Deep in the heart of London, buried beneath the paving stones of historic Southwark, lies the world's most chillingly famous horror attraction. The London Dungeon brings more than 2,000 years of gruesomely authentic history vividly back to life...and death. As you delve into the darkest chapters of our grim and bloody past, recreated in all its dreadful detail, remember: everything you experience really happened. A warning - in the Dungeon's dark catacombs it always pays to keep your wits about you... some of the "exhibits" have an unnerving habit of coming back to life...

Battling the crowds of English commuters on the platforms of the London Bridge railway station can be a horror in itself, but this horror pales to what lurks deep under their feet! In the vast space below the stationhouse, beneath dark and dusty, brick barrel-vaulted ceilings, exists one of the most famous (or should that be infamous) Haunted Attractions in the world.

Since its opening, The London Dungeon has been scaring the "bejeebers" out of visitors for 27 years, and in spite of the screams and the wails that emanate from its excruciating exhibits to the street outside…the queues grow steadily longer each and every year. The Dungeon, which brings back to life some of the darkest, most terrible chapters of British and European history, has a colorful history of its own.

Today the Dungeon is owned and operated by UK-based pan-European leisure company Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd., who also operate three similar attractions, The Edinburgh Dungeon, The York Dungeon and The Hamburg Dungeon, as well as a network of Sea Life Centres stretching from Oban, Scotland, to the Costa Del Sol in Spain. "The Dungeons are a mix of history, theatrical effects, live actors and rides," explained Nick Varney, Merlin Entertainments Managing Director, pointing out that "it is not a Haunted House. Every prop, every story, every scene is based on historical facts. We never stray into fiction."

Now rivaling the attendance of anything the English capital has to offer, The London Dungeon was originally the idea of 31-year-old housewife and single mother Annabel Geddes. It was 1971 when Annabel took her three children Melissa (10), Sophie (8) and William (6) for a day out in London. They enjoyed Madame Tussauds (particularly its well-known chamber of horrors) and had fun at the Tower of London, but all four agreed there was something sadly lacking from their day's entertainment. "There was very little at either attraction to convey a real insight into the grim events of Britain's dark past," said Annabel. On the way home, Annabel's children asked her why she didn't open her own chamber of horrors.

The next day Annabel arranged a meeting at the Tower of London with Dr. Alan Borg, later chief executive officer of the Victoria and Albert Museum. He was intrigued by her idea for a historically authentic horror museum, but the Tower was not a feasible venue, having no basement or other unemployed space, and he was able to offer little help beyond access to the Tower's own reference library.

Departing the Tower, Annabel drove along Tooley Street and noticed a 'Premises To Let' sign over the arches beneath London Bridge Station. She took down the details and arranged a viewing the next day; a flashlight tour in dark and dinghy catacombs with a half-inch layer of mud covering the floor. "Perfect!" she concluded! She persuaded a bank to help with financing, and negotiated a rent of £7,800 (about $11,232) for roughly 2,000 square meters a year. "A snip," she thought. Since then the Dungeon has gradually wormed its way further and further into those high-vaulted arches, and today covers an area of 5,000 square meters.

The clean-up operation, the historical research, the sourcing of models, costumes and props, the hiring and training of staff, the marketing of the new attraction…all on a shoestring budget…took four long hard years to complete. Annabel did not have the resources of an established leisure company to draw on. This was very much a "do it yourself" operation and she learned as she went along. The doors were finally thrown wide to admit the first visitors on August 2nd, 1975. Around 35 separate tableaux (scenes) depicting medieval tortures and executions greeted the first curious visitors, but Annabel suffered a bitter blow when the media poured scorn on her endeavor. "Far too gruesome," seemed to be the consensus. "An attraction with such a heavy emphasis on historic acts of cruelty and barbarism will never catch on!" Indeed the public was also slow to warm up to the idea of a scary museum, with fewer than 30 visitors on some memorably slow days. It was not until the third year of operating that the Dungeon finally turned a profit, and then of just a modest £7,000 (about $10,080), but it was start!

