Well, I did it. After watching Rillington Place, in which Tim Roth stars as John Reginald Halliday Christie- one of the 20th century's most infamous British serial killers- at the end of last year, I decided that a trip to west London to see what's there in place of his house of horrors was in order. It was a long trek on the train from my home in the east end- why I couldn't have done this at some point during the eight years I lived in Hammersmith, up the road, is beyond me!
Christie was one twisted individual, and in this picture he looks evil. I mean, look at those scary eyes staring out at you. But apparently, had you known him you wouldn't have guessed what his sick hobby was as he hid beneath a cloak of respectability and managed to send innocent Timothy Evans to the hangman for two murders that he himself committed. His house was literally bleeding bodies, as he hid them within the fabric of his home.
Here's his house plan, showing the location of his eight victims. Amazingly, tenants continued to occupy 10 Rillington Place even after Christie had been hung, right up to the time of its demolition (which took place in 1970/71.)
The whole area was rebuilt, to a different geographical layout, possibly to stop macabre people like myself going to see the location. But, thanks to the internet, pictures overlaying a street map of the time on top of a current map exist- and here they are:-
The pictures differ slightly- this image shows Christie's house and garden totally covering these flats in St. Andrew's Square...
And this image shows it slightly proud of the building, jutting out into the garden...
Is the land cursed? One resident thinks so:-
“I have a bad feeling about this place. The electrics go wrong. The toilets go wrong. The heating goes wrong. I'm going to get an exorcist in. I've had devout Catholics come and told them to bring holy water. I think the place is cursed,” he says. “I've had bad luck since I've been here. I've been here 40 years. My health's gone. Everything's gone.”
But another takes a more pragmatic approach:-
“We looked it up and read the story,” he says. “I think I would be a bit more suspicious if I bought on the ground floor.” Unlike the elderly unnamed resident, who lives below him, he doesn’t believe that Christie’s crimes are anything to worry about. “I didn’t have any bad vibes when I walked into the house,” he says. “And I thought to myself: London is a big city. Unless you can show me one plot of land where someone hasn’t been killed slaughtered, raped or stabbed in the past 1,000 years – well, I don’t think that plot of land in London exists.” (Source:- The Independent)
And what do I think? Well, it was a lovely day when I ventured out with my camera. It was sunny and spring was in the air. One passer by, seeing me doing my nosy-parkering said, "It's a lovely day for taking photographs, isn't it?" And indeed it was. On such a pleasant day it was seemingly impossible to pick up bad vibes from the building. Everything was calm and peaceful.
Views of the garden, taken from Bartle Road. The green section is actually raised.
Side view of the garden, taken from the right hand side (assuming the front is the Bartle Road end.) The front of 10 Rillington Place would have jutted out past this wall.
Here is the side of the block. Christie's house ran diagonally across it. This is as close as I could get. There were people around, going about their business, so I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself.
The back view of this block of flats. According to the blueprint, I'm probably standing just outside the corner of Christie's garden, near to where his victim Ruth Fuerst was unearthed.
It was an interesting morning. Yes, Miss Elaineous is more than slightly ghoulish, but I'm definitely not the first. I should imagine residents of this rather cute little area of London are used to people coming to have a sniff around, wanting to see where these hideous crimes took place. I don't think you'd ever guess what had happened here unless you were told. All indications of this block's past incarnation have been obliterated. I did however, pick up on a very calm and peaceful vibe as I stared at the garden. At the risk of sounding fey and whimsical, I think the victims rest in peace, happy that justice was finally done.
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