Romanticising Serial Killers

With the release of a Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix, I noticed a lot of people including family members of some of Dahmer’s victims, expressing their outrage at how the series romanticises his crimes. Many people expect that we’ll see kids dressing up as Dahmer for Halloween which of course would be triggering for the family members.

Although I believe in creative freedom, I have to say that to some extent, I’m in agreement with the people who oppose the series. It seems that for the past few years, it has become ‘cool’ to idolise serial killers and it’s pretty weird.

Before people started wearing Ted Bundy T-shirts and dressing up as John Wayne Gacy for Halloween, people who were that way inclined chose to idolise fictional killers like Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger. Why has there been a shift to romanticing real serial killers? I can only assume that it is due to all of these Netflix series about true crimes and murderers.

I remember when we were looking for a driver for a European tour and we found a guy who was up for doing it. When you’re going on a month-long tour with people, it’s best to find out if you actually like them first so we asked him to take us to a show in the UK, just to see if we got on with him.

When he arrived at our house, the first thing I noticed was he had a lot of tattoos… nothing wrong with that of course but as I looked closely, I realised that all of his tattoos were of people… people I recognised, they were all serial killers! I asked him why he had several John Wayne Gacy tattoos and he explained how he was his favourite of all the serial killers. He talked enthusiastically about his next tattoo which would be the face of Ed Gein.

We ended up getting a different driver after an unrelated dispute and man, I was so glad to not be going to Europe with that guy. There is just something very wrong about someone who loves serial killers that much, that they’d get them permanently tattooed on their body.

I wonder if people like that guy, do it to be shocking and different and if that’s the case then fair enough but it’s still a bit insensitive and kinda lame. The only other explanation is that they genuinely look up to those guys and admire them for their crimes, that to me is incredibly worrying.

This Halloween, dress up as a ghost, ghoul or zombie, something fictional from a film or anything other than a serial killer because what’s Halloweeny about serial killers anyway?

Cleethorpes Water Tower

I moved to Cleethorpes over a year ago but I’d not really explored it. I’d visited the beach and the shops but I felt like I hadn’t really got to know this seaside town as much as I should.

Yesterday, I went for a walk with a friend and was surprised when we came across this water tower and pond, I began taking pictures as it really stood out from the rest of the area. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t spotted it before. My friend who has lived here since he was a kid said that in the 1970s there was a rumour that the pond was bottomless and children were warned not to go near it. It sounded like an obvious ploy to stop children falling in the pond and drowning but still, there was something about that pond and that tower that felt a bit off. I got a strange feeling about it so when I went home, I did a little research.

I found that the pond is not actually bottomless and is infact 40 feet deep.

It was originally a brick pit owned and dug by Walwyn Thomas Chapman and his family from 1881 until it was abandoned in 1915 when it was closed down due to fears that the light from the fires of the clay kilns would result in unwanted attention from German Zeppelins. In 1904 the workmen hit an underground spring and were unable to stem the flow of water. The pit was then abandoned and was allowed to fill with water. It was fenced off and sold to the local waterworks company.

The Water Tower which stands next to the pond was built sometime around 1910. It was originally taller than it currently is. For reasons unknown the original top was replaced with the current one sometime prior to 1963.

Of course, you know where this is going, the pond and the tower are haunted!

According to the Facebook page which is dedicated to Chapman pond, there are a few ghost stories associated with the pond and the tower. In the early 1900s, a horse and cart accidentally fell in one night and both the horse and driver drowned. The ghost of the driver is said to still haunt its waters. Perhaps this was another reason why children were warned not to play near the pond; a ghostly cart driver might drag you into his watery resting place. Obviously that’s just a legend, right? Well not necessarily because a child actually did drown in the waters some time afterwards. Her ghost has been seen numerous times, crying out for help. Whenever someone goes to save the drowning girl, she vanishes. The tower is also haunted! There have been numerous sightings of a figure plunging from the top of the Water Tower.

In trying to research who these ghosts might have been when they were alive, I turned up nothing! There were plenty of stories but no names. Apparently many children have drowned in the pond but it’s only the ghost girl who is regularly spotted. It’s surprising that there are more myths and legends surrounding this little pond than there are about the beach which is only a few metres away, especially since there are plenty of actual news stories about people drowning in the Humber.

Since I can’t find any confirmation that anyone died in the pond or the water tower, I can’t really say whether it is actually haunted. They could be made up stories to stop kids going near it or they could be rumours that came about because of how creepy the tower looks. No matter what, it deserves to be explored and I will probably visit there again one night to look out for any ghost children or jumping figures, I am not expecting much but I’ll update you!

Voodoo Dolls

I really enjoy needle felting and I love the look of voodoo dolls so it was only a matter of time before I needle felted one. The first one I made turned out pretty good, I’m fairly pleased with him and he will most likely feature in a few of my daily card posts.

Mr Voodoo doll the first

I had a plan to make a more feminine looking doll and I had this gorgeous looking pink roving wool that I wanted to use for her hair. I was glad with the way she turned out however her hair kept sticking out so I ended up having to braid it. I accidentally used the same roving wool for the heart instead of my other pink wool and it did not play well when I was trying to shape it, so the heart didn’t come out as nicely as I’d hoped. I have since re-shaped it after taking these pictures.

Mrs Voodoo doll the first

I did have concerns about cultural appropriation because Haitian Vodou is a real religion and they have been wanting people to take their religion more seriously instead of having us all believe the Hollywood approach to voodoo dolls.

