True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

The city of New York is the place that they say is where dreams are made. There's no mistaking how iconic it is, how breathtaking the architecture is, from the stunning landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the beautiful yet poignant memorial to the victims of 9/11, right through to the breathtaking New York Public Library. The city is steeped in history and has many famous occupants, as well as all of these positives, the city has sure seen it's fair share of heartache and struggles over the decades. The horrific events of 9/11 knocked this lion of a city off of it's feet and it was utterly devastating but in what seemed like a short space of time, the rest of the world watched in awe as we saw the people of New York get back on their feet, work together and almost re-build their city not only after such destruction but also in strength, determination and patriotism. We were inspired and I've always had a love for New York since I was a child and used to draw pictures of the twin towers. Watching how they faced such horror and the lives who were sadly lost, the bravery and kindness of people just left a mark on me that will never leave. To this day I still have a huge admiration for New York and it's people. 

I mentioned recently that I was going to be including some more Dark History posts to this blog. If you're a regular reader of mine (thank you, I love you!) you will already be aware that I have covered various historical events and stories in the past to positive feedback. I've now decided to have this as a regular addition to my blog, the true crime, serial killer posts will continue but every now and then I will cover some dark history just to add something a little different to my work/blog. 

In this post I will be delving into the other side of New York, a side that not many people know (especially outside of the city) and a place that people, not native to New York will have heard of. On the other side of the beautiful architecture, the flashing lights, the hustling and bustling streets of the big apple, the city that never sleeps....is an island not that far from the glitz, glamour, the yellow taxi cabs and breathtaking skyscrapers, and it is called 'Hart Island'. A place that is not spoken about but inhabits over 1 million people, over 1 million deceased adults and babies to be exact and I hope my description doesn't come across as sounding morbid but that is a sad fact. 

Those who know New York like the back of their hand will know all about Hart Island but yet there are some people who have lived in the city all of their lives and never knew it existed. It has always been a place that people didn't want to discuss, it was a dark place, a haunting place and a very sad place. It was a place that nobody wanted to go and nobody wanted to end up. Native New Yorkers would be told that the island was a place where people who were unloved would go when they passed away with nobody to claim their remains and it instilled a fear and a determination never to end up there. 

I initially thought that my research into Hart Island was due to the heartbreaking connection to the late child star, Bobby Driscoll (who was buried on Hart Island after months of his remains now being identified) who I have just written about in my previous post but I was thinking about this a few days ago and realised that Hart Island was first brought to my attention some years ago during the Covid pandemic. I remember feeling horrified when videos emerged online of what was being reported as 'mass graves being dug in New York', there was clips going around social media declaring that New York had run out of places to bury people who had died from complications connected to Covid. It was frightening but I was soon informed by a New Yorker that the burials were indeed due to Covid but that the place where the burials were had been there for decades and that this was standard procedure (as heartbreaking as it was) for deceased people who had no family or friends to claim their remains. The hell we all went through with Covid was an experience that I'm sure none of us enjoy looking back on but with the usual goings-on of life, Hart Island somehow fell to the back of my mind but it was brought to the forefront again this past few weeks because of Bobby Driscoll

So, after what seems like a lengthy introduction, I think we need to look back at the history of Hart Island and it is an isolated island that is located at the western side of Long Island Sound in New York. It's not an easy location to get access to and to get on to the Island you have to use a ferry. Hart Island, although known today as New York's greenest cemetery and one of the largest publicly funded cemeteries in the world, it has been a location for various different things over the decades, from a prison, to a workhouse, a hospital to a site purely used for burial. It's also an eerie fact to learn that Hart Island was looked at as a possible location for a theme park at one point in history. To think of it as a place where people would go to have fun and be full of positivity to have it be the way it actually became which, for a long time was a very dark place full of sorrow. 

Don't get me wrong, a cemetery is a place that is not known for being a place of sheer happiness, it is often a very sad place which invokes feelings of grief, regret and memories of loved ones no longer with us but we go to pay our respects and have time to reflect at our loved ones graves. The difference with Hart Island in an area known as 'Potter's Field' is that the majority of the deceased buried there, died unidentified, for a lot of these poor people there are no names, no history for them, they sadly died penniless on the streets of New York and were placed there because authorities had nowhere else to put them and no family to take care of their funeral arrangements. It wasn't only homeless people who were buried there, stillborn babies who were born to substance addicted mothers were placed there too in tiny boxes. Every week the number of the deceased would grow and grow to the point that prisoners nearing the end of their sentences were given the task of partaking in the heartbreaking weekly burials of the less fortunate New Yorkers. 

In the beginning, 20 Union Army soldiers were said to have been the first people to have been buried on Hart Island. Around 1868, members of the public began to be buried there, the first person to have their remains placed there was a woman by the name of Louisa Van Slyke. As time went on and more and more people were buried there, the name of the burial location was then known as 'Potter's Field' and by 1958 records show that more than 500,000 people had been placed there, a lot of them babies. The majority of the decedents were homeless, stillborn babies and people who just couldn't afford to pay for a burial. As mentioned before, to keep up with the constant weekly influx of boxes of bodies arriving by ferry to the Island, prisoners were paid a small fee and given the task to dig trenches and bury the makeshift wooden coffins. It was very hard work as well as traumatising and upsetting. 

Anyone who has had the experience of working on the Island will tell you that the thing that always got to them the most was the burials of the babies. The tiny boxes with no names, just numbers, all stacked on top of each other or side by side (not like we have with a usual burial). The sight of a coffin in general at a funeral or even in this case, a make-shift wooden box is never a pleasant experience and when it is that of a baby it is something that is too heartbreaking for words. Though years may have past and certain people may no longer work on the Island, the memory of the babies forever endures and people shed tears and your heart goes out to them but there's also a gratitude towards them because it showed that they cared and those babies were buried by someone who really felt for them and that means a whole lot. 

On a personal note I remember the day of the funeral of my niece Chloe, she was a stillborn baby and her coffin was the size of a shoe box. I was younger at the time and was trying to get my head around it all but the moment the tiny coffin was placed into the grave, I (and everyone there) was overcome with grief and I have never forgotten that moment. I remember my Dad saying that there was something even more heartbreaking about the death of a baby, it's hard to lose a loved one who's an adult but there's a bit of comfort in knowing that they had a bit of life where as a little baby hasn't had the chance to live and grow up and experience all that life has to offer and it's so heartbreaking and unfair. Seeing the coffin of a baby is something you never forget and I cannot imagine what it must have been like for all of these people who faced that every week and were responsible for burying these poor babies. Taking also into consideration that these babies didn't even have a start in life and were nameless, it's just so terribly sad. 

Hart Island was off-limits to the public for a very long time, the general public was not allowed to go there and it was all kept very secretive but the weekly burials continued. In time, some members of the public had relatives who were buried at Potter's Field and were able to prove their identity, those relatives were allowed to visit now and again but it was a regular thing and only a very small number of people were allowed. Authorities were very strict about visitors. 

