When human body parts were found wrapped in plastic in the secluded woodland of Kersal Dale, Salford, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) immediately launched a massive operation, pulling together hundreds of officers, detectives, crime scene investigators, and specialist operations staff.

The complex and harrowing investigation began on April 4, 2024, when a member of the public found a human torso in the Salford woodland. From the outset, the Major Incident Team faced an uphill battle. They were dealing with partial remains, no immediate identity for the victim, and a race against time.

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We have all heard of Jigsaw, the popular protagonist in the Saw franchise movies. However, the UK has a real-life Jigsaw killer.

Stephen Marshall earned the nickname from the media when he stabbed his landlord, Jeffrey Howe, and scattered his dismembered body across two counties.

Jeffrey Howe had taken pity on Marshall when he needed somewhere to stay, letting him live with his girlfriend, Sarah Bush, in his flat. Jeffrey had met Marshall through his work as a kitchen salesman; they were also drinking buddies.

The couple took advantage of the kind gesture. Marshall (38) and Bush (21) took over the property and sold Jeffrey’s possessions online. They then went further, emptying Jeffrey’s bank account.

Marshall planned to kill Jeffrey and then take over his identity.

Stephen Marshall

Born in 1971, Marshall was a British bodybuilder, personal trainer, and former nightclub doorman.

He grew up in the UK and developed his initial career around fitness and security. At one point, he even owned his own gym in Hertfordshire.

During the 1990s, he worked as a doorman in London. It was during this time that he established links to London’s criminal underworld, specifically one notorious crime family.

He had a history of violent offences, including assault and battery, criminal damage, possession of drugs, and possession of a firearm.

He was described as highly volatile and prone to severe mood swings. This behaviour escalated as his cocaine addiction did.

Body Parts

With a deteriorating financial and personal life in 2008, Marshall had nowhere to stay. That is when Jeffrey offered to let him live rent-free in his flat.

On 8th or 9th March 2009, Marshall stabbed Jeffrey to death. The couple then straight away started accessing his bank account and selling his possessions, even selling his car on eBay.

The murder was discovered when members of the public found body parts. His left leg was found in a lay-by in Hertfordshire.

A week later, an arm was discovered forty minutes away on a grass verge. Two days after that, a farmer found his head, one hundred miles away. The head had been mutilated to make identification harder.

Finally, his torso and arm were discovered in a suitcase in a ditch in Hertfordshire.

The scattered remains initially made it difficult to identify the victim. The police started by releasing certain physical details to the public.

After Jeffrey’s friends and family reported him missing, dental records led to the remains being identified.

Investigation

Having identified Jeffrey, the police went to his flat and discovered Marshall living there. The couple claimed that Howe had just packed up and left. Officers, however, noticed that Marshall appeared nervous during questioning.

It was not long after the identification that detectives discovered Marshall had previously lived close to where some of the body parts were discovered.

A forensic team was sent to the flat. Despite the attempted clean-up, they discovered traces of Jeffrey’s blood in the bedroom, bathroom, and beneath the carpets.

Microscopic green fibres from a T-shirt found in Marshall’s bedroom matched fibres that had come from the duct tape wrapped around some of the body parts.

Marshall’s digital footprint was the next thing to raise suspicion. CCTV caught the couple selling Jeffrey’s possessions, and their eBay sales were linked to them. The police then spent time tracing the vehicle journeys the couple had taken to dispose of the body.

Conviction

Marshall had boasted to friends of his skill at butchering corpses, saying he had similarly disposed of four other men during the 1990s. Bush had also admitted to her friends when drunk that Marshall had killed Jeffrey.

Faced with the mounting evidence, Marshall admitted to dismembering the body and disposing of it but denied murder. He later changed his plea to guilty.

The judge who sentenced Marshall told him he would serve a minimum of thirty-six years in prison.

Bush was acquitted of murder but was given two concurrent sentences for helping dispose of the body parts and giving false information to the police during the investigation. She was sentenced to three years and nine months. Her lawyer still maintains that she acted under pressure from Marshall, scared of what might happen to her if she did not help him cover his tracks. The judge noted Bush received a relatively lenient sentence due to her background, having spent most of her life in care before falling into prostitution, alongside the loss of her first child at just 10 days old.

Marshall and Bush took the generosity of Jeffrey to offer them a place to stay and murdered him for financial gain. Marshall will not be eligible for parole until 2046.

Bush served 45 months (just under four years) of her sentence before being released from prison.

It was the early hours of the morning on 23rd March 2015. Aaron Quinn and his girlfriend were woken by a strange man telling them he was going to rob them but that they should stay calm.

He had broken into their house in Vallejo, California, he said, with a group of others, although the couple only ever interacted with him. Even stranger, the man was wearing a wetsuit and the couple never saw his face.

Kidnap

When Denise opened her eyes, she could see a flashing white light and red laser spots scanning the walls. The man instructed her to tie her boyfriend up with zip ties which he presented to her.

Aaron, then tied up, was told to get into his closet. As he hopped there, he said he could hear others downstairs going through the cupboards and what he thought was a drill running.

Next, Denise was told to join her boyfriend in the closet. The man then demanded they both drink a sedative. For all purposes, this seemed like a robbery. But, then Denise was told she would be taken for forty-eight hours whilst Aaron completed some tasks for the men.

One of his tasks was to go to the bank and collect ransom money. Aaron was then taken downstairs where he noticed a security camera had been mounted on the wall to monitor him. He was told that if he contacted the police, he would never see Denise again. He then heard her being put into the trunk of their car.

At this point, the sedative took effect and Aaron passed out. He woke later and found that his laptop had been taken but his mobile phone was still there.

Wriggling free of the zip ties, he wondered who he could call for help. Aaron, fearful of being surveilled if he called the police, called his older brother, who worked as an FBI agent. His brother instructed him to immediately call 911. Aaron followed his directions. The Vallejo Police Department responded and he started to tell them what had happened.

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It was the 15th November 2010, when an unidentified driver discovered a body in the middle of a residential street in the Boston suburb Milton. The body was that of a mutilated Black youth. He wore no shoes, socks or shirt.

Investigations in the area discovered multiple cars with blood splatter on them. Investigators quickly ruled out a hit-and-run. The body had no ID on it, except for a plastic card found near the body.

Trauma to the victim’s head was extensive. His mutilated torso was covered in what looked like road rash, which suggested the victim had been dragged along the street. Witnesses who lived near the scene recalled hearing a very loud bang before the body was found.

It was then that Milton police started to suspect the body had been killed elsewhere and dumped. Not even they could have guessed that the young man had lived 900 miles away.

Delvonte Safon Tisdale

Delvonte was a 16-year-old student who lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, He grew up in a loving family with his mother, father and siblings. Described as a bright and athletic young man, Delvonte had dreams of joining the military and was a member of the Air Force JROTC program at North Mecklenburg High School.

He had recently faced challenges in his personal life, including his parents’ divorce. However, Delvonte was known for his positive attitude and friendly demeanour. His mother, Jonet Washington, and father, Anthony Tisdale, were both active and supportive figures in his life, and Delvonte enjoyed spending time with his siblings and friends.

Just before he died, he moved to Charlotte to live with his father. Attending a new school, he began to build a circle of friends. Despite this, he appeared to be happy. So, what caused him to make such a stupid decision that would end his life?

Charlotte Douglas International Airport

On the evening of 14th November 2010, Delvonte sneaked onto the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Out of the twenty major airports, it was the least secure. He entered through a hole in the perimeter of the fence and entered the tarmac undetected.

He approached a US Airways jet that had been idling for thirty-seven minutes and climbed into the wheel well of the aircraft. His handprint was discovered inside. He had no motive for attempting such a perilous journey and the reason for his decision remains unclear.

The plane took off going from Charlotte to Boston. The odds for survival were very small as temperatures plummeted and oxygen levels decreased. Tragically, as the plane began to descend into Boston and the landing gear lowered, Delvonte fell from the aircraft into the residential street in Milton.

Solving the Case

This conclusion did not happen instantly, and the story above took much investigation to piece together. A card was found deep in Delvonte’s pocket with his name on it, and missing persons reports had been filed.

On 23rd November, investigators received a tip from North Carolina from a witness who remembered seeing someone who matched Delvonte’s description walking on Route 85.

So, how could he have travelled the 900 miles to Milton in that timeline? The logical conclusion was that he must have flown.

Then, one investigator made the flippant remark, “He didn’t just fall out of the sky.”

A fall from the sky would certainly explain the wounds he had suffered and the loud bang the witness had heard previous to his body being discovered.

Based on departure times, flight paths, and travel time, investigators focused on US Airways Flight 1176, bound for Boston. It was the only possible flight Delvonte could have stowed away on. The reassembled plastic card found near his body was from a hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, that had a shuttle to the airport.

As investigators worked the case, they walked the path the plane would have taken as it approached Logan Airport in Boston. The search took teams into densely wooded areas, where Delvonte’s shirt and sneakers were found.

Grease on the recovered shirt, along with a handprint and fingerprints inside the US Airways plane’s wheel well, supported the stowaway theory.

Investigations

In the aftermath of his death, multiple agencies launched investigations into how he managed to access the plane and why he took such drastic action. A security breach was discovered at Charlotte Douglas Airport, revealing a hole in the fence. It was assumed that he entered through this gap.

They also discovered the airport’s security force numbered just 42 police officers, the smallest among the nation’s top 20 airports. The lack of surveillance footage capturing Delvonte’s entry onto the tarmac and his boarding of the aircraft raised further questions about the airport’s security measures.

Delvonte’s family, too, struggled to find answers. They sought to understand why their son had made the dangerous decision to stow away on a flight and what factors may have contributed to his actions.

Gaining access to Delvonte’s friends and school records proved difficult, as Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools refused to cooperate with the family’s requests. In an attempt to hold those responsible for their son’s death accountable, the Tisdale family filed a lawsuit against the city of Charlotte. It was quickly dismissed, leaving the family with little to no information.

Despite the efforts of the family in several appeals, they never got the answers as to why their son sneaked into the wheel well of US Airways Flight 1176. Whether he was running away or it was a dare gone wrong may never be known.

It would be an understatement to say that the British love tea. This was as true in Victorian London as it was during the Second World War, when Winston Churchill had severe reservations about rationing it.

The problem the Victorian government had with this tea drinking was the money it was costing them to buy it. Tea was a Chinese import and, along with silk and porcelain, could only be purchased from the Chinese government who would accept nothing but silver as payment.

Vast amounts of British silver were leaving the country, and very little would return, as China had much of what it needed to sustain itself. Diplomatic missions failed. The Qing Dynasty maintained that they needed nothing the British were selling.

The British needed a solution quickly. What could they possibly sell that the Chinese wanted more than anything? The solution was easy, but horrific: the British Empire became drug lords.

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The Irish Potato Famine was the worst in Europe during the 19th century. Had the British government acted differently, it is without question that they could have saved lives.

The famine not only explains the historic animosity between Ireland and England but also profoundly changed the culture and demographics of many countries, including the USA.

Causes

The famine spanned the years 1846 to 1849; however, the failure of a large percentage of crops in 1845 was the initial problem. In the 1840s, rural inhabitants in Ireland were desperately poor, and 80% of their food came solely from the potato.

The British market took most of the cereal grown in Ireland for themselves at inflated prices, which left potatoes as the primary accessible source of food.

The humble potato was easy to grow in the Irish soil. It was a hardy food that could withstand the weather and yield large crops. Irish landowners would allocate small, private plots of land within their farms to labourers so they could grow their own food. These small plots of land were enough to sustain an average family.

Although not an extensive diet, this system worked well for the poorer families until the potato crop was hit by Late Blight Disease. The lack of variety in the potato crops meant that the disease travelled fast.

Blight destroys both the leaves and the edible roots of the potato and is caused by a type of water mould. The moist weather of 1845 helped it spread to an epidemic level by 1846. Within two weeks, the crops had rotted and were inedible. The famine would last another three years.

It had been raining a lot, even more than usual for Ireland. In October 1845, almost overnight, a dense blue fog settled over our puddled potato fields. An odour of decay permeated the air. When the wind and rain died away, there was a terrible stillness. The potato crop was ruined, destroyed (we learned later) by the fungus Phytophthora infestans. - John David Cantwell

Incidentally, blight disease appeared again in history in 1946, destroying half the tomato crop in the USA.

British Response

During the 1800s, Ireland came under British rule. It was part of the British Empire, which clearly puts into perspective how bad their response was. At best it was inadequate; at worst, criminal.

The government initially donated to and invested in soup kitchens during the first wave of the famine. They gave the Irish £7 million. However, to put this into context, it was one-tenth of the money they raised a few years later for the victims of the Crimean War.

Sir Robert Peel attempted to abolish the Corn Laws that were crippling Ireland for years. In 1845, Peel recognised how the laws stopped cheaper corn from getting to starving people and realised that a humanitarian disaster was inevitable. Early in 1846, he attempted to repeal the Corn Laws to alleviate the famine. He faced a bitter rebellion from other members of his party led by Benjamin Disraeli. They argued that Peel was betraying his own party and the wealthy landowners who elected him. He was forced to resign.

Enter John Russell, as Prime Minister, who had a completely different outlook. He maintained the exports of grain and stated that he would not be sending aid to Ireland; they should rely on their own reserves. Russell’s government dismantled much of Peel’s food relief system. After all, they believed the Irish were to blame due to their high Catholic birth rate.

They argued that private enterprise and local Irish property owners should bear the burden of the crisis; the landowners should feed their workers. This started an even bigger cycle of poverty. Workers could not pay their rent as they starved, which meant that landowners no longer had an income to support them. Workers and tenants were promptly evicted.

By 1847, when the famine reached its peak, their answer was to argue that the 1834 Poor Law, which was established in Ireland in 1838, should be used. The workers should be sent to the workhouses—workhouses that were severely overcrowded and left them labouring under horrific conditions.

In 1848, when the crop failed again, people took to the streets of Dublin to cry out for food. The British Parliament was so nervous about the possibility of rebellion that it suspended habeas corpus so that people in Ireland could be arrested without a warrant.

They continued to export grain from Ireland. Had Russell closed the borders and kept the food in Ireland, few would have starved. As it was, the death toll kept growing. You can only imagine the anguish farmers felt watching grain being loaded onto ships bound for other countries whilst their wives and children starved.

Despite the fact that many of us were starving, our country kept having to export foods to England—oats, bacon, eggs, butter, lard, pork, beef, and fresh salmon. In return, Britain did open up soup kitchens for us, but of 2000 planned, only half were in operation in 1847. - John David Cantwell

Queen Victoria’s Response

Queen Victoria’s response to the famine was mixed. It is documented that she became very distressed by the reports from Ireland, especially when she heard that they were not even burying their dead properly, putting them into the ground without rites or coffins. However, she was also critical of the Irish, especially when they started attacking some of the wealthy landowners.

Many nicknamed her ‘the Famine Queen’, accusing her of neglecting her people. However, she donated £2,000 (worth roughly £200,000 today). It was the largest single donation to Irish relief, but it was criticised for not being enough. Being a great writer, she published two letters urging the public to donate to Ireland.

Personally, she rationed bread in her household, ordered swaths of Irish poplin, and agreed to order that days of fasting be observed in support of the poor.

However, despite this, it remains one of the darkest moments in her reign.

Changing Demographics

Not every country and government had the same barbaric response to the famine; many raised money to help the Irish support themselves. By August 1847, it is thought that three million people were relying on soup kitchens to survive.

Many landowners, faced with the prospect of supporting families, chose to offer them the chance to emigrate to the USA. Many Irish accepted, although this in itself was not an easy option. There are 17,500 documented deaths on the ships that transported the Irish. The demographics of the world changed.

Two million Irish emigrated to the US between 1841 and 1850. Forty-nine per cent of immigrants into the US at that time were Irish. One million Irish starved or died from famine-related diseases such as typhus.

Smallholdings in Ireland disappeared, and large landowners bought these holdings. The poor got poorer and the rich got richer. The Corn Laws themselves were more about a battle between the old aristocratic elite and the urban working class.

In 1844, the population of Ireland was registered as 8.4 million; in 1851, it had dropped to 6.6 million. When Ireland achieved independence from British rule in 1921, the population was half of what it should have been. Immigration, lower birth rates, and starvation had decimated the population.

Some historians have called the deaths of more than a million starving people a genocide. It was a genocide caused mostly by bigotry and ignorant neglect, not deliberate mass murder, but still, the loss of life is something all British people should feel shame about.

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America has been unlucky enough to have four Presidents assassinated, each with its own traumatic story. There have also been several attempts on others. When I wrote the story of James A. Garfield’s assassination for my article last Wednesday, the thought struck me that I could not think of a British Prime Minister who had been assassinated.

History books show that although we have several famous Prime Ministers who have had attempts on their lives, only one has ever been killed. His name is largely forgotten in history. This is the story of Spencer Perceval.

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When we talk about presidential assassinations, we talk about Lincoln and JFK. Some might also mention the many failed attempts on Trump, but few mention James A. Garfield.

Garfield was a huge loss to the political landscape, and had he lived, he could have accomplished much in his career. Sadly, a combination of a lone gunman and an incompetent doctor saw that this was never to be.

Garfield’s Rise

It was the year 1880, and the US stood at a crossroads. Was it possible to give enslaved people full rights as citizens? The existing patronage system meant that government jobs often went to the most faithful rather than the best qualified. Could this change?

It was at the Republican National Convention in June, when James Garfield addressed these questions, demanding that the nation honour its promises to all. His speech was eloquent and commanded the respect of hundreds of delegates who roared their approval. Having heard the speech, they wanted one additional thing from Garfield: they wanted him to be their presidential candidate.

Initially, Garfield tried to refuse the nomination, insisting he had no desire to be president, which was the very factor that made him a perfect candidate. Once he agreed, Garfield; who had risen out of poverty as Abraham Lincoln had, and performed heroics on the Union side in the Civil War, was unstoppable.

He became the country’s 20th president in November 1880. He promised progress and reform; however, this was not to be. Just four months after his inauguration, he was shot by Charles Guiteau.

Charles Guiteau

Guiteau had exhibited signs of mental instability long before he pulled the trigger. Despite this, records show that he was never treated or confined during this time; psychiatry was in its infancy.

Guiteau had a long history of failed ventures. He had failed as a lawyer, a journalist, and a preacher. When he joined a free-love commune, he even failed at this, the women refused to sleep with him. Yet, he always believed God had put him on the planet for a higher purpose.

He became obsessed with Garfield after he was nominated. Guiteau travelled to New York in the summer of 1880, determined that his destiny meant playing a crucial role in Garfield’s victory.

Guiteau harassed the staff at Garfield’s New York campaign office until he was allowed to give a single, rambling speech endorsing the candidate.

The Patronage Conflict

Garfield was vocally opposed to the system of handing lucrative posts to supporters of candidates; he believed people should earn their right in the cabinet. Guiteau, not surprisingly, believed in the patronage system fiercely. He expected to be handed a good job for supporting Garfield in the election. Ambassador to France was his first choice.

Garfield had more to worry about than one lone job hunter. He had embarked on an ambitious agenda including upgrading the US Navy, expanding trade with Latin America, and advocating for civil rights.

He appointed the once-enslaved social reformer Frederick Douglass as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, making him the first African American to hold a prominent federal office.

Deluded, Guiteau travelled to Washington and appeared at the White House every day to insist he be given a job. He only ever came face-to-face with Garfield once during that time, when he handed him a copy of his election speech and had subtly scrawled “Paris Consulship” on it.

His strange manner and erratic outbursts led to him being blocked from entering the White House. When he was told by Secretary of State James Blaine that he would never get a position in Garfield’s administration, he sought to take revenge.

The Assassination

Guiteau was broke, with no money or prospects, so he retreated to a shabby boarding house. It was whilst lying on the bed there that he said he had a moment of divine inspiration: Garfield was not a true Republican, unlike his vice president. He concluded there was only one thing to do—assassinate Garfield and leave Chester A. Arthur to take his place.

To plan the attack, he stalked Garfield for weeks. The President was not a difficult target as he preferred to walk everywhere, normally unprotected. It is hard to imagine why he thought this was safe, as John Wilkes Booth had killed Lincoln just sixteen years before.

Guiteau finally got his chance. As Garfield strolled into the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington on 2 July 1881, Guiteau shot him in the back. Garfield was on his way to Williams College, where he planned to introduce his sons to his alma mater. He was walking with Blaine at the time, the very man who had shattered Guiteau’s illusions of a job.

The fatal shots came from a .44 British Bulldog. Guiteau had purchased it because he thought it would look impressive in a museum.

Medical Treatment

Garfield may have survived this assassination attempt, if it had not been for the actions of one arrogant physician. Dr Doctor Bliss insisted that he was the only doctor to supervise the President’s treatment after he had been shot.

Bliss was very critical of the latest antiseptic methods for treating wounds. Instead, he chose to treat the gunshot with unsterilised instruments, even putting his bare finger into the hole at one point to feel for the bullet near Garfield’s spine.

After a time, Bliss did consent to use an early type of metal detector designed by Alexander Graham Bell. The bullet was thought to be near the President’s pancreas, but due to Bliss’s interference with the device, it could not be properly located or removed. However, it is doubtful he would have survived even had the bullet been removed, as infection had already taken hold.

Garfield’s last days were a time of great suffering as he battled constant pain, fever, and discomfort under Bliss’s care.

Death of the President

Garfield died of sepsis on 19th September 1881 in a cottage at Elberon, a village on the New Jersey shore. His wife lay nearby, herself recovering from a severe bout of malaria.

On the day Garfield died, Guiteau wrote to the new President, Chester A. Arthur: “My inspiration is a godsend to you and I presume that you appreciate it.... Never think of Garfield’s removal as murder. It was an act of God, resulting from a political necessity for which he was responsible.”

At his trial, the jury took one hour to return a guilty verdict. They sentenced him to be hanged. He climbed the scaffold on 30th June 1882, still convinced he had done God’s work.

Garfield’s Legacy

Despite his short life, dying at only forty-nine, he made a huge difference to the lives of Americans. His death galvanised demands for civil service reform. The public recognised that had Guiteau not had delusions of a job he was owed, he may not have assassinated the President.

President Arthur, mourning his able and likeable predecessor, renounced the corrupt spoils system that had elevated him. Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, creating a merit-based standard for federal government employment. It is a system that still yields results to date.

Historians still question what James A. Garfield could have achieved had he not been targeted by an assassin. Most believe that he would have been one of the most remarkable presidents in history with his mix of intellect and forward thinking. As it is, he has been relegated to an obscure footnote in history, shadowed even in his assassination.

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The SS Sultana is the deadliest shipwreck in US history, claiming more lives than the Titanic. Yet, it remains largely lost to history. This obscurity is primarily due to the timing of the disaster; it occurred on 27 April 1865, while the nation was still reeling from the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

The newspapers of the day were concentrated on the pursuit of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Consequently, the death of over a thousand former prisoners of war sank into obscurity. No one was ever held responsible for the incompetence that caused these horrific deaths.

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When the tragic accident happened with the Titan in 2023, I remember thinking to myself: what made these people get into what was nothing short of a bean tin to travel to the bottom of the ocean?

The truth is, we humans have been doing ill-thought-out ventures in the name of adventure for years. In 1937, people climbed into a tiny wooden carriage strapped to a ball of highly flammable gas to take to the skies. Like the Titan, their journey was not a successful one either. This is the story of the Hindenburg.

Early Zeppelins

Man has always had a dream of soaring like the birds and flying; this is what initially led to the invention of the hot air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers in 1782.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin took this concept further, creating rigid airships with aluminium frames that contained multiple gas bags containing hydrogen. The first Zeppelin was launched in 1900. Despite a range of early problems and failures, Hugo Eckener turned the Zeppelin into a commercial passenger vehicle by 1920.

The Hindenburg itself was a well-travelled Zeppelin before its tragic end. Photos exist of it floating above Rio de Janeiro, with Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

The Hindenburg

The weather was clear and fairly settled on the 3rd May 1937 at 8 pm when the Hindenburg took off from Frankfurt, Germany. The ninety-seven people on board were bound for New Jersey.

The world’s largest airship, at an impressive 245 metres, was a marvel of its time. To give you perspective, its length was only slightly shorter than the Titanic. It was much larger than traditional aircraft such as the Boeing 747.

She was known as the “Queen of the Skies” and was the pride of Nazi Germany. The cabin, which hung beneath the main part of the ship, was unparalleled in luxury; it featured private sleeping rooms, a communal dining room, a lounge, and even a reading room.

The trip was not a cheap one. Tickets were $700—the equivalent of $7,000 today. It was a wealthy person’s vessel.

Disaster

The passengers had enjoyed a three-day journey when they finally arrived at Lakehurst Naval Air Station on 6th May. The weather conditions they left were now very unfavourable. As it descended to the airfield, the strong winds and overcast skies made navigation difficult.

