Murder, Mystery & Makeup - House of Horrors: The Serial Killer Who Turned 10 Rillington Place into a Graveyard

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

Hi friends! Hope you are all staying safe and healthy out there.  Today I wanted to talk about John Christie. WOOOWWWW.... what a sad sad man. I really don't know what else to say here hahahah.. What are your thoughts? Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day, Love and appreciate you guys so much!! I hope to be seeing you very soon  x o Bailey Sarian 

My name is Bailey Sarian and today is Monday, which means it's murder, mystery and makeup Monday. Sha na sha, sha na sha, sha na sha, sha na. Theme song still going strong, I guess. How is it going? I hope you're having a great day so far, as good as it can be right now, you know. This week I have a very interesting story

coming live from the UK. Today we're going to be talking about John Christie. Have you heard of him? Well, let me tell you, this guy was all sorts of messed up. John Christie was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, on April 8th, 1898. He was the fifth of seven kids. John's parents, his father worked as a carpenter designer,

and his mother was an amateur actress. John was said to have a pretty rough relationship with his father who ran a strict household and showed little to no love towards his kids. I do feel like that is just the common theme with adults back then, but. John would say that his older siblings would pick on or just bully him daily.

There really was no escape from it because also he would go to school and like he was just a bit of a loner and didn't have any friends. He would come home and feel like a loner or just bully him daily, there really was no escape from it, because also he would go to school, and like he was just a bit of a loner, and didn't have any friends, and he would come home and feel like a loner, and just get picked on. His mother, not much was really said about her,

other than she was an amateur actress, and it was like, okay. But what was said about her, was that she was just very overprotective of her kids, and she tend to baby them a little too much. You know what I'm saying? John's father kept himself busy by just working a lot. And then also he ran an organization,

or he was like a leader in an organization called the Primrose League. The Primrose League was an organization for spreading conservative principles in Great Britain. And some of its goals were to uphold and support God, the queen and the country, and also promoted purity among the working classes. That's just like two little snippets.

But John's father was involved with that organization, and it took up a lot of his time. At the age of eight, John went with his family to his grandfather's funeral, and John would later say that this had a profound effect on him. It was his first real experience with death.

And when he went to the funeral, it was an open casket, which will fuck anyone up. You know what I'm saying? I don't know why I'm laughing, but like that shit is real. Anyways, so seeing his grandfather's body laying in the open casket, it just made him a little bit more curious about death and like what happens after

and the fact that his grandfather's body is just a body. Like it just had him really thinking, had his noggin going. And John would say that he remembered every little detail about how his grandfather looked. And it was just one of those moments in life that he never forgot, just timestamp on that moment in his life.

John was pretty unpopular in school, he didn't have many friends, and after school a lot of kids, you know, they would go and play together, play some sports, hang out at a local playground, but John said that he liked roaming around the cemeteries nearby instead. He just kind of sounds like a little, like a goth kid, you know, they'd hang out at the cemetery. I think that's stereotyping Bailey. Okay, so at the age of 15, John left school to go work full-time.

So he got a job working as a movie projectionist. One night he had met a girl at his place of work, and she was a little bit older than him, but you know, they were hanging out, and she invited John to hang out with her. Hang out, you know, just hang out. So this lady friend told John that he could have his way with her,

but it was said that John failed to perform. She went around and told friends that John over here, he couldn't perform. And then all the other kids gave him the nickname, quote, Reggie No Dick, end quote. And they would make fun of him whenever they saw him. Reggie was his middle name, so there was a period of time where he went by Reggie No Dick, end quote. And they would make fun of him whenever they saw him. Reggie was his middle name. So there was a period of time where he went by Reggie

and that's how they got Reggie No Dick from his middle name. Anyway, so they were making fun of him, call him Reggie No Dick. And obviously this is upsetting to him. He already didn't have many friends and now he's Reggie No Dick. How's this gonna end? I wonder how it's gonna end.

At the age of 17, John was caught stealing from his work and he got fired. So once he got fired and his parents found out, they kicked him out of the house. I'm not really sure where he went when he was kicked out of the house, but it was like shortly after when he turned 18, that's when he was called up to serve in the army.

And he was sent to France in the height of World War I. So John would be there for about a year, and then in 1919, wild times, 1919, John was left with eye and throat injuries from a mustard attack, and he left the army with a small disability pension, and then he would move back to Halifax, where he took a job working at the local post office.

So while working at the local post office, that's when he began dating a woman named Ethel. And him and Ethel knew each other because they actually kind of like grew up around each other. Like they knew of each other, you know? And then when they got older, they remet, fell in love, and then they ended up getting married. They got married in May of 1920

and they were both 22 years old. But of course, well, I'm sorry, no, not of course. Unfortunately, the joyful marriage didn't last long. 22 years old, but of course, well, I'm sorry, no, not of course, unfortunately, the joyful marriage didn't last long. When does a joyful marriage last long? Am I right? I'm kidding. You see what had happened was John was caught stealing mail

from his work and he was sent to jail. And this would be the first of several visits to jail for petty crimes. So John goes to jail for a little bit of time. And then when he gets out, his wife Ethel would leave for the weekend and like visit her family while John was at home. So one weekend she goes away to visit her family.

And while Ethel is away, John sure does play. John fancied the local sex workers. And when Ethel was away, he would go out at night and find local sex workers to bring back to his place for some sweet loving. He was doing this from time to time. John brings back, you know, a sex worker to his home and Ethel, surprise, surprise, she's home, you know,

she's home early and she walks in and she sees that he's with a girl, another woman. She's upset for good reason. Must I explain more? No. So that's when they decided that it would be best if the couple separated. So they did. So John moves to London and while living there, he would be jailed three more times.

It was mainly theft and then the last one was he was attacking a woman. I believe it was a sex worker. Nine years go by. John once again is sitting in jail and I guess he's just feeling lonely or something, but he decides he's gonna write Ethel a letter. He's gonna write her a letter and he's going to ask for forgiveness

and for her to take him back once he gets out. Ethel receives the letter and she just decides that, you know what, she wants to be with him and that's what she wants. So she, at that time, was working as a typist and she decides to just give up her job and move from Yorkshire to the then seedy West London area of Notting Hill.

Side note, but isn't Notting Hill considered iconic and upscale now? Yeah, well, during this time, it was full of rats. Nobody wanted to live there. Every article I kept reading kept referring to it as seedy and dirty. So in 1938, the couple, they moved to the ground floor of 10 Rillington Place,

which was one of three different apartments in a rundown house. It was converted into apartments, but they had a tiny garden and they also all had to share a bathroom. Not ideal. In 1939, John would be back in uniform to serve in World War II as a special constable

in the War Reserve Police. So pretty much this gave John full powers like a police officer or of a police officer. Oh dear, this can't be good. At this time, they didn't do like any type of background check on John to pull up, I don't know, previous convictions or something. Maybe that could have like helped a little bit

and not give him that title. They didn't do that, but okay. Well, John would say, you know, that this uniform just made him feel very powerful, which is just not good, it's just not good. So in 1943, the couple's still together living in their apartment, their flat. Ethel decided that she was gonna go away

to visit her family for the weekend. John was feeling a little lonely, okay, he's home alone, and he just wants some company for the night. He puts on his uniform and he goes looking for someone to hold him tight. Well, no he didn't, that's a lie. So he wears his uniform and he goes down to where the local sex workers are at

and he picks up a 17 year old girl who's working as a sex worker, first of all, which is like, what? Poor thing, probably didn't even wanna be there. But he picks up a 17 year old sex worker and he brings her back to his place. He tries to be a good hostess, offers them, or her, I'm sorry, something to like drink,

you know, whatever you wanna hang out, have a seat in my humble abode. When she wasn't really looking, John takes a rope and he strangles her, strangles her to death. Once he knew that she was indeed dead, he first tried to hide the body beneath the floorboards. He's trying to lift up the floorboards and get that body down there. But then he realizes like, oh, this isn't going to work. What do I do? So John instead waits until everybody in his housing unit,

