Joyland Books

Local legend has it that in 1895, the Dreamland Strongman murdered a prostitute, whereupon he was taken away to have his neck stretched. Both of their ghosts are said to haunt Dreamland, for those who believe in that sort of thing.

I've been trying to look into this a little further, but can find nobody hanged at Maidstone, Newgate or Pentonville, the three local places of lawful execution at the time, who fits the description of the Strongman, and at Maidstone, by far the likeliest place for a Margate murderer to hang, nobody was executed between 02/01/1889 (two men executed together for a botched robbery) and 09/02/1897 when Robert Hayman was hanged for the murder of his wife. There was only one further execution at Maidstone in the 19th Century, in 1898. (Source, http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/1868.html ). At the time, condemned prisoners were hanged three weeks after Sentence of Death was pronounced.

Does anyone know if this story is true, or simply urban folklore? Does anyone know the name of the strongman or have any further information about the case?

I always thought that was were Gus the ghost got his name from?I am sure i read it in a news paper about the security guards not patroling the tunnel as it was haunted by his ghost?

We have famous local murderers- George Joseph Smith, the "Brides in the Bath" murderer, who drowned one of his wives in Herne Bay, and Sidney Fox, who strangled his mother in the Metropol Hotel, twenty minutes before her life insurance was due to expire, but I simply cannot find any confirmation of the Dreamland Strongman killing at all.

Have you tried somewhere like Margate library?
They may have archives of old local newspapers from 1895 which you could view

In similar vein, Crampton Tower Museum in Broadstairs, holds all the back archive copies of the Isle of Thanet Gazette, the Thanet Times and their predecessor Keble's Gazette. All as far backs as the 1860s. The ITG presented the whole lot to the museum when they moved offices from Union Row to Mill HOuse the other year. May be worth contacting the museum to ask if you can have a gander through.

I think the Girl murdered by the Strongman was a Showmans Daughter and not a Prostitute as the story portrays ??
I can't remember where read this, although I think it maybe in Nick Evans 'Dreamland Remembered' book ....damn good book

This story originates from information I gathered from a notation on the back of a photograph that was one of several hanging on the wall in the hallway of the Dreamland offices (originally Lord George Sanger's house)
This I remember was done in pencil by Eric Iles (longtime M.D. of Margate Estates) signed by him and dated 1958. There is (or was) a copy of the same photograph in Margate Library and it was reproduced in the 1959 'Kent Messenger Centenary' book. Unfortunately when Bemboms took over, the offices were cleared out and everything disposed of. The man was only known as a 'strongman' because of his appearance and demeanour - he was not a stage or circus strongman! I included the story in 'Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland' and described the woman as 'a good-time girl' which was Eric Iles' description of her but unfortunately the publishers added a preamble to the piece and in it she became a prostitute which she may not have been.

I wonder if all this took place some years before the quoted date of 1895. The photograph shows the original 'Hall-by-the'Sea' built as a railway station and not the later dance hall/resturant built by Sanger.

I cannot believe the incident would not have been recorded in the local papers of the time but when I did my research I could not find any reports of it.

Would the case not have been heard at the East Kent Asiszes at Canterbury and executions carried out at Canterbury Prison ? Maidstone was where the West Kent Assizes were held.

Raymond Dolling wrote:of the time but when I did my research I could not find any reports of it.

Would the case not have been heard at the East Kent Asiszes at Canterbury and executions carried out at Canterbury Prison ? Maidstone was where the West Kent Assizes were held.

As far as I'm aware, Canterbury has never been used for executions. There is a list of those executed between 1868 and 1899 below with the location of the execution.


http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/1868.html

I presume that, as you suggest, if the incident did happen, that it happened several years earlier but I'm curious to find out.

Maybe we could hold an execution at Dreamland regularly. THAT would bring them in...

Who wants to go first?

Jim Douglas Jr. wrote:Maybe we could hold an execution at Dreamland regularly. THAT would bring them in...

Who wants to go first?

That's a good idea...... maybe call it "You're a Celebrity, get in here"!!

Jim Douglas Jr. wrote:Maybe we could hold an execution at Dreamland regularly. THAT would bring them in...

It would, back in 1800 when the population of London was 1 million, public hangings at Tyburn used to attract crowds of up to 100,000

Jim Douglas Jr. wrote:who wants to go first?

I can think of somebody I would like to go first, but no names no pack drill etc

I remember growing up, going to school in the area and asking my History Teacher about the Dreamland Strongman. He told me that the story is true but that the Strongman actually committed suicide after the guilty verdict was returned, which would explain his abscence from the execution records.