Bella In The Wych Elm: In Search Of
()
About this ebook
A baffling unsolved Worcestershire murder from 1941. A woman's body stuffed into a tree not found for 18 months until only a skeleton remained. Grafitti appearing on walls about the case then and now. Witchcraft or spies or a horrible lover's killing?
Andrew Sparke
A lawyer and retired local government Chief Executive, Andrew Sparke has reinvented himself as a writer and indie publisher. He owns and manages APS Publications, a vehicle for fiction, poetry, food, travel, sport, erotica, music, photography, health and spirituality, which publishes other indie authors as well as his own work. News and more information is available online at andrew.sparke.com Two novels 'Abuse, Cocaine and Soft Furnishings' and 'Copper Trance & Motorways' are available. A third entitled 'Anger Limerence & Fault Lines' is in preparation.
Read more from Andrew Sparke
The Mother Lode Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFood and Cancer Prevention Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChanging Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTea Among Kiwis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ways of Mevagissey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGutter Verse and The Baboon Concerto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndie Publishing: The Journey Made Easy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIstanbul: The Visitor Essentials Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Bella In The Wych Elm
Titles in the series (5)
Rear Gunner: In Search Of, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magna Carta Wars Of Lincoln Cathedral: In Search Of, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPiggery Jokery In Tonga: In Search Of, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAramoana: in Search Of New Zealand's Worst Spree Killing: In Search Of Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBella In The Wych Elm: In Search Of Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? Volume 2: A Crime Shrouded In Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExposing Jack the Stripper: A Biography of the Worst Serial Killer You've Probably Never Heard of: Stranger Than Fiction, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Put Bella In The Wych Elm? Vol.1: The Crime Scene Revisited: The Bella Archives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssex Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths Around the Tees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Crime & Murder Mysteries Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath on the Beat: Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Image Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFamily, Friends and Neighbors: Stories of Murder and Betrayal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Cemeteries of Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiscarriages of Justice: Famous London Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Gale of 1871 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBackwoods Murder (The Story of Cody Legebokoff): A True Crime Quickie, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder Out Yonder: True Crime Stories from America's Frontier Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mysterious Chronicles of the Unexplained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFoul Deeds in Islington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDorset Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Nottingham Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of the North Coast: Legends, Mysteries and Haunted Places of Northern Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrim Almanac of Shropshire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Henry: The Murderous Rampage of ‘The Taco Bell Strangler’ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaid Bare: The Nude Murders and the Hunt for 'Jack the Stripper' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorthamptonshire Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Flag Jack the Ripper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLincolnshire Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Hauntings 4-Book Bundle: Creepy Capital / Spooky Sudbury / Haunted Hamilton / Tomes of Terror Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEerie Quad Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGruesome New York: Murder, Madness, and the Macabre in the Empire State: Gruesome, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Houses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Murder For You
Under the Bridge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunt A Killer: The Detective's Puzzle Book: True-Crime Inspired Ciphers, Codes, and Brain Games Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWritten in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anatomy Of Motive: The Fbis Legendary Mindhunter Explores The Key To Understanding And Catching Vi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Row, Texas: Inside the Execution Chamber Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House of Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journey Into Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial of Lizzie Borden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Sisters in Black: The Bizarre True Case of the Bathtub Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abandoned Prayers: An Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession, and Amish Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Bella In The Wych Elm
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Bella In The Wych Elm - Andrew Sparke
CONTENTS
Introduction ~ 1
First Questions ~ 3
Discovering the Corpse ~ 5
The Forensics ~11
Investigating Murder ~ 15
The Bella Messages ~ 18
Retrospective Evidence ~ 20
Witchcraft ~ 22
A Sexual Motive ~ 26
Foreigner or Spy ~ 27
Jack Mossop and Van Ralt ~ 30
An Agent Code-Named Clara ~ 32
A Very Cold Case ~ 36
Bella’s Legacy ~ 39
Outstanding Questions ~ 40
Further Reading ~ 42
Documents ~ 43
INTRODUCTION
This short book draws together all the theories about Bella, a local cause célèbre in the part of Worcestershire bordering the Black Country, an area to the West of Birmingham encompassing the modern boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and the city of Wolverhampton. Her body, or the skeletal remains of it were discovered in 1943, hidden in a hollow tree in Hagley Woods, sparking a mystery which abides to this day.
Writing nearly eighty years later, it’s clear that the main reason for the enduring power of Bella’s story is that it remains an unsolved murder, involving a bizarre means of disposal, with the victim’s identity and the means of her death remaining unascertainable. The only person who can be sure of Bella’s actual identity is her murderer who must by now have taken his or her secret to the grave.
This is a work about how folklore and legend take over when forensic evidence is lacking but it’s published alongside another book by my friend Pete Merrill’s young son Alex which promises to be a turning point in Bella’s story and must be read by anyone who’s fascination is sparked by the case history as I’ve been able to outline it. What Alex has done is to explore the crime scene and forensic reports from modern first principles and his theory about the timing and nature of Bella’s death and the likely errors of supposition and consequent mis-description of Bella are fascinating. His true genius though has been to procure the scientific recreation of Bella’s face and thus enable a new search to start for Bella in family photographic archives.
In issuing this book in a new edition I have referenced Alex’s discoveries but if you want to see Bella’s face for yourself then you’ll need to get his book Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? Vol.1 The Crime Scene Revisited and who knows what revelations Vol.2 will bring.
For now, this is the story of Hagley Woods Bella as it has evolved between 1943 and the present day.
Andrew Sparke
February 2018
FIRST QUESTIONS
B1The questions the case raises are innumerable. Among the more obvious are the following:
Who was Bella?
How did she die?
Was she murdered and if so who killed her?
Why did nobody report her missing?
How did she get to the wood?
Why was she put in the tree?
As rumours at the time had it, was she a prostitute, a gypsy or a Nazi spy?
Did she just fall foul of a husband or lover?
How did the story of a severed hand arise?
How did her remains come to disappear?
What happened to her child or children?
What does her case file with the West Mercia Police contain?
Why has so much of the documentation associated with the investigation of her murder missing?
Is there an MI5 aspect?
Why is this case still a mystery nearly eighty years after it happened?
The thing is that most of these questions are unanswered, and at this remove, unanswerable, making Bella in the Wych-Elm an enduring folk legend and a fertile ground for conspiracy theories. No wonder the case still attracts such levels of interest today.
DISCOVERING THE CORPSE
B2People disappear. Even in a world as well regulated as we like to believe ours to be. In this country we continue to see the evidence of that in the form of Missing Persons posters and media coverage of unsolved murders, each one