Fact is Stranger than Fiction Friday (2) The story of the 10 Rillington Place Murders

Time for my second installment of the Fact is Stranger than Fiction Friday regular. This week we look at the story of the 10 Rillington Place murders that took place in the 1940's and '50's by former special police constable, John Christie. So shocking was this story it was later made in to a film in 1971, which was my first introduction to 10 Rillington Place.

Christie lived with his wife, Ethel, in a ground floor flat in London's Notting Hill. He had been a petty criminal and frequented prostitutes for many years. In 1943 he invited Australian prostitute, Ruth Fuerst, back to his flat and strangled her. He buried her in the backyard and resigned from the police force a few months later. He got a job as a clerk in a factory and met colleague, Muriel Eady, who was to be his next victim. She was suffering from bronchitis and he claimed to have some medical background and that he had invented a new concoction that could help her. He took her back to his flat and got her to inhale the mixture through a tube connected to a jar, which was in actual fact just an over the counter chest medicine. While she was not looking he inserted another tube in to the jar and this tube was connected to the gas tap. Eady soon passed out from inhaling the domestic gas and he raped, strangled and buried her in the garden alongside his first victim.

A few years later he sublet the top floor flat to a young couple Timothy and Beryl Evans and their newborn baby Geraldine. A year later Timothy Evans confessed to the murder of his wife and baby and police found their bodies in an outhouse. Later Evans accused Christie of their murder, stating that Christie had tried to perform an abortion on his wife that had gone wrong. But Christie was the main witness for Evans' prosecution and he was sentenced to death in 1950. Two years after that Christie strangled his own wife, Ethel, in her bed. Between 19 January and 6 March 1953 he murdered 3 more women after modifying his gassing technique; just releasing the gas in to the room until they became drowsy. He hid these bodies in an alcove in the kitchen that he then wallpapered over and wrapped in a similar way to Evans' wife and daughter. On their discovery this cast doubt as to Timothy Evans' guilt but he had already been put to death.

Prior to his killing sprees Christie had been gassed himself during the war and spent months in a hospital unable to see or speak. Once he had recovered he claimed he was unable to talk loudly. I don't think you can talk about these murders and not mention the amazing film. Christie was played expertly by Richard Attenborough who effected Christie's quiet whisper of a voice to a chilling end.

In some ways this amazing film made these murders seem too real. Normally you hear about this kind of thing on the news but you rarely are made to see the victims lives before hand or witness the killer in the act, seeing his fragile yet manipulative side in a shocking reality check. Still one of may favourite movies.

Whose mother entered my Exorcist contest in Hell?

Last week or thereabouts I opened my latest contest to win a painting of The Exorcist by none other than me me me. Me. Well, now I'm proud to announce the winner...

Nicole Hadaway!

of All Things Smart and Scary

Good God, you are lucky. Thanks to all who entered, I've already emailed Nicole the good news. While we wait for her to gush her eternal thanks let's watch a clip to keep you awake at night.

Don't have nightmares. Meh, who am I kidding?!

Fact is Stranger than Fiction Friday (1) The story of the Enfield Poltergeist

How often do we hear of a horror film being based on a true story only to find out that it's merely loosely based on several different events that may or may not have happened? You get the idea. I started this blog because, since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by apparently true stories about ghosts or tales of serial killers that have made it in to our history books. So this will hopefully be a regular event!

For anyone who doesn’t know Enfield is a large borough in North London. In August 1977 the Hodgson family, consisting of mother Peggy, her two daughters Margaret (12) and Janet (11) and two sons Johnny (10) and Billy (7) began to experience what they called poltergeist activity. They reported furniture moving, toys being thrown around the room and becoming hot to the touch, interference with bedclothes and knocking on walls. And more interestingly, physical assaults, levitation's and possession. Two passers by even claimed to see one of the girls, through her bedroom window, floating in the air in a horizontal position.

Very soon journalists came to visit and they also reported strange goings on like objects moving of their own accord. One of the journalists reported their sightings to the Society for Psychical Research who sent Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair to investigate. Possibly the most disturbing part of this is a recording, an excerpt can be heard in the film below, of Janet apparently channelling a man named Bill, who had died in that house. It has been said that she is using her false vocal chords which I imagine is something that is very difficult to do, especially for an 11 year old girl.

Police officers also witnessed the strange goings on and later signed statements confirming this. Also, their next door neighbour tried to test Janet by asking her to draw a circle around her light fitting. They left Janet alone and a minute later they were called back in. Janet told them that she had travelled through the wall and had gone in to her neighbour's bedroom and had dropped her book in there. The neighbour went next door and found a book and a circle drawn around her light fitting.

With all this “evidence” from reputable witnesses surely this just had to have happened just the way they said and that it had to be true? The problem is, the human mind is very complex and what we think we see isn’t always what we actually see. We can be susceptible to all kinds of suggestion. For instance, when I was about 5 I was sitting on our very brown rug and my dad lifted it up with me still on it. At the time I thought I was really flying and even now looking back that seemed the only logical explanation. I know I was only 5 but it felt so real and still does. Also, it was 1977 and what film would have been fresh in people’s minds? The Exorcist!

An elaborate hoax on a grand scale? The fact is though, most of the happenings have never been disproved. Many officials are not even condemning it, preferring to have more of an open mind on the subject. Whatever side of the fence you sit on here you have to admit, the recording of Janet and the ghost voice is terrifying and the photographs are amazing. I suppose it is something that will never be solved but it gives you the willies, right?

Some horror/blogging news!

The Lammys are here! The Large Association of Movie Blogs blog has opened voting for their annual awards. Voting is open to current LAMBS only so if you haven't done so already, why don't you check out the poll and consider Scare Sarah for a few shinnies!


Exorcist Contest extension! That's right, I have extended the closing date for my latest contest. Just add your comment at the end my Exorcist review for the chance to win an original piece of artwork! Get in there before 24th April at 12:00GMT.

You've seen them around , now I've got one; my very own MEME! I don't want to give too much away but it will/should/hopefully be an every Friday kinda thing. So, wait, that's tomorrow! Oh my...

Can I please see some ID? - The Orphan (2009)

Well now, I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Not because I’m clever (but I am) but because someone already told me what the big reveal was going to be before I saw the film. Interestingly, I think it only altered my reaction a little. Quite quickly you realise the kid’s as evil as spiky knickers but it did rob me of quite a big laugh once the truth was outed.

John and Kate, after losing their third child at birth, decide to adopt a nine year old girl called Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) from an orphanage. A little creepy from the outset, insisting on wearing old fashioned dresses with ribbons (what a freak), her new parents stuck with her oddities.

But because she was so strange she started to get bullied at school. This is when we first see Esther is not to be messed with. She follows one girl to the top of a slide and pushes her off and breaks her leg. She later does something unspeakable with a nun. The actress who played the nun, CCH Pounder, kind of reminded me of Scatman Crothers in The Shining. And you know what happened to him!

Esther threatens almost everyone who could expose her true nature with the usual, “if you tell, I’ll kill you” promise. As the story unravels it becomes apparent that they know very little about where she came from.

Say what you like about the movie but that little actress Isabelle Fuhrman is quite something after the reveal! Ridiculous and creepy, did what it said on the tin. You hated everyone you were supposed to hate; the kid for being evil and the dad for not believing the mum. Sometimes in films you find yourself wanting the evil spawn to succeed but not here. Maybe it was because again, I knew what the outcome was or maybe it was because the mum was hot, I really do not know. It definitely had the ick factor though. *shudders*

“Your mother would enter this Contest in Hell” Or words to that effect - The Exorcist (1973)

Being of a generation who wasn’t born soon enough to witness first hand the uproar this film got on its release, I first saw this film with the back story fully ingrained in my mind, just like the story of Mary and Joseph or the fact the sky is blue.

It starts off slow, with Eastern prologue type scenes similar to the Italy scenes in The Omen. Whether we needed these or not I don’t know, but they are there nonetheless. Regan is a troubled child, her mother, Chris and father are separated and she begins to display signs of depression. They hear strange sounds in upstairs rooms and one night Regan gets in to her mother’s bed complaining that her own bed was shaking. In another scene Regan interrupts a small party her mother is having one night, stands in the middle of the room, urinates then utters the dreaded words “You’re gonna die up there.” That night Chris discovers her daughter seemingly convulsing and her bed shaking and levitating. Regan reveals she has been playing with a Ouija board and claims she can talk to spirits. As I said the film starts off slow, letting you gather all the information needed then suddenly, the shocking possession shows itself.

This troubling behaviour continues and secretly Chris suspects her daughter may have killed one of her friends. Several painful tests later the doctors are none the wiser, at first thinking Regan has a lesion on her brain. Believing her symptoms to be psychosomatic, and after exhausting all other possibilities, one of the doctors suggest an exorcism. His idea is that if she believes she is possessed by a demon, she should also believe this will remove it from her body. In fact, I’ve seen many documentaries on this subject, where exorcisms are merely a procedure used to rid the patient of dark and destructive thoughts. The ritual is quite traumatic and in some cases causes the “evil” to leave the body by way of vomiting.

Just looking at stills from this film is frightening. I think this is because for the most part the scary scenes don’t rely on the jump factor. They are played out in real time with you, an innocent onlooker, letting these scenes creep up on you. The dreamlike feel makes this less of a scary film but more of an experience. You cannot watch The Exorcist and not be touched by the oppressive atmosphere or be inspired by its message of hope. So much history and rumour surround this movie, much of it probably made up but you wouldn’t be blamed for wanting desperately to believe, just as I do, that the film itself is so powerful and full of evil that it infected the world around it.

