Welcome to Oaktober Fest, The Dark Oak's celebration of the spooky month of October! Every week this month, we will bring you a case that is sure to get you in the creepy mood.

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On April 18, 1943, local boys Robert Hart, Thomas Willetts, Bob Farmer and Fred Payne wandered into Hagley Wood, part of the estate belonging to Lord Cobham near Wychbury Hill, when they came across a large wych elm.

The wych elm before them was ancient with a gnarled base and long stretched out branches growing in every direction. To the boys, this tree looked like the perfect place to look for their treasure. Young Bob Farmer climbed into the creepy limbs of an elm tree, and reached into the hollow of a tree to retrieve what he thought was a beautiful egg. But he was mistaken, and terror crossed his face when he realized he had discovered a woman's head.

The mystery of the woman in the wych elm takes us through a trail of WWII spies, espionage, witchcraft, the cult, domestic violence and savagery. All to answer the ultimate question of Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

Sources:

Armitage, R., & Stein, L. (2023, April 6). Unravelling the 80-year-old mystery of the woman found in a wych elm in Hagley Wood. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-07/mystery-over-who-put-bella-down-the-wych-elm-/102171844

Warburton_Warrior. (n.d.). Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? - Revisited, and new information? : r/UnresolvedMysteries. https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/nxgdb1/who_put_bella_in_the_wych_elm_revisited_and_new/

Lockley, M. (2018, February 25). Revealed after 75 years: The face of Bella in the Wych Elm. Birmingham Live. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/revealed-after-75-years-face-14329271

Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? (2019, February 21). CrimeReads. https://crimereads.com/who-put-bella-in-the-wych-elm/

Trust, W. (n.d.). English Elm (Ulmus procera) - British Trees - Woodland Trust. Woodland Trust. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/english-elm/

Fenton, N., Neil, M., Risk and Information Management Research Group, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, & Queen Mary University of London. (2014). Who put Bella in the wych-elm? A Bayesian analysis of a 70 year-old mystery (pp. 2–4). https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~norman/projects/bella/Bella.pdf

Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? | ag-website. (n.d.). Ag-website. https://www.adamgerber.co.uk/bella

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep