful, colorful, bright and happening – but London’s also strange, spooky, and eerie in more places than one.
Over time, I’ve shared with you lots of facets of London, from its cafes hidden inside shops to its vintage shopfronts, its cemeteries and other hidden gems.
Since autumn is one of the best times to visit London for the first time, due to its marvelous colors and cozy cafes, I thought we could dive deep into its creepy spots today.
That way, if you’re looking for weird, strange places to visit, and would much rather tread off the beaten path than see famous landmarks, you’ll be – very – well-served.
Creepy Places in London: 13 Eerie Spots for Your Bucket List
In this guide, I’ve shared with you some strange museums, secret crypts and catacombs, unexpected City of London churches, and many more spots you’ll love if you’re into the Dark London.
If you’d like to add a few more beautiful spots to your own bucket list, I can also recommend you read my guide to Dark Academia in London, as well as secret church cafes nestled in London’s corners.
We’re going to be visiting places very different from the historical shopping arcades and other beautiful buildings that dot the city, deep into the eerie, strange, creepy London – let’s get to it!
Creepy Places in London: Highgate Cemetery West and Catacombs, North London
Highgate, North London is one of the village areas of London, filled with cute cafes, independent shops, and even amazing Oxfam shops for charity shopping.
That’s where, without surprise, Highgate Cemetery is located; divided in two main parts, the West Cemetery (opened 1839) and the East Cemetery (opened in the 1850s).
If the West Side, filled with creeping nature, tipping tombstones and breached sculptures, is already reason enough to visit Highgate Cemetery if you’re hunting for creepy places, do make your way to the underground vaults for even more spooky vibes.
You have to book to enter the catacombs and underground vaults, but you can already feel that eerie vibe at the architectural Egyptian Avenue with its vaulted family mausolea and the Circle of Lebanon, a ring of mausoleums.
Creepy Places in London: Tower Hamlets Cemetery, East London
Another one of the most beautiful London cemeteries, also part of the Magnificent Seven, the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park opened for burials in 1841, in response to the overcrowding of churchyards.
I used to live about five minutes away from the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and would often go for a walk there from the Southern Grove entrance, in between the neglected tombstones and eroded Victorian mausoleums.
No matter what the time of day is, I’ve always felt that this was an eerie place – it’s huge, with graves partially hidden by trees, and a creepy vibe as soon as it starts raining.
Add to it that the cemetery was bombed several times during WWII, and you’ll understand why many tombs and parts of the cemetery are derelict.
When you visit the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, it’s a ticket straight to the past; with many monuments carrying symbolic Victorian art, from angels to clasped hands and dreamy draped urns.
Creepy Places in London: Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, East London
Also located in East London, in the Hoxton area, sits a strange curiosity shop: Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.
It’s not a creepy or haunted spot per se, but more of an eerie, whimsical place that will remind you more of Harry Potter shops than horror movies, with all products monster-themed.
The shop claims to have opened in 1818, ‘though the exact founding story is lost to history’.
In reality, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies started offering their tins of fear, brain-shaped chocolates, and other cubed earwax to the public in 2010.
Most of the items sold at Hoxton Street Monster Supplies are food-based, and make for quirky souvenirs – a great place to visit in the autumn, but also with kids interested in fantastic dimensions.
Creepy Places in London: Disused Crystal Palace Subway Station, South East London
Disused stations are plenty in London, but one of the most famous is the Crystal Palace Subway, located beneath the road of Crystal Palace Parade, in South East London.
Built in 1865 as a link for first-class passengers arriving at the now-demolished Crystal Palace High Level Station into the Crystal Palace, the station burned down in 1936, leading to complete rapidly.
Grade II-listed, the Crystal Palace Subway, although called ‘subway’, is a pedestrian passing.
The High Level station closed in 1954, and the station structure was finally demolished in 1961.
The subway is wonderfully ornate, with arched columns and cream and orange brickwork, well-preserved, and hidden beneath a busy road: its quietness, crypt-like aesthetics and history are what make it especially spooky.
Creepy Places in London: Hunterian Museum
Nestled inside the Royal College of Surgeons of England in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn (close to the Sir John Soane’s Museum – a wonderfully free museum), the Hunterian Museum is a medical and anatomical museum.
Founded on the collection of 18th-century surgeon and anatomic John Hunter, it’s one of the creepiest spots to visit in the city – especially if you’re not into medicine.
The museum houses thousands of anatomical, pathological and zoological specimens: human remains, animal skeletons, diseased organs, old amputation saws and other tools…
It’s really the presence of human remains, including foetuses at various stages, that makes the Hunterian Museum a weird spot, though.
Add to it that some of the history behind the collection involves body-snatching (common in the 18th century, which led to the creation of watch houses right outside London cemeteries), and you’ve got a fascinating, visceral facet of London.
Creepy Places in London: Blind Beggar Pub, Whitechapel, East London
There’s a handful of London pubs with a creepy history, but The Blind Beggar, opened in 1894, takes the hat.
It takes its name from the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, a local tale about a blind beggar who was actually a nobleman in disguise.
When I used to live in Mile End, my first home when I moved to London, I’d often pass by the Blind Beggar Pub on Whitechapel Road (it’s close to Rinkoff Bakery, one of the oldest bakeries in London).
Its notoriety comes mainly from the gangland crime history, most famously the murder of Ronnie Kray’s associate George Cornell in 1966, and other gang-related stories during the Kray twins’ era.
The Whitechapel area is historically famous for crime and mystery, like Jack the Ripper murders, and you’ll find a plaque right outside the Blind Beggar pub commemorating its history.
Creepy Places in London: Temple Church at Night
I’ve said oh, so many times that the City of London is one of my favorite areas of London; that’s where you’ll find Temple Church, located between historical Fleet Street and the Thames.
