# Forum > Discussion > Media Discussions >  Why would people not go near the flat above Mrs Lovett's pie shop?

## DomaDoma

Mrs Lovett explains, when Sweeney arrives, that "people think it's haunted." Do they actually think that? If so, why? If not, it's clear enough why Mrs Lovett would say it, but what is the actual explanation for the vacancy of the flat? She would definitely get rent income if she could.

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## Khedrac

Presumably you are referring to Sondheim's version of the Sweeny Todd story?  Since it is a long way from the "original" *whatever that was (it's set at least 2 centuries after the oldest versions I know of) you'd have to ask Stephen Sondheim as he wrote the lyrics as well as the music.

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## Peelee

> Presumably you are referring to Sondheim's version of the Sweeny Todd story?  Since it is a long way from the "original" *whatever that was (it's set at least 2 centuries after the oldest versions I know of) you'd have to ask Stephen Sondheim as he wrote the lyrics as well as the music.


Couple months too late for that.

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## Khedrac

> Couple months too late for that.


I thought I'd heard he has died, oh well, that's what mediums claim to be for.

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## GloatingSwine

It's not set in modern London.

If it was and someone told you flat was haunted you'd whip out a ouija board and ask if the ghost is okay to split the rent.

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## Trafalgar

> Mrs Lovett explains, when Sweeney arrives, that "people think it's haunted." Do they actually think that? If so, why? If not, it's clear enough why Mrs Lovett would say it, but what is the actual explanation for the vacancy of the flat? She would definitely get rent income if she could.


Probably because it stank. Mrs. Lovett was putting all sorts of strange things into her pies before she had the genius of using "long pork". Later on, Beadle Bamford says that people had been complaining about the smell. Perhaps the complaints went back to long before Sweeney Todd showed up.

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