The most paranormally active site connected with the Jack the Ripper crimes is that of 29 Hanbury Street, scene of the murder of Annie Chapman, which took place in the backyard of the house on the 8th of September 1888.
The house itself was demolished in 1970, and this former brewery building now stands on its site.
THE GHOSTS OF HANBURY STREET
Martin Fido, writing in the book City Walks of London, published in 1989, wrote of this modern building:-
“It is one of London’s most haunted buildings.. Local people have reported seeing Annie Chapman’s ghost…But in the brewery building she now has more company than she did when Hanbury Street was a row of shops and houses. Ghosts of monks and nuns are seen in parts of the building where an old monastery and convent once stood. And the boardroom strikes deathly cold to the psychic, no matter what the thermometer reads.”
MR THOMAS’S EXPERIENCE
Peter Underwood recounted how he had spoken with several people who remembered the house, and who were convinced that the immediate vicinity of Number 29 was haunted.
A man named Thomas, who lived in the street, told how, when he was a young man, he had been passing number 29 one night when he heard sounds of a struggle and muffled voices and the sound of panting coming from the doorway that led to the backyard of the premises.
Looking through the open door, he could see nothing, although he could still hear the sounds.
THE SOUNDS IN THE YARD
So, he made his way through the short passage to investigate, and, standing on the top step, he looked down at the spot where Annie Chapman’s body had lain.
It was completely deserted, although he could still hear the sounds, emanating from the very spot that he was looking at.
A GASPING FOR BREATH
Peter Underwood continues the story:-
“There was a gasping for breath, a heavy breathing sound, and as he stood there he felt the hair on the back of his neck rising. After a moment or two the sounds ceased and he heard a dragging or swishing sound, still seemingly from the same area, and then silence. He waited another moment or two but heard nothing further and he walked back through the passage and made his way home.”
MR. CHAPMAN’S PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
There was also a resident who lived opposite number 29, who claimed to have seen two figures entering the doorway of the house.
The man’s name was Mr. Chapman, although he was not, he said, related to the victim.
One morning, when he was required to be at work early, he had pulled back one of his bedroom curtains to check the weather, when he saw the couple step in through the doorway.
The man wore a rather tall hat with a wide brim, whilst the woman was dressed in a very long skirt.
The couple were gone almost as soon as he saw them.
HIS NEXT SIGHTINGS
He saw them again the next morning, as he was leaving for work, this time walking along the opposite side of the street towards the house.
As he closed his front food, they turned into the doorway of number 29, Hanbury Street and were gone.
He saw them again about a month later, when they went about the now familiar routine of stepping into the doorway of number 29, although this time he realised that the door was actually closed and the figures appeared to have melted into it.
THE FINAL SIGHTING
Mr. Chapman saw the ghostly figures on two further occasions, the last being when he was walking along Hanbury Street with his brother, Bob, who was staying with him for a time.
Suddenly he noticed the couple on the opposite side of the street, apparently in an animated conversation, walking towards number 29, on arrival at which they both disappeared through the door.
Nudging his brother he asked if he had seen them, only to receive the reply that Bob had seen nobody, although he did think he had heard the sound of footsteps on the opposite pavement.
That was the last time Mr. Chapman saw the mysterious couple.
SOUNDS OF A MURDEROUS ATTACK
Elliott O’Donnell collected several accounts of unexplained screams, sounds of a murderous attack and light, running footsteps being heard in Hanbury Street between the year of the murder up until about the start of 1930s.
He even offered the explanation that they were what he considered temporary ghosts who were visible under certain conditions for a limited period, “almost as though a battery or whatever enabled them to appear, had run down or become worn out.”
WILLIAM STEWART’S EXPERIENCE
William Stewart, whilst working on his book Jack The Ripper A New Theory, published in 1939, took a photograph of the front of 29 Hanbury Street.
On developing it, he was somewhat taken aback to see a woman in Victorian working class clothes, looking from one of the windows. She certainly hadn’t been there when he took the photo, and the clothing she was wearing was that of a previous age. He sent the image to the Psychical Research Society, but they were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the woman in the window.
PARANORMALLY ACTIVE
It would appear that 29 Hanbury Street and its immediate surroundings were paranormally active in days gone by, and continued to be so up to as recently as the 1980s.