Grim secret of a “haunted house.”
Infant’s body found in chimney.
The grim secret of a “haunted house” has been revealed at Rotherhithe. For 12 years No. 678 Rotherhithe Street has been standing empty. Locally it was known as the “haunted house” owing to strange noises which, it is stated, were heard there. The house shortage apparently overcame the dread with which people in the locality regarded the house, and the first tenant moved in last week. He took the front room on the ground floor, and yesterday afternoon endeavoured to light a fire. He experienced great difficulty in pushing the regulator back. Eventually he succeeded, and then found that the obstruction was caused by a parcel.
On opening it he found to his amazement that it contained the body of a mummified infant. The body is so shrivelled up that it is impossible to ascertain the sex, and it is believed to have been up the chimney as long as the house had been standing empty.
Rotherhithe Street is said to be the longest street in London. It is a mile and a half long, and no trams or ‘buses traverse it. Few Londoners beyond the residents are aware of its existence.
Dundee Courier, 7th November 1921.
[…] The police were called in, and the body was removed to the Rotherhithe Mortuary. The Coroner has been communicated with, and investigations are being made.
North Star (Darlington), 7th November 1921.
“Haunted” house discoveries.
While repairing a stove yesterday at a house in Rotherhithe-road, Bermondsey, a workman found the skeleton of a child in the chimney. The police are investigating the matter. About 18 months ago a similar discovery was made in the same chimney by the same tenant, then just moved in. Locally the house is known as the haunted house and had been empty for some years.
Lancashire Evening Post, 11th June 1924.
The house next door.
About twenty-five years ago there was a “mystery house” in Rotherhithe, rapidly growing more and more deserted. No one could remember who used to live in it. It had been empty for at least twelve years, getting more and more dilapidated. Then the acute need for accomodation led the local authority to see if it could not be repaired and brought back into use. They felt the owner would turn up.
Workmen engaged in the repairs got a shock. Neatly carved out of the chimney was a cavity, and in it the body of a child. The body was past identifying, now was the mystery of how it got there ever solved. It could only be guessed that some tragedy had overtaken the occupants, who had buried the child and fled, leaving no trace. This house, like most abandoned houses, was supposed to be haunted, and the neighbours claimed that after the child was properly buried they were not again troubled by strange noises from next door.
Good Morning, 10th November 1944.