Bella in the Wych Elm

Book Review – The Hagley Wood Tree Murder – Keith Swallow – 2023

This is the second book about the Hagley Wood Murder (a.k.a. Bella in the Wych Elm Murder) that I have read this year. The first book, by M.J. Trow is a sad and disappointing volume which mixes fiction with fact. It contributes nothing to the investigation of the case and actually muddies the waters even […]

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Spooky Trees

Lavinia Stratford – A Candidate for Bella in the Wych Elm?

A few months back, I read M.J. Trow’s 2023 volume on the Bella in the Wych Elm mystery. The book was a disappointment. It suffered from a number of errors and inaccuracies. On top of that, the dearth of source citations meant that readers and researchers were left wondering what was fact and what was

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Podcast Review – Unsolved Murders – Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm

I discovered a veritable treasure trove of podcasts the other week and quickly found a whole bunch related to Bella in the Wych Elm. I thought I would start with a trilogy from Unsolved Murders: True Crime Stories, produced by Parcast. The three part series starts with an overview of the murder and the various

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Book Review – Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm: Volume 2: A Crime Shrouded in Mystery – Alex Merrill (2019)

The Book Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm: Volume 2 – A Crime Shrouded in Mystery. Alex Merrill. APS Publications. 2019. Summary The mystery of who put Bella in the Wych Elm has an enduring fascination. Over the decades, theories of whose skeletal remains were found in a hollow tree in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire,

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Spooky Trees

Bella in the Wych Elm – The Van Raalte Connection

In the mid-1950s, after “Anna of Claverley” wrote her cryptic letter to journalist Wilfred Byford-Jones (a.k.a. Quaestor), the police were able to track down and interview the letter writer, one Una Abel Mossop. Una claimed that in 1941 her husband, Jack Mossop, had told her a story about a mysterious Dutchman named van Raalte and

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Book Review – Ghost of a Hurt – Bella in the Wych Elm – Rik Rawling (2008)

During my research into the Bella story, I’ve come across repeated references to a booklet published by Rik Rawling entitled Ghost of a Hurt. Unable to find a copy online, I reached out to Pete Merrill (co-author of another book on Bella) and got Rawling’s contact info. Rawling was kind enough to send me a

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Bella: An Unsolved Murder

Book Review – Bella: An Unsolved Murder – Joyce M. Coley (2007)

The Book Bella: An Unsolved Murder. Joyce M. Coley. History in Print. 2007. Summary This book was written over 12 years ago by Joyce M. Coley, and is often quoted in Bella lore. I ordered a copy from Amazon and read it in less than an hour. The book is more pamphlet than “book” comprising

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