London Dungeon

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Front entrance of the London Dungeon.

The London Dungeon is a tourist attraction, based in Tooley Street, London, near London Bridge rail station. It recreates various gory and macabre historical events in a style which attempts to make them appealing to the younger generation. Some of the more than 40 exhibits include 'The Great Fire of London', 'Jack the Ripper', 'Judgement Day', 'The Torture Chamber', 'Henry VIII', 'The Tower of London' and 'The French Revolution'. In 2003 a special exhibition opened on the Great Plague of 1665.

In 2004 the London Dungeon unveiled their new Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell and Labyrinth Maze of Mirrors, which is the largest Labyrinth made of mirrors in the world.

In 2005 the Dungeon replaced its 'Henry VIII', 'The Tower of London' and 'The French Revolution' exhibits with a new feature called The Labyrinth of the Lost, a winding maze of mirrors based on the crypt of the Church of All Hallows near Tower Bridge. In this maze lurked a ghostly old woman, dressed in black, rocking back and forth in her chair. In reality, this was an animatronic, hidden behind certain mirrors, that would lunge forward at regular intervals to shock and surprise guests.

Some feel that the fact that the tragedies the attraction attempts to recreate happened a long time ago does not justify their being made light of or, less tastefully still, made fun of. Another concern is that, because of this emphasis on fun and thrills, the London Dungeon does not have the educational value expected of an attraction that purports to be historically themed. Fans and those in charge of the Dungeon, however, claim that the attraction is designed to stimulate the imagination of visitors, improve the learning of students visiting and generally improve on the stale format that most traditional museums adhere to.

The Hamburg Dungeon, The York Dungeon and The Edinburgh Dungeon are all affiliated with The London Dungeon. In 2005 a new location opened in Amsterdam, called The Amsterdam Dungeon.

The founder of the original London Dungeon, Annabel Geddes, who is not affiliated with the current ownership, was revealed as a member of the far-right British National Party and was quoting as saying, "I'm a racist" in a Dec. 21, 2006 undercover report by the newspaper The Guardian.[1]