[title]
Did you know that the last person to be convicted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 occurred as recently as 1944? Jane Rebecca Yorke was a Medium (as in someone who communicates with spirits) in Forest Green, East London. The police prosecuted her as they suspected her of profiting from people's wartime fears, and was banned from holding séances. She was 72 at the time.
How do we know this, and why are we telling you? Well, it's all thanks to a huge interactive map called grimlondon.com, which was created by independent digital creative agency Impero. The map has been around since 2015 but is now absolutely bursting with curious tales of strange, scary, and gruesome events that the city has experienced across the centuries.
Impero's founder Michael Scantlebury said on the project in 2016 ‘They say you’re never more than three feet from a rat in London. But what about a faceless woman, or the remains of a burnt witch? We love making stuff, and we wanted to do something for Halloween. The more we looked into London’s grim history, the more we wanted to bring it to life. This interactive map is the perfect tool for learning about London’s stories and haunted past.’
On the map, you can search by location or postcode, or just use the lantern to scroll your way around foggy old London like they used to. Then, a golden cross will mark the location of a grim tale for you to enjoy learning about. There's coverage of all of London from Richmond to Hackney Downs, Eltham to Dollis Hill. Naturally, most of the spooky tales occur around central, but if your postcode is in those bounds, you may find something very close by. There was apparently a sighting of a legless woman levitating near the Time Out offices, for instance.
There's more to discover on the map than the past though, you can use it to curate a tour of unique landmarks that still exist in the city today. These include Occult bookstores, Freemason buildings, former execution sites, former plague pits, and much more. If that's all a bit too spooky for you, it is a pretty fun way to blow a lunch hour at least.
Here's a list of the best spooky food in London this Halloween
For even more spooking, read a brief history of London’s forgotten witches