NETFLIX UK DARK TOURIST ATTRACTION – THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL, FOREST OF DEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. FEATURING THE ORIGINAL HANGMAN’S NOOSE USED BY JAMES BERRY ON THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO EXCECUTE JOHN “BABBACOMBE” LEE – THE MAN THEY COULDN’T HANG….JULY 23, 1885 AT EXETER JAIL. THIS EXHIBITION PIECE ALSO INCLUDES AN AUTHENTIC HANDWRITTEN LETTER FROM BERRY TO CONFIRM THIS, ALONG WITH HIS ORIGINAL CALLING/BUSINESS CARD & VARIOUS OTHER MEMORABILIA ITEMS.

ABOVE: ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING BY IN- HOUSE GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARTIST PAUL BRIDGMAN HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE JAIL WITHIN OUR ” DARK TOURIST ART GALLERY ”

ABOVE : ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING BY OUR IN-HOUSE GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARTIST PAUL BRIDGMAN DEPICTING THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO HANG JOHN “BABBARCOMBE” LEE IN EXETER PRISON.

THIS PAINTING NOW BEING HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE JAIL.

 

FIRSTLY, AND FOR THE RECORD

A FORMAL STATEMENT FROM ANDY JONES, OWNER & CURATOR OF THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL ……

IT HAD BEEN BROUGHT TO OUR ATTENTION THAT THE HIT CHANNEL 4 TV SERIES  – FOUR ROOMS, FIRST BROADCAST AT THE END OF MAY 2011, FEATURED  FELLOW CRIME MEMORABILIA COLLECTOR STEWART P EVANS,  AUTHOR OF THE 2004 PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK ENTITLED “EXECUTIONER- THE CHRONICLES OF JAMES BERRY VICTORIAN HANGMAN” . HE TOOK ONTO THE SHOW A SO-SAY JAMES BERRY HANGMAN’S  NOOSE CLAIMING  IT TO HAVE BEEN THE ORIGINAL ONE USED ON BERRY’S  FAILED EXECUTION OF JOHN ” BABBACOMBE ” LEE ON JULY 23RD 1885 AT EXETER JAIL .

WE WISH TO MAKE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT THIS WAS NOT THE NOOSE USED, AND THAT THE ORIGINAL HANGMAN’S NOOSE , ALONG WITH A PERSONALLY HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED LETTER FROM JAMES BERRY  TO THIS EFFECT,DATED 3 JULY 1897(WRITEN DURING HIS  RETIREMENT YEARS )  ARE HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL ON PUBLIC DISPLAY .
(SEE ORIGINAL NOOSE AND LETTER PICTURES HERE ABOVE & BELOW  FOR REFERENCE )

THESE EXHIBIT ITEMS WERE PURCHASED AT AUCTION BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION BACK IN THE YEAR 2000. STEWART HAD ALSO ATTENDED THE AUCTION WITH A VIEW TO PURCHASE BUT WAS SUBSEQUENTLY OUTBID BY OURSELVES . 

THE PROPOSED SALE OF THE OTHER NOOSE OWNED BY STEWART P EVANS  FAILED TO SELL  ON THE CHANNEL 4 TV SERIES “FOUR ROOMS” . THIS WAS PROBABLY DUE TO KNOWLEDGE  THAT THE ORIGINAL NOOSE AND LETTER OF PROVENANCE FROM THE EXECUTIONER -JAMES BERRY WERE KNOWN TO BE  HERE ON PERMANENT DISPLAY AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION ,   LITTLEDEAN JAIL, UK .

ON A PERSONAL LEVEL ANDY JONES WISHES TO ADD IT WAS DISAPPOINTING TO NOTE THAT WITH FELLOW CRIME MEMORABILIA COLLECTOR AND FORMER POLICE OFFICER  STEWART EVANS  HAVING KNOWINGLY BEEN AWARE OF THESE FACTS, HE STILL  SADLY TRIED TO DECEIVE   TV SHOW PRODUCERS , THE VIEWING PUBLIC , AND OTHER FELLOW COLLECTORS OF CRIME MEMORABILIA .

