50 BERKELEY SQUARE “The Most Haunted House in London

I. BACKGROUND

            I choose this topic about 50 Berkeley Square because I’m just curious about the most haunted house in London. So, I’m looking for the source in the article by internet to expose the truth of the story. For the last few months I have been researching the history of No. 50, Berkeley Square - better known to Victorian Londoners as the home of the 'Nameless Horror. There were reports of "supernatural" noises coming from the house, which was often empty and deserted for long periods.

More than 100 years ago, something terrible happened in Berkeley Square. Jessie Middleton in her Grey Ghost Book wrote that a little Scots girl in a kilt haunted the house. The child was supposed to have been tortured to death in the top-most room of the house. Another of Jessie's stories suggests a girl called Adeline jumped from the top floor window to escape from her lecherous Uncle and since has haunted that room.

Horror on the second floor

In that year, Sir Robert Warboys new 20-year-old heard the rumors about the building was haunted. Raised as a scholar, Warboys despise rumors and looked at only as an urban legend. Warboys colleagues who disagree with that view immediately challenged him to spend the night on the second floor of the building. With arrogance, he accepted the challenge. “After successfully convincing the guard building, Warboys given a room on the second floor, just above the guard room”.
Later, the room will be referred to as one of the most haunted room in the UK.

Then Warboys climbed into the bedroom armed with a pistol and a candle.

Forty-five minutes later, the guard woke up from sleep. He heard a noise in the room upstairs, the rooms are inhabited Warboys. A few seconds later, a gunshot sounded. With haste, he immediately got up and ran toward the top. Arriving at the door of the room, he immediately broken open by force.What he saw will never forget for life.

Conditions in the room was almost unchanged. However, at the corner of a dimly lit room, Sir Robert Warboys motionless clutching his pistol that still smoke. He was not dead anymore!

What is more appalling is the facial expression of Warboys. His teeth were tightly shut, and his eyes bulging as if to jump out of her skull. Looks like he had seen something terrible that has killed him instantly. There are no clues about what has caused Warboys died tragically. The guards just found a hole in the wall due to a bullet fired from the gun. What has been shot? What is certain "something" horrible.
Some twenty years later, "something" that comes back. This time, he was seen by witnesses who are alive!

II. HISTORY

50 Berkeley Square is a reportedly on haunted town house Berkeley Square in Mayfair, in the West End of London. In the 1900s it became known as "The Most Haunted House in London."

Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square was a nickname given to the mysterious entity that seen in the 18th century and 19 in a Victorian era building named 50 Berkeley Square in the UK.

The building is haunted. The story of this mystery centers on a housing complex called Berkeley Square. Berkeley Square Complex, built in 1740 by an architect named William Kent. This complex was once the residence of prominent figures, among them Winston Churchill 48, who lives in the building. Then, George Canning, British prime minister in 1827. He lived in the building No.50. And in this building, this mystery begins. During the subsequent Victorian Era, it was the location of reported apparitions, screams and noises. After the death of its ninety-year-old occupant in 1859, the house

Was unoccupied until 1880.

No one knows exactly when and how the building earned a reputation haunted. However, strange events that accompany this building actually began in the late 1700s. It is said that according to legend, a daughter who lived in the building murdered by a sadist by caregivers. The ghost of the

 little girl often seen crying on the floor above. But only in 1840, this building successfully built its reputation became one of the most feared building in the UK.

According to Charles Harper in his book Haunted Houses, published in 1913. The haunted house in Berkeley Square was long, one of those things that no country cousin come up from the provinces to London on sightseeing bent, ever willingly missed.

Harper goes on to say that “But truth to tell, its exterior is now a trifle disappointing to the casual seeker after horrors. Viewed in the afternoon sunshine with a milkman delivering the usual half pint, or quart, as the case may be, is just as respectably commonplace as any other house of similar late Georgian period, and even at the weird stroke of 12, when the midnight policeman comes and thrusts a burly shoulder against the front-door, and tries the area-gate or flashes a gleam over the kitchen windows from his bulls-eye, there is nothing at all hair-raising about it”.

But there was a time, Harper continues “When number 50 wore an exceedingly uncared for appearance. Soap, paint, and whitewash were unused for years, and grime clung to brickwork and Windows alike. The area was choked with wasted hand-bills, wisps of straw, and all the accumulations that speedily made a derelict London house. The very picture of misery; and every passing stranger stopped the first errand-boy, and asked various questions, to which the answer was, generally, "haunted house" or if the question happened to be "Who lives there?" the obvious reply was "Ghostesses..."

It should noted, however, that Harper himself, begins his article with the warning that "the house is no longer haunted, nor even empty."

He goes on to say that "there are those who declare it was never haunted, and that the story "...was, indeed, invented by a popular novelist of years ago.."