Thousands stood on the airfield watching the world’s largest airship land. For three hours, the Hindenburg circled the landing field while the crews tried to level the ship for landing; dumping water ballast did nothing to help.

Finally, the landing lines were dropped to the ground crew below. That was when the passengers heard a sudden loud bang. The Hindenburg instantly became a flaming inferno. In just thirty-four seconds, the airship was engulfed in flames and collapsed in on itself.

As the airship crashed to the ground, ground crew and bystanders rushed into the heat and danger to try to pull the injured to safety.

The ensuing inferno, which took the lives of 13 passengers, 22 crew, and one person on the ground, was captured on cine film and memorably narrated by the newsreader, Herbert Morrison:

This is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world! [...] There’s smoke, and there’s flames, now, and the frame is crashing to the ground [...] Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here!

The footage had a massive impact, and images of the tragedy were shown around the world.

Theories

The tragedy led to its fair share of conspiracy theories. Had the voyage been sabotaged due to the tense political climate and who was onboard? Hugo Eckener, the head of the company that manufactured the Zeppelins, was a vocal critic of Adolf Hitler. Despite pressure to name the ship after Hitler, Eckener named it after the German president, Paul von Hindenburg. While some suspected Hitler or anti-Nazi activists of planting a bomb, investigations ruled this out.

If not human intervention, the next theory was focused on more “divine intervention”—natural causes. Had static electricity or lightning struck the vessel, causing it to ignite?

The leading theory now seems to point to a hydrogen leak combined with a spark of static electricity, which caused the highly volatile gas to catch alight. It was a mixture of poor design and a random spark.

Whatever the cause, the disaster had a profound effect on the public perception of airships. Helium, although non-flammable and a good alternative, was controlled by the United States, which had banned its export. Without a safer alternative, and with the advancements in reliable aeroplanes, the airship became a relic confined to history.

We Never Learn

Although airships have not been seen in our skies for decades, there is a modern interest in reviving them. Companies such as Hybrid Air Vehicles are testing new designs, such as the Airlander 10.

These modern airships will have the advantage of access to the safer helium; a leak on board would just result in the passengers speaking funny. The new airship could provide a sustainable travel option with fewer carbon emissions and less noise than traditional aeroplanes. It is estimated that commercial flights could return as early as 2030.

So, all that is left to ask is: would you go on one?

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Robert Peel is well known for his forty-year political career. His time is associated with some of the most remarkable political moves that changed the very character of the government.

His achievements include remodelling the country’s currency, improving the executive in Ireland, and redesigning the criminal justice system in Britain. One of his greatest achievements, which is rarely mentioned, was the meetings he held weekly with Queen Victoria, who was initially less than friendly.

During his first term, he replaced Lord Melbourne, a Prime Minister with whom Queen Victoria had a very close relationship and on whom she relied for advice in her early years. It was a similar relationship to that which Churchill later had with Queen Elizabeth II. While Queen Victoria came to accept and even admire Peel, their early relationship was rocky to say the very least.

This great career would be cut tragically short when a freak accident took his life.

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The weather was bright on the day The Great Exhibition opened. All the dignitaries gathered to catch a glimpse of Queen Victoria and Albert; this was the culmination of many late nights for Albert.

The breeze blew through the trees of Hyde Park. Soon the doors would open to one of the biggest examples of the British Empire’s power. All would be welcome regardless of status and wealth; what they would glimpse would be a look into the future of the world.

The Great Exhibition

There is no doubt that the exhibition was the most successful and memorable event of the 19th century. The influence it had on culture would not be seen in this country again.

Prince Albert had been running much of the monarchy’s administrative affairs whilst his wife, Victoria, had nine children. He frequently stood in for his wife during meetings and royal functions, but the exhibition was his project alone. Working with civil servant Henry Cole, they designed a festival which would celebrate modern design whilst promoting Britain as an industrial and imperial power.

Previously, the two organisers had been impressed with the scale of the 1849 Exposition in Paris. They knew they had to host a larger event with a broader international scope. What better way than to showcase not just the inventions of Britain, but those of other countries held in the empire?

If the Great Exhibition were going to showcase 100,000 products from all four corners of the world, then they would need an impressive building to house them. No one would have foreseen exactly how impressive that building would be.

Crystal Palace was a dream that became a reality.

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace was a purpose-built glass and iron building which, in itself, was an engineering achievement. No other building had used glass as a primary building material on such a scale before.

The biggest challenge was how to design and construct a building large enough to house the exhibition. The added challenge was that they had just twelve months to build it.

A competition was run for people to design the building; the organisers received nearly 250 entries. None of them was good enough, and all were rejected.

In walked Joseph Paxton, the head gardener at Chatsworth Estate, with a proposal which turned many heads. Why not design a glass building similar to those he had designed for his employer, the Duke of Devonshire?

He suggested a gigantic pre-fabricated building made of iron and glass; he nicknamed it “Crystal Palace”. It was a name and design that stuck.

In just nine months, the building was constructed using 2,000 workers. It was built using a modular system, allowing the cast iron parts to be fabricated in Birmingham, the same city that also produced the 293,000 panes of glass, the largest ever produced. These were then shipped to London on the newly built railway. Even by modern standards, it was an impressive undertaking.