REF: ORIGINAL  JAMES BERRY CALLING/BUSINESS CARD 

FURTHERMORE & FOR THE RECORD WE WOULD WISH TO ALSO ADD THAT WE HAVE HERE ON DIPLAY AN ORIGINAL JAMES BERRY PUBLIC EXECUTIONER CALLING/BUSINESS CARD . (  SEE BELOW)

AS AUTHOR STEWART P EVANS WILL ALSO AGREE AND ACCEPT ANDY JONES OF THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION HAD ORIGINALLY INTRODUCED HIM TO THE FORMER OWNER OF THIS CALLING CARD – JOE MAWSON ( NOW DECEASED FORMER CRIME MEMORABILIA COLLECTOR ) . 

JOE  HAD, AS RECOMMENDED BY ANDY JONES ,SUBSEQUENTLY PROVIDED WITHOUT CHARGE TO STEWART,  AN IMAGE OF THIS CARD FOR HIS BOOK, AS ACKNOWLEDGED WITHIN THE CREDITS OF HIS BOOK. #

HOPEFULLY THIS WILL RESPECTFULLY PUT THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON THESE SAID FRONTS.

ABOVE: An original oil painting by Gloucestershire artist Paul Bridgman of James Berry , here on display at The Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean jail .

Above & below: The original James Berry personally handwritten and signed letter that had been originally acquired  alongside his noose, for which Berry clearly states the provenance of this noose as being both the one he had used in his first execution and thereafter the historic failed attempted  execution on John “Babbacombe” Lee.

ABOVE & BELOW: AN ORIGINAL JAMES BERRY EXECUTIONER CALLING/BUSINESS CARD AND ORIGINAL  LETTER FROM SCOTLAND YARDS  BLACK MUSEUM CURATOR BILL WADDELL AKNOWLEDGING SIGHT OF THIS EXTREMELY RARE EXHIBIT PIECE .

THIS CALLING CARD HAVING BEEN PARY OF THE JOE MAWSON ( DECEASED) CRIME MEMORABILIA COLLECTION,  LATER ACCQUIRED BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION. THIS ITEM ALONG WITH THE OTHERS FEATURED HERE ARE NOW ON PUBLIC DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL .

Below: A rare and unseen personal photograph of fellow crime memorabilia and ephemera  collector Joe Mawson who was the previous owner of the exceptionally rare James Berry Executioner calling/business card.

This calling card having been previously featured in the book below and now on permanent display here at the jail.

ABOVE & BELOW: THE BOOK WRITTEN BY STEWART P EVANS ALONG WITH A PERSONAL DEDICATION AND THANK-YOU NOTE TO PREVIOUS OWNER OF THE JAMES BERRY CALLING CARD JOE MAWSON .

A  COPY OF ORIGINAL  SIGNED PHOTO OF JAMES BERRY – EXECUTIONER AND HANGMAN

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE BACK ON 05TH OCTOBER 2000 RELATING TO THE UPCOMING AUCTION SALE OF THE NOOSE AND HANGMAN’S LETTER …….SUBSEQUENTLY BOUGHT BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, NOW ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL

ABOVE: TRUE CRIME MAGAZINE FEATURE ON LITTLEDEAN JAIL   INCLUDING A REFERENCE TOO  THE ORIGINAL NOOSE USED BY JAMES BERRY ON THE FAILED EXECUTION ON THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG ….JOHN ” BABBACOMBE ” LEE.
ACQUIRED FROM AUCTION IN THE YEAR 2000 ALONG WITH FIRM LETTER OF PROVENANCE FROM JAMES BERRY STATING THAT NOT ONLY HAD IT BEEN USED ON LEE , THAT IT HAD ALSO BEEN USED FOR HIS FIRST EXECUTION IN 1884 .
TO ALL OTHERS THAT CLAIM THEY HAVE THE ORIGINAL NOOSE USED ON LEE ……. SORRY BUT ITS HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL ALONG WITH THE HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED LETTER OF 03RD JULY 1897 FROM JAMES BERRY ‘ ON HIS HOME ADDRESSED LETTER HEADED PAPER

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FEATURING THE HANGMAN’S NOOSE USED BY JAMES BERRY ON THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO EXECUTE JOHN ” BABBACOMBE” LEE FEATURED IN THE WESTERN DAILY PRESS ON NOVEMBER 21ST 2002

ABOVE:  Certificate of inspection of failed trap door

Above: Certificate of John Lee’s prison release

John Henry George Lee (1864 – c. 19 March 1945), better known as John “Babbacombe” Lee or “The Man They Couldn’t Hang”, was an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder. Born in Abbotskerswell, Devon, Lee served in the Royal Navy, and was a known thief. In 1885, he was convicted of the brutal murder of his employer, Emma Keyse, at her home at Babbacombe Bay near Torquay on 15 November 1884. The evidence was weak and circumstantial, amounting to little more than Lee having been the only male in the house at the time of the murder, his previous criminal record, and being found with an unexplained cut on his arm. Despite this and his claim of innocence, he was sentenced to hang.