Financially, the Dungeon's fortunes began a steady climb, and Annabel stayed at the helm for a further six years. Her three children Melissa, Sophie and William used to spend their school summer holidays helping out at the Dungeon and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, but Annabel soon discovered that managing her unique leisure enterprise brought her far less satisfaction than conceiving the idea and seeing it through to its physical manifestation. "I grew more and more disheartened by what I termed the "loo-paper" syndrome," she recalls. The tedious details like working out precisely how much "loo paper" (toilet paper) would be required by X number of visitors and a whole range of other dreary chores which go hand in hand with managing a major attraction." Ultimately she could stand it no longer, and sold the Dungeon to Sir Fred Pontin in 1984.

The Dungeon was taken over a short while later by Yorkshire entrepreneur Don Robinson, who recruited Annabel to carry out a feasibility study of premises for a second Dungeon attraction at Clifford Street in York. That Dungeon, a much smaller and more compact version of its London counterpart, has now been trading successfully for 16 years. Annabel has gone on to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle in a large house in Wiltshire, funded by the proceeds of her Dungeon adventures, and provides valuable advice and encouragement now and again to young entrepreneurs with the Princes Trust, a charitable organization set up by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, to help young people (14 - 30-year-olds) to succeed through training, business loans, grants and personal development.

However, she never forgot those media commentators who heralded her enterprise with almost unanimous scorn and has taken great delight in seeing the Dungeon mature into one of the most popular attractions in London, now luring around 700,000 visitors per annum from all over the world.

The London Dungeon bares little resemblance to the attraction when it first opened. Successive owners have each added their own embellishments, and in recent years Merlin has launched a range of spectacular new features.

Tour Of London Dungeon
The scene is set even before visitors cross a huge, forbidding threshold, a warning writ large above the doors. "Abandon Hope…All Ye Who Enter Here." Beyond the admission desk every visitor finds his or her neck resting on a convenient chopping block for the souvenir photograph, an optional purchase at the end of the visit. Their first treat is a macabre assembly of torture and execution implements in the Crime and Punishment section. This first feature is introduced by a Dungeon actor - usually in the guise of a Newgate prison jailer, a gruff, authoritarian figure, who introduces another actor in the guise of either torturer or prisoner, to describe the dreaded implements themselves.

Among scene after scene of carnage, torture and disease on display are thumbscrews and the water torture. Here the prisoner is forced to consume vast quantities of water making their stomachs swell and bloat. Perhaps worst of all…the rat torture. Here a rat was placed in a cage rested on the abdomen of a restrained prisoner and hot coals placed on top of the cage, forcing the rat to try and tunnel its way to safety into the soft flesh of the hapless soul.

Then it is onward to the Wicked Women exhibit, the very latest addition to the Dungeon's dubious delights. This lineup of historic "femmes fatale" illustrates beyond question that the male of the species has not had the monopoly on murder, mayhem and basic wickedness. The selection includes: Boadicea, who massacred around 70,000 Romans and civilians; (In fairness she had been provoked somewhat, having been scourged and her daughters publicly raped), Elizabeth Brownrigg, an 18th Century London midwife who sadistically tortured her young girl apprentices; Mary Ann Cotton, one of the 19th Century's most infamous femme fatales, having allegedly poisoned as many as six husbands and lovers and 15 of her own children. She was hanged in Durham Jail in 1873; Joan of Navarre, Henry IV's wife, who was said to be a witch and to practice necromancy…and two queens: Mary 1st, "Bloody Mary," a devout Catholic who had 283 Protestants burned at the stake during her reign, and Elizabeth 1st, who ordered the execution of many nobles and gentry including, of course, Mary Queen of Scots.

A highlight of the new feature is a special show based on the exploits of highwaywoman Lady Katherine Ferrers, a noblewoman by marriage, addicted to a life of crime who robbed coaches between Sandridge and Wheathampstead for money and jewels, eventually dying of gunshot wounds inflicted by one of her intended victims. Lady Katherine appears in the flesh…portrayed by one or other of the Dungeon actresses, who leaps from hiding in a stagecoach with the command: "Stand and deliver!" She taunts her victims with tales of her exploits and chills them with the revelation that she robs not for money, but for thrills.

Characteristic of the tongue-n-cheek Dungeonsque dark humor, a rogue's gallery of other historical wicked women at the end of the show features Lorena Bobbit and, perhaps the weakest link, Anne Robinson, the acid-tongued hostess of Television's Weakest Link quiz show!

From initial concept through to the unveiling, this newest addition to the London Dungeon , Wicked Women of History was conceived and implemented almost exclusively by one woman, Pamela Piercey. "I hit on the idea while browsing through one of those popular 'Horrible History' books," explains Pamela. "I realized there had been so many evil queens and other ruthless females in British history that it would be a great theme for a special Dungeon display." Drawing up a short-list of candidates, she then pared it down, with the help of colleagues, to the most horrible half-dozen. Each figure is depicted in authentic surrounds, and cunning devices as well as actors areemployed to bring the scenes disturbingly to life. The cradle over which Mary Ann Cotton dangles one of her defenseless offspring, rocks gently to and fro by means of a tiny hidden motor while the nursery rhymes "Rock A Bye Baby" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" are chanted hauntingly over an echoing audio system. "I used some of the older disused mannequins, repairing and altering them where necessary," said Pamela, "and made the costumes from scratch using history books for reference." The project took a month from start to finish, "It was hard work," admits Pamela, "but the positive reaction of visitors makes it all worthwhile…and Anne Robinson generally gets a good laugh right at the end."

Any laughter over Anne's inclusion soon fades away however, as visitors find themselves cast in the role of sinners in an 18th Century courtroom. A somber judge deals out the death penalty to one and all, for crimes as heinous as wearing "too loud a tie," or "having a hideous hairdo!" The condemned patrons file through a series of jail cells on the way to the dreaded Judgment Day boat ride. After entering the barge, the condemned sail through "Traitor's Gate" (the prisoner's entrance to the dreaded Tower of London). In a pitch-dark tunnel, the listing barge hesitates and the voices of soldiers are heard. "Ready, aim, fire!" With a muzzle flash it becomes all too apparent that the target of this firing squad is you! Suddenly the barge tips backward and rushes in reverse down a hill and into the river Styx, splashing down the dimly lit underground canal punctuated with corpses and rats and an assortment of scary surprises.

Survivors of this ordeal congratulate themselves as they disembark the boats, only to be ushered down the shadowy streets of a late 19th Century area of London known as Whitechapel; the haunt of the most famous of all serial killers, Jack The Ripper. Patrons follow Jack's bloody trail, encountering each of his victims, and even glimpsing a silhouetted Jack in the act of murdering his final victim Mary Kelly. Finally, they visit the mortuary where Inspector Abbeline discusses the various prime suspects with the pathologist. The faces of the chief candidates appear projected onto wooden paneling above the heads of the pair at the mortuary table. A narrator details the evidence against each of them…his voice growing steadily more tense as the accompanying music climbs to a frenzied pitch. Then with a sudden warning that the assembly has disturbed the restless spirit of Jack himself, the name Jack The Ripper appears written in blood on the wooden panels, which suddenly part as a ball of scorching flame sears the air.

The final section of the attraction recreates the incredible Great Fire of London. The blaze that began in a baker's hut turned into an inferno that destroyed half the city in 1666. Dungeon actors in disconcertingly realistic disguise as plague victims usher the nervous crowd through a revolving flame-licked trommel (a revolving cylindrical sieve used for screening rock) to escape the blaze.

At last the ordeal is almost over and the patrons escape with their lives into the Dungeon gift shop, stocking every conceivable sinister souvenir from rhyming curses to glowing skulls, and where better to enjoy a reviving drink than the Dungeon's own Blood and Guts Café?

Mark Oakley is Head of public relations for Merlin Entertainments Group. Originally from Lancashire, where he spent 10 years in journalism, Mark joined a PR consultancy promoting events ranging from Manchester Airport's Golden Jubilee celebration to the musical Cats. He is married with a 16-year-old daughter and lives close to the New Forest in Dorset, England. Contact via Merlin Entertainments Ltd by e-mail at markoakley@merlin-entertainments.com.

Merlin Entertainments Group Limited
In the early 1990's Vardon Plc purchased The London Dungeon (opened in 1975), The York Dungeon, a smaller version of London attraction (opened in 1986), and Sea Life in Oban (opened in 1979), creating the Vardon Attractions division. The final attraction making up the division is the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall, established in 1957 and purchased in 1992. Over the next ten years a number of other Sea Life Centers were developed around the island's coastline. "The London Dungeon is without doubt the jewel in Merlin's crown. Not only is it our biggest attraction and biggest revenue generator, but it is well known throughout Europe and even in the United States," explains Nick Varney. "That popularity has obviously proved a major asset in our expansion of the Dungeon brand with new attractions in Edinburgh and Hamburg." No other attraction in the area offers quite the same combination of historic horror, up-to-the-minute special effects and tongue-in-cheek theatrical performance.

In 1998 Vardon changed strategies to concentrate on a Health and Fitness division, putting the Attraction division up for sale. This culminated in the management buyout of Merlin Entertainments Group Limited in January 1999. Core to its present business are the Sea Life and Dungeon brands, which between them generate a profit of £7 million annually, establishing Merlin as the market leader in the UK and a major force throughout continental Europe. In August 1999 a new Management Contracts division was launched with contracts including the Wedgwood Visitor Centre at Barlaston, Staffordshire.

Merlin opened The Hamburg Dungeon, a 1700 square meter (18,292 square feet) attraction in 2000, followed by its newest £5 million installation, The Edinburgh Dungeon, in 2001. This new Dungeon is located in the catacombs beneath the Edinburgh City train station and will showcase a veritable rogues' gallery of Scottish historical villains, from the cannibal family of Sawney Bean to the body snatchers Burke and Hare, including a cast of live Ghouls and an array of torture implements. The climax of the attraction features a terrifying Witchfinder boat ride experience, filled with-state-of-the-art special effects. "The new development is a major breakthrough in interactive and dramatic leisure entertainment," said Joseph Mann, marketing executive for APW Group in Suffolk, the fabrication contractor for the project. "We are naturally determined to continue to develop [the Dungeon concept] in the future with fresh features and innovations to ensure its continued success," explains Varney.

Pamela Piercey A 28-year-old from Lewisham Way, New Cross, Pamela Piercey, has been with the Dungeon since 1995 and recalls how the attraction has evolved. "It was a lot more gory and lot less tongue-in-cheek back then," she recalls, "and I remember thinking it was actually pretty horrible." With a degree in fashion design from Nottingham's Trent University, plus earlier artistic qualifications from Berkshire College of Art & Design and Amersham College, Pamela was staging fashion and art shows in her home town High Wycombe; but Pamela's artistic appetite was not sated, and she wasted no time applying for the post of Dungeon displays assistant when she saw it advertised in a theatrical newspaper.

After hiring on with the Dungeon, Pamela's role encompassed every aspect of display maintenance from the repair and renewal of costumes to painting of sets and text panels…and soon grew to include the creation of occasional special displays. "There are very few national or even international institutions that the Dungeon is not prepared to take a cheeky side-swipe at," she explains, "and consequently someone came up with the idea a few years ago of hosting a seasonal "Satan's Grotto," a horror themed Christmas event held in the Dungeon's meeting facility. "All I did for the first such event was make a horror Christmas tree," recalls Pamela. "Bedecked with all manner of grisly items from severed fingers to dangling eyeballs." The Satan's Grotto event appealed to the off-the-wall appetites of Dungeon clientele, and has now expanded to incorporate evil elves and pixies, slow-roasting robins and…well, you may not want to know!

Satan's Grotto was such a huge hit, it was not long before other holidays like Valentine's Day and Halloween were explored. Pamela hatched all kinds of hocus pocus for her Halloween exhibition. A witch's den complete with bubbling cauldron, bats, mice, frogs and novel spells for visitors to choose from and have "cast" by the resident hag.

Pamela doesn't find the London Dungeon quite so horrible any more, and has no plans to move on. "I've done a little bit of film and stage work in my spare time," she Pamela who painted the watchtowers for the film Enemy At The Gate. Each of the six towers took a whole day to paint and then they blew them up. "I could be happy doing that sort of stuff all the same, but for now I'm happy with my wicked women and all those other unsavory characters at the Dungeon."

My work encourages all forms of Fearapy - theatrical experiments in Fear - that allow my patients to meet, greet and become friends with their own personal Fears.