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Woman’s Body Found Stuffed in an Elm Tree
Cryptic graffiti serves as a reminder of an unsolved, decades-old murder.
On a chilly spring day in April 1943, four teenage boys were poaching in Hagley Wood, located in rural England. One of the boys climbed up an old wych elm tree in the hopes of finding some birds’ nests. What he found instead horrified them all.
Stuffed inside the tree’s hollow was a human skull, with stringy brown hair attached to the forehead and two crooked front teeth. The boys already feared getting in trouble for trespassing on private property. They didn’t want to find out what additional trouble they’d be in for their grisly discovery.
Consequently, they made a pact never to tell anyone what they saw before they each ran home.
But who could keep such a terrifying secret? In the end, the youngest of the four boys spilled everything to his father, who immediately notified the police.
Investigation
The police found an almost complete skeleton with one shoe and a cheap gold wedding ring at the trunk of the tree. Her severed hand was found some…