So, for a very long time the homeless and forgotten people of New York were placed in unmarked mass graves at Potter's Field, in the 1980's a lot of victims who had died from AIDS related illnesses were also buried there as well as later on, Covid related decedents being added to the numerous souls on the Island. For years, the relatives and friends of the deceased that were identifiable and known 100% to have been buried on the Island were campaigning for changes to me made, they wanted it to be more accessible for friends and family. An incredible woman by the name of Melinda Hunt who had been one of the very few to have visited the island with permission in 1991 to take some photographs for a book she was working on with her colleague, Joel Sternfeld, had met a woman who's baby had been previously buried on the Island. The lady explained about what happened to her baby and how she had been in the hospital when she was told her baby was sadly deceased and that they would take care of the burial arrangements without further details. This was a common practice in New York at that time for stillborn babies, some who were unidentified and some who's mothers had been in the hospital with no financial means of arranging a suitable burial for their child. The women put their trust and faith in the system but soon found that they had to fight to be able to visit their child's grave and in many cases it was difficult for many babies to be identified, some were told it would never be possible because unfortunately their baby was placed with others in a mass grave. 

Hart Island, despite the heartbreak of the reality is a truly beautiful place and the very few who have been on the Island have said that it did give them some comfort (despite not knowing the exact location of the burial of their loved one or to know the reality that their relative was there) that this beautiful and peaceful place was were their loved ones were laid to rest. 

Melinda put her heart and soul into campaigning for more access for the public and for changes to be made, to preserve Hart Island, to give it the proper respect the location deserved as well as the deceased, to maintain it and treat it as a historical site with the focus on identifying as many people as possible. She also wanted to make sure that the people who were identified were remembered. 

In 2019, huge changes came about thanks to Melinda and her fellow campaigners, she had created the site The Hart Island Project which focused on what I previously mentioned and also with the ideal that everything be transferred over to the NYC Parks Department which is what finally happened. Hart Island was finally getting the respect that it deserved and although there was some hardships along the way especially with the Covid pandemic, Melinda and her team pushed through and a lot of important changes continued to be made, all of the decayed buildings were removed and the surroundings maintained giving the Island more of a beauty spot feel rather than the dark and cold place that it appeared to be before because of the old ruins. 

The Hart Island Project continues to work on keeping the Island as natural and maintained as possible and believe that the burial process on the Island should remain to continue, which it does. The Project believe that the burial process which has been the procedure for decades is more natural, affordable and better for the environment. They want this process of burial to be available for everyone in New York no matter a person's status or background. Their plan is to have people from all walks of life to be buried there to help remove the stigma that the Island has. The truth is as Melinda has previously stated, the Island actually has people buried there from all different parts of New York, anyone can become homeless or fall into substance misuse. A lot of the deceased on Hart Island were once in a more stable financial situation in their lives, some had professional positions but maybe lost a job or became ill and couldn't afford to pay for their homes etc. One man's story I had read about, had a family and was a successful businessman but he suffered from alcoholism and it took over his life to the point he lost everything and ended up on the street. Despite this man having people who loved him (but could never find him because he would vanish for long period of time) he still ended up on Hart Island. There's all kinds of heartbreaking stories related to Hart Island and the majority of New Yorkers do know someone who's buried on there, whether it be a former work colleague, a distant relative or maybe a close loved one because not everyone can afford to pay for a funeral. 

As it stands, with all of the changes coming into place, the prisoners no longer work on the Island, those roles were taken over by the Parks Department. Relatives are able to visit but it is by appointment only and on certain dates of the month (which is two days of the month and it must be either a Saturday or Sunday). Despite some of the positives that have happened thanks to Melinda, The Hart island Project and the Parks Department, the visiting routine is still an issue. The process is very much like going to visit someone in prison. You have to fill in an online form with plenty of notice beforehand, you also have to prove that you are a close relative to the deceased. You are allocated a time and two hours only which is also taken up by the ferry journey. There are occasions where people will turn up at the gates for the ferry and it won't show up or come late, which takes time off of their visit. It's not the ideal situation and the Project are hoping for this to be improved. The visits right now are a sort of pot luck situation, some people get their requests through in time and some have to wait. If you don't show up or can't show up for your visit or are late, they will strike you off the visiting record for about 6 months and only after then will you be able to fill in a request form again. 

Despite some of the teething problems with visiting, everything seems to be having a step in the right direction, the project and the Parks department have been issued more funds and improvements are continuing to be made. There are a lot of positives that have come out of all of what was once a heartbreaking and very dark situation. With the kind hearted people who have worked so hard to improve the Island and make it what it is today as well as showing their care for the people who are laid to rest there, it really does show how beautiful and kind a lot of human beings can be. I think Melinda and all who are involved with the care and maintenance of Hart Island are truly angels on this earth. 

I have included below a documentary about Hart Island that you may wish to watch, I highly recommend that you do. I've also included some other clips as well as articles you may find interesting and don't forget to check out  The Hart Island Project where you can find out all sorts of information, it's an incredible site, there are also photographs on there as well as ways to donate and updates on news if you wish to follow what's happening with improvements etc. 

So I hope that this post gave you more knowledge of what Hart island is all about and this once heartbreaking place which is now being respected and appreciated for what it is and what it stands for. All of us are on this earth for a limited time and all of us will die, we know how hard life can be at times and how easy it can be to fall on hard times. Any one of us could end up in a similar situation and in this case as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, New York's people have shown themselves to be some of the warmest and kindest people on earth with what they've been able to achieve with all of this. It would be so easy for people to turn a blind eye and do nothing but Melinda recognised a mother's suffering and the suffering of so many others and chose to go out of her way to devote her time and energy into helping people. God bless Melinda and all those who have worked and continued to work on Hart Island. 

RIP to all of the countless babies, children, men and women who are buried on Hart Island, you will never be forgotten. 

Further Reading & Sources: 

- The Hart Island Website

- Hart Island | NYC Gov

- Hart Island | Time Magazine

- The Life & Death of Bobby Driscoll | True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

- AIDS/HIV in New York City | Wikipedia

- And The Band Played On | Book by Randy Shilts

- NYC Correction History | NY Correction History Society

- NYC Maps | NYC Gov

- Covid-19 Pandemic in New York City | Wikipedia

- List of Cemeteries in NYC | Wikipedia

- Basic Facts About Homelessness | Coalition For The Homeless

- Homelessness in New York | Wikipedia

- Homelessness & Poverty in NYC | The Bowery Mission

- The Untold Story of New York's Hart Island (Documentary)

- Hart Island Documetary | Vox/Youtube

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*Please be aware that in this post I will be discussing the downfalls of former child actors, I will be talking about suicide, sexual assault and substance abuse. I will, as always try to be as sensitive as I can be without taking away from the facts*

Over the years we have seen many child actors transition into adult stars and their careers have gone from strength to strength. The likes of Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Christian Bale and Elijah Wood have made that successful journey in their careers from childhood stars to more serious artists and actors. But it's not an easy road and in many cases it can go so tragically wrong. The pressures of fame are hard enough on an adult but even more traumatic for a child. There comes a time as a child actor when the reality hits that Hollywood has basically chewed you up and spat you out just because you are no longer that cute kid that was cast in the cutesy roles. It takes a lot to be able to survive that and be able to fight to carry on with your career and be taken seriously in more mature roles. A successful run from childhood actor to adult actor can happen successfully as we've seen but there are many cases where this has not happened. 

We like to think of Disney as this wonderful dream-like place where all amazing things happen, a world full of joy, wonder and happiness. The reality is quite sinister in a lot of ways if you delve into the history of Disney and in particular, Walt Disney. There's a lot to unpack there and as many of us have grown up watching Disney movies we were maybe unaware of what was going on behind the scenes, the true lives of the actors and actresses who were behind our beloved Disney characters. Of course if we were to know the truth of the past and what really happened behind the scenes and how various child actors were treated it would take away the magic and the fantasy of it all. 

