The Time Slips of Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery, consecrated in 1840, is another of London’s Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Its formal design features a central avenue leading to the Great Chapel, flanked by elegant colonnades and catacombs. Like its sister cemeteries, Brompton houses thousands of Victorian dead, including notable figures like suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and Chelsea Pensioners. But Brompton has a paranormal reputation that sets it apart—it’s known not just for ghosts, but for “time slips,” moments when the present seems to dissolve and visitors find themselves experiencing the cemetery as it was over a century ago.

The most detailed time slip account occurred in 1968 when two women visiting the cemetery reported that the landscape suddenly changed. Modern buildings visible beyond the cemetery walls vanished, the paths appeared newly graveled, and they saw dozens of people in Victorian mourning dress walking among the graves. The vision lasted several minutes before gradually fading. Since then, numerous visitors have reported similar experiences: seeing the cemetery populated with Victorian mourners, hearing horse-drawn hearses, or experiencing the atmosphere shift to something distinctly 19th century. Unlike typical ghost sightings where apparitions seem to be from another time appearing in ours, time slips suggest the witness has somehow temporarily shifted into the past.

Beyond time slips, Brompton has conventional hauntings. A woman in a white dress is frequently seen near the colonnades, only to vanish when approached. The catacombs, which run beneath the central colonnade, are particularly active—visitors report feeling pushed, hearing whispers, and seeing shadow figures. There are reports of a phantom funeral that processes down the central avenue at dawn, complete with horses and carriages, before fading away. Photographers have captured numerous anomalies: strange mists, orbs, and figures that weren’t visible when the photo was taken. The cemetery’s combination of elaborate Victorian architecture, thousands of dead, and reported time slip phenomena make it one of London’s most mysterious haunted locations.