Execution attempts and aftermath

On 23 February 1885, three attempts were made to carry out his execution at Exeter Prison. All ended in failure, as the trapdoor of the scaffold failed to open despite being carefully tested by the executioner, James Berry, beforehand. As a result, Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Lee continued to petition successive Home Secretaries and was finally released in 1907. The only other man in history known to have survived three hanging attempts was Joseph Samuel.

Many theories have been advanced as to the cause of the failure, but Home Office papers show that the official report stated that incorrect assembly of the gallows mechanism allowed the trapdoor hinges to rest upon an eighth of an inch of drawbar, preventing them from opening when the doors were weighted. This incident helped lead to a standard gallows design to prevent a recurrence.

Later years and identifications

After his release, Lee seems to have exploited his notoriety, supporting himself through lecturing on his life, even becoming the subject of a silent film. Accounts of his whereabouts after 1916 are somewhat confused, and one researcher even speculated that in later years, there was more than one man claiming to be Lee. It was suspected that he died in the Tavistock workhouse  during the Second World War. However, one recent piece of research concludes that he died in the United States under the name of “James Lee” in 1945. According to the book The Man They Could Not Hang by Mike Holgate and Ian David Waugh, Lee’s gravestone was found at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee.

ABOVE : Iconic English Folk Rock Band Fairport Convention’ s 1971 album cover entitled “Babbacombe Lee”

Below: The Hanging Song performed by Fairport Convention .

Above & below : One of several handwritten and signed James Berry letters to include close-up image here on display at Littledean Jail

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND MOST CERTAINALY HISTORICALLY UNIQUE  ENGRAVED 1861 HALF PENNY COIN PRESENTED BY JAMES BERRY PUBLIC EXECUTIONER TO J.BREEZE,  25 JULY 1886

ABOVE , Sadly unsure as to the origins and historical significance of this equally historically rare and unique 1861 half penny coin, which is intricately engraved,

” Presented by J. Berry Public Executioner to J Breeze,  25th July 1886″.

This was presented some 17 months after the failed execution by James Berry of John “Babbacombe” Lee on February 23, 1885 .

( If anyone can shed any light on the significance of this coin and whom J Breeze was, please let us know.)

ABOVE AND BELOW: Pictured here are both sides of this rare coin, giving an indication of the actual size.

 

Advertisement

DARK TOURISM HERE IN THE UK FEATURING ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST EVIL, SATANIC & CANNIBALISTIC SERIAL KILLERS JEFFREY DAHMER

Original painting by Gloucestershire artist Paul Bridgman… on display at The Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail , along with various other handwritten and signed memorabilia from Jeffery Dahmer .

TRUE CRIME, MURDERABILIA, MAIMERABILIA, THE TABOO AND BIZZARE ARE ALL   HERE ON DISPLAY  AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , LITTLEDEAN JAIL, UK

 

 

HERE ARE SOME MORE HISTORICALLY INTERACTIVE DETAILS, PHOTO GALLERY (VERY GRAPHIC IN PARTS) …. AND VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE TOUCHING UPON ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST DEBAUCHED AND EVIL KILLERS – JEFFREY DAHMER .

FROM THE HANDS OF DEATH …

Jeffrey Dahmer handwritten return address on envelope officially stamped by Wisconsin Prison System

 

 

HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , LITTLEDEAN JAIL , FOREST OF DEAN , GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK….. WE HAVE HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED LETTERS FROM JEFFREY DAHMER AND OTHER NOTORIOUS AMERICAN AND BRITISH SERIAL KILLERS , PROVIDING AN INTRIGUING AND DISTURBING INSIGHT INTO THE MINDS OF THESE MONSTERS FROM HELL .

AS A POLITE WARNING TO ALL POTENTIAL VISITORS HERE, TO OUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR TO THE MUSEUM ….. PLEASE DO AVOID A VISIT TO LITTLEDEAN JAIL IS EASILY DISTURBED, EASILY OFFENDED OR OF A SENSITIVE NATURE .AS WE ALWAYS SAY … CRIME IN ITSELF IS AN UNPLEASANT SUBJECT MATTER TO COVER  AND AS SUCH IS NOT PRESENTED HERE IN A PLEASANT WAY EITHER .

Handwritten and signed (Jeff) letter sent by Jeffrey Dalmer on the 26 May 1993

 

CERTAINLY NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN EITHER 

Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most notorious American serial killers. Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer killed 17 boys and men, many of whom were of Asian or African descent. However it wasn’t the body count that made him such a notorious serial killer. It was the way he tortured and raped his victims before death found them. It was also about how he dismembered his victims and practiced necrophilia and cannibalism on them.

Jeffrey Dahmer Biography

Born as Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer on May 21, 1960 in West Allis, Wisconsin to Lionel Herbert Dahmer and Joyce Annette (née Flint), Jeffrey Dahmer grew up to be a normal child. However as the relationship between his parents grew cold, so did his feelings of neglect and withdrawal. His family moved to Bath, Ohio when he was 8 year old. Uninterested in social interactions with other children from the neighborhood he was new into, Jeffrey rode around on his bicycle, collecting dead animals for dissection. Some he brought back home (like a good household cat), some he played with in the woods. At one point, he impaled a dog’s head on a stake.

When he became a teenager, Jeffrey Dahmer started to abuse alcohol. Tension between his parents escalated resulting in bitter divorce which only strengthened the boy’s feeling of abandonment. His mother took Jeffrey’s younger brother and left without a trace, leaving vulnerable Dahmer to stay with his father who left the family long time ago. Having no means to contact his mother or brother, Jeffrey felt lost and rejected.

By the time of his high school graduation, Jeffrey Dahmer was an alcoholic. He dropped out of the Ohio State University after one quarter, having failed to attend most of his classes because he was constantly drunk. Since giving him education didn’t go over so well, Jeffrey’s father enlisted his son in the army. He was a decent soldier (army medic), but his excessive alcoholism resulted in a discharge after two years in service. He felt no emotional connection to his father, so after his discharge in 1981, Jeffrey Dahmer headed for Miami, Florida to avoid living in cold weather. He continued drinking and was arrested a few months later for drunk and disorderly conduct.

Jeffrey moved in with his grandmother Shari Dahmer in 1982. She said Jeffrey was a gentle person but when he got drunk (which was often), it took four policemen to hold him down. In 1982 and 1986, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure, the latter involving masturbation in front of two boys.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s Murders

Jeffrey Dahmer committed his first murder when he was 18 years old. It was shortly after his parent’s divorce – his mother and his brother moved out and his father was on a business trip. Having the house in Bath Township, Ohio all for himself and feeling alone, Jeffrey picked up a hitchhiker named Stephen Hicks, took him to the house and killed him with a barbell because the guest wanted to leave. Once Stephen Hicks was dead, Jeffrey Dahmer smashed his bones with a hammer and buried the body in the backyard. He wouldn’t kill again for 9 years.

His second victim was 24 year old Steven Toumi. Jeffrey met him in a gay bar in 1987. Gay bars offered great settings where he could approach young homosexual or bisexual males, ask them to come over to his place for beers or offer them money to pose for photos, drug them into a deep sleep with spiked drinks, strangle or stabbed them while they were out and unleash his sexual fantasies on the cadaver. When he was done having anal sex with fresh corpses, he would dismember them with a hacksaw, usually keeping their genitalia and heads as trophies. Lean muscles would be stored in a freezer to be eaten as food. Whatever was left was boiled with acids and/or other chemicals and flashed down the drain. Sometimes, if his victim did not die instantly, he would drill a hole in the victim’s skull and paralyze the brain with boiling water or hydrochloric acid. The victim would remain alive for several days, but in a zombie like state.

