I am celebrating 10 years of providing creepy entertainment in the month of writing (June 2009).Here's to another 30.
CLIP OF BRITISH TV APPEARANCE
In 2008 there was a piece about me and about 'The Blood and Tears Walk' in the hugely popular 'Most Haunted' TV programme. "Most Haunted" is shown on Sky's LivingTV channel and is watched by up to 1 million people!
Here's the clip:
A SMALL SELECTION OF ACTUAL VISITOR BOOK
QUOTES ABOUT 'THE BLOOD AND TEARS WALK'
11.01.08 "It will keep you on edge for days!" L. Gingl
28.02.08 "Chilling - will fascinate anyone with a heartbeat" C. Baker
21.03.08 "Absolutely brilliant, better than the Edinburgh tours!" S. Chiappa
02.04.08 "I'm scared" C. Belias
14.04.08 "Amazing, informed, scary and chilling" M. Koss
23.04.08 " I enjoyed it and probably take me a while to recover" T. Curtis
02.05.08 "Phenomenal, Thanks" Tanya
09.05.08 "Unique and fun format - cool games!" D. Scalzitti
15.05.08 "Awesome! Loved the tour, awesome guide. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!" M. Rakes
26.06.08 "MUST-SEE TOUR!" E. Gibbon
2.07.08 "absolutely loved it. Won't be sleeping tonight" A. Stevense
2.07.09 "Speechless" A. Nyquitel
7.07.08 "I had goosebumps the whole time and loved it!" M. Hurtado
30.07.08 "You should teach a class on Jack the Ripper" D. Haddad
1.08.08 "Brilliant tour, your knowledge is amazing, your humour fantastic" Colin and Carole
14.08.08 "Must see at all cost!" D. Goldbaum
21.08.08 "Outstanding scary walk" M. Rodera
22.08.08 "Amazing, I'll be coming back, what this guy doesn't know isn't worth knowing!" D. Stapleton
17.09.08 "Excellent, scary - just brilliant! I'll come again" H. Burdack
3.10.08 "Amazing! You can tell stories just as exciting as Stephen King!" D. Adcock
15.10.08 "Absolutely fantastic. Really well done, will be passing word around" V. Sutton
15.10.08 "I like history but this is the best story I ever heard, thank you" R. Moti
29.10.08 "Fantastic tour, best money spent in London xx" N. Mitchell
7.11.08 "Perfect - Thanks" D. Grosse
14.11.08 "Don't leave London without doing the Tour!" J. Felton
04.12.08 "The real tour of London. Thank you!" S. & J. Morrell
05.12.08 "Spooky, scary and fantastically bloody! I loved it - Don't have nightmares! J. Richardson
19.12.08 "Best bit of London. Both times!!" B. Easton
22.12.08 "You should charge more for your tour...it's worth it" C. Champagne
JUST ONE PAGE FROM TEN YEARS WORTH OF OUTSTANDING REVIEWS:
I'm Declan McHugh, a researcher and former professional actor who has been doing the rave-reviewed 'The Blood and Tears Walk: London's Horrible Past' since 1999. Thousands of people every year come on this six times a week walk featuring Jack the Ripper and other London serial killers, grave-robbers, witchcraft, conspiracy theories, execution sites, secret tunnels, etc. In other words, all the stuff you are interested in, all on the one walk! Jack the Ripper PLUS much, much more.
'The Blood and Tears Walk' is one of the most popular London walks, with consistently amazing reviews by visitors and the media over the last ten years. At the time of writing - 13th June 2009 - I have a stunning 98% approval rating on major London site www.londontown.com for 'The Blood and Tears Walk'. That is the best rating of any walk they offer.
Think how hard it is to impress 98 people out of every hundred people about ANYTHING!
People do the walk and then recommend me to other people, leading to major 'word of mouth'. People have very often returned twice and even three times! The record is FIVE TIMES (congratulations, Daniel)!!!
Apart from being featured in the extremely popular "Most Haunted" in 2008, I have also been interviewed by JoAnne Good for 30 minutes about 'The Blood and Tears Walk' on her BBC Radio London JoAnne Good show, and the walk has for many years in a row been given the "One of London's 10 best walks" award by 10best.com. I also featured in a documentary about London released in 2008 called "Ultimate Journeys: London".
The most important thing for me, however, is the incredible response from the thousands of people that come on the walk each year. I have given above a small selection of genuine quotes from my visitors books and I want to give my sincere thanks to everyone who has attended so far - thank you.
