I got inspired to write fictions about haunted locations in London after reading a book called 'Haunted London' by Richard Jones. This is a topic I'm really interested in, and if you feel the same I suggest you order a copy of this book as soon as possible.

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HISTORY

Originally erected outside the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis by Pharaoh Thotmes III in 1450 BC, this mysterious obelisk was moved to Alexandria in 14 BC, hence its association with the legendary Egyptian Queen. It was brought to London in 1878 and has stood proudly on the banks of the River Thames ever since.

It seems to hold a particular attraction to those of a despondent nature, for it is acknowledged that more suicides occur on the reach of the Thames that flows past it than any other part of the river. People passing the column at night have occasionally been startled by the sound of a low moaning that they hear emanating from within the dark granite.Others have spoken of their alarm when a shadowy, naked figure sprints across the riverside terrace and throws itself over the wall towards the river. But no splash is ever heard, and those who go to investigate never see anyone floundering in the water, nor is any body discovered.
- 'Haunted London' by Richard Jones.

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE

”Please finish up your drink, Sir. We’re about to close.”
The old gentleman snorted and finished the rest of his beer in one single sip.
“You’re not gonna throw an old man out in the cold, are you?”
hid her annoyance and took the empty glass off the counter.
“You’re very much welcome back tomorrow Mr. Lewis,” she said and smiled. Mr. Lewis took his hat and turned on his heels. A few seconds later she could hear the door close behind him.
“Johnny, will you close up please?”
She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Johnny rushed past her and to the door. He locked it and then he came up to the counter.
“I’m impressed,” he said. raised an eyebrow.
“Why is that?” she asked. Johnny smiled.
“You seem to know most of the people that come here,” he said. He had started picking up the chairs, organising them for the night.
“I’ve worked here for a year. Most of them are regulars. You get to learn them quite quick if you pay attention,” replied. She finished up the register. Johnny had stopped organising the chairs and was now busy staring her down.
“What?” she asked him, pretending to organise the glasses that had already been organised.
“Nothing,” he just replied and then he continued with the chairs. headed upstairs to put the money in the safe.

“How come you do not live in?” Johnny asked as they stood outside the pub. double checked that it was locked properly.
“I tried it at first. I didn’t like it,” she just said, making it obvious that she didn’t want to discuss the matter any further.
“Well, I’ll be heading upstairs then,” Johnny excused. He waved as he disappeared around the corner and to the back of the building, where the entrance for the staff members were.

Most of the staff members at the Sherlock Holmes Pub lived in. The building was three floors tall and consisted of a cellar, and two floors that was the pub itself. Second floor was made in to a small museum-like tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books about Detective Holmes. Third floor was left for the staff members if they wanted it. could see the light in Johnny’s room come on before she started walking towards home.

The pub was located in Northumberland Street in Covent Garden. ’s flat was located closer to Fleet Street. She usually spent ten to fifteen minutes from the pub and to Fleet Street, but this night it was bound to take longer. This night the fog had swept across all of London and drowned the city in thick grey gravy. She could barely see her own two feet in front of her.

“I should have taken the underground,” she cursed to herself as she came to the embankment. The lamplights shone dimly through the fog. pulled her scarf tighter around her neck.
“Fuck this September weather!”
Usually she enjoyed walking by the river Thames. It looked so beautiful in the dark, with all its lamplights and the reflection in the water. Now that she couldn’t see a thing, the story was different. She continued walking while dreaming about the long hot bath she was gonna take when she got home. All of a sudden she screamed. She felt her heart beat faster. She had almost walked in to Cleopatra’s Needle. Not realising how close she were, she got scared as this huge needle appeared in front of her. She started laughing uncontrollably.
", you fool! Hannah is the one that is scared of her own shadow, not you.” She stopped to take a closer look at the needle. She had never really paid any attention to it. It was her roommate Hannah that was interested in sights like this, not her. She felt chills down her spine as she touched the cold stone in front of her. She soon realised that she could be home taking a bath instead, and pulled her hand away. As she did she heard voices.