While staying with his grandmother, Jeffrey Dahmer continued collecting dead animals and dissecting them in her basement which caused foul smell throughout the house. Coupled with his strange behavior and late nights, the grandmother asked him to move out. On September 25, 1988, while employed as a worker at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, Jeffrey moved into an apartment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One day later, he was arrested for drugging and sexually exploiting a 13 year old Laotian boy named Somsack Sinthasomphone. That made him a registered sex offender and landed him with one year in a work release camp and five years probation. He was released on a parole two months early, moved into a new apartment and began his most prolific string of murders. The apartment’s address is now infamous (though the building has been torn down):

Oxford Apartments
924 North 25th Street
Apartment 213
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

After his scuffle with the above mentioned 13 year old boy Somsack Sinthasomphone which landed Jeffrey Dahmer with 10 months long incarceration and a registration as a sex offender, Jeffrey took a hold of Somsack’s younger brother, now 14 year old Konerak Sinthasomphone and brought him home for another one of his fantasy butt sex sessions from hell. Heavily drugged and bleeding profusely out of his ass after a little rectal massage from Jeffrey Dahmer’s stiffy, Konerak Sinthasomphone escaped and was discovered wandering down the street naked in the early morning hours of May 27, 1991 by 18 year old Sandra Smith and her cousin of the same age – Nicole Childress. The teens called 911, as even though the Asian boy could not speak any English, the state he was in sent strong signals that something was not right.

Dahmer, who was 31 at the time, chased the boy down the street and got to him before the police arrived. The girls who alerted the police got in the way and halted the escort until the police arrived. Dahmer told them that the boy was his 19 year old boyfriend, that they were drinking and got in an argument so he walked out of his apartment naked and under influence. The police failed to verify the boy’s age and run a background check on Dahmer which would have revealed that he was a registered child molester still under probation. Instead, they swallowed Dahmer’s story and took both men back to Dahmer’s apartment – despite protests from the girls who called 911. The police noted strange smell when they walked inside Dahmer’s apartment, but did nothing to investigate it. As became clear later, the smell was caused by the corpse of Tony Hughes – Dahmer’s previous victim whose decomposing body he still kept in the bedroom. Had the police done their due diligence, Konerak Sinthasomphone as well as four subsequent victims would not have been murdered.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s Arrest

Encouraged by the success with Konerak Sinthasomphone whom he strangled to death, dismembered and beheaded to keep his skull as a trophy, Jeffrey Dahmer went on a killing spree almost averaging one victim per week. He killed Matt Turner on June 30, 1991, then Jeremiah Weinberger on July 5, 1991, then Oliver Lacy on July 12, 1991 and finally Joseph Brandehoft on July 19, 1991. His next victim was to be 32 year old Tracy Edwards, whom he lured into his apartment on July 22, 1991. With this bad boy things didn’t go quite the way Jeffrey would have liked, though.

When Robert Rauth and Rolf Mueller, the cops from the Milwaukee police department drove through the neighborhood where Dahmer lived, they noticed a dazed black male wandering around with one handcuff on his hand, they knew something wasn’t right. They asked Tracy Edwards what happened to him and were told that he was invited into an apartment of some weird dude with whom he watched movies, but was then drugged and the weird dude tried to handcuff him. He resisted and slipped away, so the dude threatened him with a knife. Tracy Edwards retracted to the bedroom where he saw the wall covered with Polaroid pictures of mangled bodies. There was a large blue barrel by the wall from which a horrible smell was coming out. Wielding a large butcher knife, the weird dude tried to attack him, but Tracy Edwards fought back, punched him in the face and kicked him in the stomach, affording himself a way to escape from there, though still wearing a handcuff on one wrist.

Tracy Edwards lead the police to the apartment where they were greeted by friendly acting Jeffrey Dahmer. He told them that he just lost the job at the chocolate factory (which was true) and the stress it caused made him lose temper and overreact. The police asked him to get the key from the handcuffs so they could be removed from Tracy Edwards’ hand. Jeffrey went to his bedroom, but was followed by one of the cops who noticed all the Polaroid photos of dismembered bodies all over the wall and was overwhelmed by the stench of rotting flesh coming out of the room. He proceeded to further inspect the apartment and had his attention caught by a fridge covered with more gruesome Polaroid photos. The shock came when he opened said fridge. There was a severed human head on the shelf. The officer screamed at his partner to which Jeffrey Dahmer responded by fighting his way out of there. He was restrained and apprehended.