he waits until everyone goes to sleep because what's going to happen is he's going to drag the body outside, but everyone's windows are facing this little garden area that they share. So he's waiting until everyone goes to bed, lights out, dark. He drags the victim's body outside and he first is like trying to hide the body behind some bushes he's like trying to put some leaves on it or something no one will know and while he hides the body he then goes and he digs a grave in the front of the garden so he's digging the body's out there too

john why didn't you move the body after the fact but it's fine he's doing it and nobody's noticing so he digs this grave and then John is able to bury the body, cover it up, make it look like nothing happened. And sadly, it stayed there undisturbed for a decade. So soon after that, John goes and finds work as a clerk in a factory. So while working there, that's when he met another woman who he found very attractive, 31 years old. He was enjoying what he was looking at.

John was very friendly with her and they seemed to really hit it off. So one night John asked if she wants to come back to his place because once again, Ethel was leaving for the evening and he was like, "'Hey, you should come over to my place.'" The woman agrees and she indeed goes over to John's place. Once she's inside, he's like,

hey, come sit on this reclining chair, it's comfortable, make yourself at home, let me get you something to drink. While she's sitting there, she was tricked into inhaling coal gas fumes. Honestly, I really couldn't figure out how she was tricked or how he would trick her into inhaling coal gas fumes, but she became unconscious. While she's passed out, John unfortunately, sadly, disturbingly rapes her, sexually violates her.

And then he grabs a stocking and strangles her. In John's confession later on, he said, quote, "'I gazed down at her body and felt a quite peaceful thrill. "'I had no regrets,' end quote." John then buries this victim alongside his first victim in the front garden as well. In 1948, a truck driver named Timothy Evans, his wife Beryl, and their baby Geraldine moved into a flat above John's place. It was said that the family became quite friendly with John and Ethel, but would kind of just talk with John a little bit more.

And at some point it was said that Beryl had found herself pregnant again. She had expressed to John how the family couldn't afford to have another baby at that time and how she didn't want the baby. John was able to convince Beryl that he could perform or carry out an abortion and she agreed.

And so it's said that he did so. Sadly though, that same day Beryl died. Although it is unclear exactly how she died, many believe that she died because of John performing an abortion on her and like something just went horribly wrong. Some disagree and say that John intentionally killed her. Some believe that John didn't actually perform an abortion.

It's unclear, but poor Beryl passed away. So Beryl's husband, Timothy, he goes down to the police station and tells the police that he himself, Timothy, had killed his wife and stuffed her body parts down the drain. Yeah, so for good reason, police go down to the house. They were unable to find Beryl's body,

and they also failed to uncover the bodies that John had buried in the garden. But after several visits out to the house, police, they were able to find, they eventually found Beryl's body stashed in the bathroom, and next to her was their 14 month old baby who was also deceased. So police come back to Timothy and they're like, who is in jail actually, I'm sorry he's in jail, and they're like hey we found Beryl and she was in the in the bathroom, we found her body there, we also found your baby there with her as well, and it was said that Timothy was just shocked,

speechless, and then emotional. Then after some time for him to process it all, that's when Timothy's story dramatically changed. So then Timothy was like, okay, change of plans. It was actually the neighbor, John, who was the one that killed him. Timothy goes on to say that John told him that the abortion had gone wrong, and that their baby was going to be adopted, since Timothy wouldn't be able to take care of the baby himself. So Timothy at this point had no idea

that his 14 month old was dead. It was said that Timothy, he had an extremely low IQ, and it was believed that John knew this, and took advantage of him. At this point, Timothy wasn't very reliable because at first he's full on confessing, right? So then he comes around and says, "'Actually, no, it was John.'

But then they had no evidence that it was John who indeed did it. So instead, Timothy, he gets taken to court, has to go through the whole process of court and being convicted and all this stuff, right? So Timothy gets taken to court and get this, get this. Timothy was convicted and sentenced for murder. Sadly, Timothy was hanged on March 9th, 1950

for a crime that he didn't do. Well, we're pretty sure he didn't do it. This poor man died because of John. Fuck. John was like, woo, close call, am I right? Ethel said that John's behavior was becoming more odd. He would be complaining about headaches and he seemed to be suffering from memory loss, amnesia.

