Who put Bella in the Witch Elm?

[Herlock Sholmes]

I just had 2 books arrive and one was Bella: An Unsolved Murder by Joyce M Coley. Only 26 pages long.

[Herlock Sholmes]

The Coley book adds nothing new as expected. At least I only paid £4 for it.

It adds one story of an old man who said that Bella used to sing in his parents pub and another one in town. She disappeared without warning after becoming friendly with the man’s mother (who’d given her a pair of shoes because her own were full of holes) The storyteller said that he didn’t like the look of the man that lived with her.

Theres also a photograph of Bob Hart, one of the boys that found Bella, as an adult.

......

The other book, that I’m about to begin, is The Case That Foiled Fabian, about the murder of Charles Walton which has been linked by some to the Bella case. Although any contention by McCormick doesn’t overwhelm you with confidence.

[Pcdunn]

Hello. I have never heard of this case, but it is interesting. I looked up the Wikipedia entry on "who put Bella in the Wych Elm?" and the theories are all fairly wild.

I wonder if the graffiti was written by one of the youths who had discovered the woman's body?

[Herlock Sholmes]

MJ Trow has a book out next year on the case.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/m-j-trow/hagley-wood-murder.htm

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

MJ Trow has a book out next year on the case.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/m...ood-murder.htm

I'd love to read a full book dedicated to the case, but I'm wary about shelling out £20 on a book that hints at Nazi spies on the cover.

Was it MJ Trow that came up with the Robert Mann theory?

[Herlock Sholmes]

I'd love to read a full book dedicated to the case, but I'm wary about shelling out £20 on a book that hints at Nazi spies on the cover.

Was it MJ Trow that came up with the Robert Mann theory?

Yeah, that’s the guy Al. He wrote a book on the Torso murders too. And Cleopatra and The Princes In The Tower and Vampires and Spartacus. I looked on his website and I make this his 107th book though that’s positively lazy compared to Barbara Cartland’s 723 (no, I haven’t read her books I had to Google that fact before you say it)

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

Yeah, that’s the guy Al. He wrote a book on the Torso murders too. And Cleopatra and The Princes In The Tower and Vampires and Spartacus. I looked on his website and I make this his 107th book though that’s positively lazy compared to Barbara Cartland’s 723 (no, I haven’t read her books I had to Google that fact before you say it)

In that case I'll hang on to my money for a bit. Who knows, it might be a decent read, but he's a Jack of all trades...

[Herlock Sholmes]

In that case I'll hang on to my money for a bit. Who knows, it might be a decent read, but he's a Jack of all trades...

What you mean is…..you’ll wait til after I’ve bought it.

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

What you mean is…..you’ll wait til after I’ve bought it.

[Pcdunn]

MJ Trow has a book out next year on the case.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/m...ood-murder.htm

The blurb refers to "the world's oldest profession and the world's oldest crime!" Can we conclude the crime is murder, and that the victim was a prostitute?

So maybe not a German spy, exactly...

[Herlock Sholmes]

The blurb refers to "the world's oldest profession and the world's oldest crime!" Can we conclude the crime is murder, and that the victim was a prostitute?

So maybe not a German spy, exactly...

Yes, it’s quite a well known crime over here Pat. Some boys found a skull in a tree in 1943. Later the whole skeleton was found and it was reckoned that the body had been there for 18 months or so. The woman was never identified but what made the case live on so to speak was that in 1944 in the local town, Birmingham, a chalked graffiti on a wall appeared which said Who Put Bella Down The Witch Elm - Hagley Wood. Other similar messages also appeared and since the 1970’s a message of this kind has been chalked on the Hagley obelisk. Theories have been put forward but still no one knows who ‘Bella’ was, if that was actually her name.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_...e%2C%20England.

[Abby Normal]

MJ Trow has a book out next year on the case.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/m...ood-murder.htm

save your money

[Abby Normal]

The blurb refers to "the world's oldest profession and the world's oldest crime!" Can we conclude the crime is murder, and that the victim was a prostitute?

So maybe not a German spy, exactly...

no. the simplest explanation is usually the right one.. an unfortunate prostitute killed by a "customer". however, whoever killed her must have known about that hollow tree. i would have looked very closely at everyone associated with that estate.

[barnflatwyngarde]

no. the simplest explanation is usually the right one.. an unfortunate prostitute killed by a "customer". however, whoever killed her must have known about that hollow tree. i would have looked very closely at everyone associated with that estate.

Here's an interesting article that suggests a possible link with the German spy Josef Jakobs

https://josefjakobs.info/facts-of-bella-in-the-wych-elm

[Herlock Sholmes]

Here's an interesting article that suggests a possible link with the German spy Josef Jakobs

https://josefjakobs.info/facts-of-bella-in-the-wych-elm

Cheers Barn,

The problem is that Clara had normal looking teeth.

https://www.google.com/search?q=clara+bauerle&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB704&hl=en-GB&prmd=inv&sxsrf=ALiCzsYEFIqdc2dgXjzcEZfNzCGsg5RAVw:1670082971170&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicuvfx5937AhWBi1wKHWbfAPkQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=1024&bih=1247&dpr=2#imgrc=NUeWTdi39leM6M