John George Haigh: A Malingerer's Legacy‪.‬

In March 1949, London's Daily Mirror printed a series of stories about a so-called vampire killer, John George Haigh. The suspect had confessed to murdering nine people to drink their blood Readers bought into the newspaper's sensational coverage, and despite the fact that the case turned out to the contrary, some authors today still promote the Mirror's nonsense. Thus, Haigh lives on as one of history's "human vampires." Yet when professionals fail to do responsible research, their analyses muddy the water. At best, the "Acid-bath Murderer" presents an excellent example of malingering, while the acceptance of his fabrications suggests that when comparing fallacy to fact the titillation factor can have an impact. What precipitated Haigh's arrest on February 20, 1949, was the report of a missing woman. Haigh himself asked the police to help locate Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon, age 69 and a resident of the Onslow Court Hotel in South Kensington. The previous day, she had failed to show up for an appointment with him, she'd missed dinner, and that morning she had been absent from breakfast. Since she kept a strict routine, Durand-Deacon's friends were certain something was wrong.