John Henry George Lee was hanged three times and lived

They say that truth is stranger than fiction and this story is confirmation. I was watching an episode of the 1950's television series One Step Beyond titled The Devil's Laughter that depicted a man who was hanged three times and lived. This fictionalized version was based on the true story of John Henry George Lee, who survived three separate attempts to hang him on the same day.

Also known as John Babbacombe Lee he was born on August 15, 1864 in Abbotskerswell, Devon, England. In 1885, he was convicted of stabbing his employer Miss Emma Ann Whitehouse Keys to death with a knife. The crime happened at the spinster's countryside estate home at Babbacombe Bay on 15 November 1884.

Babbacombe Lee maintained his innocence and the evidence was circumstantial. He was the only man in the house at the time of the murder and had an unexplained cut on his arm. A prior criminal record for stealing silverware from a previous employer was revealed. He was placed in Exeter Prison and sentenced to death.

In 1883 he was convicted of stealing silverware worth £20 from his master for which he was sentenced to six months hard labour at Exeter Prison after entering a guilty plea.

On February 23, 1885, authorities attempted to execute him by hanging but in a twist of fate the trap door did not open when the hangman pulled the lever.

Prison officials took Lee off the gallows, and thoroughly tested the trapdoor mechanics which worked. The noose placed around his neck a second time and again the trapdoor refused to open.

Another thorough inspection of the gallows was done and Lee was brought out again. The lever was pulled, but for a third time the trapdoor remained firmly shut.

The executioner, James Berry, had done an extensive check of the gallows beforehand insisting everything was in order. After the third mishap the medical officer refused to take any further part in the proceedings, so they were stopped.

Berry provides a detailed account of the failed execution in his memoirs, My Experiences as an Executioner,[6] noting that the trapdoor was adjusted with a saw and axe between the attempted executions, although in Berry's memoirs and letter to the Under-Sheriff he mentions only two attempted executions. Wikepdia.

These three mechanical failures were viewed by many as a divine intervention, and the Home Secretary commuted Lee's death sentence to life in prison but he was released in 1907 after 22 years.

In One Step Beyond the character representing Babbacrombe was named John Marriott. He taunted authorities with a wicked laugh as he told them several times they could not kill him. There is no evidence that John Lee behaved this way. Here is what has been reported about his life.

Lee made a living lecturing and talking about his ordeal for a while but is subsequent retelling of his ordeal has been questioned and at this point the entire truth might never be known.

He is said to have had a second family in America, after deserting his wife and two daughters in Britain once released from prison. He later disappeared and it was suspected that he died in the Tavistock workhouse sometime during World War II.

More recent research concludes that he may have died in the US under the name "James Lee" in 1945. His gravestone was said to have been located at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee in 2009.

John Henry George "Babbacrombe" Lee was said to have deserted a and two daughters in Britain after his release from prison. He is alleged to have had a second family in America.