And he just seemed to be under a lot of stress and she just couldn't figure out why. But John pretty much just walked away from that situation. John seemed to just never be happy with Ethel. They're fighting a lot, disagreeing a lot, and Ethel just kind of seemed to be going more and more like to go see her family, to go visit them. She just didn't really want to be around John. On December 14th, 1942, while Ethel was asleep, John strangled her. He strangled poor Ethel and killed her. Once he knew that she was dead,

he then buried her under the floorboards in their flat. The whole reason I personally get so invested or curious about true crime and all just serial killers and stuff is because I'd wanna understand or what I'm always trying to understand is what in the world goes through someone's head that says like, yes, the floorboards, lift them up, lift them up, put the body there.

Like what, what is that? That's what I'm always trying to figure out and I don't think I'll ever figure it out, but I just want to know. How do you, what, what? The floorboard? You lift it, you put that, your wife? Huh? Like what? I just want to understand, but I will, I won't unless I become like a psychologist or something. Anyway, so he kills his wife and he puts her under the floorboards.

So people would ask John, hey, hey, where's Ethel? What's she up to? I haven't seen her in a while. And then John would be like, oh yeah, you know, she actually moved back north to go live with her family. And that would be like, oh yeah, you know, she actually moved back north to go live with her family. And that would be that. Ethel, she would always write letters to her family back at home.

So John knew like, I need to keep these letters going or they're gonna suspect something, right? So he ends up writing a letter to Ethel's family, explaining that he would be the one writing the letters from now on because Ethel had arthritis and she couldn't do it herself. I'm sure they probably thought something was a little odd, but for the time being it just seemed to work. So John at this time didn't have a job, now he needed some money.

So what's he gonna do? He goes back to Ethel's body, which is under the floorboard, and he takes off her wedding ring, and he ends up selling that, and he also sells his wife's watch, gets some money through that, gross that he did that, but that's where we're at right now. Then he also forged her signature

to empty out her bank account, all of her savings, everything, which wasn't a lot, but it was some money. John sold every piece of furniture that he had in his flat. Pretty much just was trying to get any kind of money together that he possibly could. So John was really excited about this new freedom he had. He had a whole flat to himself and some cash

and no wife who's gonna be upset with him about anything. He's just like, hell yeah, baby, woo. John would go back to what he enjoyed most, which was to go out at night and pick up local sex workers, bring them back to his place. Then it went back to him killing them. So he would go out, bring the sex workers back to his house. He would then gas them, strangle them,

have sexual relations with the victim's body, and then he would either stuff their bodies in the floorboard or in a little alcove in the kitchen. Now John would do this to three more victims. In March 1953, John finally moved out of Rillington Place and went on the run living around the police station, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house,

he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the house, he got out of the walls or something. So the new tenants said that they, you know, they thought maybe it was like a dead rat under the floorboards. Damn rats everywhere.

So they start poking around and they're peeling back newly wallpapered walls. And then that's when they discovered what seemed to be a woman's leg behind the wall in the kitchen alcove. Yeah, oh Jesus, oh dear. A leg? Welcome home.

So police come out to the place and they find everything. They find the bodies that were stuffed in the floorboards, behind the walls, and in the yard. Police also found a tin, a tobacco tin, containing four sets of pubic hair, all neatly packed together. You know how a lot of serial killers they'll have what's called a trophy or trophies?

Something that they keep to kind of remind them of the murder, the killing. So I'm thinking that's what this was. I mean, I could only assume that's what it is. I don't know what he was doing with that, but okay. Pubic hair, cool. The police are able to look up who lived at the place beforehand and they pull up, you know, it's John. So they put out an alert for the police officers to keep a lookout for John Christie.