The size of the building should not be underestimated. It was tall enough to house two full-grown elm trees that could not be moved, and it contained a pipe organ alongside an eight-metre glass fountain.

Opening Day

On 1st May 1851, Queen Victoria opened the exhibition. She wrote in her journals about how immensely proud she was of her husband’s achievement. The exhibition would run from May to October and would see six million people visit from all classes—representing one-third of the population. The sheer scale of the success silenced many of Albert’s critics, especially those in parliament who thought it was a ludicrous idea.

“Shilling days” were introduced a few weeks into the opening of the exhibition. These reduced entry prices from Monday to Thursday, meaning most could afford to go. It also had its share of famous visitors; Charles Dickens was a frequent visitor and Charlotte Brontë commented: “It is vast, strange, new and impossible to describe.”

The newly constructed railway was not only responsible for transporting the goods but also meant people could travel from all over the country to visit London. Factory workers, agricultural labourers, and East Enders mixed with foreign dignitaries and visitors from around the world.

Once inside, they were treated to a variety of sights.

Inside Crystal Palace

The exhibits were broadly grouped into four areas: raw materials, machinery, manufactures, and fine arts.

A stroll along one of the wings could take you past a medley of fabrics, furniture, locomotives, and musical instruments. The exhibition was designed to contrast Britain’s technological and industrial superiority with that of the rest of the empire.

One of the greatest highlights of the exhibition included the fountain at the centre, which stood eight metres high and was made from four tons of pink glass.

The imperial displays presented a view of “exotic” and “underdeveloped” economies, implying a racial hierarchy to further justify imperialism. For example, the Caribbean section showcased raw agricultural produce like sugarcane to represent Britain’s exploitation of its expanding empire’s resources.

The Indian section introduced visitors for the first time to the richness and quality of Indian textiles, but was particularly remembered for the howdah which was displayed on a stuffed elephant.

The Koh-i-Noor diamond, the largest known diamond at the time, which had been acquired by the British after the victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War was also on display. While Queen Victoria was its recipient, its presence in the exhibition served as a symbol of Britain’s colonial past.

The vast number of visitors helped spread awareness and support for the country’s imperial ambitions amongst the public. It is worth considering that three years previous to the exhibition, the French Revolution of 1848 had seen King Louis Philippe I overthrown. He had actually fled to England and been granted asylum by Queen Victoria, so it is hard to imagine this was not on her mind when the exhibition was suggested.

The Financial Success of the Exhibition

The exhibition was officially closed by Prince Albert on 15th October 1851. It was a huge commercial and economic success, making a profit of £186,000—the equivalent of roughly £20 million in today’s money.

The profits were used to fund the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. They also established an educational trust to provide grants and scholarships for industrial research.

Shortly after the exhibition, Crystal Palace was removed from Hyde Park and reassembled in Sydenham Hill, then a part of the Kent countryside. This was no cheap task: the relocation cost over £1 million. Here it housed concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and permanent displays of botany and art history.

However, despite its earlier success, Crystal Palace was plagued with financial problems and was declared bankrupt in 1911. In 1936, it was destroyed in a fire.

The exhibition itself set the precedent for the many international exhibitions which followed during the next 100 years. It inspired a long succession of international fairs in other cities, including Paris, Dublin, New York, and Vienna.

In a strange twist, one of the later exhibitions, known as the World’s Fairs, was hosted in Chicago at the same time H.H. Holmes was building his “murder castle” in the same area. H.H. Holmes would later be accused of being Jack the Ripper, something I do not believe, but there is a part of me that wonders whether these two serial killers once wandered the halls of the Great Exhibition at the same time.

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The famous Library of Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the most important repositories of knowledge in the ancient world. Built in the fourth century B.C., it flourished for some six centuries, serving as the cultural and intellectual centre of the ancient Hellenistic world.

It was rumoured to contain half a million papyrus scrolls, the largest collection of manuscripts in the ancient world, including works by Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Herodotus, and many others.

Some of the most brilliant minds of the period worked, studied, and taught at the library, which formed part of the research institute known as the Alexandrian Museum, or Mouseion (the “shrine of the Muses”).

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Some great thinkers considered Atlantis a fictional island Plato had made up to teach philosophy, whilst others consider that he based it on a real place lost to history. There are even mentions of it in some CIA files. So, what is the truth about the mystical city that disappeared?

Plato

Plato wrote about Atlantis, describing the island as one of the most powerful naval empires known. He states that they dominated much of the Western world. However, when they angered the gods due to their immoral living, the gods submerged them in the Atlantic Ocean.

Historians have now stated they believe Plato’s description was purely fictitious. He used the imaginary city to illustrate his larger points of view in works such as Timaeus.

Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state [Athens] in our [the Egyptian’s] histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power [Atlantis] which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end. — Plato, Timaeus 24e - 25d

Plato said it existed about 9,000 years before his own time, and that poets, priests, and others had passed down its story. But Plato’s writings about Atlantis are not the only known records of its existence. Other mentions of Atlantis include Greek texts which used the term to describe those who lived near the Atlas Mountains.

