Chamber of Horrors (Madame Tussauds)
The Chamber of Horrors is an exhibition at Madame Tussauds in London, being an exhibition of waxworks of notorious murderers and other infamous historical figures. The gallery first opened as a "Separate Room" in Marie Tussaud's 1802 exhibition in London and quickly became a success as it showed historical personalities and artefacts rather than the freaks of nature popular in other waxworks of the day. It closed in April 2016 but reopened 6 years later in October 2022.[1]
Beginnings
The forerunner of Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors was the Caverne des Grands Voleurs (the Cavern of the Great Thieves) which had been founded by Dr
When
In 1835, Madame Tussaud set up a permanent exhibition in London, and here the "Separate Room" became the "Chamber of Horrors". At this time, her exhibits included
In 1886, the exhibits included
Other exhibits have included
The Chamber
This part of the exhibition was in the basement of the building and included wax heads made from the
The Chamber of Horrors was renovated in 1996 at a cost of $1.5 million,[7] bringing to life the history of crime and punishment over the last 500 years and including items from Newgate Prison and featuring replicas of instruments of torture displayed amid a recording of actors' groans and screams. An innovation in recent years was to have actors in macabre make-up and costumes lurch at customers from the dark shadows and recesses of prison cells, where some cells were occupied with waxwork figures and others had the doors ajar, giving the impression that a dangerous maniac was on the loose.[8] Historical characters displayed included Vlad the Impaler, Genghis Khan, Guy Fawkes and Adolf Hitler. There was no waxwork figure of Jack the Ripper originally in the Chamber of Horrors, in accordance with Madame Tussaud's policy of not modelling persons whose likeness is unknown. Instead (until 2022) he was portrayed as a shadow.[9] Figures of disgraced entertainers Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter were destroyed rather than being relocated to the Chamber of Horrors.[citation needed]
Visiting the exhibit was optional and not recommended for young children or pregnant women or people under the age of 18 or with any heart or medical conditions related to strobe lighting effects.
The chamber closed on 11 April 2016 and was replaced by a new attraction named the Sherlock Holmes Experience. However, in October 2022 the Chamber was reopened, and now features the likes of the notorious Kray twins, John Christie, John Haigh, Dennis Nilsen, Ruth Ellis and Aaron Kosminski's likeness as Jack the Ripper, as well as the death masks of King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, Carrier and Hebert. It also features the infamous French guillotine blade.
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Murderers Diereneuk and Barmouth with Dr Crippen in the dock (c. 1910)
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Waxwork of Hawley Harvey Crippen in the Chamber of Horrors
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Adolf Hitler in the Chamber of Horrors
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Guillotine late 1970s
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Gallows execution of Dr Crippen
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Depiction of serial killerJohn Reginald Christie
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Depiction of the death of Jean-Paul Marat
References
- ^ Jones, Alice (5 July 2016). "Now you too can play at being Sherlock Holmes". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ISBN 0-586-06507-5
- ISBN 978-0-06-052847-8.
- ^ Guide Book to Madame Tussauds (1886)
- The Huffington Post17 July 2013
- OCLC 21077986.
- ^ "MADAME TUSSAUD'S NEW HORRORS. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ "When it comes to frightful times, you can't hold a candle to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum". jimhillmedia.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ Chapman, p. 115