Thorough inspection revealed three more heads and human flesh in the freezer. Several hands and a penis were found in a stockpot in a closet. Two gray-painted boiled skulls were found on a shelf in a bedroom closet. More penises were found preserved in formaldehyde. But most of all – there were hundreds of gory photos of his victims which Jeffrey Dahmer photographed while they were alive, while they were being murdered, and after they were dead. In his closet, the police also discovered an altar of human skulls and candles. Jeffrey Dahmer allegedly planned to use the skulls to build a shrine.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s Trial

Dahmer admitted to every crime he had committed. He made no excuses and blamed nobody but himself. He was indicted on 17 murder charges, but found guilty on 15. He entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity but the court rejected his plea on February 17, 1992 and sentenced him to 15 life terms in jail, which would add up to 957 years behind bars. The state of Wisconsin does not have capital punishment.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s Murder

Jeffrey Dahmer served his long sentence at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. He was murdered on November 28, 1994 while serving his time by inmate Christopher Scarver who attacked him and another inmate named Jesse Anderson with a broom stick, killing both. Christopher Scarver said he was acting on God’s command to kill Dahmer.

Christopher Scarver Handwritten envelope sent to Kenneth G Karnig  , with his return address in top left corner

 

 

 

List of Jeffrey Dahmer’s Victims

• Stephen Hicks, 20
• Steven Toumi, 26
• Jamie Doxtator, 14
• Richard Guerreri, 25
• Anthony Sears, 24
• Eddie Smith, 36
• Ricky Beeks, 27
• Ernest Miller, 22
• David Thomas, 23
• Curtis Straughter, 19
• Errol Lindsey, 19
• Tony Hughes, 31
• Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14
• Matt Turner, 20
• Jeremiah Weinberger, 23
• Oliver Lace, 23
• Joseph Bradeholt, 25

ALEX SANDERS HIGH PRIEST “KING OF THE WITCHES ” & HIGH PRIESTESS WIFE MAXINE “QUEEN WITCH ” FEATURED HERE ON DISPLAY IN AND AMONGST THE ” WITCHCRAFT AND THE OCCULT COLLECTION ” AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL , UK

ABOVE & BELOW : Pictured here are some of our Alexandrian Wiccan Casting Circles which form part of our exhibition area.

Alex Sanders ( 6 June 1926-30 April 1988).  Born Orrell Alexander Carter, who went under the craft name Verbius, was an English occultist and High Priest in the Pagan religion of Wicca, responsible for founding the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca during the 1960s. Raised in a working-class family, he was introduced to esoteric ideas by his mother and grandmother from a young age, and as a young man began working as a medium in the local Spiritualist Churches before going on to study and practice ceremonial magic. In 1963, he was initiated into Gardnerian Wicca before founding his own coven, through which he merged many aspects of ceremonial magic into Wicca. He claimed to have been initiated by his Grandmother as a child, though evidence for this is lacking. Throughout the 1960s, he would court publicity in the press, appearing in a number of documentaries, marrying the far younger Maxine Sanders, and being declared to be the “King of the Witches” by his followers, something that led to other prominent Gardnerian Witches, such as Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone, attacking him in the press. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he went on to work with a ceremonial magical group known as the Ordine Della Luna, prior to his death. The tradition he founded with Maxine Sanders became known as Alexandrian Wicca.

Below : An intriguing video footage on the seemingly bizarre life of Alex Sanders

Below : One of the collage features on display within Littledean Jail’s “Witchcraft, Paganism, Wiccan, Satanism, The Occult, The Illuminati and Secret Societies Collection ” .

 

Below : Alex Sanders initiation into the sacred Mysteries

Below : One of the collage features on display within Littledean Jail’s “Witchcraft, Paganism, Wiccan, Satanism, The Occult, The Illuminati and Secret Societies Collection ” .

Above: Original painting by Paul Bridgman on display here at Littledean Jail of Alex Sanders , Maxine Sanders during the initiation of Janet Farrar, the wife of High Priest husband Stewart Farrar.

Above: Original painting of High Priest Stewart Farrar and his High Priestess wife Janet , here on display at Littledean Jail

Below: Baphomet Ouija board on display at Littledean Jail

 

Below: Original paintings by Gloucestershire Artist Paul Bridgman depicting Alex Sanders and his High Priestess wife Maxine,  along with Baphomet… The Horned God , both on display at the jail

 

BELOW: ‘BEAKY BLINDER’ OUR MYSTICAL AND SPIRITUAL RAVEN- GUARDIAN AND KEEPER OF LITTLEDEAN JAIL

Below : Collage of newspaper clippings featuring Alex Sanders on display at Littledean Jail

 

Original painting by Gloucestershire Artist Paul Bridgman depicting Gerald Gardner, and High Priestess’s Monique Wilson and Patricia Crowther  on display at the jail

LP Album cover of Alex Sanders  ” A Witch Is Born ” on display at the Jail

Original painting by Gloucestershire Artist Paul Bridgman depicting Aleister Crowley ,   on display at the jail

Below: Various images and a brief insight into an Alexandrian Casting Circle, Baphomet Horned God, Witchcraft Altar etc , here on display at Littledean Jail, Forest of Dean , Gloucestershire, UK .

