Yes! There was actually a Sweeney Todd:

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd, the English boogeyman was born into a world of violence, disorder and a place where brutal punishments for crime were the norm. The year was 1748 and London was a dire, dark place to live. Both of his parents were alcoholics; gin was the drink of choice. Just having been introduced from the Netherlands, gin was much cheaper than the sherry or wine so often desired by the working class. Often signs of the times bore messages such as "drunk for a penny, dead drunk for two pence”. Gin was not only a cause for lower life expectancies in London but also a cause for child neglect and endangerment. Young Sweeney was left on his own to learn about life. There were no sober, caring parents to oversee his life passage or for him to learn empathy for his fellow man and develop a conscious to guide him in later life.

Sweeney lived in the shadow of the Tower of London and spent hours there at the museum musing the instruments of torture. Both historical and contemporary accounts note that he took delight in the Tower worker’s stories of torture and pain. He commented on his disdain for any affection his mother attempted to show him when not under the influence of gin in his court testimony: "I was fondled and kissed and called a pretty boy," he testified. "But later I used to wish I was strong enough to throttle her. What the devil did she bring me into this world for unless she had plenty of money to give me so that I might enjoy myself in it?" It seems his selfish, egotistical sociopathic personality was full blown at an early age.

One could hardly blame the lad, it seems as if fate had destined his path to be one of darkness. At age 12, Sweeney’s parents left in search of their beloved gin and never returned. There was no intent recorded that they meant to abandon him, it is thought that perhaps they were lost on their quest or perhaps frozen, it was the dead of winter. No one seems to know what exactly happened, but Sweeney testified that the abandonment just like everything else in his life was ‘expected’. He gave the following account of his birth and family during the interrogation after his arrest: "The church I was christened at burnt down the day after, and all the books burned. My mother and father are dead, and the nurse was hanged and the doctor cut his throat."

Todd was turned over to the local parish, which found apprenticeships for young orphans. Soon young Sweeney was turned over to a local blacksmith in charge of manufacturing and sharpening knives and razors. Apprentices in the 18th century were little more than slaves to their masters. They lived in dismal poverty and worked endless hours. All of the earnings of the apprentice became property of the master. Anyone could take on an apprentice and often those who did were thieves or worse. Often the apprentices were caught up in a scheme, which lead him to the gallows. This almost happened to Sweeney when he was convicted two years after the onset of his apprenticeship, of petty larceny. For once in his life, lady luck smiled on Sweeney Todd. The judge took pity upon him and he was ordered to serve 5 years in Newgate prison. The leniency of the judge was very unusual, as even petty thievery often ended in death on the gallows.

Newgate prison was in actuality not much of a better place than the gallows. Reform was not the name of the game. The prison housed all ages of criminals and the cruelty to the younger prisoners was infamous. Only the inmates with money or family on the outside willing to help were able to pay off the vicious jailers and older inmates. Somehow Sweeney relying on his survival instincts managed to convince Plummer the prison barber who was also an inmate, that his services as a cutler would be an asset as a soap boy for him. One of Plummer’s duties was to shave an inmate prior to his execution. Sweeney often helped with this. Plummer and Sweeney hit it off, both being unscrupulous and dishonest. Sweeney soon learned how to filch change from his reclining customers all the while planning to even the score once he was released. His hatred for his lowly position in life and in prison was slowly festering in his soul.

At age 19 Sweeney was released from prison and set himself up as a ‘flying barber’, a gypsy barber who was fiercely territorial. Protecting that territory often led to bloodshed. During this time, Sweeney committed his first murder. One of his customers bragged about tasting the favors of a woman fitting the description of Sweeney’s lover at the time. "My first 'un was a young gent at Hyde Park Corner," he would later confess. "Slit him from ear to ear, I did." Although never convicted of the crime, Sweeney ended his relationship with the lover and moved on to better places, Fleet Street.
Next to the barber shop on Fleet Street was St. Dunstan’s Church which had beneath it tunnels and catacombs which were believed to house long dead parishioners. One of the tunnels ran at a 45-degree angle beneath Sweeney’s barbershop. Sweeney learned of these tunnels, whether it was before or after he purchased the lease on 186 Fleet Street will never be known. Fleet Street got its name from the filthy Fleet Ditch, which at one time ran parallel to the street and served as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste and garbage. Fleet Ditch still courses through London today, even though it is underground in the city's extensive sewer system. In the 18th century, Fleet Street housed mostly bars and it was a haven for gin drinkers, harlots and cutthroats.
At 186 Fleet Street, between St. Dunstan's Church and the Hen & Chicken Court, Sweeney Todd hung out his shingle with the catchy rhyme "Easy shaving for a penny —As good as you will find any." Also noted on a sign in the window were the other services offered by a barber at the time: teeth pulling, blood letting, wound treatment etc. The shop held one chair in the center of the room and the upstairs Sweeney used as an apartment. The basement would soon be used for more nefarious affairs.

