London Fortean Society’s Scott Wood launches London Urban Legends book

All aboard: London Urban Legends

Did East London designer Alexander McQueen sew a hidden insult into the jacket of Prince Charles? And did a construction worker defecate inside one of the Olympic rings?

These are some of the rumours, folk tales and stories addressed by author and co-organiser of The London Fortean Society Scott Wood in his book London Urban Legends, a collection of historical and contemporary anecdotes that provides a ‘weird map of London’.

The great-nephew of a spiritualist, Wood had a keen interest in the paranormal from a young age. However, it was through reading magazine as a “precocious pre-adolescent” in the mid-80s that his imagination was really captured.

It was always the same story in the same place which then changed to fit different areas and different groups of people. Perhaps it’s more about the story than the sighting of the ‘big cat’ or ‘ghost’,” he says.

A favourite urban legend of Wood is the tale of The Hackney Bear, where four young boys from Lower Clapton encountered a “giant great growling hairy thing” on Hackney Marshes.

Other East End stories in the volume including the witnessing of The Krays’ infamous murder sprees and plague pits underneath Aldgate station.

“I hear a lot more stories from the east of the city,” he adds. “I’m not sure whether it has something to do with the creative people who live here and may like telling stories more, or whether it’s a hangover from Cockney hospitality.”

London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube and Other Stories is published by The History Press. ISBN: 0752482874. RRP: £9.99