Walking around Temple Church at night makes for one of the spookiest experiences; completely free, and brings about a sense of ‘I’d better go back home before I start seeing ghosts’.
Temple Church is a medieval church built by the Knights Templar at the end of the 12th century, and one of the spots to visit on a Movie Itinerary of London, since it was used in the Da Vinci Code movie.
At night, the Gothic/medieval architecture and the shadowy lighting make the entire area a little creepy.
You don’t have to enter the church for that eerie feeling, but you can take a night ghost or heritage tour that will allow you to enter should you wish to do so.
Nearby secret Elm Court and other courtyards like Pump Court and Fountain Court are much more beautiful during the day, so I’d recommend coming back when the sun rises, too.
Creepy Places in London: Crypt at St Bride’s Church, City of London and Secret Alleys
Let’s keep going in the City of London, since we’re already there – the crypt at St Bride’s Church is one of the best hidden gems of the city, located right on Fleet Street.
There are a few crypts and catacombs in London, but they’re not as widely advertised as, say, Oxford Street’s shops and other spots in Covent Garden.
St Bride’s Church itself is a historic church rebuilt in its current form by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London, and its crypt is a lasagna of histories, with layers of burials dating back to medieval times.
Beneath the church, dubbed the Journalists’ church, is also located a tiny little museum with pieces of pavement dating back to the Roman era.
When you’re done visiting St Bride’s Church, if it’s the end of the afternoon and the sun’s starting to set, walking around narrow alleys of the City of London will add to the creepy atmosphere; Bridewell Alley, Founders Court or Mitre Court, for instance, are great places to start.
Creepy Places in London: Clink Prison Museum, London Bridge
Now, any guide about creepy places in London will mention the Clink Prison Museum in London Bridge, which sits on the site of the historic Clink Prison.
This specific prison operated from the 12th century until 1780, and was notorious for holding religious dissentors, prostitutes, debtors and criminals of all kinds.
The museum showcases dark and narrow cells with stone walls and iron bars similar to the oppressive cells of the historic prison, with shackles, manacles and whipping devices reflecting brutal justice of the past.
The entire London Bridge area is full of history; in the same street are located the Winchester Palace ruins, and cobbled pavement would almost make you feel like you’ve landed in a village.
Borough Market is situated only 5/10 mns away on foot, and should you be on the lookout for more historical sites, the Southwark Cathedral and various Shakespeare locations dot the London Bridge/Southbank areas.
Creepy Places in London: West Smithfield Meat Market
Whenever I pop by the West Smithfield Meat Market in the City of London, near Farringdon, it’s during the day.
The last time I went, after visiting the St Bartholomew the Great Church and the house at 41-42 Cloth Fair, it was raining, adding to the already strange feel of being in a secret London neighborhood.
The Smithfield Market is one of London’s oldest markets, with trading documented since the 10th century.
The West Smithfield Market area refers to the section that includes the Victorian market hall built between 1868 and 1874, which makes for a wonderful photo spot with its green, blue, purple and red colors.
We’re here in a full-on industrial area; the market’s Gothic Revival architecture, with its high iron and glass walls give it a strange atmosphere, tainted with beauty despite its grim history.
Indeed, the Smithfield Market is located close to Smithfield Fields, where executions of traitors and criminals took place, and also close to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, also historically linked to executions, plague burials, and public dissections.
Creepy Places in London: Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Hackney
Located on Mare Street in Hackney, East London, the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Natural History is one of the best spots to visit if you’re after strange museums – London’s filled with them.
It feels like a cabinet of curiosities, like a wunderkammer of sorts, where taxidermy, human bones (ethically-sourced!), and other macabre elements blend with whimsical and grotesque.
To access the Viktor Wynd Museum, do check the website for updates on prices and opening hours – there’s really limited space inside.
Definitely a must-have on a horror itinerary, it should bring about lots of inspiration for creatives, and combines history, art, and the macabre: is there a better place to visit around Halloween in London?
Creepy Places in London: Crossbones Graveyard, Southwark
Southwark’s Crossbones Graveyard is one of the lesser-known cemeteries in London, located close to London Bridge and Bermondsey; a historic burial ground traditionally used from the 12th century till the mid-19th century.
Famously associated with the Winchester Geese, prostitutes of medieval Southwark, Crossbones Graveyard was an unconsecrated ground, since these forgotten women were denied burial in holy grounds.
Now a memorial garden, Crossbones Graveyard is still feel with an eerie aura; the sense of social marginalization still floats in the shadow of the cemetery’s medieval and Victorian past.
What’s mostly striking there are the plaques with names, where known – many of the outcast were nameless, and between flowers and nature, various sculptures give a wonderfully tragic vibe to the cemetery.
Creepy Places in London: Horniman Museum and Its Merman
One of my favorite free museums in London, the Horniman Museum and Gardens are located in Forest Hill, a short bus ride away from the Crystal Palace area, its secret cafes (Colairo’s, The Vaults Collective) and vintage shops.
Various natural history exhibits, including taxidermy, are offered by the Horniman Museum, but one in particular feels quite creepy: a Victorian-era merman.
Acquired in the 19th century, the merman is a fusion between a monkey’s torso and a fish’s tail, and a fine example of the Feejee mermaid that was part of Victorian folklore.
Creepy Places in London: 13 Eerie Spots for Your Bucket List
There you have them; all kinds of creepy places in London you might want to visit as soon as the weather starts cooling down, and autumn colors cover the trees and mews of London.
Whether you’re into disused stations or other kinds of abandoned places, London’s undeniably filled with eerie, strange spots beyond your wildest dreams.
If you’d like to keep going with more secret areas and other hidden gems, these are a few guides you might want to read to build your own bucket list: