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The Acid Bath Murderer

John Haigh disposed of his victims in an acid bath. He is known to have killed 6 but claims he killed 9. All for money.

By Haylee MarickPublished about a year ago 7 min read
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The Acid Bath Murderer
Photo by Charl Folscher on Unsplash

John George Haigh also known as the Acid Bath Murderer killed 6 confirmed people. He was given his nickname by using sulphuric acid. So, what made him choose acid? Why murder? Who were his victims?

John George Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, to John Robert Haigh and Emily Haigh. He was born into a strict Protestant family. He claimed that he suffered from religious nightmares. He won a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth Gramer School.

After school, he worked for a firm of motor engineers. After he quit there he worked for an insurance firm. He was soon fired after being suspected of stealing a cash box. He then worked for himself, forging car documents.

In July 1934, Haigh married Beatrice 'Betty' Hamer. In November he was caught forging and was sentenced to 15 months. Betty Gave birth while Haigh was still in prison. Betty then placed the girl up for adoption and divorced Haigh. After this his family ostracised him.

When Haigh got out he moved to London and became a chauffeur for William McSwan. William McSwan was a wealthy businessman. (Super hard to find information on William McSwan.) After securing a job he started pretending to be a solicitor. He used the name, William Cato Adamson. He sold fraudulent stock shares. The scam was uncovered when he misspelled Guildford on his letterhead. He was sentenced to four years. He was released right after WWII started. He was soon back in jail a year later for twenty months for stealing. After he was released he got an accounting job till 1944.

In 1943, he bumped into William McSwan in a Kensington pub. McSwan had introduced Haigh to his parents. McSwan worked for his parents by collecting rent in London. Haigh became envious of McSwan lifestyle. Haigh had become intrigued by Georges-Alexandre Sarret who was a French murderer that dissolved his victims bodies in sulphuric acid. Haigh tried dissolving field mice in sulphuric acid. This only took 30 minutes.

On September 6, 1944, Haigh lured William McSwan into a basement on Gloucester Road. He then hit William McSwan with a lead pipe. Haigh then stuffed William McSwan in a 48-gallon drum full of concentrated sulphuric acid. Two days after murdering William McSwan he returned to the basement to find William McSwan's body mostly dissolved. Haigh emptied the 40-gallon drum into a manhole.

48-GALLON DRUM LIKE THE ONE JOHN HAIGH USED. NOT A REAL PHOTO OF THE DRUM USED.

John Haigh went to William McSwan's parents and told them that William McSwan had fled to Scotland to evade military service. (We now know this isn't true, but Donald and Amy McSwan, William McSwan's parents, believed him.) Haigh then went on to live in William McSwan's house collecting rent for Donald and Amy McSwan.

As WWII ended, Donald and Amy McSwan were confused about why their son had not come home. Haigh knowing that they would find out he had killed William McSwan, lured them to the same basement he had killed their son in. He did this by telling them their son had come home for a surprise visit. When he had both of them down in the basement he struck and killed both of them with the same lead pipe he killed their son with. Then, he stuffed their bodies in 48-gallon drums and later disposed of them in the same manhole.

Haigh stole McSwan's pension checks and sold his parent's properties for around £8,000. In today's money, he made $169,604.57 off of these horrible murders. He then moved into Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington.

ONSLOW COURT HOTEL

Haigh with his newfound wealth was a gambler. By 1947 he was short on money. Being short on money he found a couple to murder. He found them by feigning interest in a house they were selling. Archibald and Rose Henderson let Haigh into their flat for a housewarming party. While in the flat, Haigh stole Archibald Henderson's revolver. Haigh rented a small workshop at 2 Leopold Road, Crawley, Sussex. He then moved 48-gallon drums from the basement of Gloucester Road to his rented workshop. These barrels were the same ones he murdered the McSwans in.

On February 12, 1948, Haigh drove Archibald Henderson to his workshop under the pretext of showing him a new invention. When they got there Haigh shot Archibald Henderson in the head with the stolen revolver killing him instantly. He then lured Rose Henderson to the workshop claiming Archibald Henderson had fallen ill. When Rose got there Haigh pulled the stolen revolver and shot RoseHenderson in the head killing her. Haigh then stuffed both of their bodies into 48-gallon drums full of sulphuric acid. Later disposing of them in a pile of rubble on the back of the property.

Haigh then forged a letter with the signatures and sold all of their possessions besides their dog and car. He got around £8,000 for everything. Haigh returned to the Onslow Court Hotel in Kensington. There he would meet Olive Durand-Deacon. Olive Durand-Deacon was a wealthy widow of John Durand-Deacon. John Durand-Deacon was a solicitor before his death. Haigh had been talking about how he was an engineer. Olive Durand-Deacon had heard this and approached him with the idea of artificial fingernails. Haigh knowing she was wealthy invited her to his workshop. The workshop he had murdered the Hendersons in.

Olive Durand-Deacon happily agreed. On February 18, 1949, Olive Durand-Deacon entered the workshop alongside Haigh. He shot her in the back of the neck with the revolver he stole from Archibald Henderson. He then stripped Olive Durand-Deacon of all of her valuables including a Persian Lamb coat. Haigh put Olive Durand-Deacon into the drum of sulphuric acid.

Two days later, Constance Lane, a close friend of Durand-Deacon reported her missing. The detectives soon caught on to the trail of John Haigh. The detectives searched the workshop that was in Haigh's name. They found Olive Durand-Deacon Persian lamb coat as well as papers referring to the Hendersons and McSwans. The pile of rubble was investigated by Pathologist Keith Simpson. The pile of rubble revealed 28 pounds of human body fat, part of a human foot, gallstones, and part of Olive Durand-Deacon dentures (confirmed to be her dentures by her dentist.) With all of this evidence, they could say with full confidence that John Haigh murdered Olive Durand-Deacon without a doubt. They had evidence to point to the Hendersons and McSwans.

Haigh confessed to murdering the McSwans, the Hendersons, and Durand-Deacon as well as three others. He claimed to have murdered a boy named Max, a girl from Eastbourne, and a woman from Hammersmith. These claims have never been sustained.

The trial was held at Lewes Assizes. Haigh pleaded insanity claiming he drank the blood of his victims. He said that as a kid he had dreams dominated by blood. Attorney-General, Sir Hartley Shawcross KC led the prosecution and urged the jury to discard the plea of insanity. Sir David Maxwell Fyfe KC, defending, urged the jury to accept the plea of insanity because John Haigh had Paranoid Personality Disorder.

Haigh thought that if the bodies could not be found, a murder conviction was impossible. After both sides had been presented the jury went to deliberate. It took minutes for the Jury to find John Haigh guilty of murder. Justice Travers Humphreys sentenced Haigh to death by hanging. On August 10, 1949, Haigh was hung.

John Haigh murdered at least six people. William McSwan, Donald McSwan, Amy McSwan, Archibald Henderson, Rose Henderson, and Olive Durand-Deacon. His method was striking the McSwans with a lead pipe and then putting them in drums full of sulphuric acid. As well as for the Hendersons and Durand-Deacon shooting them with a stolen revolver and dissolving them in drums of acid. All for money.

Writers Note: This Case is horrific and extremely unsettling, but if you would like to know more about John Haigh, the McSwans, Hendersons, and Durand-Deacon I have linked a few sites. Site one, site two, site three, site four. Inflation Calculator. More on PPD. This is an educational article on the acid bath murderer. If there is information that is incorrect or a mistake that I made let me know. Once again this is disturbing for a number of reasons. My heart goes out to the victims and the people impacted by this case. Thank you for reading.

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Haylee Marick

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