Canvas Bag.  The body of a young woman is found hacked up and stuffed in a canvas sack from a local grocery warehouse. The police must now comb through hundreds of missing person reports to find out who the victim was.

canvas bag - 1952

Opening in 1875, the Crime Museum at Scotland Yard is the oldest museum in the world purely for recording crime. The name Black Museum was coined in 1877 by a reporter from The Observer, a London newspaper, although the museum is still referred to as the Crime Museum. The idea of a crime museum was conceived by Inspector Neame who had already collected together a number of items, with the intention of giving police officers practical instruction on how to detect and prevent burglary. It is this museum that inspired the Black Musuem radio series.

The museum is not open to members of the public but is now used as a lecture theatre for the curator to lecture police and like bodies in subjects such as Forensic Science, Pathology, Law and Investigative Techniques. A number of famous people have visited the musuem including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

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Visual Arts

door key - 1952

Prescription.  A woman in long-term care decides to leave a sizable chunk of her estate to the nurse who has cared for her. Most curiously, her health then takes a turn for the worse.

prescription - 1952

Post Card.  When a man finds his recently wed wife in her bedroom with her head severed, the investigation reveals a double life she had been leading which may have been behind her death.

post card - 1952

Pink Powder Puff.  A murderer about to be executed recounts to the warden the deeds that led to his sentencing, as well as a couple that were never tied to him.

pink powder puff - 1952

Piece of Iron Chain.  A young heiress has had an attempt on her life by someone pretending to be her fathers ghost. Naturally, the police suspect her next of kin, but discover that all three of them died within a few days of each other.

canvas bag - 1952

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