Episode

E18 | The Body in the Wych Elm

Podcast
The Veil
Published
Mar 15, 2026
Duration seconds
2050
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/theveil/episodes/e18-the-body-in-the-wych-elm
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68d0b2ea88c516d26e3c7b48/e/69b64c057ebe44dc8ba09068/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/the-veil-7494973/episodes/e18-the-body-in-the-wych-elm
Markdown
/podcast/the-veil-7494973/e18-the-body-in-the-wych-elm.md

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Summary

In April 1943, four boys trespassing in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire, discovered a human skull inside a hollow wych elm. Police found an almost complete female skeleton, folded into the narrow trunk while the body was still warm. She was approximately thirty-five years old, five feet tall, and carried a cheap wedding ring. Nobody reported her missing. No suspect was ever charged. Then, in 1944, graffiti began appearing on walls across Birmingham: Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? The author was never identified. The case was officially closed in 2014. The remains have since been lost. The question endures. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.