According to Fodor’s Guide to London, “Saved by a keen sense of its own borderline ridiculousness, this gory attraction is more funny than frightening, with tableaux depicting the bloody demise of famous figures alongside the torture, murder, and ritual 
slaughter of lesser-known victims, all to the sound track of screaming, wailing, and agonized moaning” (“Top Attractions” 124). Included in the bloody demise are Henry VIII, Sweeney Todd, and Jack the Ripper.
According to The London Dungeon’s website there are a few different attractions people can partake in including: a Séance, the Tyrant Boat Ride, Guy Fawke’s Gunpowder Plot, Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop, and explore the suspects wanted as Jack the Ripper. At least two of the attractions directly coincide with literature we are reading for the trip.
Guy Fawke’s Gunpower Plot
Being that Macbeth andV for Vendetta are on the reading list, one of the attractions that might be of interest is Guy Fawke’s Gunpower Plot. In this attraction audiences are witness to the year 1605 in rat-infested London where you will be witness to Fawke’s Gunpowder Plot, where he was intent on blowing up parliament. Macbeth was written a year after the Gunpowder Plot, and is said to be in response to the unease in England at the time. In addition, the main character in V for Vendetta wears a stylized mask of Guy Fawkes, both examples we can see first-hand at Guy Fawke’s Gunpowder Plot.
Jack the Ripper
From Hell written by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell follows the story of two suspects who may have committed the murders, which made Jack the Ripper infamous. At The London Dungeon, audiences are witness to 1889 London at the Ten Bells Pub, where Mrs. Waldren, the landlady, recounts the story of Jack the Ripper on a stormy night. In this way, audiences are witness to a real Jack the Ripper, and can decide for themselves who this infamous killer was.
Overall, at The London Dungeon, audiences are witness to the horrors of historical London in a fun and interactive way, proving to bring the literature of London to life.
Posted by Hannah Stevens
Works Cited
The London Dungeon, 2018, < https://www.thedungeons.com/london/en/what-is-the-dungeon/jack-the-ripper/>
“Top Attractions”,Fodor’s Travel London, pp. 124-125, 2018.
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