The Acid Bath Murderer: A Terrifying True Story of one of the Worst British Serial Killers

by Jack Rosewood, Rebecca Lo

One of the more unique British serial killers, John George Haigh killed simply because he wanted more. He had an exaggerated sense of entitlement, and would seek out victims who could support his lavish lifestyle. What is most abhorrent in this true crime murder story is not that he killed six people, but rather what he did with them after they were dead. Newspapers and tabloids would shout out headlines of John being a ‘vampire’, a man with a blood lust who drank the blood of those he killed. But was he really a vampire? Or was John just a very clever man? The undoing of John Haigh came about when a missing person case quickly progressed to a homicide investigation. The police officers involved stumbled across a scene so horrific, it would stay in their minds forever. You see John had learned an interesting skill while incarcerated for fraud – how to dissolve a body in sulfuric acid. Of all the true crime serial killers, John was different because he didn’t kill out of some need to hurt people. He murdered to gain access to his victims bank accounts. A man from a deeply religious home, John grew up to want more money, the flash cars and the fancy clothing. When he started to run out of money, he sought out his next victim to bankroll his lifestyle. A cold-hearted ruthless man with no thought or care for others, does John’s motive make classify him as one of the worst serial killers of all time? Read about the Acid Bath Murderer and decide for yourself.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

89 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2016

About the author

I live in one of the most beautiful places in Florida, Jupiter, with my wife, two kids and our golden retriever, Vincent. I've been a full time author for the last 15 years and I wouldn't trade it against anything in the world!

My father was a journalist and wrote about some of the worst crimes you could ever imagine, and that's where my big interest from serial killers and other horrible crimes comes from. Just to hear my father talk about the evil acts of Ted Bundy as we were out fishing as a kid are some of my best memories.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read as I had never heard of John George Haigh before I picked up this book.

John George Haigh was considered a serial killer even though he didn't commit quite as many crimes as some prolific serial killers from the past. He did kill six people, but what is interesting about his crimes is how he tried to get rid of the evidence. He thought by using sulfuric acid that he would be able to get by with murder as he thought that the acid would melt the bones of his victims. Also he did not commit the crimes because he loved to kill, he committed the crimes so that he could wipe out the victims bank accounts and then use their money to live the good life.

I was impressed how the authorities went about investigating him and how they were able to catch him in the end. The author, Jack Rosewood, once again lays everything out on the table and lets us readers sift through it. Three stars for this one.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure glad this guy was sloppy, or he might have gone on to kill many more. But he got caught after 6 murders, which was plenty. Mostly thanks to his carelessness in cleaning up, even though he fancied himself a mastermind. He certainly had a different idea about disposing of his victim's bodies, but he was sloppy in carrying it out. He was probably eager to get on to the next part, where he would sniff out all of their property and belongings and sell or convert them to his benefit, as he didn't see much point in just working a normal job for all of his days. This guy, is John George Haigh a serial killer in the UK who was caught when an elderly woman staying in the same hotel came up missing in February 1949. When the police went to Haigh's workshop to question him, they found body parts while looking around the yard and he was soon arrested.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author managed to make a serial killer that dissolved his victims in acid sound boring asf

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much filler. The story was interesting but not enough for a whole book.

Have read a lot of true crime over the last 2 weeks thanks to my tc books arriving and having a month of kindle unlimited, which made me not sure when i read what.

[Píaras Cíonnaoíth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the 2002 British television film, A Is for Acid, based on the life of the serial killer John George Haigh, known as the Acid Bath Murderer, because he dissolved the bodies of six people (although he claimed to have killed nine) in sulfuric acid. Haigh, hanged in 1949 for his crimes, had wrongly believed that murder could not be proven without the presence of a body.

This is yet another biopic read that’s really hard to put down. It's an insightful and graphically detailed account of some of the most horrific serial killers. In fact, while reading yet another of Jack Rosewoods books (with Rebecca Lo), I just had to keep turning the pages yet again. Not necessarily because it's all that enjoyable in any way, shape or form, to delve a little too deeply into the malefic minds of such murderous men, but because I sincerely believe that most people are fascinated in one way or another by serial killers. Perhaps it’s the human morbid fascination with death. I’m not exactly sure. However, maybe it just astounds the average person as to how depraved another individual can be.

Even if you are a seasoned campaigner of true crime, The Acid Bath Murderer: A Terrifying True Story of one of the Worst British Serial Killers will surely raise more than a few hairs on the back of your neck. It was a good read and the author gave a perspective to these horrific crimes that was both fascinating and intriguing. This was one of the better true crime books that I have read recently.

I would highly recommend this read to all fans of the crime genre. I’m also a big fan of Jack Rosewood so it’s another 5 Stars from me. Well done again!

[Julie Haigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and five star

I love these books! Quick, easy reading, yet they have plenty of details. I had heard of this case a few times before, I had also seen a dramatization on TV starring Martin Clunes. I thought I knew quite a bit about John George Haigh but I'm always keen to read more info on these cases. Here was so much more and I enjoyed finding out all this. Interestingly, John George Haigh used to live for a time in West Yorkshire, in Outwood, Wakefield, so that's very near to me in Huddersfield-this always makes me realise how these crimes happen anywhere, it makes you take more notice etc. when they happen in or near your area or when the murderer is from an area near.

Oh my goodness, I didn't know this: So he had a daughter, and his wife, having filed for divorce as he was in prison for fraud gave her up for adoption. I wondered did this girl ever know of her grisly parentage? Does she have kids and grandkids? This book really made me think.

I said a few ‘Oh my goodnesses’ while I was reading this; no matter how many true crime accounts I read, when I think I’ve heard it all-I haven’t-there’s always something more twisted, more unusual that I haven’t heard of before.

Some of the eventual ‘residue’ which was found was just so fascinating to me. At one time, I would have just read this through-now, with reading many true crime books, forensics, cause of death etc., I ask questions why would that be left-what's it made of etc. An absolute feast of knowledge.

The dental stuff was of interest as my sister is a dental nurse. It had me wondering exactly what dentures are made of; why would they escape the fate of the acid? And wow, I somehow didn't realise that a person can be identified by dental records when they have no teeth-i.e. false!

Jack Rosewood's book doesn't end when John George Haigh is convicted-there’s some excellent thought-provoking bonus material that I wasn't expecting. I was surprised to see some more recent cases mentioned which bore similarities. I never knew-I thought here was a classic case, unusual-but no, people are still doing this kind of thing, even though forensic testing and DNA testing is so efficient in catching a perpetrator. They may get away with it for a time. But they'll be caught, eventually.

The main book ended at 28% but there are some bonus books included. But if you already have them, I counted how many page turns in the main book: it seems substantial enough at 141 pages/turnovers on 7 inch kindle fire-could be a bit less for ipad/larger screen. There were two bonus books-and these are different to the bonus book included in some of Jack Rosewood’s books. Wow, this book was fascinating. Can’t wait for the next!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy to read, I took it on a weekend trip.
I remembered the story as my mother & grandmother had told me about the "acid bath killer" when i was young and went to the "Chamber of Horrors" at 'Madame Tussaud's'.
Two facts that I found amazing were:-
(1) Page 64 "sulfuric acid, often spelt 'sulfuric'.
(2) Page 62 Francis Forsyth was executed in Wandsworth on January 28, 1953 by Albert Pierrepoint.. Yet on June 25 1960 he killed a man named Allen Jee. Ghostly goings on maybe????

[Emerson (Ariel) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narrator went REALLY fast. It was hard to keep up. Also, the main story was over in the first hour, and the rest of the time was about people he was in prison with and other killers who used his method. Meh.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read

If you love true crime about serial killers, than you will love this. It’s crazy how he came up with the whole idea of trying to solve his money problems.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: The Acid Bath Murderer by Jack Rosewood.

