Edward Halliday
The White Woman Of Camberwell (2014)
Mark
‘The White Woman’ is a story
I’ve been looking into for a while. I lived on
Camberwell Grove around 1990-1992 and can
Remember being
Freaked out several times by
The sight of a black woman
Dressed in white
(Perhaps a wedding dress?) with
A small doll attached to herself.
Most significantly
She had literally
Painted herself white.
Do you remember her?
Do you know who she was and why she painted herself white?
What became of her?
Please leave a comment with any information.
Martin
I remember the
White Woman of Camberwell. She
Used to be terrifying if you
Saw her at night, though
I once saw her at Carnival when she was nattering
Away to one of her mates about
The weather.
Used to be all sorts of stories connected to her,
Which may well be fake.
Mistersloane
My mate was her psychiatric nurse
For a while, she was/is called
Angel and
Thought she was an angel,
Hence the white.
Unfortunately she
Was using
Normal whitewash paint though, and
It was destroying her face.
Haven’t seen her in ages.
Martin
Ah, right, that explains it. Wow,
You’re the first person I’ve talked to about her
For years, everyone else thinks
I was
Making it up!
I hope she’s OK.
Gunnersmith
I’m responding to an old thread regarding the White Woman.
In the 90’s I was the Parcelforce guy for Camberwell, and
Regularly delivered to the Maudsley Hospital.
She was well known there,
And had (from memory) been the victim of
A racial attack or
Possibly rape.
She is
A black lady, and
After the ordeal suffered a severe mental disorder and
Took to wearing white.
I first glanced her briefly in Denmark Hill and thought nothing more of it,
Then one morning I
Actually delivered a parcel to her flat.
Put bluntly,
She scared the sh*t out of me:
White bandages wrapped around her torso,
What looked like EMULSION paint on her face and hair,
White knickers over the bandages,
A Madonna style white pointed bra and,
To top it all, a
White tail
Draping along behind her!
Her piercing red eyes done it for me,
A sight I shall never forget!
Her flat had white paint smothered on all the windows (both front and back),
And apparently everything in the flat was painted white also.
Further threads here say she’s cured
And living a now normal life, and I’d be
Interested in hearing if anyone else knows of her now,
Or if anyone had a
Similarly surreal experience.
Eastdulwichangst
I was just talking about her today, with someone who once lived in Camberwell Grove.
Strange.
Not seen or heard of her for years.
Steveng
WELL…
I’m from the Elephant and Castle area…
And even thought she was around a lot when I was younger,
I only had the chance to
See her once!
Oh OH MY!
It was late at night on the Walworth road, when
I was at the bus stop with my mum, she just
Came round the corner, and I got
The shock of MY LIFE!
Very scary..!
LOL.…
I’m still living in the same area but haven’t
Heard much about her in yearsss
So I’m presumin that
Maybe she’s stopped paintin her self or sumthin.…
From what i know (prob urban legends) here are the stories!
1. She was raped in Kennington Park by a black man, so now paints herself to scare people away.
2. One day she woke up and saw everythin black, so painted her house and self white
3. Her fiancé left her for a white woman, so she paints herself to get him back
4. She wants to be a witch and does voodoo
AND I’m sure there use to be one about her
Daughter gettin taken away or
She died in a fire or sumthin? Mayb truth within these?
Or just urban myths.…
And I’m not 100% sure…but I think her name’s Mary.