We've heard the stories of MGM where the late, great Judy Garland who blessed us with her iconic performance in the classic Wizard of Oz, was subjected to constant psychological torture behind the scenes. We all watch the movies that Judy appeared in and we smile and sing along but what we didn't know was that Judy had been suffering a lot in her life. Constantly ridiculed for her weight by studio bosses, she was forced to smoke numerous cigarettes per day on an empty stomach and lived on endless cups of black coffee as well as amphetamines. Despite constantly being forced to starve herself, studio heads were still not happy with her weight at the time of her shooting the Wizard of Oz. Judy had been taking amphetamines from a very young age along with another child actor, Mickey Rooney. Shooting movies for hours on end would often leave the children exhausted so to keep up their energy they were fed drugs to stay alert. This would set many child actors and actresses on a road to drug addiction which often resulted in tragic circumstances. Judy herself had battled terribly over the years before sadly passing away from a Barbiturate overdose at the age of just 47 years old. 

Whether it be Disney, MGM, Warner Brothers etc, every movie studio in Hollywood has some very dark history and there are so many stories to tell (let me know if you'd like me to write a series on this) about the scandals, the mysterious deaths, the infamous 'casting couch', the substance abuse and the harsh treatment and abandonment of many of it's stars and people we consider to be much loved icons, simply because they weren't bringing in the money or the viewers anymore or that they had gotten older. 

With so many stories to tell and so many people who have fallen victim to the harsh side of Hollywood, my focus in this particular post is going to be that of the heart breaking story of Bobby Driscoll. I might possibly do a series where I talk about some of the things that went on with various actors and actresses but in this post, we will be taking a journey back to what happened to Bobby Driscoll. 

As the story of fallen child actors go, I think that Bobby's story is one of the most devastating to say the least. For a long time he was a forgotten child star who, thanks to the internet is now being appreciated for all that he gave cinema history as well as the joy and happiness he brought to so many children and adults with his iconic film roles and TV appearances. We mostly have Bobby Driscoll to thank for Disney's Peter Pan because his likeness and voice was used to help bring the character that James Matthew Barrie had created to life and if you look at both a picture of Peter Pan and Bobby you will see it's uncanny. 

Bobby was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (USA) on the 3rd of March 1937 to humble beginnings, he was a cute little boy who was adored by his parents and his early childhood was pretty normal. His path to acting began when he was having his hair cut and a Barber's son who was an actor himself, encouraged Bobby's parents to take him along to an audition because he thought that Bobby had the right look and personality for movies. The family moved to California and pretty soon everything was happening so fast for young Bobby, he was a natural on the screen. Despite a short acting career, he had some pretty iconic movie roles under his belt and had won a number of awards including an Oscar at the age of 13. Adults were blown away with his ability (despite his young age) to take direction with ease and give a realistic portrayal. Another one of his well known performances was his leading role in the now buried 'Song of The South' (1946) which a lot of people have not seen, I've not seen it either but for some reason most of us know the song from the film ''Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my oh my what a wonderful day. Plenty of Sunshine headin' my way, zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay''. The Song of The South was deemed to be a racist movie because of it's portrayal of African-American slaves so it has been canceled. Other star turns for Bobby included So Dear to My Heart (1949), Treasure Island (1950) and probably most iconic of all, Disney's Peter Pan (1953). 

It seemed that he was riding high with his career but all was not as it seemed, during filming in England for Treasure Island, there were some issues because Bobby didn't have a passport. Himself and his parents were sent back to California and the crew had to scramble to piece together remaining scenes with a stand-in. Despite this the movie went on to be a success and despite the mix-up Bobby's light was continuing to shine. His next major role was Disney's Peter Pan and this was and is still iconic to this very day, over 70 years later. It was from 1953 that Bobby's career began to slow down considerably and despite the success of Peter Pan, it was decided that Disney would not renew Bobby's contract. The ridiculous reason for Disney letting one their brightest and talented stars go, was because Bobby's appearance had changed quite a lot as he was a growing boy and had developed severe acne. Bobby had a terrible ordeal when it came to his skin, no matter what he tried to do the acne flare ups would be very upsetting for him. It got to the point where makeup artists had to apply very thick layers of foundation and concealer on his skin when he did do any TV appearances of public performances. 

Bobby was maturing and growing up and it seemed that nobody wanted him to. With the lack of steady acting work, his parents had taken him out of the Hollywood Professional School which was attended by the well to do kids of Hollywood actors and actresses and sent him to a public school where, instead of being celebrated for his iconic movies and all that he achieved, he was met with jealousy and bullying. The stress and pressure of the bullying led Bobby to experiment with drugs as a form of escape. Eventually after begging and pleading with his parents, they agreed to take him out of that school and return him to the Hollywood Professional school where his grades picked up (they had gone down considerably at the other school) and he eventually graduated. 

Not one to give up on his dream, Bobby tried so hard to get his career in a more serious direction but found himself with the reputation of 'Disney's Kid Actor'. He struggled on and off with the drugs but had met and fell in love with a woman by the name of Marilyn Jean Rush who he had known for many years. The pair gotten married and had a son and two daughters together but things soon turned sour because Bobby's addiction took hold. 

His relationship with his children was a non-existent one because by this point the drugs became Bobby's sole focus. The relationship with his children was sadly never to be. 

He tried to get his act together by doing some radio shows and appearances but just couldn't turn his back on the drugs which he used to escape from the harsh reality that he'd been treated like a product and just discarded when studio bosses decided he was no longer profitable and his only 'crime' was that he grew up. 

Another child actor who comes to mind as I write this, is Jonathan Brandis, wasn't he an amazing actor? He'd been in quite a number of shows and movies but I remember his amazing performance in Stephen King's (made for TV movie) 'It'. In his younger days he was known for being a heartthrob and popular with girls but there was more to him than that, he was very talented and had so much more to give but it seemed that certain people couldn't look beyond his looks. Jonathan was so popular that he was frequently on the cover of girls magazines and would be voted the cutest guy in the world in these magazine polls. He would also receive thousands of fan letters every week from girls. As soon as Jonathan began to get a bit older and his style had changed, he wanted more serious roles as an actor, he soon found himself out in the cold. For some reason he was just known as this guy who was a cute kid back in the day even though he was still handsome, he had obviously matured and just struggled to get work. There was some light on the horizon, or so it seemed, when he was offered a role in a Star Wars movie as well as another big blockbuster but for some reason his scenes were cut. Having his scenes cut and struggling with trying to find roles and be taken seriously as now adult actor in Hollywood, it all became too much for Jonathan and he took his own life by hanging himself from a pipe outside of his apartment. It was a heartbreaking loss of such an incredibly talented young man, he was only 27 years old when he died. 

Bobby found himself in the same predicament as Jonathan all those years before and the drugs became his crutch. Inevitably the drug addiction soon seen him having brushes with the law and back then in Hollywood's eyes, any sort of criminal activity, drug abuse (even though most of them were up to all sorts behind closed doors), any flaw on someone's character was frowned upon and it would basically mean the end of your career. People would go to great lengths to appear to be a perfect human being in the public eye so they would lie about their sexuality, pretend to be sober or leading a clean-cut life for the sake of their acting career. 

When Bobby was first arrested for being in possession of marijuana it was considered to be a big deal back then and people commented that it signaled the official end of his career or any chance of a comeback. He tried his best to brush off this so called scandal by attempting to revamp his career, first with a slight name change from Bobby Driscoll to Robert Driscoll and had appeared in two more lesser known movies and a handful of TV appearances but nothing that really took off the ground. Feeling depressed, he fell into the drugs completely and more trouble with the law continued. He soon found himself behind bars where he was reportedly bullied, regularly beaten and had suffered various sexual assaults. 

Bobby had written in a letter to a friend: ''I have found that memories are not very useful. I was carried on a silver platter - and then dumped into the garbage.'' 

After suffering (and surviving) so may ordeals through drugs, prison, being treated so cold by Hollywood, Bobby decided he was not going to give up when he left prison. He tried to make a go of things in New York with dreams of being a Broadway star. After failed attempts at a musical career he did find an unlikely friendship in a group of people known as 'The Factory'. The Factory were a community of artists and creatives who were put together by artist Andy Warhol. 

Bobby seemed to feel comfortable in this community and began to explore other ways in which he could use his talents. It turned out that as well as a talented actor, Bobby was an amazing artist too, he'd create collages and other works of art which were held in high regard amongst his fellow artists. His surviving work was later exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art. 

It appeared that Bobby had been trying to find his feet after the harsh treatment of Hollywood and the sad realisation that an acting career was not going to happen for him but here he was, a talented artist who was gaining a lot of positive attention for his art work in New York. It should have been the start of a positive chapter in Bobby's life, a fresh start, he was still thought of highly by those who knew him and made friends easily. He'd been through a lot and had experienced life from both sides of the fence. 

Sadly, everything was to come to a heartbreaking end and the talented person who gave us Peter Pan and all those iconic roles, the boy who made everyone smile and be in awe of his talent at such as young age, was suddenly no more. The incredibly gifted Bobby Driscoll was found deceased, slumped in a dirty cot in an abandoned building in Manhattan by two boys. It was gut wrenching for a true star to be found in such an undignified manner, beer bottles and papers strewn around him. It's unclear why Bobby had been there, whether he was sleeping rough but he passed away on the 30th of March 1968 at the age of 31. His cause of death was listed as drug-related heart failure. 

More heartbreak was to come because Bobby was unidentified for a very long time, nobody knew where he was. His mother who he had lost contact with (it appeared that his relationship with his parents had soured a long time before that point) him decided that she wanted to speak to him because his father was in very bad health and she wasn't sure how long he had left. She originally contacted Disney studios looking for him. A bit of a search ensued and the tragic truth was revealed, Bobby who was considered to be some random homeless man was buried in a pauper's grave on Hart Island. They were able to trace him through fingerprints but his remains will never be found because on that island is a mass cemetery which is purely for the poor, homeless and unidentified to be buried. It's a heartbreaking place with so many unidentified people, people who died alone with nobody to claim their remains. Bobby is amongst them, the boy who gave us Peter Pan, the character who continues to bring joy to children all over the world and encourages you to think positive thoughts and be happy and enjoy life, his remains are with so many lost souls in that heartbreaking place. 

To think, all that talent, all that promise, he had it all and they took it away from him. Hollywood took his spirit and when he was no longer making them money they threw him away, just like they've done with so many people. Nobody helped him, nobody wanted to know. From what I've seen of Hollywood, there's not a real friend there, anyone who finds themselves in a spot of hot bother is instantly canceled, fired and dumped by their co-stars, nobody stands by anyone, they are all out for themselves and care only for their own image and careers. It was exactly like that in Bobby Driscoll's day and it's still like that now. I think that we, the public now see behind the smoke and the mirrors. Award shows are no longer about celebrating talents, it's all about political agendas and some would say quite satanic. I wouldn't be able to tell you because I no longer watch them. 

So, as we leave this very sad story about Bobby I hope that you take something away from this and that is, that when you next see a picture of Peter Pan, smile and think of Bobby. The boy who was never allowed to grow up. I'm so thankful that Bobby was able to be Peter Pan because nobody else could have done it any better, he is Peter Pan and I feel that it's a beautiful tribute that this character is still celebrated today and Bobby had a huge part of that. He might be somewhere on Hart Island but he remains in our hearts as Peter Pan and remembered for being an important part in Disney's history as well as one of the greatest young artists of all time who would have gone on to even better things if they had just let him be himself. He had such talent as a child that you can only just imagine what he would have been like if he'd been given a proper chance as an adult actor in more serious roles. He may have died before my time but immersing myself in his story, doing this research and learning of what he went through has touched me deeply and I feel a huge sense of loss for an extraordinary talented young man, 31 was no age to be passing away in a cold, dark filthy abandoned building. He didn't deserve it, any of it and neither did Jonathan Brandis and countless others. 

RIP Bobby and Jonathan.

This was quite a tough and emotional post to get through and if you have made it this far, I am very grateful. I welcome any thoughts you may have below in the comments or you can email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Further Reading & Sources:

- The Bobby Driscoll Archive | Biography

- Bobby Driscoll | Hollywood Walk of Fame

- Bobby Driscoll | Find A Grave

- Bobby Driscoll | Wikipedia

- Bobby Driscoll: Article | Fox News

- Newspapers.com

- Walt Disney | Wikipedia

- Peter Pan (1953) Film | Wikipedia

- Jonathan Brandis | Wikipedia

- Jonathan Brandis | Find A Grave

- Hart Island, New York | Wikipedia

- The Island Project | Hart Island

- Song of The South: Movie | Wikipedia

- The Factory | Wikipedia

Until next time, I hope to see you on my Socials and I hope you will join me here in my next post. Stay safe x

 I like to think that I bring a variety of different cases and stories to my blog to capture your interest. We've seen me cover such very heartbreaking and tragic cases over the years and sometimes the downright bizarre and this post falls into pretty much the bizarre category. I don't know what on earth possessed me to write about this case, I'm not sure if it was a previous request or something I planned to cover myself but it was on my list of cases to explore.

I'm not going to lie, for years this case (which I discovered years ago thanks to my Mum having decided to watch a 'thriller' with me that was on the TV thinking it was just a run of the mill Serial Killer drama, only to discover it was two guys having....shall we say an 'interesting date' which ended up with one guy eating the other....quite literally! For years I was haunted by that sentence shouted out by the victim ''BITE MY THING......BITE MY THING'', anyway, back to the actual case) had crept up every now and then in my mind and for some reason have decided that now is the time to write about it, brace yourselves if your unfamiliar with this story, it's crazy, it's graphic. it's confusing and it's gruesome, don't say I didn't warn you. 

So, with all that being said let's grit our teeth (and I don't mean that in any offensive way) and push forward with this story. 

Armin Meiwes was born on the 1st of December 1961 in Kassel, Germany, the youngest of three boys and the apple of his mother's eye. In the beginning all was well with the family until the day that Armin's father walked out, abandoning his wife and children. Armin was witness to his father getting in his car and driving off, a memory which haunted him for years afterwards and he constantly questioned himself why his father didn't want to be with them anymore.

With his father no longer around, Armin's overbearing mother got worse with her controlling behaviour and negative attitude. His older brothers couldn't wait to leave home and suddenly Armin found that it was just himself and his mother. Very much a Norman Bates and Mrs Bates situation with the mother being very headstrong and strict with her son. Armin's mother tried to treat him like he was her husband and personal slave. From a young age he was expected to cook, clean, do the shopping and carry out various duties that would be expected of someone so much older. It wasn't much of a childhood for him so he would find whatever time he could to get lost in books and fairy tales, especially 'Hansel and Gretel'. He adored that story and became fixated on the idea of what it would be like to eat another person. Part of the story of Hansel and Gretel (which originates in Germany) involves two naughty children who find a witch's cottage in the woods, the cottage is magical because it's made of sweet candy. The children begin to eat parts of the house and the witch decides to get her revenge on the children by eating them. It's a very dark, disturbing story if you sit and really think about it. I remember as a child being told this story at school and sort of brushing it off but as an adult I think it's not really appropriate for younger children today. 