I therefore could describe my dolls as poppets which is a different kind of doll used for sympathetic magick, and I do have the right to create these and use them. I have an article on poppets where I talk about making them as I also sew poppets as well as needle felt them. You can read it here: https://morgantarot.co.uk/2020/08/01/spell-dolls-and-poppets/

The reason the title of this post is ‘Voodoo Dolls’ is because they have the aesthetic of the Hollywood version of a Voodoo doll and this is because they are intended to be decorative. They are not meant to be used in sympathetic magick, although you could if you wanted. They just look pretty to me and represent no religion or belief system. They are simply dolls and that is all.

Another of my dolls

I was thinking of putting them in my shop but as custom made to order dolls. I’d like for people to be able to design their own doll and have me make it rather than make a load of dolls and sell them as is.

I’m currently working with someone to make little coffin boxes for them to be placed in for when I choose to sell them, I think it’d suit the aesthetic.

I’ll let you know when they’re available.. anyway I’ll end this post by explaining that I’ve decided to make a blog section on my website that doesn’t have to be about the paranormal or Tarot, and this is what this post comes under since it’s not quite ‘paranormal’ it’s more like an update or shop news I suppose haha.

The Metheringham Lass

When you think about classic urban legends, you tend to think of America. There’s a lot of stories involving a young couple crashing their vehicle on the way to the prom. Usually it’s the girl who continues to haunt the particular stretch of road that they died on. Rarely it’s the boy or both the boy and girl. The most famous urban legend that is based on a story like this is ‘Resurrection Mary’

As you probably know already, I’m from Lincolnshire and I like to write about the ghosts of this county which could well be one of the most haunted counties in England. It is for this reason that this article will focus on one particular haunting that has some resemblance to a classic American urban legend.

Royal Air Force Metheringham is situated between the villages of Metheringham and Martin and is 12.1 mi (19.5 km) south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire. It was opened in 1943 and operated as a bomber airfield during the second world war before being decommissioned in the spring of 1946. It is believed that during the years of its operation, a flight sergeant was driving himself and his girlfriend back from a dance on his motorcycle when he accidentally swerved and crashed near to the location of the RAF base, killing the couple instantly.

The only reason anyone dug up the news article about this tragic motorcycle accident was because many people driving in the area between 9:30pm and 10pm had witnessed something quite unnerving. A young beautiful woman dressed in a pale green coat with a grey chiffon scarf will flag them down and ask for help in locating her boyfriend. A strong smell of lavender then fills the car and as the driver steps out to assist, the smell of lavender is replaced by the smell of rotting flesh and it’s at this point that the driver will notice that the mysterious woman has vanished.

It isn’t just motorists who have seen this tragic apparition. Many cyclists and even pedestrians have seen her. Sometimes it’s a fleeting glimpse, other times she will step out into the road and then vanish. Sometimes she will plead with someone to help her injured boyfriend and some have been so close to her that they have noticed she has a RAF insignia on her green coat/jacket.

The article claims that the young woman’s name was Catherine Bystock and that she was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. When her boyfriend crashed the motorcycle they were on, Catherine was only 19 years old.

Photograph from RAF Metheringham Visitor’s centre (This photograph does not feature Catherine, it is to show what she would have looked like and worn)

The Ruskington Horror

In Lincolnshire there is a stretch of road that may well be one of the most haunted roads in England. The A15 between Ruskington and Sleaford has left many unsuspecting drivers quaking in their boots.

There have been numerous sightings of a ghost cyclist as well as well as a little girl in a pink dress and a phantom horse. If you imagine seeing any of these things as you drive down a country road in the middle of the night, it will certainly make you fearful however these sightings are nothing when compared with the ‘Ruskington Horror’

The A15 road

Police in the area say it’s a fairly regular occurrence to receive phone calls from terrified drivers, but what is it that’s terrifying them? apart from the sightings mentioned, there is one apparition that carries with it a sense of true fear. It is said to resemble a white shape that slowly turns into an olive skinned man. This may not sound too scary, but his actions are quite different from the actions of the more stationary roadside ghosts.

One man was very shook up after seeing a white shape in the distance at the side of the road. As his car approached the figure, he realised it was a man with his left arm up
‘Did he maybe want a lift?’ the man thought. As he got a little closer he realised that there was something off about this man, he decided not to pull over, however his decision not to invite this man into the car was actually quite pointless because this ghost was going to take a ride with him whether he liked it or not.

A few seconds after seeing the man, he noticed something in his peripheral vision, so he turned his head to the right. What he saw will stay with him for the rest of his life. There peeping around the front pillar of his car’s windscreen on the driver’s side was a face. It was the face of the man he had driven past. He continued driving with this apparition attached to his car for a total of 30 seconds before it faded away. Police were impressed that this man was able to drive so calmly with such a terrifying spectre only inches away from his own face.

This man would not be the only witness to this ghostly face. Many drivers have seen the white shape that slowly turns into a man, and plenty more say that his face has followed them before fading away or turning in to mist.

You may wonder where this ghost came from, does he have a back story? who was this man when he was alive? well no one knows for sure but many believe that he may have been a plague victim since his face is described as being ‘pitted’ and ‘ill looking’.

Photo by cottonbro

To add to this theory, a plague pit was unearthed in a field right next to the spot where the Ruskington Horror is always seen. When it comes to American ghost stories, there is often an ‘Ancient Indian Burial Ground’ involved, in Britain there’s always a ‘Plague pit’

Not too far away there is also a church which was built and used by the Knights Templar. Did they maybe perform some kind of ceremony on the land that trapped wandering spirits? I guess we’ll never know but one thing is for sure, I’m never going to drive down that stretch of road alone at night.