The Society for the Investigation of Spectral Phenomena
Newspaper Cuttings on the Queen Square Double
St George the Martyr, church, Holborn, London
I.Background & History
St George the Martyr stands at the south end of Queen Square in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camden. It is dedicated to Saint George and was so styled originally to distinguish it from the later church of St. George's Bloomsbury, with which it shared a burial ground.
The formal name remains, but the church is today known simply as St George's Holborn. The district about it is one of squares, hospitals and old lanes, and the shared burial ground lay a short walk from the church.
II.The Entity
The Burial-Ground Twin
A figure that wears the face and dress of whoever beholds it, seen some thirty paces ahead on the path between the old burial ground and Queen Square. It is always a little changed: greyer, or bandaged, or smiling with a patience that the witness does not feel. It never casts a shadow, and its boots leave no mark in wet gravel.
Assessment of Peril
Class IV: Malignant
Every witness who has followed their double to the church railings has been found dead within the year, or has been returned to their family a stranger. The entity is observed to grow nearer with each sighting.
III.The Account
The Society's file opens with a cutting from the Holborn Gazette, 14 November 1924, pasted to the first leaf. It reports that Miss Edith Marlowe, a copyist employed in Southampton Row, walked home through the old burial ground at dusk and saw a woman before her on the path, in her own grey coat and her own hat with the broken feather. The woman turned, and was Miss Marlowe, but older, and smiling. Miss Marlowe was found at the church railings next morning, living, but she did not speak again. Secretary's annotation: the smile was described by the constable as 'the look of one who has been told a thing and is glad of it.'
A second cutting, from the Camden Journal of March 1927, records the inquest on Mr. Harold Pym, a verger, who had told his wife for a month that a man walked ahead of him up the path every evening with Pym's own stooped shoulders and Pym's own lantern. In the last week, said Mrs. Pym, he complained that the man had begun to walk backwards. Mr. Pym was found at the south door with his eyes open and his lantern lit, though no oil remained in it. The coroner recorded misadventure. The Secretary notes that the clerk of works afterwards swore the lantern had been lit when it was lifted, and cold.
IV.Recorded Manifestations
- ✦A figure seen some thirty paces ahead on the path, wearing the witness's own clothes and face.
- ✦Footprints that do not appear in wet gravel beneath the double.
- ✦Lanterns that burn cold and without fuel in the vicinity of the south door.
- ✦A smile, in the double, not shared by the witness.
- ✦Survivors who afterwards blink at wrong intervals, or not at all.
- ✦The double is seen nearer at each appearance.
Testimony of Witnesses
“"She was myself, only older, and she was pleased to see me. I never saw anyone so pleased."”
“"He has begun to walk backwards, wife. He does it to keep his eyes on me."”
“"There is a bandage on his brow, Constable, and he wishes me to come. I cannot think why I should refuse."”
V.Rite of Expulsion
Difficulty: Inadvisable
Requisites
- ☐A looking-glass draped in black crape
- ☐A plain tallow candle
- ☐A bowl of clean water
- ☐A brass door key
- ☐A sheet of paper bearing the exorcist's name in the exorcist's own hand
The Rite
- I.Enter the burial ground at a quarter before midnight, alone, and walk no further than the first tomb.
- II.Set the draped glass upon the path facing away from the church and light the candle before it.
- III.Stand with your back to the glass and recite your own name aloud thirteen times without turning.
- IV.Should a voice answer to your name, do not reply; place the key in the water.
- V.Burn the paper in the candle at the stroke of midnight and let the ash fall into the bowl.
- VI.Leave by the way you came, looking neither before nor behind, and do not smile until you are in your own house.
Caution. The Society records that Mr. Greaves performed the rite in 1936 and smiled at the gate. Whoever returned from it, the Society cannot say that it was he.
VI.Hauntings of the Surrounding District
Select a bar to filter the register.
Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine · Hospital · a few paces
The Homeopath's Pallor, spectre. A pale physician walks the corridor with an empty phial, and the sick who see him recover only to grow thin again.
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery · Hospital · a few paces
The Borrowed Hand, possession. Patients wake to find one hand writing letters in a stranger's script, begging to be let out.
Horse Hospital · Hospital · 0.2 miles
The Stall Mare, spectral animal. A grey mare is heard stamping in the empty stalls, and those who count her hooves find one more than a horse should own.
Cochrane Theatre · Old Theatre · 0.2 miles
The Footlight Mourners, phantom procession. A line of players in funeral black crosses the stage at dusk and bows to an audience that is not there.
Great Ormond Street Hospital · Hospital · 0.1 miles
The Nightgown Matron, white lady. A white-clad woman tucks in sleeping children and is gone before dawn, leaving the blankets cold and damp.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust · Hospital · 0.1 miles
Ward-Bell Jack, poltergeist. A bell rings from an empty bed and every pull of its cord is answered by a footstep nearer the door.
Carlisle House · Manor House · 0.2 miles
The Dowager of the Landing, revenant. A silk-gowned lady stands on the stair at midnight and is said to take the name of any who greet her.
St George's · Church · 0.3 miles
The Hatless Sexton, headless apparition. A sexton with no head carries his spade between the pews, and the spade is always newly wet with earth.
Conway Hall · Manor House · 0.2 miles
The Lecture-Hall Hush, unclassified entity. A silence falls upon the hall mid-address, and a single seat is found warm in the empty gallery.
Conway Hall Ethical Society · Manor House · 0.2 miles
The Ethical Flicker, will-o'-the-wisp. A cold blue flame drifts along the gallery rail and leads the unwary toward the locked stair.
Baptist Church House · Church · 0.2 miles
The Vestry Whippet, phantom hound. A lean grey hound pads the baptistry stair, and those it passes dream of being walked on a lead.
The Perseverance · Old Inn · 0.2 miles
The Taproom Magpie, spectral animal. A black-and-white bird perches on the settle and repeats the last words of men who will not leave the house alive.
Princess Louise · Old Inn · 0.3 miles
The Etched-Glass Lady, spectre. A woman's face forms in the engraved mirrors after closing, her lips shaping the names of the drinkers still within.
The Lamb · Old Inn · 0.2 miles
The Snug Drover, revenant. A drover in a sodden smock sits in the snug and is found to have drunk the landlord's own measure.
