"The Acid-Bath Murderer"
In 1944 Haigh commited his first murder, while in jail previously he had come across the realization that sulphuric acid has a rather destructive effect on the flesh. Feigning to be an engineer, he bludgeoned his client to death (an arcade owner) and took over his business, he then carved the body up threw the peices in a vat and doused them with sulphuric acid, he would do the same to four more victims in as many years, the parents of the arcade owner for asking too many questions and a Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie, profitting on their estate.
Haigh's career would come to an end though, when he shot and acid - bathed an aging widow named Olive Durrand-Deacon. A friend of Deacon's told the police that she was on her way to meet Haigh last time they spoke.
With Haigh's criminal record they immediately searched his workshop and uncovered all his secrets, with the evidence in full sight Haigh saw no gain in denying anything and confessed. Though police thought that no matter the means it was for pure financial gain, Haigh then confessed to vampirism.
He said he had obsessive nightmares about forests and crucifixes dripping with blood and it was these dreams which drove him to kill, he stated before giving the victims a bath he would pour their blood into glasses and drink from it, these nightmares he received since being a child apparently.
It is more probably that Haigh was reverting back to his days as a conman trying to get an insanity plea, but the court didn't buy it and he was hung on August 6, 1949.
It is still unknown whether he engaged in such acts but at the time the public were more than happy to see Haigh dangle rather than go through psychological testing.
