The London Dungeon is a British Haunted House-type attraction/tourist trap in London's South Bank (currently at County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, South Bank, SE 1, directly opposite the Houses of Parliament). It opened in 1974 and is operated by Merlin Entertainments.
The attraction recreates various sinister, gory and macabre historical events and Urban Legends, some of it in a Gallows Humor style. Visitors are taken on a journey through 1000 years of London's dark history and folklore with actors performing as some of the city's most infamous characters (be they real or fictitious), wax figures, special effects and two rides.
Several other Dungeons have opened in the UK and elsewhere, including (for the UK) in Blackpool (at the Tower), Warwick Castle, Edinburgh, York and Alton Towers and (internationally) in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Shanghai and San Francisco (the latter closed in 2021).
The London Dungeon provides examples of the following tropes:
- Audience Participation: Several times. From being tried by a Hanging Judge to being subjected to unsanitary expriements to being burned at the stake, there’s a lot here.
- The Black Death: The section about the Great Plague of London of 1665-1666. A Plague Doctor will look for symptoms of the plague in the group of visitors and ask which member is looking "a bit peaky".
- Canon Foreigner: The Unknown from the notorious Crappy Carnival Willy's Chocolate Experience was added to the lineup when the character's performer, Felicia Dawkins, was hired by the Dungeon.
- Dangerously Close Shave: The literary character Sweeney Todd, the barber of Fleet Street who kills his customers with a razor and has his neighbour baker bake them into meatpies.
- The Great Fire: The section about the Great Fire of London of 1666.
- Hanging Around: At one point, visitors are "hanged" (done via seats on a drop tower-type machine to simulate a fall through the Trap Door on the gallows).
- The Heretic: In the section based on the Reign of Terror of the Catholic queen Mary Tudor, visitors are told about the burnings of Protestants, and one of them is usually invited on stage to be "burnt at the stake".
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: Employees wearing heavy makeup often stand still among the various wax figures, to scare the unsuspecting visitors.
- Off with His Head!: Think of any famous historical figure who was decapitated in London, chances are a wax reproduction of his/her head is featured there.
- Reign of Terror: A section is dedicated to the religiously oppressive reign of the Catholic queen Mary Tudor (aka "Bloody Mary") in 1553-1559. Visitors are told about the burnings of Protestants.
- Serial Killer:
- Jack the Ripper, naturally, who gruesomely killed several prostitutes in Whitechapel and was never caught.
- The aforementioned literary character Sweeney Todd from The String of Pearls, a barber who slashes the throat of his customers and has his baker neighbor bake them into meatpies.
- Stock Punishment: There's a pillory in the entrance area for visitors to have fun putting their head and arms in and take photos.
- Victorian London: The Jack the Ripper section is set in this era due to the latter having committed his murders in 1888.
- Wretched Hive: Naturally, since it's about horrible things that happened in London, in times when the city was crime-ridden and quite unsanitary.
