Life & Death of Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen

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Here is your weekly dose of “Everything Strange,” literally a list of everything strange happening around us. So let’s start with

Today's Strange History (September 9, 2020)

1st Flight: Exactly 112 years ago, today in 1908 Orville Wright made 1st 1-hr airplane flight from Fort Myer, Va.

1st Bombing: In 1942, 1st bombing on continental US soil occurred at Mount Emily, Oregon during WWII by Japanese planes.

1st Bug: Today in 1945 1st "bug" in a computer program was discovered by Grace Hopper. A moth was removed with tweezers from a relay & taped into the log.

Baddest Man on the Planet: In 1991, professional boxer Mike Tyson was indicted for rape of Desiree Washington.

Queen: 5 years ago, today in 2015 Queen Elizabeth II became Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch at 63 years and 7 months, beating the previous record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Literature: In 2019 it was announced that according to scholar Jason Scott-Warren, Poet John Milton's own copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623 has survived with his annotations in Philadelphia library - could be world's most important modern literary discovery.

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What is today?

Today i.e. 9th September is

🤫 Quiet Day

🧸 Teddy Bear Day

😋 Steak Au Poivre Day

🤤 Wienerschnitzel Day

🤡 Wonderful Weirdos Day (It's our day - Strangers)

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Strange Case of the day: Life & Death of Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen aka Muswell Hill Murderer

Childhood

1. He was the 2nd of 3 children.

2. His mother had multiple marriages.

3. He was very close to his maternal grandfather.

4. He later described this stage of his childhood as one of contentment, and his grandfather being his "great hero and protector"

5. After death of his grandfather, Nilsen became more quiet and withdrawn.

6. He grew to resent what he saw as unfair amount of attention his mother, grandmother and later, stepfather displayed towards his older brother and younger sister.

Adulthood

1. At the onset of puberty, Nilsen discovered he was homosexual, which initially confused and shamed him.

2. On one occasion he sexually fondled her younger sister.

3. He made no efforts to seek sexual contact with any of his peers, although he later said he had been fondled by an older youth and did not find the experience unpleasant.

4. Once he also caressed and fondled the body of his older brother as he slept.

5. As a result of this, his brother suspected he was homosexual and regularly belittled him in public — referring to Dennis as "hen" (Scottish slang for "girl")

6. He later joined army.

7. He began to increase his intake of alcohol and described himself & his colleagues as a "hard-working, boozy lot"

8. He was later posted in Yemen.

9. He slowly developed fantasies of sex with an unresistant or deceased partner.

10. Nilsen compensated by imagining sexual encounters with an unconscious body as he masturbated while looking at his own prone, nude body in a mirror.

11. Once he discovered that, by using a free-standing mirror, he could create an effect whereby if positioning the mirror so his head was out of view, he could visualise himself engaged in a sexual act with another man.

12. In later life he stated that he found intercourse with a female both "over-rated" and "depressing".

13. He then joined Metropolitan Police and moved to London.

14. Nilsen began frequenting gay pubs and engaged in several casual liaisons with men. He viewed these encounters as "soul-destroying" and a "vain search for inner peace" as he sought a lasting relationship.

Crimes

1. Nilsen is known to have killed a minimum of 12 men and boys, and to have attempted to kill 7 others.

2. Majority of Nilsen's victims were homeless or homosexual men; others were heterosexual people he typically met in bars, on public transport or on one occasion — outside his own home.

3. All of his murders were committed inside the two North London addresses where he resided in the years he is known to have killed.

4. His victims were lured to these addresses through guile — typically the offer of alcohol and/or shelter.

5. Inside Nilsen's home, the victims were usually given food and alcohol, then strangled either to death or until they had become unconscious.

6. If the victim had been strangled into unconsciousness, Nilsen then drowned him in his bathtub, his sink or a bucket of water before observing a ritual in which he bathed, clothed and retained the bodies inside his residences for several weeks or, occasionally, months before he dismembered them.

7. Each victim killed between 1978 and 1981 at his Cricklewood residence was disposed of via burning upon a bonfire.

8. Prior to their dissection, Nilsen removed their internal organs, which he disposed of either beside a fence behind his flat, or close to Gladstone Park.

9. The victims killed in 1982 and 1983 at his Muswell Hill residence were retained at his flat, with their flesh and smaller bones flushed down the lavatory.

10. Nilsen admitted to engaging in masturbation as he viewed the nude bodies of several of his victims, and to have engaged in sexual acts with 6 of his victims' bodies, but was adamant he had never penetrated any of his victims.

Aftermath

1. His acts were found by a plumber.

2. Human remains were found and he was arrested.

3. In an interview, Nilsen confessed there were further human remains stowed in a tea chest in his living room, with other remains inside an upturned drawer in his bathroom.

4. When questioned as to whether he had any remorse for his crimes, Nilsen replied: "I wished I could stop, but I couldn't. I had no other thrill or happiness".

5. He also emphasised that he took no pleasure from the act of killing, but "worshipped the art and the act of death".

6. He was charged with 6 counts of murder and 2 of attempted murder.

7. The trial began with Nilsen being asked by the chief administrator of the court whether he entered a plea of guilty or not guilty in relation to each charge.

8. In response to each charge, Nilsen entered a plea of not guilty.

9. Upon completion of his pleas, the jury was sworn into the courtroom.

10. After few days of intense cross-examination, the jury returned with a majority verdict of guilty.

11. Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years' imprisonment.

12. Later this was replaced by a whole life sentence to ensure he would never be released from prison, a punishment he accepted.

Death

1. He gave a TV interview.

2. He was attacked in prison by other inmates.

3. In the prison workshop, Nilsen translated books into braille.

4. He spent much of his free time reading and writing.

5. He was allowed to paint and compose music upon a keyboard.

6. He also exchanged letters with numerous people who sought his correspondence.

7. Nilsen composed an unpublished, 400-page autobiography, entitled The History of a Drowning Boy.

8. A copy of the autobiography remains in the possession of one of the people with whom Nilsen corresponded and in whom Nilsen held unquestioning trust.

9. After complaining of severe stomach pains he was taken to hospital.

10. Nilsen died on 12 May 2018 (aged 72).

11. A subsequent post-mortem examination revealed that the immediate cause of Nilsen's death was pulmonary embolism and retroperitoneal haemorrhage.

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So will end today’s strangeness here. I covered Dennis Nilsen because soon a new ITV drama about him is coming out and his case was getting a lot of attention. And as always, please give me feedback. What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Let me know! Email me at StrangeButTrue@substack.com.

Thanks for reading! Everything I write here is completely for free, just out of my love for researching history, crime, criminals & the paranormal. It would mean a lot to me if you could share this with 1 of your friends; an Instagram or Whatsapp share works too. Bye, talk to you on Saturday.