So Armin was becoming obsessed with the idea and fantasy that he could eat human flesh. He wanted to kill someone, dismember them and cook and eat parts of their body. It was a horrifying secret he kept to himself but the red flags were there. He would often play with dolls and take the heads off or make bodies out of marzipan where he would stab and cut up the pieces pretending it was actual flesh. 

Armin became a bit of an Incel being stuck at home a lot with his mother (who enjoyed putting him down and ridiculing him, she made no secret that she hated men), having to run errands for her and jump whenever she clicked her fingers. His only joy was his deep, dark fantasies and when the internet came along he rejoiced because he wondered if there was anybody else out there who had the same wants and desires as him.

When it came to relationships, no women were on the scene. There was the odd one or two times where there was a possibility that something could have developed with someone but for some reason it never worked out especially because his mother would make it impossible by her behaviour to any female that might have a friendship with Armin. He was basically banned from having a girlfriend. Armin was terribly confused about what he actually wanted, he had a stint as a soldier but that didn't work out and he soon found himself depressed and dependent on alcohol. When his mother died in 1999 he was suddenly left with all of this freedom and began to explore his sexuality, apparently these fantasies about eating human flesh ever since he was the age of just eight years old, grew more intense and he was determined to do it. He would randomly ask people if they thought he was gay which was often met with a stunned reply, when asking a neighbour that very same question, the neighbour explained that was a very personal question that only he could answer himself. Feeling lonely he found some comfort online on forums, chat rooms and message boards. Armin seemed to have a natural talent when it came to computers and building websites. It turned out that there was people out there just like him who were online, having these same thoughts. 

It was through one of these message boards that he began chatting with other men with similar fantasies. Armin (42) was after younger men and when he planned on making one of his fantasies come true, (which was to kill and eat a dead man's flesh) he advertised for young men to have a date with him to discuss certain matters involving these disturbing things but was getting no luck so he raised the age range and this is where he met 43 year old Berlin Engineer, Bernd Jurgen Brandes. Armin later claimed that around 200 men had responded to his advertisement for a man to be (as he advertised it) 'Slaughtered and Consumed'. A lot of the men that Armin had spoken to previously about the possibility of cannibalistic sex etc, would claim to be up for it and then get cold feet as soon as plans became serious, it seemed to that some of the men just wanted to fantasise about being eaten or eating somebody else but when realty came in they couldn't face it. Armin would drop these people like a bad habit if he felt they were not as passionate as he was about it. He took the whole gruesome caper very seriously and had everything all set up and ready to go like scene out of the horror movie 'Hostel'. 

There was no pretence on the part of Armin, he was straight to the point in what he wanted and what he expected from the other person and Bernd 100% agreed at the time. The arrangement was that the pair would meet at Armin's home and at some point during the proceedings, Bernd would take some pills and they would cut off his penis, put it in a frying pan and they would both eat the flesh. This is exactly how it began.

As horrendous as this case is, you couldn't help but feel some sort of sympathy for these two guys, Armin being abandoned by his father and it was actually revealed later that on the day his father left the family, Armin tried to run after his car and stop him. It was a terrible memory that haunted him and to have his mother who hated men and bullied him not only at home but in public, having him at her beck and call until her death, there was no love in his life and this is what it all came to, him having these disturbing thoughts and actions. There was heartache on Bernd's side too, his mother committed suicide when he was a child and he struggled for years with his sexuality, realising that he was gay and when he confided in his father, his father disowned him. So the pair of them cut quite tragic figures who had been terribly abandoned and it led them onto this disturbing path, they were only in their 40s and so quick to throw their lives away in such a gruesome fashion. 

On the day of the meeting (9th of March 2001), Bernd had travelled by train to where they arranged to meet, they'd only been talking online for a few weeks and had never officially met but here they were, two strangers at a train station about to take part in this horrific murder/experiment, whatever you want to frame it as but both were in agreement all the way leading up to this and still in agreement at the train station. No threats were made, no coercion, Bernd voluntarily travelled there and explained previously what he wanted done with his body.

The journey to Armin's house took around an hour so in that time they talked and became a bit more relaxed in each other's company. When they got to the house they didn't waste any time getting undressed and had sexual intercourse but it didn't quite go the way that the pair had planned. It was quickly becoming another situation for Armin in which someone who claimed to be just as enthusiastic as he was about making this fantasy a reality, suddenly getting cold feet and changing their mind, he had dealt with it many times online and became frustrated but could clearly see that Bernd was having second thoughts and agreed to make the hour-long journey back to the train station with him. As soon as they got to the train station however, Bernd changed his mind again and was adamant that he really wanted to do it this time. Armin wasn't so sure and didn't want to have more of his time wasted but Bernd insisted and even suggested purchasing some sleeping pills and alcohol to help dope him up a little to make everything less painful.

Armin agreed to give it another try and was surprised to see back at his home just how quickly Bernd was insisting that things get moving. He was practically shouting at him to cut his penis off. The whole gruesome ordeal was recorded on video camera and Bernd screamed in agony as the knife cut through him. Armin claimed (and as could be seen by investigators who later studied the video) that Bernd's screaming was short lived. Maybe it was the combination of sleeping pills, alcohol and shock that numbed some of the pain that Bernd's body was going through in that moment. 

Armin's lawyer would later say that (as he was one of the people who had the unfortunate task of viewing this horrific video that was reportedly four hours long), after the penis was cut off and there was a gaping wound with blood pouring out everywhere, Bernd seemed to be almost like in a blissful state, enjoying seeing his own penis butchered, the remains on a plate and the bloody scene. It must have been horrendous for investigators to have to view that footage, it's hard enough for me to even write it, you get visions in your mind that you don't want. Horrific to say the least. 

As unbelievable as all of this is, as if this wasn't bad enough, the remains of Bernd's penis was then chopped up and thrown in a frying pan. Armin decided to season the fried penis (can't believe I'm saying that) with salt, pepper and some garlic before serving it up on two plates. There was an issue with the fried penis, they found it to be too chewy and had trouble with the texture and decided to just throw it away. So their fantasy was to cut off a penis, cook it and eat it and after all of that they just throw it in the bin? 

The madness continued as Bernd continued to lose more and more blood, he was slowly dying and they both knew that to be the case but nobody bothered to call an ambulance because that wasn't part of their 'deal'. Instead, Armin decided to place Bernd in a hot bath, maybe as an attempt to speed up the blood loss but at the same time keep him warm in his way trying to make his death more comfortable? Who knows? Well, Armin left Bernd in the bath whilst he went into another room and read a Star Trek book. The idea was that Bernd would bleed out in the bath and then the next steps that they both previously agreed on, would be taken but again, things didn't quite go according to their plans.

After an hour of reading his Star Trek book, Armin thought it was the appropriate time to check on Bernd assuming by that time that he would be deceased, he was shocked to discover that Bernd was still alive, despite all of that tremendous blood loss, he was still conscious and alert. So he decided to leave him for a bit longer and when he returned, Bernd was still alive but was clearly fading in and out and after endless hours in the bath tub he requested to Armin that he be helped out as he could barely stand. As he tried to get out with Armin's help, he fell to the floor and continued to drift in and out of consciousness. 

Yet more hours went by and Bernd was still alive, in and out of consciousness, moments when he would be alert and moments when he would be completely out of it. Armin appeared to be in a state of panic about what to do because all of their plans were not working out. In his mind, he would later say that he was in a state of panic because he had waited the majority of his life to live out his dream, his fantasy of finally getting to eat someone and then have them pass away and devour the remains. He claimed that he struggled between thinking about calling for an ambulance or just taking what was left of Bernd's life himself. In the recorded footage, investigators noted that Armin appeared to be very uncomfortable, stressed, confused and constantly walking back and forth, picking up a knife, putting it back down again, picking it back up, putting it down. 

I wish I could say that all of this horror that you've just read was finally coming to an end and that Bernd died from the blood loss but sadly no, Armin gave up and cut his throat and more horror was to come. As the pair had agreed previously and all of these conversations and plans were all in evidence, Bernd was decapitated and his head was placed on a butcher's meat hook. Armin then cut open his body like he was about to perform an autopsy (again, all of this was recorded on camera) and removed his internal organs. The body was then cut in half and then sliced into chunks. Armin had a fascination with watching men in butcher shop windows as they carved up animal meat and had taken note of the tools they used and their cutting techniques. Armin slaughtered Bernd like he was a cow and organised the pieces of his flesh. 

After all of this he cleaned himself up and the next part of the plan was to cook some of the remains. Armin said that he opted for a slice of Bernd's back and cooked that along with some potatoes, sprouts and red wine. This 'dinner' situation all took place at his dining room where he put on his best spread, lit some candles and used his best cutlery, almost like it was some sort of sick tribute but this was what they had agreed and the camera footage was to be, not only for Armin's pleasure (as he admitted later on to using it for masturbatory purposes) but it was his document of evidence that this gruesome arrangement was completely consensual on both parties. 

(House of horrors, Armin Meiwes's home before it was destroyed by fire. Picture credit: AP News)

Armin said that although he enjoyed the taste of the flesh it wasn't just about that, it was about Bernd becoming a part of him, he believed that eating his flesh would join them together for life. The rest of the remains were stored in a freezer and some were buried in his garden. 

After this nightmare and having indulged his fantasy you would have hoped that it would have been the end for Armin, he'd done this sickening act, he murdered this guy and carried out this so-called fantasy but no, he was straight back on the internet looking for another opportunity to do all of it again. He became acquainted online with a student who was happy to be in conversation with Armin but soon became freaked out and contacted authorities. 

It was clear that Armin's so-called fantasy was already out of control but the fact that he wanted to carry this on and have, who knows how many victims, is terrifying. It's also clear that these men were deeply disturbed. Bernd had cold feet and had to be doped up on pills and alcohol in order to go through with it. When the arrangement wasn't to plan and Bernd spent his last hours in agony bleeding to death, he should have abandoned the whole thing all together but he admitted himself that he did not want to stop for his own selfish reasons. He knew that if he was to call for an ambulance, he would be exposed and arrested, Bernd might have survived and the fantasy that they both claimed to have been dreaming about for years would have been destroyed. After alerted, authorities were on the scene and Armin's house of horror was searched from top to bottom, all the evidence there for the authorities to see, including the remains. The video tape was taken in and thoroughly studied frame by frame. 

Armin was charged with murder and would have thought that would have been the end of it but the case proved to be a tricky as well as a disturbing one because Cannibalism is not classed as illegal in Germany plus they had the written/typed communication between Armin and Bernd as well as the videotape. They had Bernd on record agreeing to everything that took place and as sick as the whole thing was, he was reportedly enjoying what was happening to him but could that have been him delusional because his body was beyond pain? I can't imagine alcohol and sleeping pills having that much of a numbing affect if you've  had your private parts cut off? 

At the first sentencing, there was outrage because of the argument over consent and everything else, Armin was initially sentenced to only eight and a half years in 2004 but this was soon thrown out and after public outcry and another going over of the case, he was issued with a life sentence. 

Armin has claimed in recent times that he regrets what happened and would never dream of doing such a thing again but is that the truth? He was so quick to get back online looking for another opportunity to do it again. He'd also been obsessed with all of this stuff since he was a young child and had admitted that he used the tape of that horrific set-up as a masturbatory aid. So he got off on the whole thing, that's what turned him on and he enjoyed it. If he was so regretful and horrified, he would have burned the tape and been full of remorse. 

Armin is currently 63 years old and is still serving his sentence, various books have been written about him, many documentaries have been made and horror movies inspired by him. It's clear that the world continues to have this morbid fascination with him, not because anyone particularly likes what he did but because people cannot quite believe that such people exist among us, that there are people right now who are probably online somewhere having a conversation about fantasising about being eaten or eating other people, that men would contact another stranger on the internet with the promise of being 'slaughtered and butchered'. We face the frightening reality that such people exist amongst us and these guys are, on the other side of their lives, quite intelligent, successful men but this is how they get their kicks. 

In April of 2023 Armin's name popped up in the headlines again but this time it was because of his house, someone had set fire to it and the property had been completely destroyed much to the delight of the locals. Apparently the house had become somewhat of macabre tourist attraction. The house had remained empty for years but some people would go and take selfies and the local community were sick and tired of it. What remained of the house was cleared away and the community is hoping that people will move on completely and forget. 

I don't know what to say about Bernd, he seemed to be in such a messed up place in his life, the suicide of his mother and the rejection of his father leaving him to have this so-called ambition in life to be eaten and slaughtered by a stranger? It was a psychiatrist that man needed and it all seems such a shame. As for Armin, as much as I think that he prayed on vulnerable men online, his mother has a lot to answer for because ultimately she screwed him up. He didn't even know who he was as a person and the whole eating of other people's flesh because he wanted them to be a part of him speaks volumes of the legacy of being abandoned by his father, who is also to blame. One thinks of that significant memory that Armin speaks of when he recalls himself as a young child running behind his father's car trying to stop him from leaving. All of these things that happened to these men as children had a profound effect on their adult lives. 

This was a very disturbing and complicated case to get though and I thank you for making it all the way through to this part. What are your thoughts about this shocking story? It's really difficult to understand and it all seems such a waste, could these men have been helped if they'd had the right mental health treatment? Thinking about what could have been if they hadn't have had such trauma in their childhoods?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

RIP Bernd Jurgen Brandes 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Armin Meiwes: Article | The Guardian

- Cannibal | Book by Lois Jones

- The Most Bizarre Crimes Ever Told | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Cannibal Killer | Book by Elijah Roberts

- Armin Meiwes | Wikipedia

- Armin Meiwes: Article | Sky News 

- Armin Meiwes: Article | London Evening Standard

- Armin Meiwes: Article | The Guardian

- Armin Meiwes: Article | The Independent

- Essen | Wikipedia

- Armin Meiwes: Article | New York Post

- Armin Meiwes: Article | AP News

Check out Newspapers.com and check out their incredible library of newspapers from decades ago right up until this very day.

This was a heavy case to get through and I hope you found it informative. You can find all of my socials here. I hope you will join me again in my next post, stay safe x

*Please be aware that I will be covering a very disturbing case in this post which deals with child abuse, paedophiles and murder, I will try my best to be as sensitive as I can be with the facts without taking away the details of the case*

There's many a time I have a case request and I think, sure, I will put that on my list and cover it in a future post. I always aim to give my readers a variety of true crime stories and with this particular case, I found myself going through my notes, just about to put pen to paper and realised I hadn't written about this monster up until now for many reasons.....it's utterly horrendous, like really unbelievably horrendous. 

I remember when I first saw the horrible face of Richard Huckle, it was splashed across the TV screen one day when I was watching the news. This highly dangerous monster was an English man who had spent a considerable amount of time abroad traveling and abusing children all over the place. The details were sickening and hard to take in. I remember staring at the TV screen not being able to believe what I was hearing. This monster had travelled to poor countries under the guise of trying to help people and do some photography work but what he was really doing was abusing children and had even targeted babies. It made you feel sick and it still makes me feel sick now as I type this. 

Richard was an incel (an incel is a man who isn't successful with women so often spends a lot of time online on various forums, sometimes harassing women or getting together online with other like-minded men to degrade, steal women's pictures from their social media sites and rate them out of 10 as well as describe in detail what they would do to them sexually etc.....I like to use the term 'Raincoat Man' because these are the types from back in the day who would hang around parks flashing their private parts at unsuspecting women as they walked past. Well they are indoors now these guys and they're online) who couldn't get a girlfriend and would use this as an excuse (along with his immaturity) for his disgusting and predatory actions towards vulnerable children.

According to this monster, he thought the children were giving him mixed signals. Paedophiles always use cognitive distortions in a pathetic attempt to reason their actions.  He also blamed women's lack of interest in him and that he was immature for his age. All pathetic and poor excuses, the truth of the matter was that Richard Huckle and those like him are just sick, perverted creatures, their brains are wired wrong and they cannot be cured. I've spoken to many psychologists over the years, even ones who have worked with these types of individuals in some of the UK's most notorious prisons and they will tell you, they cannot be cured. 

It's terrifying to know that these types of individuals are among us, because that's the truth as shocking and disturbing as it is. So where do we start with this monster? Well I suppose we will begin with having a brief dive into his background and start from there as always. Richard William Huckle was born on the 14th of May 1986 in Ashford, Kent in England, he came from a comfortable financial background from a middle class family so he didn't grow up in poverty and there's no indication that he suffered any trauma or abuse. He was a loner but academically gifted and a bit more switched on than most children. He attended grammar school and apart from being a bit quiet, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary he just kept to his own small group of friends. 

At the age of 16 he embarked on a month long expedition to a school in Nambia. He was a keep photographer and took pictures as well as tried to teach some of the children English, he was well spoken and came across as very friendly, the other staff and children got along well with him. After this Richard decided that he enjoyed being in Nambia so much that he wanted to carry on travelling, documenting through photography and using his Christian roots to help the less fortunate. That would have been nice if that had been all he wanted. It turned out that Richard had been harbouring sick fantasies for years and began to see travelling to deprived places as a way to get closer to children for sickening reasons. 

Richard was also a frequent user of the dark web where he would communicate with other incels and paedophiles. He would also obtain pictures of child abuse from hidden forums and would often discuss and share images with other sick perverts. Richard would visit orphanages under the guise of being a good Samaritan and a travel photographer. 

Richard would also target extremely poor families and groom the parents as well as the children. He would charm the parents with money and ask them if he could take their children for a photo shoot to which they would agree. He did this sick routine for about 10 years and was never caught but suspicions were raised. He would be constantly abusing these poor children, take photographs and films, then he would share them on the dark web. 

This man was doing this from late in his teens all the way through until he was eventually caught. He was so bold and sick that he wrote a 60 page guide book for other paedophiles and even had a book that contained all of his victims names and what level of abuse he had inflicted on them along with a rating, it was utterly vile! His 60-page paedophile guide book contained the most horrific material including the details of a 3 year old child who he called his 'child lover', he bragged about how he had managed to manipulate this poor child to do anything he wanted and gave tips to other perverts on how they could do the same. The disgusting and vile monster and his fellow perverts saw paedophilia as an alternative sexuality and wanted it to be legal. 

Richard Huckle would tell his fellow Paedophiles on the dark web that poor children were more easier to abuse and manipulate than children from a more secure financial background. He would simply give the children and their parents gifts and smooth talk them with money. 

So how was this monster finally brought to justice? Well, Richard was tracked down due to his connection with a Paedophile ring that had been operating on the dark web. The owner of a paedophile site by the name of Shannon McCoole was traced and immediately arrested. Investigators assumed the identity of Shannon and carried on his site, contacting other paedophiles and trying to track them down. The police ended up making arrests, they also finally discovered the real identity of Richard Huckle who had obviously been using a false name online. 

The police began to monitor Richard Huckle and knew that he was travelling back to the UK. When the pervert arrived at London Gatwick Airport, he was immediately arrested on the 19th of December 2014. All of his personal possessions were searched and his computer was taken away for further examination. he was bailed to his parent's house and shockingly confessed to them about everything he had been doing. His parents were horrified and actually wanted him out of their house, they were disgusted and begged the police to take him into custody which is what ended up happening because he had nowhere else to stay. 

The list of the 91 charges that were put to him were utterly horrendous and the stuff of nightmares, he pleaded guilty to everything. Was it that he knew he was a sick monster and couldn't control himself or was it the fact that he knew there was no point lying because the police had mountains of evidence against him? Whatever the reason, he was in custody where he belonged, off the streets and away from vulnerable children. 

At the trial more details were revealed and it just got more worse as it went along, the court heard how his victims had ranged between the ages of 6 months to 12 years and he had done the most horrific things to these children. This case had echos of the Ian Watkins case where I also felt physically sick reading the court documents and list of charges. To think that this hellishness was going on for basically a decade and he was able to get away with it for so long because he targeted children from poor communities, it's just so vile. 

Some of the victims he abused once and some he abused for a number of months and years, More details about his 'Paedophile Guide Book' was read out in court where he bragged about the three year old girl that he had been regularly abusing, describing the child as being as loyal as a dog and implying that nobody cared about this child anyway so he could pretty much do what he liked. As I mentioned previously, he advised fellow freaks and perverts to target poor children as he said they were easy to manipulate and that the parents usually didn't care and were easy to hoodwink with money and gifts. 

The court also was aware and had to view some of the sickening photographs and videos that Richard Huckle had taken and recorded of his victims over the years. It was all extremely disturbing. 

Investigators believe that Richard Huckle could be responsible for over 200+ cases of horrendous rape and abuse of children but because Richard had been able to hide files and had been using the dark web, a lot of the evidence could not be traced. Richard had put a lot of codes on things so they could not be found.

The judge, Peter Rook QC told Richard Huckle at his sentencing: 

''You have pleaded guilty to as many as 71 sexual offences . It is very rare indeed that a Judge has to sentence sexual offending by one person on such as scale as this. In my view, you may well harbour feelings of regret but there is no feeling of genuine remorse in this case.'' 

Richard Huckle was sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 counts and was to serve a minimum sentence of 25 years before being considered for parole. A whole life order would have been more appropriate in my opinion but things were to take an ever more dramatic turn and you'll see why as we reach the end of this post. I just want to talk a little bit about Richard's parents and family, normally when I write about murderers and abusers, it's always baffling to me that their parents and family always stand by them even when they have committed the most horrendous of crimes. For example, Ted Bundy's mother utterly adored him and sat beaming on the stand in court when she talked about him at his Chi Omega trial (the trial where he was found guilty for the horrendous, rape, violent assault and murder of innocent college girls who were asleep in their sorority house). Despite the huge evidence against Ted and the full knowledge of what he had done, she chose to be in denial about her son and sat in that packed courtroom (and in front of TV viewers) beaming about his past achievements. Richard Huckle's parents didn't pander to their son, they disowned him, his whole family disowned him. Anyone who ever knew Richard had washed their hands of him, everyone was completely horrified at what he had done. 

