Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm? // 487

Going West: True Crime

Dark West Productions

True Crime, Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In April of 1943, a group of teenagers walking through the woods near Birmingham, England made a chilling discovery: a human skull hidden inside the hollow trunk of a wych elm tree. As whispers of witchcraft, espionage, and murder circled the town, investigators uncovered shocking theories that only deepened the mystery… As the woman’s body continued to go unidentified, it sparked speculation and fear, especially after cryptic graffiti began appearing, starting with the haunting question, “Who put Bella down the wych elm?”

Transcript

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0:00.0	What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host Daphne. I know this sounds so weird. It feels so weird to say that. Heath is very sick right now. He is resting. He's super congested. I think he probably has a cold.
0:25.8	So you've just got me today. But it's going to be okay because today we have such a fascinating case.
0:32.4	This feels like such a me case. I think a lot of you guys are going to be really interested in it. And I'm sure a lot of you guys have actually already heard of it. This is one that I myself have heard about for so long,
0:42.2	but never fully looked into it until recently. So I'm so glad that we did because it's just such
0:47.9	a spooky one. It actually takes place in England and we very rarely, as you guys know, cover
0:53.2	international cases on Going
0:54.6	West. We usually save those for our bonus series, Real Crime, but I was just so fascinated by
1:00.0	the story. I really wanted to make an exception, kind of like how we did with Jack the Ripper.
1:05.5	So without further ado, let's just dive right into this one. All right, guys. This is episode 487 of Going West, so let's get into it.
1:30.3	So let's get into it. The The The In April of 1933, a group of teenagers walking through the woods near Birmingham, England, made a chilling discovery.
2:17.9	Human remains hidden inside the hollow trunk of a witch elm tree.
2:24.1	As whispers of witchcraft, espionage, and murder circled the town, investigators uncovered
2:31.6	shocking theories that only deepened the mystery.
2:36.0	As the woman's body continued to go unidentified, it sparked speculation and fear,
2:43.0	especially after cryptic graffiti began appearing around the area.
2:48.4	Starting with the haunting question,
2:54.1	who put Bella down the witch elm? Yeah. On Sunday, April 18th, 1943, a group of four teenage boys and three dogs were walking the countryside forest, checking birds' nests for eggs.
3:24.0	Local publications describe what they were doing as poaching, but in reality, they were
3:29.0	attempting to supplement their family's wartime rations.
3:33.4	England was in the throes of World War II at the time, and both food and funds were scarce.
3:39.9	The boys whose names were Robert Hart, Bob Farmer, Fred Payne, and Tommy Willits
3:47.1	hailed from the surrounding villages of either Lye, Stourbridge, or Wallacecott,
	...

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