Six months after I’ve relocated to London, I’m still playing tourist and joining so many tours around the city. The thing is, London is interesting and beautiful on its own but a deeper look to it past its external facade lies so many interesting stories which for me makes this city all the more interesting(, gruesome) and beautiful.
I’m obsessed with city tours specially here in London as there’s just so much history and stories to uncover in each corner, each building and each square mile. The most recent tour that I’ve taken was the Murder Mile Walk, a walking tour covering one mile of Soho full of interesting stories about the murders which happened in each places we visited.
Why murder? One might ask. Why would I be interested to know about the gruesome murders which happened in London? A huge part of London’s history is about murders. I guess murder stories play a major role as well in the daily lives of people back then, so much so that fictional characters were invented in the forms of Jack The Ripper and Sweeney Todd. (Or are they real?)
Unlike any other tours out there, Murder Mile Walk only shows you the facts and not fiction. It also only includes the buildings which look like how it was when the murder happened which made me like it even more. Our tour guide Michael spent a huge deal of researching about the places, the murderers and the victims included in this tour. Based on the information and details he gave us about each sites, he really did his homework extremely well.
Having had no knowledge about Murder Mile Walk prior to taking it, I seriously thought that it’ll be all about Jack The Ripper or Sweeney Todd but then Michael immediately killed that idea before the tour even started. He’s not going to talk about fictional characters or ghosts he said, he will instead talk about murders which ACTUALLY happened and the murderers with their real names and photos and not just an alias.
I took the Murder Mile Walk on a Sunday at 11 in the morning, I sure didn’t expect that I’d be spending that Sunday talking about mutilation, murderers bathing in blood of their victims, bodies cut into pieces stuffed under the floor boards of a second floor apartment or internal organs flushed down the toilet. Some stories Michael told us was just too gruesome that all of us participants were just standing there not saying anything after he finished the story – we were all in shock of what we’ve just heard.
Murder Mile Walk was very interesting but it’s probably not for the faint of hearts. What’s more interesting though is how Michael presented the tour itself in a very theatrical way. He will for sure keep you on your toes as you wait for the next murder that he will talk about. In short, Murder Mile Walk isn’t boring at all. I highly recommend it for people who have grown tired of the normal London city tours and would like to know more about the gory, murderous and gruesome side of the city.
Photo from Murder Mile Walks Facebook page
Murder Mile Walk
Every Sunday at 11am from October to April
Every Saturday & Sunday at 11am from May to September
Meeting point: Tottenham Court Road Exit 1
£15 per person but if you book it through this Funzing link, you’ll get a £5 discount.
Website
Disclaimer: The Funzing link included in this post is not an affiliate link. For any event or tour that you’ll book through this link, you’ll get a £5 discount and I will receive a credit of the same value.
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Your headline got me. Such an intriguing headline. I totally agree with you that London is huge and the best way to explore it is through walking tours.
Well Well Well, this sounds pretty amazing. I would love to do that someday! but not specially any soon after what just happened in London Yesterday.
I’ve never done a murder tour:)
That must be very interesting and the price is surprisingly doable.
This tour sounds aces, I’m so interested in the macabre side of London’s history. I did the Jack the Ripper Tour when I lived there. Will look into doing this on a return visit. I’m rather glad they don’t conduct the tours solely at night!
A really great review and one that, while highlighting how much fun the murder mile is, it didn’t spoil any surprises! I’ve actually been on this walk before and it is a great day/night and the guides are all very professional, not only in how they present the history but also their showmanship which really is part of the experience. Anyway, great post and I hope you’ve managed to convince a few readers to give the murder mile walk a go, they really won’t regret it
Such a good review! I’ve been wanting to do this specific walk for a while now as a local, but haven’t managed it. I will change that right now! I’d definitely recommend a Sherlock walk if you haven’t done one in London yet, as you’ll see lots of things that the books are based on!
The history in London is so fascinating. Every building, nook and cranny has a story – and I love hearing the gruesome ones! I think I read too many horrible histories as a child! It sounds like a really well put together tour where the organisers have researched and fact-checked – to be informative instead of just making a quick buck. Good for them! I hope everyone who goes on the tour has a strong stomach – talking about this stuff before midday could be challenging for some!
Also, Jack the Ripper and the crimes he committed were real. They just never discovered who he was.
Sounds like a fascinating tour and an interesting way to learn about a place and the events that shaped it. And sounds like Michael was the perfect presenter for it! Between all the small town murder shows, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, etc., it does seem like murder plays a big role (fact and fiction) in British society.
Your images are fantastic, so big and so clear and detailed, I feel like I am in the photo! There is a murder mile walk here in Yorkshire too (the north) but it is a steep slope! This is an interesting way to spend a Sunday morning, learning about murders in the city, I didn’t know Sweeney Todd was a true story!
Wow that sounds like a fun activity to do when in London. I love to get background information. And London seems to have a lot of hidden gems. I love the quality of your pics as well 🙂
That’s the best part about European cities like London, there is such much history and so much to learn. The Murder Mile Walk sounds like an interesting way to spend a few hours. I think Jack the Ripper was a real serial killer whom they weren’t able to catch. But it would be interesting to hear a Londoner’s take on him.