Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

On Sunday April 18th 1943 four boys head off on a boys-own adventure into Hagley Woods. A day of poaching birds eggs soon turned macabre, however - with the discovery of a skull in an elm tree. In this Halloween Tale we discuss a few of the possibilities around the poor Jane Doe, known to history simply as ‘Bella’.      Sources this week - Oh boy… I wrote this as a blog post years ago, after a YouTube video on the tale caught my eye. I thought that video was a Rob Gavagan episode, but if so he’s since taken it down. Next most likely YouTuber? The remarkable Cayleigh Elise - not that you could confuse the two YouTubers, but they were my go to’s at the time for True Crime. A few years back Cayleigh found the weight of her own content became too much for her - and scrapped her entire channel. This Unexplained Mysteries episode is also a likely source.  This led me to several newspaper articles, like this one in The Independent, which is paywalled. This fantastic piece in the Birmingham Mail is a source, and well worth a read …. And several others, lost to my inattentiveness.  This Crimereads article is, I’m 99% sure a source. As was 100% this article in The History Press.  Josef Jacobs dot info is well worth checking out, not just for info on Jacobs, Jack Mossop and Clara Bauerle, but so much else besides with WW2 espionage leanings.    The blog post of the episode is here. Support the show on Patreon for just $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content. I’m currently revamping, and will be dropping re-recorded bonus content weekly for the next two months. November 1 I’m dropping a short tale on The Hammersmith Ghost.       Please leave a like and review wherever you listen. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. The show has a YouTube Channel, largely for Audiogram advertisements.        Music, writing, narration, mixing NORMALLY all yours truly. In this episode, however, I use my own quick takes on Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade (Miller + Mitchell Parish)Bless ‘Em All (First performed by George Formby, probably written by Fred Godfrey and Robert Kewley)And the WW2 drinking song Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major (Art Noel and Don Pelosi)… I had planned to throw together a version of Lili Marlene, and White Cliffs of Dover… but I ran out of time… The rest of the music is all mine.  For more information on Simone click here.