Do you remember that scene in Breaking Bad, where Jesse Pinkman used acid to dissolve a body? Mythbusters actually did an episode where they tried to prove or disprove the science behind it. While they concluded that the acid/methods used in Breaking Bad did not quite get the job done, murderer John Haigh did use a method that worked. We know him as the Acid Bath Murderer.
John George Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England on July 24, 1909. His father, John Robert Haigh was an engineer, and the family were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a low church and non-conformist Christian movement.
Haigh was a good student, and even won scholarships to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, and Wakefield Cathedral, where he became a choir boy. He even played the piano. It is known that he was quite fond of classical music, and enjoyed attending concerts.
But, as most children do, he got into his fair share of trouble. On occasion he would pull the stool out from under the elderly organist when she would sit to play. One story tells of how he chased a pig around its sty until it died from exhaustion. The death of the pig brought its own punishment – a beating.
Despite his sense of humor, and his good student status – Haigh was often the victim of bullying. In fact, he had no friends, claiming his only friends were his few pets, and the neighbors dog. His family’s religious beliefs were somewhat fanatical, and the family kept a tall fence around their house, to keep out prying eyes.
His father, who had a blue blemish on his head, told Haigh that the mark was the result of him sinning in his youth. His mother had no such mark, and was therefore an angel. As a result, he kept an eye out for his own mark, something to show the world that he had sinned. But, despite all his mischief, no mark ever came.
He completed school, and took on a job as an apprentice to a firm of motor engineers. Unfortunately, he hadn’t left his troublemaking days behind, and was fired about a year later, after adding sugar to his boss’ gas tank.
Next he took jobs in the insurance and advertising fields. But again, he found himself unemployed after he was suspected of stealing from a cash box. Haigh moved on in a new direction – forging car documents.
On July 6, 1934, he married 23-year-old Beatrice “Betty” Hamer. It’s hard to say what would have happened to his marriage if he had done honest work. Just four months into their marriage, he was arrested for fraud, and received a 15-month prison sentence.
Their marriage was dissolved, and months later, Betty gave birth to their daughter, who she ultimately gave up for adoption. This didn’t sit well with his family, and from that point on, he was an outcast.
After his release from prison in 1936, he moved to London and took a job as a chauffeur to William McSwan, the owner of an amusement park. In addition to driving his new boss, he also found himself maintaining the arcade games.
At the same time, he worked to make extra money, pretending to be a solicitor. He sold fraudulent stock shares from the estates of his dead “clients” at below market rates. He was caught when he misspelled “Guildford,” where his supposed office was based.
He was arrested and jailed, spending four years in prison. During that time, he focused on his crimes, and how to improve, or reduce his chances of being caught. John Haigh decided his best option was to kill his victims and get rid of their bodies. No body equaled no crime.
Upon his release, Haigh ran into his former employer, McSwan at a pub in Kensington. McSwan introduced him to his parents, Donald and Amy. He was well aware of just how wealthy they were, and when he added to that the jealousy he felt for them, he decided to make a move.
On September 9, 1944, he invited McSwan to meet up in a basement at 79 Gloucester Road, in London, where he said he was making pin-ball machines. Once he arrived, McSwan was beaten to death. All Haigh had to do was get rid of the body – and what better way than to dissolve him in a 40-gallon drum of concentrated sulphuric acid.
It took only 2 days for McSwan to dissolve into sludge, which Haigh subsequently poured down a manhole.
Haigh was not finished with the McSwan family. He began forging letters from McSwan to his parents, letting them know that he had gone into hiding to avoid being called up for military service. Over time, Haigh developed a relationship with McSwan’s parents, and on July 2, 1945, they expressed their concern when their son had not returned.
Haigh had an answer though – he informed them that their son was in London for a surprise visit, and he would bring them to him. He lured the couple to the basement at 79 Gloucester Road where he bludgeoned them to death and disposed of their bodies in the same way he had their son’s.
Haigh sold off the McSwan’s properties and moved into a hotel in Kensington. Over the course of the next two years, while he lived off the money he received from the sale of the McSwan properties, he also managed to work up a sizable gambling debt. This meant he had to find a new victim.