Okay, we think he killed a bunch of people. So if you can keep an eye out, that'd be great. Unfortunately for John, he was found pretty quickly by a police officer who was kind of walking around patrolling the area. John was on the street because he didn't have a house at the time, he's just living on the street and police officer saw him, recognized him,

placed him under arrest. So John is taken in to be interrogated and John would refer to the murders as quote, those regrettable happenings, end quote. And John also said that they were all accidental, that they were all actually caused by the victims themselves during their struggles. If they didn't struggle, they probably wouldn't be dead. So he denied having sexual relations with any of the victims themselves during their struggles. If they didn't struggle, they probably wouldn't be dead.

So he denied having sexual relations with any of the victims. Now, eventually John would confess to at least one murder, but he pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. John started to give random little quotes to justify his insanity plea. This is what it said in his biography. But he was saying, quote,

"'For me, a corpse has a beauty and dignity "'which a living body could never hold.'" And when it came to his wife's death, he said, quote, "'I removed the one obstacle that for 10 years "'had apparently held me in check. "'After she had gone, the way was clear for me to fulfill my destiny." End quote. I feel like he could have tried a little harder with those quotes, John.

Not the best ones, but okay. It was saying that he was kind of speaking more like this, more freely, I guess, just to justify that he was pleading using the insanity plea. So John's trial began on June 22nd, 1953. It only took three days for them to come up with a verdict. John was found guilty of four of the murders. Dismissing the insanity plea, the judge described the case as a horrible one.

John was sentenced to death. While John was waiting for his execution, there had been some talks about the Timothy Evans case and whether there had been a miscarriage of justice. Hmm, I wonder. Because government officials refused to take responsibility for their heirs, they decided, nah, Timothy deserved what he got,

you know, he's a bad person. Many members of the parliament and the Howard League for Penal Reform refused to accept this answer, and they wanted to question John more about Timothy's case, gather more information. Maybe they can further prove that John was the one that killed Timothy's wife and child, and therefore the justice system had really failed Timothy.

Because John, at this point, hadn't confessed to that. He was still letting Timothy take the blame. But unfortunately on July 15th, 1953, John was hanged at Pentonville Prison. So they, like the people of the parliament, couldn't further ask questions in hopes to get some answers about Timothy's case. After John's death, the public was still pushing

to bring awareness and keep the conversation going of the possible miscarriage of justice on Timothy's case, and they were doing this up until 1966. Mr. Justice Barban ruled, quote, it is more probable than not that Timothy killed Beryl, and it is more probable than not that Timothy did not kill his baby, end quote. So... okay. This was not a good answer for people still campaigning against this case,

but it was enough to get Timothy a royal pardon. Timothy's body was exhumed from Pentonville Prison, where it had laid in an unmarked grave close to John's. Timothy's body was moved to a new location, I believe closer to his wife, where his wife was buried. John's old flat at Rillington Place was flattened in 1978. A new residential area was built on top of the site to cover up the burial ground.

There also seemed to be, based off the pictures I was looking at, there seems to be like a little garden area where actually the bodies were buried. There was no note or anything, no sign about what happened there. I don't think they have to though, right? I actually didn't look that up.

I don't think they have to. Because some would say that the grounds in London have been around forever, right? So like where isn't a place, a piece of land that isn't contaminated with death and blood and stabbings and killings and stuff. And that my friends is a story about John Christie and the awful crimes that he committed for no reason. What was his motive? I don't know. I don't know. Most of the times I feel like we can get some kind of understanding by the serial killer's upbringing, but there just wasn't

that much information about his mom and dad, other than his dad was like strict and his mom was like babying them. That's really all I could find. Like what was his deal, man? He just wanted revenge against people that made fun of him maybe? I don't know.

I don't know. This is just, he's a piece of shit. Anyways, that's the awful story about John Christie. I don't really know what to say. What can he say at that point? I hope you guys have a wonderful day today. I just really love and appreciate you guys so much for hanging out with me.

Can't say thank you enough for all the love and support you're constantly throwing my way. You're so kind. This sounds so cheesy. I just don't know how to voice, vocalize how thankful I am for you, and I just really appreciate you. But other than that, I'll be seeing you guys later.

Bye.