Lying right across the London Bridge Rail Station, the London Dungeon is perhaps one of the rarest adventures you can embark on during your visit to London. This place will reveal to you some of the long hidden secrets of the ancient ages. Come and experience this horrendous tale of various tortures from the Medieval Ages – things you might have never even heard about!
Using a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides, this place grips you with the gruesome and ghoulish story it has to tell you. Opened up in 1976, the dungeon was initially opened up as a museum of horrible history. In the present times, the London Dungeon has used a lot of interactive devices and modern day technology to create that horrifying dungeon effect. The grim comedic style showcasing the gallows humor will have a lasting effect on you. The London Dungeon is now operated by Merlin Entertainments.
In the first half of the London Dungeon tour, you get to see various bloody models of torture followed by a comic show with a person demonstrating the use of different torture equipment. Then you get to see a courtroom affair where eventually all three convicts are sentenced to be hanged. However, the surprise package lies in the mid-way – ‘Labyrinth of the Lost’ – where a large mirror maze is themed around the crypt of All Hallows Church. As you are left alone in the amazing maze, you will witness many character actors jumping out on you! Then you are led through the Great Plague era of London which actually brings out the dead in you with actors enacting the suffering of the people and the way they tried to escape it.
Another interesting facet of the dungeon tour is the ‘Boat Ride to Hell’ where you see the three convicts sentenced being led via their ultimate boat ride to the Traitors Gate inside the Tower of London. The sound and picture effects of the ride are absolutely amazing. The next place is the ‘Sweeney Todd’ where a fictional barber gives you a clean shave and pushes you deep into a cellar! At the ‘Jack the Ripper’ exhibit you get to see the gruesome models of five prostitutes who lost their lives to the infamous serial killer. Finally, the tour ends with the ‘Great Fire of London’ exhibit, where you get to walk through a fire depiction, and the ‘Drop Ride to Doom’, where you feel like you have been thrown down the gallows!
The entire experience is exhilarating and something that you would have never ever imagined before. The dungeon is open every day of the year except for Christmas. The latest package added for 2009 is the ‘Surgery – Blood and Guts’ exhibit. The opening times vary for London Dungeon and it would be better to verify this before you come to the place. You can get here via the rail and underground, buses or by car. The tour starts approximately every 7 minutes.
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