The Acid Bath Murders: John George Haigh Becomes a Monster
After Jack the Ripper and before Harold Shipman, London knew another mass murderer, one whose crimes are barely remembered today but were just as wretched: John George Haigh.
I wish Charles Darwin could explain this one, because clearly natural selection didn’t do its job when the acid bath murderer was allowed to roam the streets of London.
John George Haigh & The Acid Bath Murders
Across the street from Gloucester Road tube station, you’ll find a good old American import: Kentucky Fried Chicken. But before this was finger-lickin-good, it was the workplace of John George Haigh, a fraudster who came to London after serving time for various schemes (and possibly other murders, as he would later confess, but those are unconfirmed).
Check out my London Dark History Map to see all of the Acid Bath Murder locations.
William Donald McSwan: The Acid Bath Murderer’s First Victim
In 1944, at 79 Gloucester Road, Haigh rented a small basement workshop. He got a job for an old acquaintance, William Donald McSwan, a wealthy owner of various amusement shops and properties. “Mac,” as he was called by his friends, was a 35 year-old quiet and shy man, who had to hide his sexuality because of the homophobia of the era.
William Donald McSwan: Reclusive & Exploited
It’s devastating that William McSwan couldn’t live his life openly, and in his hiding, he would become susceptible to the acid bath murderer. Although he was the owner of many businesses, privately he was a recluse, not only because he was gay, but because it was the tail end of World War II and he was trying to avoid the military draft.
William McSwan and John George Haigh became close. Haigh repaired machines, chauffeured him around London, and even collected his rents for him. Haigh learned about all of William McSwan’s properties, investments, accounts, and businesses, weaseling his way in closer than Mac realized. And Haigh did not have good intentions.
The Acid Bath Murder of William McSwan
On September 9, 1944, McSwan and Haigh met for a meal at The Goat Tavern in Kensington. Haigh then lured William McSwan to his basement workshop where this KFC now stands.
He bludgeoned McSwan with a lead pipe; a brutal and senseless murder. He then stripped McSwan of his valuables and dissolved the body in a 40-gallon drum of sulphuric acid.
After a few days of the acid doing its job, he poured the contents down the sewer because he thought: no body, no crime. This was also the prevailing police sentiment at the time, as they often wouldn’t investigate unless they had a victim’s body. He thought he had committed the perfect murder.
William’s Parents: Donald & Amy McSwan
There was one big problem, though: McSwan’s parents, Donald and Amy (images here; damn Getty Images seems to own them all!). They were good people – doting parents – and they began to wonder where their beloved son had disappeared to. They also found it strange that Mac’s “employee” was living at his house all alone with no sign of William anywhere.
John George Haigh smelled their suspicions, and began to forge letters and postcards to William’s parents. He claimed in the letters that Mac escaped to Scotland to dodge the draft. But Donald and Amy kept pestering, and Haigh worried they’d eventually call the police.
When the war ended in 1945, Haigh ran out of excuses, and this was bad news for Donald and Amy.
Haigh wrote to them: your son is home and out of hiding! Come see him! He lured them to the same workshop where he had killed their son, today the basement of the KFC on Gloucester Road.
Donald and Amy McSwan suffered the same fate as their late son, and Haigh got away with murder yet again. He forged documents to inherit their several properties, sold them, and inherited around £80,000: close to £3.5 million today.
But if you think that now John George Haigh was set for life and he’d run off into the sunset, think again. This monster wasn’t smart with money, and wasn’t even close to finished with the acid bath murders.
Remembering the McSwan Family
William, Donald and Amy McSwan, lovely family, you didn’t deserve to cross paths with this monster. If you visit this KFC, buy their ghosts a Coke and a bucket of extra crispy. Poor, sweet family, gone to soon in a brutal, horrible way. RIP McSwans.
More on The Acid Bath Murders: John George Haigh
Part 4: Catching the Acid Bath Murderer
