It’s the spookiest time of the year and Halloween is approaching quickly.
While many Brits head to pumpkin patches and haunted houses there are some more unusual attractions on offer.
In fact, Madame Tussauds London's latest exhibition is perfect for those who want to scare their socks off.
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True crime fans can head to the Chamber of Horrors this Saturday as it re-opens to the public for the first time since 2016.
Taking place on Baker Street the figures will feature some of the capital’s most infamous criminals from the last 150 years.
Unlike the usual models of celebrities and royals the Chamber of Horrors represents far darker parts of British history.
The special Halloween-themed collection first debuted to British audiences in 1818 while Marie Tussaud toured the UK with her travelling wax exhibition.
Now the attraction has added to the Chamber of Horrors as new criminals and horror stories have been unveiled across the UK.
Zoe Louca-Richards, Historian and Archivist, said: “Crime and horror have been embedded in the history of Madame Tussauds London since its inception. The original Chamber of Horrors first opened more than 200 years ago, and featured death masks and authentic relics, alongside the figures of the most infamous offenders of the time.
"Madame Tussauds London's archive houses a significant collection of historical artefacts, which help tell the story of some of the capital's darkest crimes. The return of Chamber of Horrors will once again see some of these items back on display to the public."
In the collection, infamous gangsters the Kray Twins are featured – identical twin brothers, and the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, from the late 1950s to 1967.
They’re joined by models of serial killer John Christie, active during the 1940s and early 1950s, who is known to have murdered at least eight people at his home on Rillington Place.
His victims included his own wife Ethel who he strangled at his Notting Hill home.
John hid the bodies under the floorboards and in an alcove in his kitchen as well as in the garden.
He was eventually hung for his crimes.
Other horrifying serial killers you’ll find in the Chamber of Horrors include London’s Dennis Nilsen who murdered 12 young men from 1978 to 1983. The Scottish monster lived in North London. and was captured in early 1983 and was nicknamed the Muswell Hill Murderer.
Not all of the serial killers carved from wax are men though.
Ruth Ellis will also feature in the Chamber of Horrors – she was the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom in 1955.
The nightclub hostess was found guilty of shooting her lover outside the Magdala public house in Hampstead.
At the exhibition you’ll also see nods to other famous killers like John Haigh, the Acid Bath Murderer, and Jack the Ripper.
Each figure represented at Madame Tussauds is believed to have had a significant impact on social and criminal history as well as being well documented by the media.
Artefacts on show in the Chamber include the glasses of Dr Crippen, convicted and hanged for the murder and dismemberment of his wife in 1910, and the pram used by Mary Pearcey to transport the bodies of her lover’s wife and child who she was convicted of murdering in 1890.
Tim Waters, General Manager of Madame Tussauds London, said: “Relaunching Chamber of Horrors continues an important legacy first started by Marie Tussaud herself more than 200 years ago.
“In bringing it back, we have remained true to Marie’s original vision of featuring individuals whose different crimes have each had a significant impact on Britain’s social and criminal history.
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“Chamber of Horrors returns this October as a chilling reminder of some of the most infamous and darkest crimes in the capital’s history.”
David Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University, said: “Our fascination with true crime and violent crime is not just normal, but necessary. Knowing when and in what circumstances someone will use violence helps society – and us as individuals – evolve by eradicating the circumstances in which violence is most likely to happen.
“Continuing to remember these perpetrators and what they did, not only allows us to see patterns of victimisation over time but also social and cultural change – and, sadly, sometimes continuity.”
The exhibition will open this Saturday, October 22.
Entry to the ghoulish section will be included in the regular entry ticket price of £33.50 online or £37 at the door.
It is recommended that children under the age of 16 do not enter the Chamber of Horrors due to the dark nature of its figurines and artefacts.
Book tickets now at www.madametussauds.com/London
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- Halloween
- Serial Killers
- London
- Crime
- Ghosts
- Shooting
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