The voices were barely audible and they didn’t make any sense. concentrated hard on understand them, but without luck. They became more and more intense, like they came closer. wasn’t easy to scare, but there was something about the weather that made her decide to make a run for it. She got scared as she realised that she had no idea where she was. All around her she could see the dim lamplights, but she didn’t know in which direction she was headed anymore. She stopped dead in her tracks as to get a grip on where she was and where she was headed. As she stood there, the nearest lamplights started to flicker. They flickered for a couple of seconds before the lights went completely out and left the embankment in total darkness. felt the chills and the panic take over. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she tried to find her way home in blindness. As the voices yet came back, a splash was heard.




“I’m telling you, ! She didn’t come home last night. I’m worried. No text, no call. I tried calling her but her phone is off...”
“Calm down, . She probably crashed at ’s. I’ll give him a call, ok?” They hung up, but still felt that something was wrong. Out of her two best friends and roommates, was the one that was the most responsible one. The one that always called or texted before going somewhere expected. If she was at ’s she would have called, right?

The sudden slam of the door made jump.
“?
“Try again.” ran to the door.
“, have you heard from ?” and ’s third roommate stood by the door, yanking off her wet coat.
“Nope, why?”
“She didn’t come home last night. I tried to call...” cut her off.
“You worry too much,” she said. “Besides, she’s probably at ’s anyway.”
“I talked to . He said he would call to check. Why didn’t she call? Or send a text?” rolled her eyes.
“Come on, . Have you seen the weather lately? If she stopped by at ’s I would have done the same. No way would I have walked from the Sherlock Holmes and all the way here in this weather.” was right. She had to be.

She tried to call several times that night, but without any luck. She also tried , and , ’s band mates, but also them without any luck. ’s phone was still shut off. had already gone to bed. She had an early start the following morning. She was working as a sales assistant at the biggest HMV store in Oxford Street. didn’t manage to get any sleep. She was lying on her king sized bed, staring out the window. But to no use. There was nothing to see other than the thick gravy that was London. All sorts of bad thoughts swam around her head, becoming thick gravy. She fell to sleep and was brutally woken up by the doorbell. She almost pissed herself. At least that’s what she told herself on the way to the door. stood halfway behind her bedroom door, looking at with eyes full of sleep.
“You better tell whoever that is that I have an early morning tomorrow and I do not want to be disturbed any further!” She slammed the door. Why did they always assume that it was a visitor for ?
“!” pushed himself past her. He had never really paid any attention to as to find out that she was actually a girl. For him, she was one of the guys. And was a man’s man. If had a broken heart he would never tell her that she was beautiful and that it was the guy’s loss and not hers. He would laugh it away and tell her to get straight back into the game. Despite of this, he seemed to be the only one that really understood her.
“What did say? Is she at his place?” closed the door and locked it. She motioned for him to follow her to her bedroom so that they didn’t wake up the Queen.
“No. He hasn’t seen her since Wednesday.” made himself comfortable on the bed. He had already found the remote for the TV and had started flickering through the channels.
“! No porn! Yuck!” laughed his husky laugh.
“Why girls don’t like porn is beyond me,” he said, but he did switch channels. ignored him.
“Where is she?” she said, more to herself than to . He had found a countdown of classic rock anthems on one of the VH1 channels. He was humming along.
“Why are you here now though? Why didn’t you just call?” didn’t reply. He was busy playing air guitar.
“! Pay attention!” He stopped but kept his eyes on the TV.
“She probably crashed at someone else’s place, yeah? And why am I here? I was bored. isn’t home, so there’s no one to produce some tracks with.”
“Well, if you’re staying then you better go to bed soon. I’m tired.” pushed him aside as much as she could and curled up underneath the duvet.
“What are you gonna do about ?” asked while turning the volume down.
“I’m gonna call the pub tomorrow. And depending on the weather I will see if I can find my way out.”
laughed quietly.
“You are aware that this weather is not the best weather to go out in when you have pneumonia, right?” snorted.
“It might be better tomorrow,” she said.
“That’s not what the weatherman said,” stated. He turned the TV off and jumped out of bed. surveyed him.
“ leaves for Brighton tomorrow after work right?” he said while getting undressed. Without waiting for an answer he continued. “I thought I might stay here to look after you while she is away. At least now that we’re not sure where that is. I don’t like you being alone when you’re sick.” It was in moments like this that knew exactly why he was her best friend despite his lack of showing emotions.
“I would be glad not having to be alone,” admitted. She made room for him in bed. He had found the pile of extra boxers and t-shirts that he had stocked up for occasions like this.
He jumped back into the bed and closed his eyes.
“Night,” he said and kissed her cheek. “YELLO!” woke up by the laughing and sniggering that came from the kitchen.
“Great,” she said to herself. “He brought over.” liked just as much as she liked and . It was just that together with he could be quite annoying. They had the same childish humour.
“!” Great, she thought. He found me.
“! Good morrow!” was stood in the doorway, grinning like a madman.
“Good morrow to you too,” said sleepily. jumped the bed and dragged the covers off. grunted.
“Get up, get up!” he shrieked.
“Since when did you feel so at home here?” asked him while stumbling out of bed. just continued grinning. He followed her out to the kitchen where made pancakes, which was about the only thing he could make.
“Still no word from ?” asked . He shook his head.
“Maybe she met a guy at the pub and decided to go and have a few in a club after her shift?” looked at him and grinned.
“Why would she do that? She... You...” The sentence sounded so much better in her head.
“We what?” teased. It annoyed .
“You were...” God, how hard could it be, thought. jumped in.
“They made out a few times,” he said, like it was the simplest thing in the world, which it probably was for everyone but .
“Yeah yeah, just tease me... She would never do that to you, . I hope you know that.” shrugged.
“I would,” he said. nodded.
Men, thought angrily. Why was everything so simple for them?
“I’m gonna call the pub,” announced and walked out to the hall where the telephone was. She dialled the number and waited impatiently.
“Sherlock Holmes Pub, how may I help you?” came the reply after the seventh ring.
“Is it Ronald?” asked. Ronald was the owner of the pub.
“It is. , is that you?”
“Yes. I just wondered who worked with yesterday?” Ronald cleared his throat.
“She worked alone with the new guy... What was his name? Ronny? James? No, Johnny. Yes, Johnny.” Ronald had a tendency to ramble on when he first got started.
“Is he there today?” wanted to know.
“Yes. Is something wrong?”
“No, I... Can I talk to him for two minutes?”
“Sure. Hold on... JOHNNY!” Ronald put the phone down. A few seconds after a new voice could be heard.
“Who is this?” sighed.
“My name is . I work at the pub. You worked with my best friend and roommate yesterday. . I just wanted to know when she left and which way she took?” She could hear and mess around in the kitchen.
“Well, she left right after we closed up. It was around 23:30 I think. She didn’t say which way she took. She didn’t really talk to me that much.” Johnny stopped and hesitated.
“Thanks Johnny. Bye.” hung up and walked back to the kitchen in deep thoughts. and were eating pancakes by the counter.
“No luck?” asked with his mouth full of blueberry. shook her head.
“What am I supposed to do now?” asked them.
“I guess you just have to wait and see,” said and forced another pancake in to his mouth.

After had left, found by her desk.
“The internet is out,” she informed him. He placed his arms on her shoulders.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, love, but you do worry too much some times. It’s not good for you. You need to relax more. I’m sure ’s fine.” turned her head so she could look at him. He just smiled slightly. It calmed her down. At least a little. At least for now.

A few hours later called. She sounded nervous and she was out of breath.
“I’m gonna crash at Leyla's. I’m not walking home in this fog. They shut the underground down and the buses are parked.” It didn’t happen often that all traffic stopped in London because of the fog. was glad she was on a sick leave.
“That’s alright. You still haven’t heard from ?” told her that she hadn’t but that she had stopped worrying. She said that there was nothing they could so before they heard from her. She also told she had called ’s parents and her sister Amanda, but all of them had confirmed that was not with them.
“They were quite worried as well,” said over the phone. “But I told them not to worry. Anything can happen in this fog.”
“That’s what I’m scared of,” replied.

took a look at his watch.
“I should go,” he said and got up. The clock was 22:00.
“So you’re leaving me here by myself, is that so?” asked him teasingly. He grinned.
“Sorry babe, but not all of us are on sick leave.”
Nothing was said while he got dressed.
“Try not to worry too much and try not to scare yourself. I know how you feel about being alone.”
He knew her only too well.
“I’ll try my best. If I fail I can always wake you up in the middle of the night.”
laughed heartedly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow evening as I will stop by with food.”
They said goodbye and left. locked the door and went back to the kitchen. The fog had decreased slightly and she was able to see vague silhouettes outside the window.

She had been asleep for a couple of hours when the phone rang and woke her up screaming. It took a couple of seconds before she realised that it was just the phone.
“!” came ’s voice before she could say anything at all.
“I just got a call from Amanda! They have found . My God, . She is dead!”

stared at the newspaper in front of her, but she couldn’t read what it said. Even the picture looked blurry.
“I bought some more candles for you. It’s the only light we can get now that the electricity is gone.”
lit more candles all around the flat. It made the flat warm, and had it been another day maybe even cosy.
The electricity had gone all over the city because of the fog. All across the city policemen walked around lightening the few gas lights that were still left in dark alleyways. They were the only source of light left. told that there were very few people outside and that most shops were closed. Most pubs were full however. didn’t pay attention. She tried to focus on the article about ’s death, but the harder she tried the more blurry it became. sat down next to her and pulled her closer. He didn’t say anything. He knew it wouldn’t help. sat like paralysed the whole night, just staring at the front of the newspaper.

Days passed and the weather was the same. was the same. She hardly ate and she didn’t talk much. was worried. He had contacted her parents and they wanted for her to come back home, but refused. had also stopped by. For a long time the two girls had just sat there without a word, looking at pictures of the three of them.

Day seven after ’s death, was finally able to read the article. She had to read it several times before being able to understand what had happened.

The Times
27th of September 2010

YOUNG WOMAN (22) FOUND DEAD IN RIVER THAMES
- NUMBER 4 IN TWO WEEKS

Late last night the body of a young woman, aged 22, was found in River Thames close to Cleopatra’s Needle on Victoria Embankment. There is no sign of crime or violence taking place and the police seem to believe that they are dealing with a suicide or an unfortunate accident. In that case she is the fourth only the last two weeks.
“We won’t be able to know for sure before we get the autopsy done, but we have found no signs of violence or crime. Besides, with this fog anything can be possible,” says chief inspector Stuart Hadley of the Metropolitan Police.
She was found by a gang of youths on their way home from a pub close to Trafalgar Square. They instantly called the police, whom arrived only five minutes after.

She picked up the Times for the day after.

The Times
28th of September 2010

THE FOG CAUSES PROBLEMS FOR LONDON POLICE

According to the autopsy made on the young woman (22) that was found in River Thames close to Cleaopatra’s Needle just after midnight on the 26th no crime has been done.
“She is clean. We could find no traces of violence or toxins. The cause of death is drowning. She was still alive when she fell in to the water but she drowned before she could get back up,” says chief inspector Stuart Hadley of the Metropolitan police.
She was number four in just two weeks and the police have a hard time trying to prevent accidents like this from happening.
“It is very unfortunate that we have this many accidents due to the weather conditions. We haven’t had fog like this in London since 1952. We want to advice the city’s citizens to stay inside as much as possible to avoid accidents and breathing in the fog which can be dangerous if one inhale too much of it.”
The citizens of London are not happy with the job the police do. They are of the opinion that the police do not do enough to prevent these unfortunate deaths. St. Barts Hospital has been filled with patients the last two weeks because of too much toxins from the fog. No one seems to have an answer to why this fog won’t leave and why it keeps getting worse.

TO BE CONTINUED*