Happy Halloween! Here at the V&A, we have some pretty spooky objects, including a chair that mysteriously gets sat on! Find out more about the spooky
Don’t sleep here!
This gigantic 16th century four-poster bed has quite the history! It was likely built by carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke as a tourist attraction in Ware, Hertfordshire and became a place to crash for travellers through North London. But why is it haunted? It seems maker, Jonas, does not like people sleeping on it or being anywhere near it and will scratch or pinch those who dared sleep in the bed. Oh dear! Thankfully nobody can sleep in it now, but you can visit it and see if you feel a pinch by the frame!
“I ain’t afraid of no ghost!”
Martin LaRoche was a Victorian spirit photographer and supposedly captured many ghosts on camera. Contacting the dead via séances was hugely popular in the late 19th century and photographs like these offered “evidence” of supernatural activity. What do you think? Real or fake? Spooky either way, right?! You can study these spirit photographs yourself at the V&A and decide.
What the-?
WHOA THERE! This is pretty terrifying, right? This gruesome puppet head of Mother Shipton was a Yorkshire figure of folklore who supposedly predicted the English Civil War, the Great Fire of London and even her own death. On stage, the puppet was a pipe-smoking, fortune-teller and had a cleverly concealed hole inside to show the smoke blowing out. It now haunts the V&A, Storehouse and you can order this object to view!
I scream, you scream…
If you’re having a bad day, it can’t be as bad as this. Made in 1700 by Italian artist Gaetano Giulio Zumbo, this wax memento mori was supposed to inspire thoughts on mortality and eternal damnation. Right… it just inspires us to run away screaming!
Someone’s been sitting in my chair!
The chair was originally made for David Garrick’s grand London home at 6 Adelphi Terrace. It has a gorgeous green damask material and sits in the V&A for visitors to see. However, someone keeps sitting in it, and it’s not anyone alive… the chair’s plump cushion mysteriously deflates several times a day, as though an invisible visitor has taken a seat. The suspected culprit? Garrick’s wife, Eva Marie Veigel, who apparently remains rather attached to the furniture