Atlantis

The island from 360 BC is described as larger than Libya and Asia and was situated in the Strait of Gibraltar. This set of islands in the Atlantic Ocean was separated by wide moats and linked by canals that penetrated to the centre. The islands were circular in nature, looking like a large labyrinth.

The founders of the island were said to be half-god and half-human. The lush islands contained gold, silver, and other precious metals and supported an abundance of rare, exotic wildlife. There was a great capital city on the central island, where a palace was built for Poseidon’s mortal wife, Cleito.

On the island was a great empire that ruled over several other parts of the continent. They were a vast power that endeavoured to subdue many other countries. Illustrations of the area show a utopian scene on the cover with mythical animals. Was this the home of unicorns and dragons?

The men of Atlantis were said to have no competition when it came to courage and military skill, and they were led by great men. There were no invaders who triumphed over them. The island was protected by the god of the sea, Poseidon, who became angry with the conduct of its people.

On one single day and night, the island was ravaged by violent earthquakes and floods and it sank into the earth, disappearing into the sea. The sea in that area then became impassable and impenetrable because of the shoal of mud that was caused by the submergence of the island.

What is the truth?

Likely, the island of Atlantis never existed; it seems hard to imagine we would not have discovered some sign of it by now if it did. But Plato’s fascination with the island sparks many questions. Would he write about a completely fictitious city? It seems unlikely.

Many historians and ocean explorers state that it simply does not exist. Pick a spot on a map and people have said this was where Atlantis was.

Some say it is a misconception from another tragedy. About 3,600 years ago, a massive volcanic eruption devastated the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea near Greece. At the time, the advanced society of the Minoan civilisation disappeared. Some have stated that this could have been Atlantis.

However, there are some that state that this is another example of Root Races.

Root Races

This is the idea that progression is not linear; our existence has not gone from primitive to advanced but rather consists of repeated cycles of the rising of civilisation to destruction, only for the concept to start again.

Atlantis and Lemuria have been noted as the first of the root races. Each race has a specific evolutionary goal; once the civilisation reaches that, a global event happens, removing this group. A very small number of the citizens escaped to form the next civilisation; in this case, Egypt and Mesoamerica. This would explain how the knowledge to build the pyramids was obtained.

It is a theory that could point to the fact that this current civilisation has regressed significantly when we look at the Earth. The Atlanteans left nothing behind when they left—no buildings and no effect on the Earth. The Egyptians left stone pyramids which, although visible, have caused little harm to the planet. Can we say the same?

We would leave vast quantities of plastics and rubbish on a planet we have all but destroyed. Maybe civilisations are not evolving but regressing.

Whichever version of history you believe, Atlantis is a tale that has endured for centuries. It endures because it is a tale of god-like creatures, opulence, and fallen men.

“It’s a story that captures the imagination,” says James Romm, a professor of classics at Bard College in Annandale, New York. “It’s a great myth. It has a lot of elements that people love to fantasize about.”

Subscribe today: I spend hours digging through archives, old testimony, and forgotten files to bring these cases to life. Free posts are just the beginning, paid subscribers keep this work possible and get access to my full vault of articles.

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On 3rd December 1926, Agatha Christie fought with her husband, Archibald. He had been having an affair which Christie had discovered; she had also been informed he was planning to spend the weekend with friends and his mistress.

Once he had left, she went upstairs and kissed her daughter, Rosalind (7), goodnight. Getting into her Morris Cowley, she left the house. What ensued was one of the biggest manhunts in history. In a mystery more connected to her books, Christie was not found again until eleven days later.

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My name is Thomas. I am fourteen; currently, I am lying in an alleyway in Greater Manchester, fighting for my life. It is 8 pm on Sunday 29 June 2003; the police have been called. I have multiple stab wounds.

Standing beside me is my best friend Craig; he is fifteen and staying with me until help arrives. He will tell the police that a hooded knifeman stabbed me. He is lying. They will find this out when they look at the CCTV. It was Craig who stabbed me. I asked him to, in a roundabout way. Let me start from the beginning.

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Breck Bednar represented every parent’s modern nightmare: he met someone he didn’t know online. If you have children, you understand the dread this causes. Tragically, Breck’s story ended in the most…

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The movie portrays Abagnale as a master conman who impersonated an airline pilot to travel millions of miles for free. He also supposedly impersonated a doctor and a lawyer, among others. When he was finally caught and sent to federal prison, he was released early to work with the FBI to catch white-collar criminals.

However, the film fails to show the biggest con he ever pulled, one that many people remain unaware of. Despite admitting to various crimes, he is less willing to concede this: the victim of this con was all of us. Abagnale may have lied about most of his story, including his tenure with the FBI.

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Undoubtedly, some will read this article and think, “This would never happen to me.” To think that would be naive; I have nearly been caught a couple of times myself.

When I was researching this artic…

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On Wednesday we looked at The Cobra Effect and whether this is a term adopted into popular culture or was it actually true. Today we will look at the historical concept of the snake problem in India which could support the theory of a massive, systemic struggle between the population and the environment.

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