To contact me email me at decmchugh@yahoo.com. My mobile/cell number is 07905746733 but that number is only to be rung when you are in Britain. DO NOT RING THAT NUMBER FROM OUTSIDE BRITAIN OR YOU WILL BE CHARGED THE TOTALLY RIDICULOUS PRICE OF £1.25 PER MINUTE BY THE PHONE COMPANY (NOT BY ME). Ring the number only on the day of your walk, when you are in London, and listen to the short message confirming days, time and meeting places. Ringing from within the UK should cost you about 20p maximum. There should rarely be any change from what is written here but very occasionally something happens, beyond my control, which forces a change and that number I have given will give any important changes.
Having a two year old toddler means I have practically no free time (but it's worth it), but I continue to prepare materials to replace this rather basic page with a more in-depth website promoting 'The Blood and Tears Walk'. Included will be an amazing and chilling collection of true life horror stories told to me by people who came on the walk in the last almost ten years. Work continues on my 'Horror History of London' and 'Jack the Ripper' books. Well over 20,000 people are waiting for the books and you will all be contacted when they finally appear.
WHAT ARE THE NORMAL DAYS AND TIMES
THE WALK TAKES PLACE?
Wednesdays at 7pm and now also at 9.45pm
Thursdays at 2pm and 7pm
Fridays at 2pm and 7pm
'The Blood and Tears Walk' takes place all year round BUT NB see the 'Holidays' section below.
HOLIDAYS
There will be no 2pm or 7pm walks on Thursday 15th October 2009. When I know the dates of other holidays I will put them up here.
WHERE DO WE MEET?
'The Blood and Tears Walk' meets outside the only exit at Barbican underground station. Barbican is just two stops from Kings Cross on 1) the Circle line, 2) Metropolitan line and 3) the Hammersmith & City line.
Walk outside the only exit and you will see me a few feet away at the railings directly opposite; look for the sign at knee level on my rucksack featuring the words 'The Blood and Tears Walk' and the logo with two skeletons.
'The Blood and Tears Walk' is a full two hours long and ends at Holborn underground station (which is on the Piccadilly and Central lines). Some other companies are much less well reviewed, charge more and only do 60 or 90 minute walks!
WHAT IS THE COST?
From 1st January 2009 the price for people who just turn up will be £7 for adults and £5 for children. Reductions on those prices are given when you book in advance on the internet on either of two secure sites. You can find the details in the 'HOW TO BOOK' section.
If you are staying at the Ashlee House hostel in London and you come to the walk with proof of that (I know what the proof is), you will only pay £5 - but you must bring the proof.
If you have a current valid London Pass you can come on the walk in 2009 for the amazing price of just £4.50 if you are an adult, or only £3 if you are a child accompanied by an adult. Just present the current pass to me when you come along.
NOTE - These discounts cannot be combined with the internet discounts mentioned above and do not apply at Halloween. At Halloween everyone has to book through one of the two websites listed in the 'How to book and prices' section.
IS 'THE BLOOD AND TEARS WALK' SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 12?
Er, NO. Are you kidding? Look at the title of the walk! 'The Blood and Tears Walk' is NOT SUITABLE for under 12s. This is a walk for adults, with adult themes, and even for some adults it can be quite intense and scary, particularly at night-time. People who bring their 8 year olds along are completely irresponsible and anyone who ignores the over-12 rule and turns up with such a young child won't be allowed to come on the tour. I turned away such a group in 2008 so I am not joking about this...
I will not be responsible for any nightmares...
HOW TO BOOK AND PRICES
You don't have to book over the internet for 'The Blood and Tears Walk' except for Halloween night when I have to insist people book in advance because demand is insane that night - if I could clone myself I could do the walk for 500 people on Halloween day!
As I say, except for Halloween, you DO NOT have to book in advance, you can just make sure the walk is on by listening to the recorded message, then turn up to any of my walks and pay me £7 for adults and £5 for children aged 12-14 or if you have a deal of some sort show me the deal.
However, if you do want to obtain the online booking discount, please go here:
To avoid disappointment, I emphasise that you should, BEFORE YOU SET OFF ON THE DAY, confirm that your particular walk is taking place as planned by listening to the constantly updated answer message on (from London): 07905746733. THIS IS A MOBILE/CELL NUMBER SO DO NOT RING IT FROM ABROAD - IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE. RING IT ONLY FROM BRITAIN.
Ring this number on the day of your walk when you are in London since a couple of times a year there are sudden unforeseen events - circumstances completely beyond my control - which mean that a particular walk cannot go ahead. I will always try to leave relevant information about any problems on that number.
