Tomb Of Hannah Courtoy

The Tomb of Hannah Courtoy OffBeat London (Atlas Obscura User)

Deep inside Brompton Cemetery in London resides a large mausoleum. This is the tomb of Hannah Courtoy, a wealthy woman who died in 1849. According to official records, she is interred inside this tomb along with two of her three adult daughters. However, according to local legend, the tomb also contains a working time machine.

Before Hannah Courtoy died, she was friends with a renowned Egyptologist named Joseph Bonomi. Bonomi was convinced that he had discovered the secrets of time travel through studying Egyptian hieroglyphics. Bonomi teamed up with engineer Samuel Warner to create a time machine.

With the financial backing of Hannah Courtoy, they built their time machine and placed it inside this tomb in Brompton Cemetery where it has remained ever since. The key to the tomb has been lost and the tomb hasn’t been opened for over 100 years.

Know Before You Go

The cemetery is open every day from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm and is free to enter. Although the mausoleum is the largest in the cemetery, it is partly hidden by trees and could be hard to spot. It is located on the east side of the cemetery about halfway between the cemetery's north and south ends and can be seen from the central walkway.