Three years ago, a VHS cassette copy of Clive Barker’s 1980’s horror film Hellraiser appeared on the top of a bus shelter on London’s Old Kent Road. When it was first spotted by Tom Wateracre, it led to his speculation that perhaps the film’s “antique puzzle box” (as discovered by Frank Cotton in Morocco) actually looked like this:
Was it possible?
Had Tom really uncovered the portal to the world of the Cenobites, a hell where pain and pleasure is indivisible?
It’s a ghoulish thought, right?
But Tom wasn’t the only one to notice the Hellraiser video cassette…or its significance…
There's a VHS copy of Hellraiser (BBFC 18) on top of a bus shelter in Old Kent Road if anyone wants it.
— Martin Gaston (@squidmania) January 3, 2013
this is what Twitter is for - just seen a lone VHS box for the film Hellraiser sitting on top of Old Kent Road/East Street bus stop. #London
— Mike Hemsley (@mikejhemsley) April 18, 2013
On top of a bus stop on the Old Kent Road sits a VHS of Hellraiser. It's been there for at least a year. I now find it strangely comforting.
— Jon Croker (@joncroker) May 24, 2012
Saw a vhs of Hellraiser on the roof of a bus stop.. I know scandal huuuh
— Philip (@Feetlip) October 4, 2011
Discarded on top of an Elephant & Castle bus stop: a VHS tape of Hellraiser. Evidently failed to tear its owner's soul apart
— sumit paul-choudhury (@sumit) September 9, 2013
Damn! I almost got a shot of the Hellraiser VHS that's been stuck on this Elephant and Castle bus stop for eons! pic.twitter.com/AoYeZIZ2
— Danny O'Dwyer (@dannyodwyer) March 16, 2012
Some suggested it was a calling card for drug dealers, while others asked had anyone dared to retrieve the box, open it and view its contents?
If anyone had…they never replied…
The tape was becoming bleached and weather worn, but then one day…
The VHS copy of Hellraiser on top of the bus stop on Old Kent Road was getting worn. So somebody threw ANOTHER VHS Hellraiser up there.
— Danny O'Dwyer (@dannyodwyer) January 25, 2013
There's a bus stop on Old Kent Road that, for a time, had a VHS copy of Hellraiser on it. Getting bleached by sun and rain…
— Tom Wateracre (@wateracre) April 13, 2013
... then it was joined by a second copy of Hellraiser. Two VHS copies of Hellraiser.
— Tom Wateracre (@wateracre) April 13, 2013
Then both copies disappeared, presumably taken by the council or something. I was pretty sad.
— Tom Wateracre (@wateracre) April 13, 2013
This morning, A FRESH VHS COPY OF HELLRAISER HAS APPEARED.
— Tom Wateracre (@wateracre) April 13, 2013
In other news, I think I'm losing my mind. Or Pinhead is on his way to claim my soul. One of the two.
— Tom Wateracre (@wateracre) April 13, 2013
But no, for Tom had uncovered a secret community…
Strangely…that twitter account no longer exists…
And so the legend of Hellraiser on the Old Kent Road continues…
Read the Tom’s story here.
Via Time Out London