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So that brings us to contest time again. Yeah, I’m hawking something new. If you want the chance to win this piece of Exorcist artwork painted by moi, just follow these rules.

- Be or become a follower of Scare Sarah. Just click on the Follow button up top and sign in with your Google, Twitter or Yahoo details.

- Tell me some Exorcist trivia and post it in a comment below.

- For an extra entry, spread the word on Twitter or your blog or wherever. Just tell me where.

- One entry per person.

- Entries consent to their screen name being posted on this blog.

- Contest closes at 23:00 GMT on the 23 April 2010.

- Open internationally.

One winner will be selected at random and I will announce the result by the 26 April. God bless you, fingers crossed, touch wood.

*** This contest is now closed. Thanks ***

Ideas you pick up at the DIY store - Shallow Grave (1994)

Although filmed before Trainspotting, its release was after and rode on the back of the trippy UK dance scene of the ‘90’s, of which I was a part of, albeit a decade later. Director, Danny Boyle was a shining light, opening up Great Britain and showing its dirtiest, grimiest sides for the entire world to see. Big names here, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Keith Allen & Kerry Fox before they went all Hollywood.

Three friends decide they need a flat mate to help pay the rent so they hold auditions and find a few weirdos including Keith Allen. On his first night he makes quite an impression; he drinks lots and cracks a few jokes then the next day they find him naked, dead and naked on his bed. Just when they're about to call the police they go through his bag, as you do, and find piles and piles of cash. Too good to be true, they decide to keep the money and not call the police. This does leave them with one problem though; they need to get rid of the body. How? Well, they take him to the woods after visiting their local DIY shop, and chop him up. Christopher Eccleston's character draws the short straw and has this honour, much to his distress. Little did the friends know, this would send his already fragile character, over the edge.

They try not to but eventually they crack and spend some of the money. This is when someone comes looking for it and they start to turn on each other. The friends really did look and act like they’d been flat mates for years with their inside jokes and banter which turned in to sinister sibling-like sniping. I can’t walk round a DIY store now without imagining what tools I’d need to dismember a body. Yes dear, it’s true. Last weekend when we were walking through B&Q looking for paint I was in fact eyeing up the hacksaws and hammers.

Unlikely and brutal, coupled with the iconic dance soundtrack, it was and still is a wonder to behold. I keep harping on about the music, but it’s not just dance. We have great incidental and the use of Andy Williams’ Happy Heart at the end is pure theatre, highlighting the film’s humour and shock value.

The honesty in the characters is both awe inspiring and awkward. If it was down to you or your best friend to dismember a dead body you’d be hoping your best friend drew the short straw, wouldn’t you? If you had to knock the teeth out of the dead mans head you would vomit while you did it, wouldn’t you? This film showed that when it comes down to it, no matter how close you are and what you’ve been through together, no matter the promises you made, when it comes down to it people lie, cheat and kill and get away with it.

Nice pants - The Unborn (2009)

I wasn't actually going to review this but last night I had a nightmare about being possessed by the devil and that I had to perform an exorcism on myself. So I thought maybe I should just get it over and done with before the devil kills me in my sleep and all.

Casey is babysitting a couple of kids when she hears a commotion upstairs. When she gets to the baby's room she finds his seven year old brother standing over him with a mirror, showing him his reflection. "Jumpy wants to be born now" sings the boy, then hits her across the face. Later, the token-black-girl-who-will-die-before-the-credits tells us that it's bad luck for a baby to see their reflection.

Casey then seems to be suffering with bad dreams where the recurring image of a boy stares at her and she starts hearing things in her bathroom cabinet. Later she discovers that she was supposed to be a twin. I must've zoned out for a moment but for some reason we then visit Casey's grandmother, Sofi. She tells the story of her childhood in a concentration camp and explains that the boy Casey is being haunted by is in fact Sofi's brother who died after being experimented on.

There were some great scenes with by standers being possessed by a demon and distorted people doing the crab up and down the stairs but it was just done way better in The Exorcist or even the Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Always been a bit of a fan of Odette Yustman since Cloverfield. Very easy on the eye. So she gets a 10 out of 10. She does get a little upstaged by her pants that she flashes several times. The film however, although I can't honestly say it was the most diabolical film I have ever seen, it's just that I've seen this story before in many different guises. It does try to distract us from this fact though, with the early shock scene of a fetus in the woods. I did like the mask on the dog though; very creepy papier mache of the boy's face. I might make one of those for myself to scare the kids this Halloween. That and the butcher's knife.