JOHN GEORGE HAIGH: THE ACID BATH MURDERER

John George Haigh was brought up in a very enclosed environment. Born in 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire and raised in Yorkshire, he was taught at an early age that "organized pleasure was a sin." This sheltered existence that Haigh lived included no television and no newspapers. His attendance was mandatory at the Plymouth Brethren for John and Emily who were his parents. They also locked him behind a 100 foot fence to keep him from the outside world. Socialization for Haigh only came through his classmates at school and his will to achieve scholastically. In doing this, Haigh even won a scholarship to the Wakefield Grammar school. Still that didn't show what was yet to come for Haigh.

When he was in his teenage years Haigh claimed that dreams of "forests that sported blood filled his sleeping nights and introduced him into murder. The "vampristic" thoughts that Haigh claimed to have back when he was just a child would play a later role in the murders he would commit as an adult. The murders would only occur after a string of jail terms, a marriage and discovering parts of the law that he assumed would work in his favor later on.

In 1934 he married Beatrice Hammer. This was also the year that he broke away from his family's belief structure. And yet 1934 also brought Haigh a conviction term for fraud. In November of that year he served the first of several prison sentences. Yet one year later he was released from prison. His wife had left him after 4 months that he served, gave birth to a child and had put it up for adoption. Haigh only saw her one more time after he was released, then she never entered his life again. Bitterness may have played a role in why he never remarried after that. Still that was not the end of Haigh's adventures, more was yet to come.

1935 brought John Haigh back home to his parent's house after being released from prison. Soon later he moved to London. He ended up making friends with a William McSwain owner of a pinball arcade business and his parents Donald and Amy. They gave him a promotion. But he eventually left and set up a phony solicitations office to elaborate a heavy stock scam. He was once again found out and sent to 4 years in prison for his crime; though prison at times proved to be a whole new atmosphere for discovery.

One of the prison sentences Haigh served proved to be an experimentation for him. He learned about the law as much as he could on how to commit the perfect crime. Haigh was confused by a law term called "Corpus Delecti." He was under the impression that it meant that no crime could be proven if no body was found. The term did not refer to that, but rather to a body of evidence that proves a crime has been committed. Law was not the only thing Haigh studied. He studied ways of disposing a body as well.

Disposing a murdered body for Haigh was very important. He was already thinking of ways to take care of his "Business." He managed to get a hold of materials to test how sulphric acid could dissolve the flesh of dead mice. This to him would prove useful in crimes he would commit later.

In 1943 he was yet again released into society from another conviction. After a year moved to London again and had a basement workshop. 1944 brought about a car accident which gave Haigh a head wound and an awakened taste for blood as he later described to authorities. In September of 1944, he ran into his old pal William McSwain. Haigh ended up bludgeoning him to death with a lead pipe and slit his throat. He grabbed something to pour the blood that dripped from McSwain's neck and drank it. Then with sulphric acid tried to dissolve his body in gallon tub. William's parents would find their fate the same way a year later after a lie that William "just wanted to get away" that Hiagh had managed to somewhat convince them of. Mail was forwarded to Haigh along with any money that followed from the McSwain's. Money was a strong motive for Haigh's killings. He was well-off from the profit he made from those murders. That would not be the last of Haigh's victims though.

A charming personality brought the sociopath Haigh close to many people as an adult. An organized killer, his plans were to kill and take the money to spend. His way of committing the crime was flawless, or so he thought. Each time killing the victim and then letting their bodies dissolve in the acid he had once tested before. It would not be until his last murder that he would realize that wouldn't work and that some things are still left behind.

In 1947, he met up with Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie. He started with an interest of music they all shared, then later inquired about any assets they had. In February of that year he drove the couple to a store house that he had rented in Crawely. He shot both of them with a .38 revolver, and then claimed to have drank their blood. He left them overnight at the storehouse. Later Haigh came back to put both their bodies in the acid to dissolve, but it didn't work as well as he thought. The woman's foot did not dissolve. It was totally in tact. Regardless, Haigh then dumped what was left of the two bodies in the yard of the store house. He made a great profit off the couple.

The suspicion stared with Rosalie's brother going to the police. But Haigh's charming personality convince him that they went off to a trip to South Africa for personal reasons. Haigh's would learn later that more suspicions would arise to his eventual capture and overall hanging.