Haunted houses- 50 Berkley square, London

50 Berkley square (London)
50 Berkley square located in Berkley square, Mayfair, Central London is reportedly one of the most haunted townhouses in London. People believed that the attic of the house was the most creepy place with a lot of occurences but a lot of people credited those occurences to the wierd owner who used to sleep during day and wake up at night. It is still believed that women kind of evil lurks within the walls of the house. There is a story of a man who moved into the house along with his teenage daughters. The elder daughter immediately started complaining of a strange musty smell that according to her was of animals in cages at the zoo.




Once the elder daughter’s fiance was due to visit so the housemaid was told to clean the upstairs room for him. As soon as she went up there, the family members heard a terrified scream. When they went to check, she was collapsed on the floor muttering “don’t let it touch me. Even after the incident the girl’s fiance decided to stay in the same room. He went upstairs and locked the room, 30 minutes later everyone heard him scream, followed by a gunshot. He was found dead, his face twisted in horror. There was another man who was skeptical. He told the other occupants before going to bed that at night if he were to ring the bell once, they should ignore it but if the rings the bell twice they should come to his aid. At midnight they heard the bell once and ignored it, soon after the bell started to ring furiously, they ran to his room to find him in absolute terror. He died shortly afterwards.


There are several legends relating to the house. It is believed that the attic of the house is haunted by the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide there. She is capable of frightening people to death. Another story is that the attic is haunted by a spirit of a little girl who was murdered there by a servant. In 1872, lord lyttleton stayed in the attic with his shotgun. At night he reportedly fired at the apparition. In the morning he could only find the cartridges. In 1887 it was alleged that two sailors from HMS Penelope stayed there. One of them was found dead and the other was driven insane.
Recently there has been no reports of any paranormal activity and a family lives there.

Robert the haunted doll




You probably might have heard about annabelle the doll, well this story is of equally creepy but slightly lesser known doll Robert.
Apparently this doll served as an inspiration for movies about chucky.



History

The doll originally belonged to Robert eugene, who belonged to a prominent family in the key West. The doll was bought by his grandfather from Germany in 1904 and it remained in his family home even after Robert eugene died in 1974.


Early signs
As a child Robert became infatuated with the doll and gave the doll his own name. He changed his own name to Gene and when his mother asked him why he has changed his own name, he replied” because Robert said so”.(the doll). One night Gene woke up to find Robert sitting on his bed staring at him. He started screaming, his mother came running and with much difficulty opened his room’s locked door to find Gene curled up in fear, his room in shambles and Robert the doll sitting on the foot of his bed.


The hauntings

Gene became blaming Robert for all the mishaps around the house. Gene’s parents would hear him talking to the doll and apparently hearing the doll giggling in response. Sightings of Robert running up and down the stairs and looking down from windows became a regular affair. Robert was locked up in the attic, soon people began hearing footsteps like something or someone pacing back and forth and giggling from the attic. Sometimes Gene would find the doll back in his room sitting by the window. In fact everytime the doll was locked in the attic, it came back into his room somehow. The family moved to France leaving Robert the doll behind in the attic.




The Eventful Reunion

Years later, Gene returned to live in his childhood home with his wife. He found Robert again and started playing with it. Gene would take Robert everywhere and would also talk to the doll for hours. His childhood obsession with the doll started again leaving his wife worried for his mental health.
In 1974,Gene was found dead in his attic with Robert on top of him, it’s small hands around his neck.


Aftermath

After that Gene’s wife leased the house and moved back to France. The new owners found the doll and gave it to their child. One day they woke up to find Robert in their room sitting atop a kitchen knife. Their kid was also creeped out of the doll.

They donated the doll to Fort East Marcello Museum where it remains to this day. The doll is believed to be evil,possed by a demon. Some other people belive it to be cursed by Otto family’s caretaker using black magic. However, still a lot of fans pop up at the Museum everyday to get a look at the doll.



Folklore and creatures- Skinwalker


SKINWALKERS



Skinwalkers are humanoid creatures. They are known for shapeshifting i.e. they can transform into animals or humans to decieve a person. They are also known to mimic sounds of its last victims to lure people out.
In “navajo” culture, skinwalkers refers to a type of witch who has the ability to turn into, possess or disguise themselves as an animal or humans. In the navajo langauge, they call it “yee naaldlooshii” which translates to” By means of it, it goes on all fours”. The legend of skinwalkers is not much understood outside of the Navajo culture because they are reluctant to talk about skinwalkers to non-navajo people. Even taking the name amongst themselves is considered a bad omen. Non native stories about skinwalkers are only partial encounters while trekking in forests or driving through the country.
Sometimes though if a person comes across the skinwalkers once, they might follow these people forever. Stories related to skinwalkers mostly come from from North America and its not really uncommon if one spots a skinwalkers as there have been a lot of alleged sightings.


Image- Reddit


If one comes across a skinwalker they have to get themselves blessed.
Apparently there’s a way to distinguish between a skinwalker diguised or transformed into some other person or animal and that real person or animal. You can sometimes tell by only looking at them as although these skinwalkers can transform but they can’t perfectly transform, like a transformed animal might have a tail missing or it might have human eyes. Sometimes you can’t even point out the difference but you would feel that there is something wrong with that person or animal, like their movements might look really robotic.