Above and Below : Original oil paintings by local artist Paul Bridgman depicting our Alexandrian Baphomet “Horned God” on display in and amongst our exhibition areas.

NETFLIX UK DARK TOURIST ATTRACTION HERE AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, LITTLEDEAN JAIL, FOREST OF DEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE….CORPORAL PUNISHMENT THROUGH THE AGES ALONG WITH A BRIEF INSIGHT INTO PRESENT DAY CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS TOO…. IT’S ALL HERE AND MORE …

ABOVE: A VERY EARLY POSTCARD IMAGE OF LITTLEDEAN GAOL,SPELT HERE IN THE OLD FASHION WAY .

  IT WAS ALSO FORMERLY USED AS A  “HOUSE OF CORRECTION “, LATER TO BECOME A POLICE STATION,COURTHOUSE AND NOW  IS THE HOME OF THE INFAMOUS CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION .

ABOVE: Original Victorian 3-handcuffed leather body belt and original leather bound handcuffs

ABOVE : EARLY VICTORIAN LITTLE DEAN PRISON WARDEN/GUARD TUNIC BUTTON ( A VERY RARE FIND FOR SURE ) 

Possibly of little significance to visitors …. however I love this item which has been recently discovered and acquired for display here . Intriguingly this early Victorian Prison Warden/Guard tunic button is worded LITTLE DEAN (AS TWO WORDS) WITH PRISON BENEATH (INSTEAD OF GAOL )  … as opposed to it’s early title as having been “Littledean Gaol”.

BELOW: ORIGINAL VICTIORAN STRAIGHT JACKET THAT WAS FOUND IN LITTLEDEAN JAIL’S ATTIC SPACE BY BUILDERS DURING RENOVATION WORK BACK IN 1986 AND SUBSEQUENTLY DONATED TO THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION FOR PERMANENT DISPLAY HERE AT THE JAIL 

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT THROUGH THE AGES AS WELL AS AN INSIGHT INTO PRESENT DAY CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS TOO, AS FEATURED AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION  HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL 

ABOVE :AN ARRAY OF VARIOUS 19TH CENTURY HANDCUFFS, RESTRAINTS AND LEG IRONS HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE JAIL .

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN MALAYSIA FOR RAPE, ARMED ROBBERY , DRUGS ETC 

ORIGINAL EARLY 16TH- 17TH CENTURY HANDMADE OAK  “VILLAGE PUNISHMENT  STOCKS” RESTORED IN THE 19TH CENTURY WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING IRONWORK AND PRESERVED FOR POSTERITY ….. AS CAN NOW BE SEEN AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL,LITTLEDEAN, FOREST OF DEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK

VILLAGE STOCKS 

Stocks are devices used in the internationally, in medieval, Renaissance and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by. Since the purpose of putting offenders in the stocks was to expose them to ridicule and mockery, passers-by were encouraged to throw mud, rotten eggs, moldy fruit and vegetables, smelly fish, offal, and excrement (both animal and human) at those being punished.

ABOVE AND BELOW : WITCHES DUCKING STOOL  AND LIFTING PULLY  ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL

VARIOUS EARLY VICTORIAN LEATHER BOUND WHIPS AND CAT O’NINE TAILS USED WITHIN UK PRISONS ….. HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL

VARIOUS WHIPS, CAT O’NINE TAILS , BLUDGEON AND LEATHER BOUND HANDCUFFS  USED WITHIN UK PRISONS HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL 

VARIOUS EARLY VICTORIAN LEATHER BOUND WHIPS AND CAT O’NINE TAILS USED WITHIN UK PRISONS ….. HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL

CLOSE-UP IMAGE OF ROUND HANDLED LEATHER BOUND EARLY VICTORIAN WHIP USED WITHIN UK PRISONS 

AS ABOVE

EARLY VICTORIAN BLACK CLOTH BOUND, ROUND HANDLED CAT O’NINE TAILS USED IN UK PRISONS