The Ghost of Waterloo Bridge

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Over a hundred and fifty years ago a carpet-bag with grisly contents was discovered on Waterloo Bridge in London. Who it was and who left it there remains a mystery till this day. 

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Drawing in The Illustrated Police News, December 1, 1888, accompanying article 'Unavenged Murders: The Celebrated Waterloo Bridge Mystery'.

​Originally it was called the Strand Bridge and it opened in 1817. It spanned the Thames between Westminster and Blackfriars, however before it was finished its name had been changed to Waterloo Bridge. On October 10, 1857 a version of the following story ran in all the local London newspapers:

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Yesterday (Friday) morning was discovered, on one of the buttresses of Waterloo Bridge, the mangled remains of the body of a person who had been most barbarously murdered. Two youths were in a boat, on the Thames between five and six, and as they were about to pass through one of the arches of Waterloo-bridge, their attention was attracted by seeing a bundle on one of the buttresses. They pulled up to seize their prize, and they discovered that it was a large travelling or carpet bag. They then discovered that it was tightly corded and that in addition there were some 10 or 12 yards of string which has led the police to the belief that the cord had been used for the purpose of quietly dropping the bag into the river without making any splash or sound, but instead of the bag going into the water, it lodged upon the buttress where it was found.

The boys decided to take the bag home before they opened it. On cutting the string and opening the bag, one of the most horrible spectacles that it is possible for any human being to imagine presented itself to their view. The police were communicated with and the contents of the bag examined by the divisional surgeon, and it was found to contain a great number of the different portions of a human body of the male sex. The parts found consisted of the legs, arms, nearly the whole of the spinal column, the buttock joints, and the shoulder joints. The whole of the head, with several of the vertebrae, the hands and the feet, were absent.

With regard to the condition of the remains, it was found that the greater portion of the flesh had been very roughly removed. There were, however some portions of the muscles remaining on the limbs these were impregnated with a saline matter of a gritty nature, as if the body had been place in brine or salted. And it is the opinion of the surgeon and police that such a course had been adopted in order to prevent any smell which might arise from decomposition before the diabolical arrangements had been concluded for the disposal of the body.

There were in all about twenty pieces, the largest bones of the legs and arms having been rudely sawn into pieces, the former having been divided near the joints of the knees and thigh, and one of the knees had been torn asunder portion of the muscular flesh and teguments remaining on the different pieces of bone.

It is surmised that the murder had been perpetrated some days ago; but upon this point uncertainty prevails, in consequence of the other portions of the flesh remaining on the bones. Mr. Painter is of the opinion that the deceased was a full-sized fine robust man.

In the bag was also found an overcoat, made of a brown mixture, such as only a person in a good position in life would wear. It was literally cut in two up the back, and contained several holes in front about the left breast and lower part, evidently made with some sharp instrument. The other portions of the dress were found perforated with holes and much bloodstained. The pockets were turned inside out, and from the appearance of the articles of wearing apparel not the slightest doubt is entertained that they were caused by some pointed instrument, such as a knife or dagger. It is also clear that the deceased had been stabbed a great many times, as there are no fewer than seven punctures in the clothes, and in the immediate vicinity of the region of the heart, while there are several others about the abdomen. From the fact that the clothing was cut up the back, it is the opinion of those who are investigating the case that after life was extinct the deceased had been laid on his face, and his clothes deliberately ripped off his body by his assassins for the purpose of cutting off the flesh and dividing the body.

It appears to be satisfactorily established that the bag was deposited in the place where it was discovered by a female, for it has been ascertained that a rather elderly woman passed through the foot passenger toll-gate about twelve-o'clock on Thursday night. The money-taker on duty at the time remembers that such a person came up with a large carpet-bag which appeared to be very weighty and owing to the narrowness of the turnstiles she was unable to pass through with it. The money-taker accordingly himself lifted it over for her. He has been shown the bag in which the remains were found, and expresses his ability to swear that it is the one which the woman had.

​At a late hour last night, the police authorities were put in possession of a description of the female who passed over the bridge with the bag. She is described as being of short stature and rather stout, about 50 or 60 years of age, pale complexion and grey hair. She was dressed in a black silk mantle with a drab silk or satin bonnet. When spoken to by Harrington the money-taker at the bridge she answered in a very gruff and masculine tone of voice, evidently assumed to throw off suspicion.

Waterloo Bridge c.1921

The identity of the murdered man was never known, and the crime was assigned to the category of unsolved mysteries.

Author Elliott O'Donnell wrote about the hauntings experienced at Waterloo Bridge afterwards.

Spectral figures were rumored to be encountered on it in the dead of night and seen leaping from them into the Thames. Suicides from the bridges were almost nightly occurrences in the early 1890s. Soon after the finding of the remains the bridge was rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a headless man, who was dressed like a sailor. He appeared several nights in succession just above the abutments where the remains had been found. It was thought to be the ghost of the murdered man who the police believed was a foreign sailor. 

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