Nobody wanted to be associated with him. His parents sold their house quickly and vanished into thin air, most probably moved out of the UK. Another relative spoke to the press at that time and said:

''None of his family will speak about him. None of us ever want to see Richard again.''

A lot of people will agree with me when I say that this was well-deserved, he was a total monster and the reactions of his loved ones was understandable. How could anyone continue to love someone like that? Someone who has done the most horrendous things to innocent children, some as young as 6 months old, it's evil, pure evil on a scale that none of us could or want to imagine. 

Well, we know what happens with paedophiles in prison don't we? and Richard Huckle was a sitting duck and he knew it! As I mentioned before, he bragged about the children he abused, took photographs and film of these poor kids and put everything up on the dark web and perverted forums for his fellow sick creeps to see. He had also abused a number of children on a regular basis especially the three year old girl that he had written about in his 'Paedophile Guide Book' as well as on the forums. He had said that he was amazed that he was (in his words) able to keep the same 'child lover' for so long and discussed her body and how it had changed from a toddler to a 12 year old. He also spoke of how he had plans to continue abusing her and for his fellow monsters to enjoy watching her grow. On the 13th of October 2019, one of the most sickest, most prolific paedophile's in British history was to meet his maker. 

Richard was found deceased in his prison cell at Full Sutton Prison (based in Yorkshire). The details of Richard's death were quite extreme and in normal circumstances with an innocent person, you would be horrified but with him, it was just a tiny bit of justice for what he had put these poor children through. Apparently a prisoner by the name of Paul Fitzgerald (30) had cornered Richard in his cell, shut the door behind him and subjected Richard to 78 minutes of pure hell. Now before I go into the gory details, Paul Fitzgerald was no 'hero' infact this guy was a complete monster himself who abused children and his first sex offence was at the age of 12. Paul didn't target Richard in revenge for his crimes against innocent children, he did it purely for his own sick enjoyment. 

When the two were alone in the cell, Paul tied Richard's hands and feet up with an electrical cable, gagged him and used a large wooden spoon he had found in the prison kitchen to anally rape him. He then repeatedly stabbed him over and over again before forcing a pen up Richard's nose as far as it would go (in the court documents it states that the pen had went three inches over into his brain). He broke his jaw and smashed Richard's face onto the concrete floor several times. There was blood everywhere. When guards finally entered the scene and restrained Paul Fitzgerald it was like a moment in a horror movie. Paul excitedly said:

''I got carried away by how much fun I was having doing what I was doing to him.''

Paul also said that he had planned to cook and eat Richard's body parts and had fantasized about doing this to other prisoners. So this was no act of final justice for Richard Huckle's victims, this was just some insane individual who was also a sick pervert just getting his kicks. I suppose in some way it is still some form of justice for Richard's victims to know that he suffered in his last moments. This may not sound professional on my end but if this form of 'treatment' was dished out to convicted paedophiles (like some of the attention that Paul had inflicted on Richard) maybe these sick perverts would leave children alone and think twice the next time they even think of approaching an innocent child. 

It is often said and known that there might be injustice in the courtroom in the UK when it comes to the sentencing of paedophiles but when they are in prison, that's when the other prisoners will dish out their own form of 'justice'. Paedophiles are often placed in separate wings or solitary confinement for their own protection but there will always come a time where a hole in the net will appear, it could be months later, it could be years, even decades....but one day someone in prison will likely get a hold of them. We've seen it happen so many times and it doesn't matter how long these perverts have been in prison, there are actual prisoners who will wait for years patiently until they have their moment to strike. Some do it for notoriety reasons to get in the newspapers, some do it as an act of justice for the victims and others like Paul Fitzgerald, do it for their own pleasure. 

Paul Fitzgerald was sentenced to 34 years for the torture, rape and murder of Richard Huckle. It was later revealed that prison staff were well aware of Paul's violent tendencies and truth be told, it sounds like they pretty much turned a blind eye to it due to the fact that both of these perverts were monsters. It's funny how certain things can go 'unnoticed' in certain prisons when it comes to perpetrators of violence and murder towards women and children. Sometimes it makes you wonder, how is it that we have the criminals serving out real justice in certain cases but the courts often let us all down? 

Some people are against violence and retaliation against child predators like Huckle but paedophilia cannot be cured and no amount of cotton wool and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy will change what gets them off sexually, all these types of things do is keep them at bay for a while especially in prison where they can't be near children. I have various views about this subject but I think you'll understand my standing on this. 

This was another difficult case to go through, very graphic and disturbing. I think about those poor children, some never got justice for what happened to them because it was never uncovered due to the fact that Richard had worked out a way to hide or destroy some of the sick files that he had. It's scary that a lot of predators are online and seem to have a vast knowledge of technology, as they spend a lot of time on the dark web and learn from each other in hidden forums how to hide their sickening activities.

I've been writing about true crime since 2019 and my knowledge of a lot of things criminology related has grown but so has also the stark reality of the failings of our justice system. I've seen and heard a lot of things over the years and a lot of the time we see victims terribly failed. I hope that the victims of Richard Huckle were able to begin to heal somehow from their trauma, it's not an easy subject and sexual abuse in childhood can leave lifelong scars. Richard Huckle may no longer be alive but the trauma and disgusting memories he has left behind still remains. I think about his parents too, especially his mother who may also be suffering from trauma, imagine your son turning out like that? You find out your son is a monster (maybe there was red flags in the past? Maybe they knew there was something odd about him?) and the details are utterly horrendous and everybody in your local community, your colleagues at work, your friends, elsewhere in the world, all know about it. 

It seems that Richard led a double life because he would fly back and forth from the UK to abroad to continue his sickening abuse of children. He'd come to the UK to visit his parents and family, have dinner, catch-up and pose for family photographs playing the nice guy and then he'd fly back off to dangerously harm innocent children. He was like a split personality but as soon as his crimes came to be known, his whole family disowned him, wanted rid of him, his parents begging the police to remove him from their house, none of them could bare the sight of him and never wanted to see him again. One wonder's what their thoughts were when they heard about his death and the way he died? In my opinion I can imagine they were somewhat relived, not at the circumstances in which he died, but the fact that he was dead. I think to them, Richard must have died a long time ago, the boy they thought they all knew. The horrific legacy of what he has done will never go away and it doesn't matter where his family move to it doesn't change the facts, this was a member of their family that did these horrific things and that must be very traumatic and difficult to deal with. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Richard Huckle: Article | BBC News

- Richard Huckle: Article | The Guardian

- Richard Huckle: Article | Sky News

- Richard Huckle & Paul Fitzgerald | Judiciary

- Richard Huckle | Wikipedia

- Richard Huckle | Hull Daily Mail

- Richard Huckle | CNN

- Richard Huckle | NZ Herald

- Richard Huckle: Article | Kent Online

- Richard Huckle: Report/Clip | Sky News

As always, a big shout out to the amazing Newspapers.com for access to their incredible library both past and present of newspaper archives from all over the world. Be sure to check the site out, you will get lost for hours, it really is fun, informative and fascinating to read articles from decades ago. 

I thank you as always for taking the time to read my latest post, this was a difficult read as it was to study but I appreciate you being here. 

I hope you will join me in my next post, in the meantime, I hope to see you on my Socials too, take care x