Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Millions of tourists flock to London each year, eager to snap a selfie in front of Buckingham Palace or Big Ben.

But beyond the crowds lies a darker and distinctly stranger side to the city,

a Gothic metropolis haunted by tales of demons, poltergeists, and murders most foul.

In today's episode, John Borkham talks to the author and historian Clive Bloom

about some of the capital's spookiest stories, and why he believes that the eriest encounters

tend to unfold in the most mundane of places.

Now, Clive, your new book is quite a wild ride, isn't it? Because it's not a conventional

travel log, it's not a guidebook, and it's also describing fictional London as well as real London.

How would you go about introducing listeners to the world of London Uncanny? Well, it's a strange world,

and it's a meditation on the urban landscape of London. It's a sort of an urban

dream in a way. It takes the idea that London is obviously reality. We run around everyday commuting.

You know, there's bricks and water and concrete and glass and cups of coffee and all the rest of it.

And yet at the same time, there's an imaginative London, London that's sort of under the

surface, if you like. It's almost as if London's, what they used to describe, as a thin place,

a place where the veil might be rent at any time, we might step into some other world.

And a number of writers, filmmakers and other people have seen this other world.

And so when you walk around London, you're half in this world and half in another world as well,

which makes it very exciting when you're walking around.

But you have to be attuned to it.

It's no good just walking around and pushing people out the way and getting your coffee or your croissant.

You've got to really be attuned to the imagination of what's going on in London at the time. And remember, London is a town of strangers. So it's weird in

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