52-year-old Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife 41-year-old Rosalie, were a wealthy couple involved in real estate. They advertised flats for sale in a large house that they had converted into apartments. Haigh made an offer on one of the flats and developed a friendly relationship with the couple.
When they held a housewarming party for their new flat, they invited Haigh to play piano for them. At the party, he found and stole a revolver from Henderson’s collection.
The couple told him they would be traveling for a short holiday, he followed them, and stayed in the same hotel. On February 12, 1948, he managed to convince Dr. Henderson to visit his factory/workshop in Sussex on the pretense of showing him an invention. Once there, Haigh shot him in the back of the head.
Next he had to deal with Rosalie. He lured her to the workshop, telling her that her husband had fallen ill and needed urgent help. When she arrived, she too, was shot. Their bodies were placed in vats of acid and dissolved.
Haigh sold off all their possessions.
Just over a year later, John Haigh targeted a 69-year-old widow. Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon was the widow of John Durand-Deacon, a wealthy salesman and resident of the Onslow Court Hotel – a hotel where Haigh was living. He was calling himself an engineer, and in conversation with the widow, learned that she had an idea for artificial fingernails.
On February 18, 1949, he invited her to visit his workshop. When they got there, he quickly shot her in the neck. He stripped her of her jewelry and other valuables, including her fur coat. Then he put her body in the vat of acid.
He made a mistake though – Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon had friends. Friends who were very aware of her absence. Constance Lane approached Haigh and asked him to accompany her to the Chelsea police station to report her missing, and he obliged.
Haigh had quite the record by this time, and police were immediately suspicious. They obtained a warrant to search his workshop where they quickly discovered his briefcase – which contained a dry cleaner’s receipt. A receipt for the cleaning of the widow’s fur coat, which had been bloodied during her murder. They also found papers linking him to both the McSwans and the Hendersons.
John Haigh made one more huge mistake.
Unlike the basement in London, the workshop he rented did not have a floor drain. What he did have was a rubble pile at the back of the property, where he dumped the widow’s remains. When investigators came upon it, they found 28 pounds of human body fat, part of a foot, human gallstones, and even part of a denture.
Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon’s dentist successfully identified the denture as having belonged to her.
John George Haigh was arrested on February 26, 1949. “Mrs. Durand-Deacon no longer exists. I have destroyed her with acid. You can’t prove a murder without a body,” he said. With that in mind, he went on to confess to having killed 8 others, of which only 5 could be substantiated.
During questioning, it became evident what his defensive strategy would be. He asked Detective Inspector Albert Webb, “Tell me, frankly, what are the chances of anybody being released from Broadmoor?” Broadmoor is a high-security psychiatric hospital.
The inspector informed him that he could not discuss that, to which Haigh replied, “Well if I told you the truth, you would not believe me. It sounds too fantastic to believe.”
The trial was held before Mr. Justice Humphreys on July 18th and 19th, 1949. He pleaded insanity, after all, he was a vampire – or so he claimed. He said he had dreams that were dominated by blood as a young boy. When he was in a car accident in March 1944, he claimed the dream returned to him. “I saw before me a forest of crucifixes which gradually turned into trees. At first, there appeared to be dew or rain, dripping from the branches, but as I approached I realized it was blood. The whole forest began to write and the trees, dark and erect, to ooze blood… A man went from [sic] each tree catching the blood… When the cup was full, he approached me. ‘Drink,’ he said, but I was unable to move.”
According to Haigh, he drank a glass of blood from each of his victims.
Despite his claims of insanity, and his belief that without a body he could not be convicted of murder, the jury only took 17 minutes to find him guilty.
He was sentenced to death, and on August 10, 1949, John George Haigh drank a brandy, and was hanged by executioner Albert Peirrepoint.
A large number of people stood outside the main gate of Wandsworth that morning, to see the execution notices posted.
Curious about another killer who disposed of his victims in acid? Check out the story of the Milwaukee Cannibal.
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