TutTutTut

There are lots of strange sights in our increasingly chaotic cities these days .....

Michael Jackson Floating Down The Thames

... but they mostly have a mundane explanation. Such as a giant Michael Jackson statue that was found floating down the Thames in 1995 (a promotional prop for his History album). 

However in March 2023, a commuter from London, alighting at Saint Mary Cray rail station in Bromley, in south-east London found that outside on the pavement (sidewalk), was what he described as a full sized Egyptian style sarcophagus. There was no one with it and no apparent explanation as to why it was there or even if it was real (then very expensive) or a fibre-glass prop of some kind.

Bromley Sarcophagus

The commuter posted a picture on social media which attracted comments on the Reddit platform, and a small article in Newsweek, but no explanation as to the circumstances as to why it was on the pavement, or indeed who moved it (it was obviously gone a little while later, as no more reports were made).

Speculation ranged from it being a kitsch drinks cabinet from the 80's or 90's, or if smaller a CD cabinet, to a film prop made of fibreglass. The original poster said that rather than being surprised, "If anything I just burst out laughing a bit because I didn't think something could get more random than some Egyptian sarcophagus laying down outside a train station ..... I also feel like it just fits the peculiarity of London so well."

Now you might think that this is an isolated event, but back in 2017 a real ancient Roman sarcophagus was found on a building site on Swan Street, near Borough Market in central London. The stone coffin was around 1,600-years old and was thought to originally have contained the remains of a very wealthy member of nobility. 

Unfortunately for the original occupant it had been partially opened by, and then plundered by 18th century thieves. Only two late Roman sarcophagus's have been found in their original burial context in London in modern times.