Murder, Mystery & Makeup - John Christie - 10 Rillington Place, House Of Horrors

my name is Bailey Syrian and today is Monday

which means it’s murder mystery and makeup Monday

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

let me tell you this guy was all sorts of messed up

John Christie was born in Halifax

Yorkshire on April 8 1898

he was the 5th of 7 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 he was just a bit of a loner

and didn’t have any friends

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 I 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

jon’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

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

2 little snippets

but john’s father was involved with that organization

and it took up a lot of his time

at the age of 8

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 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

how does 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

time stamp 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 hang out in 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

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 they were making fun of him calling 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 is 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

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 grew up around each other

like they knew of each other you know

and then when they got older

they remade

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

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 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

3 more times

it was mainly theft

and then the last one was

he was attacking a woman

I believe it

was a sex worker

9 years go by

John once again

is sitting in jail

in an 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 CD

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

3 different apartments

and 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 couples

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

a little lonely

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 want

to 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

she might 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

floor boards

and get that body down there

but then he realizes like oh

this isn’t gonna 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

gonna happen

is he’s gonna 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 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 his

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 bethel

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

cold 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 stalking

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

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

Barrel 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

barrel’s body

and they also

failed to uncover

the body said

John had buried

in the garden

but after several

visits out to the

house police

they were able to find

they eventually

found barrel’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 Barrel

and she was

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

all the 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

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 together

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

are curious about true crime

and not just serial killers and stuff

is because I’d want to 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 em up lift em 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 wanna know

how do you want

what the floorboard you lifted

you put that your wife

huh like what

I just wanna understand

but I won’t

unless I become like a psychologist or something

anyways 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 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

get some money

through that gross

that he did not

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

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 Wu

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 3 more victims

in March 1953

John finally moved out of Rillington Place

and went on the run

living around West London mainly

he was sleeping on the streets

he didn’t really have anywhere to go

so his old place

place is like

up for rent

and of course

you know someone new moves in

it wasn’t long until they noticed

a very intense

stench coming out of the walls or something

so the new tenant 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 do

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 4 sets of pubic hair

all neatly packed together

you know how a lot of serial killers

still have what’s called a trophy or trophies

something that they keep

to kind of remind them of the murder

of their 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

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

recognize him

and place him under arrest

so John has taken in to be

interrogated

and John would refer to the murders as

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

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

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 22 1953

it only took 3 days

for them to come up with the verdict

John was found guilty of 4 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 deserve 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 his

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

pentonville Prison

so they like the people of the Parliament

couldn’t further

ask questions

and 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 were doing this

up until 1966

Mr Justice Barbin

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

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

and I don’t know

I don’t know

most of the times

I feel like we can get some kind of understanding

by these serial killers 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

bathing 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 guys later bye

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