Harper's dismissal notwithstanding, the house certainly acquired something of a sinister reputation and visitors to London still make the pilgrimage to Berkeley Square to seek out what they often refer to as "the most haunted house in London."

Number 50 Berkeley Square was once the home of George Canning, a former Prime Minister, until his death in 1827. It was then leased by a Miss Curzon, who lived in it up to her death at the ripe old age of 90.

It was then occupied by a Mr. Myers and it was with his tenancy that the house's sinister reputation apparently began.

The story goes the was due to be married and had furnished the house in a manner befitting his forthcoming and changing domestic circumstances. But, shortly before the wedding, his bride to be jilted him and the heartbroken Myers became a recluse

he moved into a tiny room at the top of the building where, alone with his memories, he lived day after day never seeing a living soul and only ever coming out at night to walk through the rooms by candlelight.

The flickering flame of the candle cast a dull glow from the house's Windows by night as he drifted from room to room.

In 1873 the local council sued him for failing to pay his rates. He failed to appear in court but the magistrate excused him on account of the fact the house in which he lived was known as ”the haunted house”.

Berkeley Square - Present
Since 1938 until now, the ground floor of Berkeley Square building has been used as a rare bookstore called Maggs Brothers.

Although there are no more sightings were reported over the past few decades, it should be noted that the bookstore employees were not allowed to go upstairs. According to them, since the 1950s, police have put a warning sign on the wall inside the building.The warning mentions that the top floor of the building may not be used, even for warehouse though.

Although in a case like this it is difficult to separate truth from legend, one likely reason that there have been no recent encounters with this beast is the fact that (if this creature indeed has oceanic roots) it has, in all likelihood, returned to the fathomless depths of the sea, or — more chillingly — it and its offspring may still be lurking in the labyrinth of centuries old tunnels, which weave their way beneath Great Briton’s capitol city, feeding on rats, waiting to crawl back up from the sewer to claim more human victims.

Anak yang mencoret mobil ayahnya (Renungan)

Sepasang suami isteri – seperti pasangan lain di kota-kota besar meninggalkan anak-anak diasuh pembantu rumah sewaktu bekerja. Anak tunggal pasangan ini, perempuan cantikberusia tiga setengah tahun. Sendirian ia di rumah dan kerap kali dibiarkan pembantunya karena sibuk bekerja di dapur. Bermainlah dia bersama ayun-ayunan di atas buaian yang dibeli ayahnya, ataupun memetik bunga dan lain-lain di halaman rumahnya.

Suatu hari dia melihat sebatang paku karat.Dan ia pun mencoret lantai tempat mobil ayahnya diparkirkan mobil1.jpg, tetapi karena lantainya terbuat dari marmer maka coretan tidak kelihatan. Dicobanya lagi pada mobil baru ayahnya. Ya… karena mobil itu bewarna gelap, maka coretannya tampak jelas. Apalagi anak-anak ini punmembuat coretan sesuai dengan kreativitasnya.

Hari itu ayah dan ibunya bermotor ke tempat kerjamotor.jpgkarena ingin menghindari macet. Setelah sebelah kanan mobil sudah penuh coretan maka ia beralih ke sebelah kiri mobil. Dibuatnya gambar ibu dan ayahnya, gambarnya sendiri, lukisan ayam, kucing dan lain sebagainya mengikut imaginasinya. Kejadian itu berlangsung tanpa disadari oleh sipembantu rumah.

Saat pulang petang, terkejutlah pasangan suami istri itu melihat mobil yang baru setahun dibeli dengan bayaran angsuran yang masih lama lunasnya. Si bapak yang belum lagi masuk ke rumah ini pun terus menjerit, “Kerjaan siapa ini !!!” …. Pembantu rumah yang tersentak engan jeritan itu berlari keluar. Dia juga beristighfar. Mukanya merah adam ketakutan lebih-lebih melihat wajah bengis tuannya. Sekali lagi diajukan pertanyaan keras kepadanya, dia terus mengatakan ‘ Saya tidak tahu..tuan.” “Kamu dirumah sepanjang hari, apa saja yg kau lakukan?” hardik si isteri lagi.

Si anak yang mendengar suara ayahnya,tiba-tiba berlari keluar dari kamarnya. Dengan penuh manja dia berkata “Dita yg membuat gambar itu ayahhh.. cantik …kan!” katanya sambil memeluk ayahnya sambil bermanja seperti biasa.. Si ayah yang sudah hilang kesabaran mengambil sebatang ranting kecil dari pohon di depan rumahnya, terus dipukulkannya berkali-kali ke telapak tangan anaknya. Si anak yang tak mengerti apa apa menagis kesakitan, pedih sekaligus ketakutan. Puas memukul telapak tangan, si ayah memukul pula belakang tangan anaknya.