Getting rid of the body is the most difficult part of a murder. Sweeney took this into account by cutting a square hole in the floor of the shop. According to crime library: “He then attached a pipe to the center of the bottom of the cut out, and fastened the pipe to the ceiling of the basement. Then Sweeney fashioned a series of levers that would allow him to withdraw a latch holding the square in place. When the customer reclined in the chair, his weight would cause the trap door to rotate, tumbling the unwitting victim into the basement below. Another barber chair, fastened to the bottom of the trap door would swing up into place, ready for the next victim.” This solved the problem of anyone walking into a barbershop without a chair and allowed him to rush to the basement and finish off his victim if necessary.
There are various descriptions of the demon barber, but most agree he was an unusually foreboding vision with his bright red hair and ruddy complexion. He always wore a grimace and was constantly complaining about the crime, poverty and drunkenness outside of his doorway. He frequented the bars but never touched gin, preferring the more luxurious brandy. His eyes were described as having an evil glow and “agleam with cunning and greed”. There are stories that apprentices he took in were treated worse than he had been and one was even committed to a local asylum after spending time under his supervision.

By this time, Sweeney had become an accomplished murderer. Whispers and reports of murders by a demon barber had begun to circulate in the local penny dreadfuls (gossip newspapers). One report was of a man arguing with a barber on Fleet Street who then disappeared never to be heard from again. A second murder occurred when a young apprentice dropped in for a haircut at Sweeney’s shop. He mentioned that he was carrying a large sum of money for his master. The apprentice was never seen leaving the barbershop and never heard from again. A third man was seen to be in a heated argument with Sweeney Todd and turned up with his throat slit and his back broken. Although there were whispers and suspicions, the police never questioned Sweeney Todd. He was however taken to trial for murdering a Jewish pawnbroker near his shop, but the judgment was ‘temporary insanity’ and again Sweeney avoided the hangman’s noose.

The story surely doesn’t end there. Sweeney Todd’s life was much more interesting after he brought in an accomplice, one who is even shrouded in more mystery than Sweeney Todd. Most call her Marjery Lovett, although some say her name was Sarah. She was a widow whose husband had died under mysterious circumstances. Far from fair of face, articles written at the time of her arrest describe her smile as: “not from her heart, but was as false as the veal filling in her pies.” The pair were lovers although never seen together in public. Their passion was fueled after a successful butchering job. Sweeney set Marjery up in her pie shop in Bell Yard because he was running out of room in the tunnels beneath the church and barbershop. Perhaps Sweeney had been busier than anyone ever imagined.

Thomas Peckett Prest was the first to document the story of Sweeney Todd and Marjery Lovett after their arrest. He told of the false wall in the basement of the pie shop, which opened into the catacombs where Sweeney lovingly supplied the meat for her pies. Prest described the shop this way: "On the left side of Bell Yard, going down from Carey Street, was, at the time we write of, one of the most celebrated shops for the sale of veal and pork pies that London had ever produced. High and low, rich and poor, resorted to it; its fame had spread far and wide; and at twelve o'clock every day when the first batch of pies was sold there was a tremendous rush to obtain them. Oh, those delicious pies," wrote Prest (who probably sampled one or two in his time). "There was about them a flavour never surpassed and rarely equaled; the paste was of the most delicate construction, and impregnated with the aroma of delicious gravy that defied description." There are stories that Marjery had assistants from time to time, but if any of them began to suspect the source of the meat for the pies, they too became ‘pie filling’.

St. Dunstan’s had become a source of concern for its parishioners. Bodies had been stored in the catacombs for years, but the intense putrid smell became sickening. The ladies started fainting at services, the complaints became intense and the authorities started to investigate as to why the odor had become so unbearable. Even though there was constant gossip about missing visitors to the Fleet Street Barbershop, it was some time until Sir Richard Blunt chief of the police force took matters into his own hands. After weeks of investigation Sir Richard connected the story of missing sailors to Sweeney Todd. Obtaining proper papers he entered the church tunnels. What he found is written in an account of Sweeney Todd’s trial: "Piled one upon each other and reaching halfway up to the ceiling, lay a decomposing mass of human remains. Heaped one upon another heedlessly tossed into the disgusting heap any way, lay pieces of gaunt skeletons with pieces of flesh here and there only adhering to the bones. Heads in a similar state of decay were tumbled about, the whole enough to strike such horror into the heart of any man.” Sir Richard followed blood stained footprints that lead to the back of the pie shop in Bell Yard. Putting two and two together, he determined that Sweeney Todd was killing his clients and supplying the meat for Marjery Lovett’s meat pies.