To repeat, the most important source of up-to-date information, reflecting any changes to the normal schedule, is that number: 07905 746 733. DO NOT RING FROM ABROAD - IT'S STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween 2008 was my quickest sell-out ever.I was completely sold out for both walks 9 days in advance. We had a lot of fun. I anticipate being sold out two weeks in advance for Halloween 2009 so get your booking in early....
PRIVATE WALKS
I am willing on occasion to do private walks for people on various nights, including on some Saturdays (at my discretion). I don't perform 'The Blood and Tears Walk' before 8pm on Saturdays and 8.30pm or even 9pm are my preferred times to begin on Saturday nights.
From 1st January 2009 for private non-corporate groups the price will be £9 per person with a minimum of 15 people, or the cash equivalent (15 x £9 = £135) f you will have less than 15 people in your group.
I emphasise that before you book me for private walks you must either be certain of having at least the minimum number of people turn up on the night, or be willing to pay the minimum cash equivalent for that number since those that actually turn up will have to pay that minimum price between them. For example, if 15 book but only 8 actually turn up, the 8 will have to pay as if they were 15.
If there is enough time between my being contacted, and the date of the actual walk, I will ask for a non-returnable deposit of half the money to be sent to me in the form of a £ sterling cheque, or by electronic transfer to my bank account. This deposit is non-returnable and will be kept by me as compensation if a group does not turn up at all, for any reason including tube train delays.
If you are a corporate group then the price for a private 'Blood and Tears Walk' with me is £9 each (with a minimum of 15 people or monetary equivalent) PLUS £30 extra.
I cannot promise that I will be available on your preferred date since, as word spreads, I receive more and more requests each year, and dates rapidly become booked up for private walks. Various private walks are already booked in for dates in 2009. Certain schools and colleges across the globe book me year after year after year after year - which is a huge compliment.
COMING LATE - THE FINAL WARNING
I've said it already but nearly ten years experience means I am going to say it again. My responsibility is to do the walk - yours is to be there ON TIME. You honestly need to start off for the walk 15-20 minutes earlier than you think you need to. We get underground train delays every hour in London and it is incredibly easy to get caught up in delays which add 15-20 minutes to your travelling time.
Late-comers FOR ANY REASON, INCLUDING TUBE TRAIN DELAYS are left behind. A walk is not like a film or concert or play where if you turn up late you can sneak in at the back; I go with people into dark side-streets immediately I start the walk and if you miss the beginning of the walk, you have missed the entire walk since you won't find me and you will have wasted your time, energy and money (if you booked in advance). I get going with the people who turn up on time and although I am a friendly guy I regard it as totally disrespectful to both me and the others on the walk for people to come late because of tube train delays that I repeatedly warned them about!
Literally hundreds of people every year miss this tour because they miscalculate how much time they need to arrive in time and they forget or ignore the warning about tube train delays - don't be among them!
By the way, Barbican station is an extremely boring place to be if you miss the walk... **WARNING**
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE
There are few places to eat at Barbican at night-time, although there are a couple of shops selling food and drink 30 seconds from the station if you turn left after leaving the exit. There are also a number of pubs within 3 minutes walk.
You must go the toilet before you arrive at Barbican. If you don't, finding somewhere to go once you arrive at Barbican will be difficult if not impossible.
Dress very warmly, it's a two hour walk. An amazing number of people wear Summer clothes when it isn't Summer and then slowly freeze over the course of the two hours.
Bring an umbrella. If you have not booked in advance and are just going to turn up, that's absolutely fine (except at Halloween when you MUST have booked or you will be turned away!) but please can you bring the exact money rather than giving me £10 or £20 notes. Constantly having to give change from £20 notes is a real hassle, especially if there are quite a few people. If you are part of a group, have the exact money collected from your group and ready to give to me BEFORE you arrive.
Given that it is a fully two hour tour, leave enough time afterwards to comfortably get to the next thing you are going to do. Remember those pesky tube train delays! Finally, expect the unexpected - oh, and bring a sense of humour :)
MY OTHER WALK
I am a former professional actor and twice a week for the last 9 years I have also been doing the critically acclaimed 'The Shakespeare City Walk' which is about Shakespeare's life, friends and work. This is a 90 minute walk in which I take people to various little-known Shakespeare monuments and sites in the City of London, including hidden courtyards etc. I illustrate the walk by Shakespeare's own words in the form of lines and speeches delivered by me at the appropriate locations. The 'Independent' newspaper recently awarded this tour 'One of the grand Tours' status. You can find out more about the walk at:
