Haunted Bench Project

@hauntedbench75.bsky.social

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🪦 Ghostly & macabre legends of #Harrow & district. #HauntedHarrow #HarrowWeald #HauntedBenches #parkphantoms #cemeteryspectres #gardenshedghosts & c. #pulp #horror & supernatural fiction; stuff like that. Tower Hamlets also features quite a lot. 💀

St Mary's church & the lychgate, Harrow on the Hill
Grinning fiend in batmask and mouldering cowled robe brandishing for skulls on a pole. Illustration © Allen Koszowski
True ghost experience of me, 2022, except I didn't accept it at time, thought it was down to a fierce drunk the previous night. Photo © Alice Darkness shows the approach to the bench referred to (very obscured: it's down from the spire where the grass meets the bushes).
"Anthony's or Weald Farm. was situated opposite the Red Lion. The farm was a childhood home of novelist Anthony Trollope. For many years it was farmed by Bill and Tom Durrant. Then by J. S. Anthony, who ran a large dairy business. You can see one of his carts, with the horse taking a drink from the pond at the junction of Weald Lane."
Ramsey Campbell: essays on everything, ever.
Curtis Senf's painting of a lapper mithered by a not great bat adorns the cover of Mr Jones' second volume of 'Weird Tales.'
Blurry cover image featuring Pete Townsend & Roger Daltry leaning on a wall outside the Railway Hotel, Wealdstone.
The Circle of Lebanon, Highgate Cemetery looking all great. Photo Marion Bondage.
Cover of 'Terror in the Bedroom vol 1'. Illustration. #ChrissieDemant
Cover of Jan Bondeson's 'Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of our most Primal Fear' (Norton & Co, 2001) featuring Antoine Wiertz's terrifying painting.
A Sandra Gomez painting depicting a fluorescent skeleton adorns the cover of Mike Ashley's 'Danse Macabre.'
Paul Frame cover painting for 'The Hardy Boys: Ghost Stories' depicts a scarecrow coming on all scary toward one ace investigator whose brother runs to the rescue.
Australian Ghost Stories (Wordsworth Editions, 2010)
Don't Look Now Not After Midnight A Border-line Case The Way Of The Cross A Breakthrough Blurb: A married couple on holiday in Venice caught up in a sinister train of supernatural events.... A middle-aged schoolmaster is strangely impelled to investigate a repulsive American and his mysterious wife ... A confident young actress loses her cool when she confronts her father's old friend on a lonely island ... An ill-assorted party of pilgrims from Little Bletford meets disaster in Jerusalem when the Vicar succumbs to 'flu... A dedicated scientist abandons his scruples when tries to tap the energy of the unconscious mind... Five short stories which illustrate once again the unique du Maurier blend of sympathy and suspense.
Robert Bloch, 'Psycho II' Warners, Sept 1982. Cover art Franco Accanera, depicts a screaming nun (she has good reason)
A scary fanged fellow adorns the cover of Basil Copper's 'The Vampire: In Legend, Fact & Art' (Corgi, 1975)
Cover of Jan Bondeson's 'Queen Victoria's Stalker' reproduces an illustration from a contemporary songsheet depicting 'Boy' Jones snooping on her majesty's conversation with a minister.
Cover painting, murky colors, depicting a man with knife protruding from back laid face down before fireplace.
Haunted Benchland, May Supplement available on request. Shouldn't bother if I were you.
Charming illo of a wooly sheep before a signpost. Top board "Summer Fayre." lower board "Spitalfields City Farm", hanging from which "31 May 2026 10-5 pm" Written across sheep: "Sheep shearing, kids activities, market, live music, free entry."
Does the ghost of a medieval Earl haunt East Barnet and Hadley Woods? And what is his link with the enigmatic Knights Templars? What is the secret of mysterious Camelot Moat in Trent Park - is it the real site of Arthur's Camelot? And is Monken Hadley the most haunted village in England? Local historian and archaeologist Jennie Lee Cobban explores the occult mysteries of the Barnet area, delves into its hidden history and brings to life some of the bizarre characters who have lived in this most surprising of London's suburbs.
Police hunt owner of giant nightmare clown THE owner of a terrifying clown puppet is being sought by police. The spooky 7ft marionette, with wild red hair, hollow eye sockets and a clown costume, has baffled cops in Massachusetts. Officers posted: 'If this belongs to you or if you recognise it from your nightmares, contact us to arrange pick-up. - Metro, 29 May 2026
Still from 'Last days of Trolley bus 666.' 'Gorgo' on at a cinema near you.
The sad story of the ghost on the roundabout
Cover of 'Haunted Benchland' supplement; main illustration, a reproduction of a painting by Aksel Johannessen depicting a woman beneath a tree stood beside a bench.
Dan Cullen, Columbine, dismantles the romantic myths surrounding the "bullied" perpetrators of the attempted bombing of the school and subsequent shooting spree.
Charming street scene. "A nineteenth-century painting of Jack-in-the-Green, by an unknown artist." Cover painting.
Cover of Vanishing Hitchhiker's Graveside Companion 1, Nov 2025. Illustrations. A ghostly figure hitching a lift. 'Resurrection Mary' and friends
Mark Rees, Ghosts of Wales: Accounts from the Victorian Archives. 'Wild Wales' cover illo, depicting skull moon glaring down across the valley at young woman, presumably a ghost, by Sandra Evans.
Maria Marten looking glam on cover of 'Murder in the Red Barn Bedside Companion' Vol 2. Logo Chrissie Demant & Gloomy Sundae.
Gorgeous Sam Pfeff cover art for 'Haunted Houses.' Lights on atop a creepy decrepit house, bats, gate off hinges, etc.
Cover of Peter Haining's 'Buried Passions.' Cover image a woodcut depicting the discovery of Maria's corpse in the barn mounted on a lurid pink background.
The bench of love.
'Charlie'
Dustjacket photo depicting a burning white candle whose flame is flickering in the ghostly breeze. Not exactly imaginative but infinitely preferable to shutterstock or AI if you want my honest.
Cover illo. Jim Pitts' imagines "what goes on in the playing fields after dark."
Cover depicts a seated Lord Probert fixing you with an evil smile from the television screen (TV is a proper one in a wooden cabinet, four legs, etc.
Front cover, 'Buried Passions: Maria Marten & the Red Barn Murder,' Neville Spearman, 1980. Woodcut Illustration depicts three men in hats exhuming the victim's body.
Cover of Murder in Red Barn Bedside Companion dominated by still of Tod Slaughter performing the dirty deed
Back cover: detail from the cover illustration plus blurb. "You'll love this book. It's instructive. It's fascinating!"
Book cover depicts Victorian / Edwardian (I think) lonely hears on a background of love hearts.
Goth Soc ephemera. Heroine and her maid in peil!
Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn (John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1943), introduced & edited by Montagu Slater. Charming cover illustration depicts the dastardly Corder shooting dead his lover.
Enigmatic Tales cover art by Iain Maynard depicting several horribly scrunged faces, and what appears to be a couple enjoying a 'torture! tor-ture! It pleasures me!' moment.
Cover of Mudflaps fanzine. Blurry illustration of a cyclist outpacing a ghost rider.
A cloaked vampire shapes to bite her latest lover.
Just as Vicky settles down to read her book on 'Witches', rotten Mum nags her to tidy her room. But what's this? When Vicky squeezes a plastic bottle, out pops the Bubble Imp!
Hungry Horace & Keyhole Kate playfully span with Puss & Boots glove puppets.
Illustration based on a lost portrait of the Croglin Vampire which once hung in 'The Robin Hood' pub.