Jack Rosewood in fascinated with serial killers and as a journalist he covers grim crimes and writes about their development psychologically, their planning for their life of crime, and details of how they made their gruesome marks on society. In this book he gives the reader a couple of stories and some other mentions of other serial killers. His writing was good and he never overdeveloped his scenes throughout his researched stories

The first story is only 86 pages very disturbing but also interesting. John George Haigh of Great Britain enjoyed killing. He didn’t kill for love or revenge; it was for money and the lust of blood as if it was a fine wine. He had killed six people before he was caught in 1949. However, his killing spree was far and in-between because he would live off the money of rich people until it was almost gone and then move on to the next victim. He was a solitary killer who wanted the money he felt he was entitle too.

Rosewood gave the reader some background on this serial killer that Britain was calling “The Acid Bath Killer” because that’s how he got rid of his victims and left very little evidence to be discovered until the day he started getting sloppy. John was a child of a strict religious family where the weakness of sinning was repeated into him day after day. He wasn’t allowed to associate with the public and his parents kept him behind a high cement wall constructed by his father to protect the family from the outside world.

The second story was about Herbert Mullin living in California who in four short months killed thirteen people using a range of weapons at random. In fact, there were two other serial killers also committing a killing rampage across California at the same time. They were Edmund Kemper III and John Linley Frazier. However, Herbert Mullin had mental illness problems and addictions issues but they never determined if that boosted his killing spree or not. Mullin’s beliefs that killing innocent people would prevent a major earthquake from occurring which, indicated his brain function wasn’t normal. Among Mullin’s victims there was a priest, a homeless man, small children, and a drug dealer, supposedly his victims were random, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time….

Rosewood also wrote about a few other serial killers and just wrote a short entry about them. I didn’t want to get into any details but I will say there were some graphic details thought-out these stories. I read them out of interest and curiosity and the author; even though he used some graphic scenes he did it with just refinement….

[Anastaciaknits · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of the Acid Bath Murderer, so I was definitely intrigued. I've read a few other true crime books, but it's definitely not high on my list of things that I read about, but it's good to read something different once in a while.

First of all, I have no idea where goodreads gets the page count from, because I read the entire book in about an hour. I read fast, but not that fast.

The book very straightforwardly tells you about John, his early years, and the murders, along with his trials, his death, and even some information about the prison he lived in before he was executed, along with other famous prison residents. The book was interesting, but read very much like a teenager's paper for school, or perhaps the authors intended the book to be written in such a fashion. Though the story was very interesting, it told us just the facts, and only talked about John's motivations behinds the murders in a very brief way. Since John was murdering 70 years ago, I understand they didn't really investigate much into why he killed people, but his entire story was just summed up so briefly.

The second half of the book was nothing more than advertising the authors other books, which rather made me want to give this book a one star rating as that seems extremely cheap, to say the least.

[Nancy Silk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A True Crime Anthology"

This is a unique account of a serial killer in Great Britain. John George Haigh enjoyed killing, and he felt entitled to do so. He killed six people and what he did to them after death the tabloids tagged him as a vampire. He did have a lust for blood, like it was a fine wine. But the abhorrent thing he did when he was finished with the bodies was to dissolve them in sulfuric acid. The story is well written and intriguing. It is only 84 pages but the authors have added many more historic events of murder cases as well as murders in 2015-2016. All of these added factual stories and highlights are very interesting; however, I wish a List of Contents were added to make it easier to back track to once read entries.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you know the story of John George Haigh?

If you have not heard of John George Haigh, here's his story. He was one of the most cold-blooded murderers in the annals of serial killers. He selected his victims based on their financial worth, became close friends with them and murdered them in cold blood. Then he proceeded to steal and liquidate their possessions.

Haigh believed that he could not be prosecuted and convicted if there was no body. He paid for that mistake with his life.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of infamous murderer John Haigh and clearly the inspiration behind the 1949 British film THE HIDDEN ROOM. This short book has plenty of filler; some good (prison and execution history), some not so good (endless speculation regarding Haigh's motives, etc.).

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Rosewood has done it again. He has managed to keep me on the edge of my seat as I read The Acid Bath Murderer. This gruesome individual killed people that he befriended just for their money. These were people he called his friends! It makes my skin crawl.
I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review.

[Frances L Dobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read.

Truly a great book to read. Full of information, and details. The flow of this book is perfect, and keeps your interest. Would recommend for any true crime lover to read.