Sedangkan Si ibu cuma mendiamkan saja, seolah merestui dan merasa puas dengan hukuman yang dikenakan. Pembantu rumah terbengong, tidak tahu harus berbuat apa… Si ayah cukup lama memukul-mukul tangan kanan dan kemudian ganti tangan kiri anaknya. Setelah si ayah masuk ke rumah diikuti si ibu, pembantu rumah tersebut menggendong anak kecil itu, membawanya ke kamar.

Dia terperanjat melihat telapak tangan dan belakang tangan si anak kecil luka-luka dan berdarah. Pembantu rumah memandikan anak kecil itu. Sambil menyiramnya denganair, dia ikut menangis. Anak kecil itu juga menjerit-jerit menahanpedih saat luka-lukanya itu terkena air. Lalu si pembantu rumah menidurkan anak kecil itu. Si ayah sengaja membiarkan anak itu tidur bersama pembantu rumah. Keesokkan harinya, kedua belah tangan si anak bengkak. Pembantu rumah mengadu ke majikannya. “Oleskan obat saja!”jawab bapak si anak.

Pulangdari kerja, dia tidak memperhatikan anak kecil itu yang menghabiskan waktu di kamar pembantu. Si ayah konon mau memberi pelajaran pada anaknya. Tiga hari berlalu, si ayah tidak pernah menjenguk anaknya sementara si ibu juga begitu, meski setiap hari bertanya kepada pembantu rumah. “Dita demam, Bu”…jawab pembantunya ringkas. “Kasih minum panadol aja ,” jawab si ibu. Sebelum si ibu masuk kamar tidur dia menjenguk kamar pembantunya. Saat dilihat anaknya Dita dalam pelukan pembantu rumah, dia menutup lagi pintu kamar pembantunya.

Masuk hari keempat, pembantu rumah memberitahukan tuannya bahwa suhu badan Dita terlalu panas. “Sore nanti kita bawa ke klinik.. Pukul 5.00 sudah siap” kata majikannya itu. Sampai saatnya si anak yang sudah lemah dibawa ke klinik. Dokter mengarahkan agar ia dibawa ke rumah sakit karena keadaannya susah serius. Setelah beberapa hari di rawat inap dokter memanggil bapak dan ibu anak itu. “Tidak ada pilihan..” kata dokter tersebut yang mengusulkan agar kedua tangan anak itu dipotong karena sakitnya sudah terlalu parah dan infeksi akut…”Ini sudah bernanah, demi menyelamatkan nyawanya maka kedua tangannya harus dipotong dari siku ke bawah” kata dokter itu. Si bapak dan ibu bagaikan terkena halilintar mendengar kata-kata itu. Terasa dunia berhenti berputar,tapi apa yg dapat dikatakan lagi.

Si ibu meraung merangkul si anak. Dengan berat hati dan lelehan air mata isterinya, si ayah bergetar tangannya menandatangani surat persetujuan pembedahan. Keluar dari ruang bedah, selepas obat bius yang disuntikkan habis, si anak menangis kesakitan. Dia juga keheranan melihat kedua tangannya berbalut kasa putih. Ditatapnya muka ayah dan ibunya.Kemudian ke wajah pembantu rumah. Dia mengerutkan dahi melihat mereka semua menangis. Dalam siksaan menahan sakit, si anak bersuara dalam linangan air mata. “Ayah.. ibu… Dita tidak akan melakukannya lagi…. Dita tak mau lagi ayah pukul. Dita tak mau jahat lagi… Dita sayang ayah..sayang ibu.”, katanya berulang kali membuatkan si ibu gagal menahan rasa sedihnya. “Dita juga sayang Mbok Narti..” katanya memandang wajah pembantu rumah, sekaligus membuat wanita itu meraung histeris.

“Ayah.. kembalikan tangan Dita. Untuk apa diambil.. Dita janji tidak akan mengulanginya lagi! Bagaimana caranya Dita mau makan nanti ?… Bagaimana Dita mau bermain nanti ?… Dita janji tidak akan mencoret-coret mobil lagi, ” katanya berulang-ulang. Serasa hancur hati si ibumendengar kata-kata anaknya. Meraung-raung dia sekuat hati namun takdir yang sudah terjadi tiada manusia dapat menahannya. Nasi sudah jadi bubur. Pada akhirnya si anak cantik itu meneruskan hidupnya tanpa kedua tangan dan ia masih belum mengerti mengapa tangannya tetap harus dipotong meski sudah minta maaf…Tahun demi tahun kedua orang tua tersebut menahan kepedihan dan kehancuran bathin sampai suatu saat Sang Ayah tak kuat lagi menahan kepedihannya dan wafat diiringi tangis penyesalannya yg tak bertepi…, Namun…., si Anak dengan segala keterbatasan dan kekurangannya tersebut tetap hidup tegar bahkan sangat sayang dan selalu merindukan ayahnya..

  sumber :  http://tettystak.wordpress.com/2008/...mobil-ayahnya/, www.borelist.com