They Walk Among Us
They Walk Among Us was originally intended to be one book that we would release in print. As the book got bigger and bigger in scope, we decided to release it as a series of ebooks (Kindle at Amazon). There will be at least 4-5 ebooks in the series and then we hope to release it all as one or two print books. They Walk Among Us: Serial Killers is the first in the series and was released on January 14, 2014. It features chapters on 25 serial killer such as Jack the Ripper, BTK, Son of Sam, Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer and many more. Below is the table of contents and a chapter for you to check out.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Jack the Ripper
Chapter Two: The Acid Bath Killer
Chapter Three: BTK
Chapter Four: Son of Sam
Chapter Five: The Green River Killer
Chapter Six: The Hillside Stranglers
Chapter Seven: The Co-ed Killer
Chapter Eight: Killer Clown
Chapter Nine: The Dating Game Killer
Chapter Ten: The Slavemaster
Chapter Eleven: The Texas Eyeball Killer
Chapter Twelve: The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer
Chapter Thirteen: Brides in the Bath
Chapter Fourteen: Robert Black
Chapter Fifteen: Murder on the Moor
Chapter Sixteen: Ten Rillington Place
Chapter Seventeen: The Gorilla Strangler
Chapter Eighteen: The Vampire Killer
Chapter Nineteen: The Beast of British Columbia
Chapter Twenty: The Crimes of Joachim Kroll
Chapter Twenty-one: Monster of the Andes
Chapter Twenty-two: Killer Cop
Chapter Twenty-three: The Happy Face Killer
Chapter Twenty-four: The Cleveland Strangler
Chapter Twenty-five: The Not So Gentle Giant
Chapter 2: The Acid Bath Killer
(insert newspaper picture)
London, England 1944-1948: John Haigh was born on July 24, 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. The family moved to Outwood, West Yorkshire where John would spend the first half of his life. His father was a religious fanatic and that might be putting it mildly. To say that John’s father enjoyed his privacy might also be an understatement. He built a very tall fence around his modest house which was designed to keep everyone out. Inside, young John was constantly reminded that “the Lord was watching.” His parents belonged to the Plymouth Brethren. The group wasn’t exactly all about smiles and chuckles. Most forms of entertainment were shunned. Sports was a definite no-no. In fact, Bible studies were about the only thing that young John was allowed to do.
The year 1934, good or bad, was to be a turning point in John’s life. He stopped attending church and got married. By all accounts, he barely knew the woman that he married. Beatrice was 21 years old and impressed with John’s manners. The wedding took place on July 6 but wedded bliss would prove to be elusive. John was arrested for fraud later that same year. His young wife was not impressed. Here she was, a newlywed, living with John’s parents while her hubby was in prison. Oh, one other thing. Beatrice was now in the family way. While John was behind bars, Beatrice gave birth to a baby girl. However, she had already seen enough to know that she had been wrong about John. With John still in prison, she gave the baby up for adoption and took flight. She never saw John Haigh again.
Prison did nothing to put John on the straight and narrow. As soon as he was released, he set up a phony law practice. The fraudulent scheme netted him another four years in prison. John now had a lot of time to think. Unfortunately, the time was not spent on thinking of ways to turn his life around. His new scam was to go after rich, older women. That might not have been a bad thing if John had just planned to settle down and marry one of them…maybe even live happily ever after. That just wasn’t the case. John spent the time trying to figure out how he would get rid of a body. You know, just in case the need ever presented itself. Somehow, John had gotten it into his head that if there wasn’t a body there was no crime or possibility of a conviction. Wrong John!
When Haigh was released, he took a job at an amusement park. The park was run by William Donald “Mac” McSwan and his parents Donald and Amy. The family liked John who could turn on the charm when it was needed. After a time, John left the McSwans employ. They were sad to see him go but John was itching to put his plan into action. Several months went by and then suddenly a golden opportunity presented itself. In Kensington, John ran into his old boss Mac. Mac was thrilled to see John again and he immediately took John to see his parents. The older McSwans were equally pleased to see John again. When they told John about some of their recent investments, a light went on in his head. There was trouble brewing.
Insert picture of John Haigh
John had rented a room in the basement of 79 Gloucester Road. He was ready to make good on the plan that he had cooked up while in prison. One night he invited Mac over and rendered him unconscious. He then proceeded to cut his throat. In his diary John wrote: “I got a mug and took some blood from his neck and drank it.” We’re not quite sure if that was part of the initial plan or if it was just a spontaneous thing. John then put Mac into a 40 gallon barrel and filled it with sulfuric acid. By the time 24 hours had passed, there was very little of Mac left. What was left went down the drain.
John’s plan included getting rid of the parents as well. With World War II raging across Europe, he was able to convince them that Mac had disappeared to avoid conscription. He even went as far as sending postcards from Scotland pretending to be Mac. The ruse worked. John now became serious and bought some new equipment for his workshop. A pump and a stainless steel tub would make his work so much easier. In July, 1945 the McSwan’s were killed in the same fashion as their son. They were also disposed of in the same way. John told the landlady that the couple had gone to America and had her forward their mail to him. By now, John was becoming an accomplished forger as well as a killer. He forged Mac’s signature on a power of attorney form. He also forged property deeds, sold off the McSwan’s property and lived off of the ill gotten gains.
Eventually the funds began running out and John needed to find some new victims. He found Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose. John developed a “friendship” with the couple based on their shared love of music. At this time, John moved from Gloucester Rd. to Leopold Rd. and set up his new workshop. He purchased more sulfuric acid as well as two more 40 gallon drums. It was on February 12, 1946 that the good doctor and his wife disappeared. John shot them both and then placed them in the infamous acid bath. John forged more documents and ended up netting something in the vicinity of $216,000 in today’s money. There was a problem though. Rose Henderson’s brother was not buying the story that John was selling. That was the story that the couple had fled to South Africa because Dr. Henderson had performed an illegal abortion. John began making plans to get rid of the brother. Before he could get around to that however, he had other plans.
Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon was a wealthy widow and just the type of vulnerable woman that would easily fall prey to a man like John Haigh. He invited her to come and see his workshop and when she arrived he promptly shot her dead. He then placed Mrs. Durand-Deacon into the acid bath. Two days later, a friend of Olive’s reported her missing.
Insert picture of victims
During their investigation, the police came across the name of John Haigh. When they checked him out, they noticed his criminal record for fraud. They decided to pay him a visit. In the workshop, they found receipts that belonged to Mrs. Durand-Deacon. They also found papers indicating that Haigh had been acquainted with the McSwans and the Hendersons…all of whom were now dead. A forensics team quickly swooped down on the workshop. The acid baths had done a great job but there was still some evidence left inside the drums. Very small bone fragments, part of a foot and dentures remained. John had been sloppy. It would have been easy for him to get rid of the evidence but he had become arrogant. He believed that without a body, he could never be convicted. He was arrested and charged with murder.
Insert pic - Haigh’s trial drew a crowd
John claimed that he did not have the money for lawyers and struck a bargain with the News of the World tabloid. They would pay for his defence in exchange for the exclusive rights to his story. John pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He claimed that he drank the blood from all of his victims and also confessed to three other murders. The tabloid played up the vampire angle. Meanwhile, the prosecution claimed that John Haigh knew exactly what he was doing and that the whole “drinking blood” issue was just an attempt to appear insane. The jury took only 15 minutes to find him guilty. He remained arrogant to the end. When asked by the judge if he had anything to say, he replied “nothing at all.” The judge sentenced Haigh to death by hanging and, on August 6, 1949, the sentence was carried out at Wandsworth Prison in London.
We remember the known victims: William Donald McSwan, Donald McSwan, Amy McSwan, Dr. Archibald Henderson, Rosalie Henderson and Olive Durand-Deacon
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Jack the Ripper
Chapter Two: The Acid Bath Killer
Chapter Three: BTK
Chapter Four: Son of Sam
Chapter Five: The Green River Killer
Chapter Six: The Hillside Stranglers
Chapter Seven: The Co-ed Killer
Chapter Eight: Killer Clown
Chapter Nine: The Dating Game Killer
Chapter Ten: The Slavemaster
Chapter Eleven: The Texas Eyeball Killer
Chapter Twelve: The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer
Chapter Thirteen: Brides in the Bath
Chapter Fourteen: Robert Black
Chapter Fifteen: Murder on the Moor
Chapter Sixteen: Ten Rillington Place
Chapter Seventeen: The Gorilla Strangler
Chapter Eighteen: The Vampire Killer
Chapter Nineteen: The Beast of British Columbia
Chapter Twenty: The Crimes of Joachim Kroll
Chapter Twenty-one: Monster of the Andes
Chapter Twenty-two: Killer Cop
Chapter Twenty-three: The Happy Face Killer
Chapter Twenty-four: The Cleveland Strangler
Chapter Twenty-five: The Not So Gentle Giant
Chapter 2: The Acid Bath Killer
(insert newspaper picture)
London, England 1944-1948: John Haigh was born on July 24, 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. The family moved to Outwood, West Yorkshire where John would spend the first half of his life. His father was a religious fanatic and that might be putting it mildly. To say that John’s father enjoyed his privacy might also be an understatement. He built a very tall fence around his modest house which was designed to keep everyone out. Inside, young John was constantly reminded that “the Lord was watching.” His parents belonged to the Plymouth Brethren. The group wasn’t exactly all about smiles and chuckles. Most forms of entertainment were shunned. Sports was a definite no-no. In fact, Bible studies were about the only thing that young John was allowed to do.
The year 1934, good or bad, was to be a turning point in John’s life. He stopped attending church and got married. By all accounts, he barely knew the woman that he married. Beatrice was 21 years old and impressed with John’s manners. The wedding took place on July 6 but wedded bliss would prove to be elusive. John was arrested for fraud later that same year. His young wife was not impressed. Here she was, a newlywed, living with John’s parents while her hubby was in prison. Oh, one other thing. Beatrice was now in the family way. While John was behind bars, Beatrice gave birth to a baby girl. However, she had already seen enough to know that she had been wrong about John. With John still in prison, she gave the baby up for adoption and took flight. She never saw John Haigh again.
Prison did nothing to put John on the straight and narrow. As soon as he was released, he set up a phony law practice. The fraudulent scheme netted him another four years in prison. John now had a lot of time to think. Unfortunately, the time was not spent on thinking of ways to turn his life around. His new scam was to go after rich, older women. That might not have been a bad thing if John had just planned to settle down and marry one of them…maybe even live happily ever after. That just wasn’t the case. John spent the time trying to figure out how he would get rid of a body. You know, just in case the need ever presented itself. Somehow, John had gotten it into his head that if there wasn’t a body there was no crime or possibility of a conviction. Wrong John!
When Haigh was released, he took a job at an amusement park. The park was run by William Donald “Mac” McSwan and his parents Donald and Amy. The family liked John who could turn on the charm when it was needed. After a time, John left the McSwans employ. They were sad to see him go but John was itching to put his plan into action. Several months went by and then suddenly a golden opportunity presented itself. In Kensington, John ran into his old boss Mac. Mac was thrilled to see John again and he immediately took John to see his parents. The older McSwans were equally pleased to see John again. When they told John about some of their recent investments, a light went on in his head. There was trouble brewing.
Insert picture of John Haigh
John had rented a room in the basement of 79 Gloucester Road. He was ready to make good on the plan that he had cooked up while in prison. One night he invited Mac over and rendered him unconscious. He then proceeded to cut his throat. In his diary John wrote: “I got a mug and took some blood from his neck and drank it.” We’re not quite sure if that was part of the initial plan or if it was just a spontaneous thing. John then put Mac into a 40 gallon barrel and filled it with sulfuric acid. By the time 24 hours had passed, there was very little of Mac left. What was left went down the drain.
John’s plan included getting rid of the parents as well. With World War II raging across Europe, he was able to convince them that Mac had disappeared to avoid conscription. He even went as far as sending postcards from Scotland pretending to be Mac. The ruse worked. John now became serious and bought some new equipment for his workshop. A pump and a stainless steel tub would make his work so much easier. In July, 1945 the McSwan’s were killed in the same fashion as their son. They were also disposed of in the same way. John told the landlady that the couple had gone to America and had her forward their mail to him. By now, John was becoming an accomplished forger as well as a killer. He forged Mac’s signature on a power of attorney form. He also forged property deeds, sold off the McSwan’s property and lived off of the ill gotten gains.
Eventually the funds began running out and John needed to find some new victims. He found Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rose. John developed a “friendship” with the couple based on their shared love of music. At this time, John moved from Gloucester Rd. to Leopold Rd. and set up his new workshop. He purchased more sulfuric acid as well as two more 40 gallon drums. It was on February 12, 1946 that the good doctor and his wife disappeared. John shot them both and then placed them in the infamous acid bath. John forged more documents and ended up netting something in the vicinity of $216,000 in today’s money. There was a problem though. Rose Henderson’s brother was not buying the story that John was selling. That was the story that the couple had fled to South Africa because Dr. Henderson had performed an illegal abortion. John began making plans to get rid of the brother. Before he could get around to that however, he had other plans.
Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon was a wealthy widow and just the type of vulnerable woman that would easily fall prey to a man like John Haigh. He invited her to come and see his workshop and when she arrived he promptly shot her dead. He then placed Mrs. Durand-Deacon into the acid bath. Two days later, a friend of Olive’s reported her missing.
Insert picture of victims
During their investigation, the police came across the name of John Haigh. When they checked him out, they noticed his criminal record for fraud. They decided to pay him a visit. In the workshop, they found receipts that belonged to Mrs. Durand-Deacon. They also found papers indicating that Haigh had been acquainted with the McSwans and the Hendersons…all of whom were now dead. A forensics team quickly swooped down on the workshop. The acid baths had done a great job but there was still some evidence left inside the drums. Very small bone fragments, part of a foot and dentures remained. John had been sloppy. It would have been easy for him to get rid of the evidence but he had become arrogant. He believed that without a body, he could never be convicted. He was arrested and charged with murder.
Insert pic - Haigh’s trial drew a crowd
John claimed that he did not have the money for lawyers and struck a bargain with the News of the World tabloid. They would pay for his defence in exchange for the exclusive rights to his story. John pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He claimed that he drank the blood from all of his victims and also confessed to three other murders. The tabloid played up the vampire angle. Meanwhile, the prosecution claimed that John Haigh knew exactly what he was doing and that the whole “drinking blood” issue was just an attempt to appear insane. The jury took only 15 minutes to find him guilty. He remained arrogant to the end. When asked by the judge if he had anything to say, he replied “nothing at all.” The judge sentenced Haigh to death by hanging and, on August 6, 1949, the sentence was carried out at Wandsworth Prison in London.
We remember the known victims: William Donald McSwan, Donald McSwan, Amy McSwan, Dr. Archibald Henderson, Rosalie Henderson and Olive Durand-Deacon
We have been making major changes to They Walk Among Us. The book and this page are now UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
These are the intros to the chapters on the Boston Strangler and the Zodiac.
The year was 1962. The United States was on the brink of war with Russia and Cuba over what would come to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The entire world watched and waited. On the silver screen Lawrence of Arabia was released and would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. This was also the year that the first James Bond film with Sean Connery as 007, Dr. No, was released. Westerns still ruled the small screen as Wagon Train, Bonanza and Gunsmoke were the top three shows on television. In sports that year the NFL Championship game was won by the Green Bay Packers 16-7 over the NY Giants. The New York Yankees won the World Series in seven games over the San Francisco Giants. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup over the Chicago Black Hawks. In Boston, Massachusetts, the city was celebrating the Celtics thrilling seven game series win over their chief rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, to win the NBA championship. However, celebration would soon turn to fear and panic when a series of murders gripped the city. It was 1962 and the Boston Strangler was just getting started.
The year was 1968. Lyndon Johnson was the president. The war in Vietnam escalated to new heights and the protests against this war were becoming more violent. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. Hope seemed to rest with Bobby Kennedy who pledged to end the war if elected. That hope died in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when Kennedy was gunned down. The nightly news repeatedly showed the images of the horror in Southeast Asia. After the news people could be entertained by shows such as Star Trek. It was on this show in 1968 that television's first interracial kiss took place between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols. 1968 also saw the final episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. the Lucy Show, Batman and the Monkees. In San Francisco the movie Bullitt with Steve McQueen was being filmed. In March the president's daughter was ordered off of a cable car for eating an ice cream cone. The new Fillmore West was opened in July with concerts by Sly and the Family Stone as well as Big Brother and the Holding Company which featured Janis Joplin. In October twenty-seven soldiers, protesting the war in Vietnam, were charged with mutiny at the Presidio. In San Francisco the summer of love was indeed over. In San Francisco there was a man who was bent on shattering the peace and love image of the city forever. In San Francisco there was the Zodiac.