This was still not enough evidence for Sweeney Todd’s arrest. Sir Richard commanded that the police to use the barbershop but to never go alone and to keep close tabs on the demon barber, in hopes to get a chance to search his apartment. Two days after the search of the catacombs, a veritable treasure trove of evidence was found in the apartment. Sir Richard dispatched the Bow Runners (local police officers) to arrest Mrs. Lovett, but it was not without incidence. When the numerous customers who were eating the delicious pies found out the main ingredient, they attempted to lynch her before she was taken into custody. Sweeney Todd was arrested without incident and placed in Newgate prison before the residents of Fleet Street knew of the Bell Yard Horror.

The report of the horrors was sensationalized in the London papers. Sir Richard Blunt was considered a hero. Marjery Lovett confessed her crimes willingly and revealed the entire plot and Sweeney Todd’s part in it. She felt she was on the edge of her grave and intended to come clean before she faced the gallows and intended to take Sweeney Todd down with her. Unfortunately she almost squashed the entire case. In December 1801, Marjery Lovett was found dead by poison in her cell at Newgate prison. No one knows how she got the poison surmising she had it hidden on her person at the time of arrest or perhaps being a woman of means, she had bribed one of the prison guards. Of course no one owned up to the crime and it would remain a mystery. Without her personal testimony, the prosecution of Sweeney Todd was compromised.

The trial of Sweeney Todd was an event of the century. Sir Richard Blunt played dual roles as Police chief and prosecutor. Sweeney was on trial for only one slaying, that of a seaman, Francis Thornhill. Sir Richard figured a guilty verdict for the one positively identified body was enough to send Todd to the gallows. Most of the other bodies were beyond identification anyway. It was noted at the trial that personal property for at least 160 victims had been found in Todd’s apartment. Exact testimony from the trial can be found at the Crime library . Even with expert testimony, most of the evidence was circumstantial. Sir Richard as prosecutor had wished that Mrs. Lovett had remained alive to deliver her damning testimony.

The jury deliberated only fiveminutes to deliver a guilty verdict. Sweeney Todd rose to his feet bellowing “I am NOT guilty!”

The Judge passed the sentence: “It is now my painful duty to pass upon you the sentence of the law, which is that you be taken from here to a place of execution and hanged by the neck until dead. May Heaven have mercy upon you.
"You cannot expect that society can do otherwise than put out of life someone who, like yourself, has been a terror and a scourge."

On January 25th, 1802, Sweeney Todd was strung upon the gallows of Newgate prison before a crowd of thousands. He was reported to have “died hard”. His body was turned over to aspiring barber-surgeons and was dissected, inspected and probed. In the end he was very much like his victims, a pile of bones and meat fitting for a delicious pie.

Sweeney Todd still lives on the stage and screen. Numerous movies and stage productions carry on the legend. You can check the out at IMDB.com.

Look for the newest version starring Johnny Depp at Christmas.

Until then, Merry Christmas from Horror-Web and may all your Meat Pies be extra sweet!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
aka "Sweeney Todd" - USA (short title)
Sweeney Todd (2006) (TV)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936)
aka "Sweeney Todd"
Sweeney Todd (1928)
Sweeney Todd (1926)

For further information or discuss this visit the Cesspool!

The Headless Horseman is one of the creepiest and most frightful ghosts to roam our world. There are many legends of the headless ghost riding his massive steed and terrorizing anyone who is unlucky enough to stand in his way.  He is known by several names according to legend: simply ‘the headless horseman’, Dullahan, the Dead One and El Muerto. Tales of his appearance have come from Scotland, New England and Texas as well as countless other places that have been ravaged by war. He rides through the night on his black steed, his dark cape flying behind him as he wields his gilded sword.

According to Scottish and Irish legend, a visit from the Headless Horseman is a foreshadowing of death. In one specific Irish legend the warning of death is taken even a step further. The legend is intermixed with the Irish fairy world and the result is the Dullahan who uses his head for supernatural powers. By holding up his head, he can see clearly for miles. Those who choose to watch him are rewarded with buckets of blood thrown into their faces. The Dullahan, like most of the headless ghosts, keeps his head tied to the saddle horn, but he differs in that he uses a human spine as a whip.

Probably the most famous Headless Horseman is the Hessian Trooper in Washington Irving’s 1819 romantic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow--it is not only a classic but also a building block of American Literature. The vengeful Hessian trooper who was decapitated by a cannonball during an unnamed Revolutionary War Battle was portrayed as even more horrific in the 1999 Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.

Of course there is the Headless Horseman from the Harry Potter Series and the portrayal by John Cleese of  ‘Nearly Headless Nick’ the ghost of Gryffindor Tower who wants desperately to join the Headless Horseman on his hunts but is denied because his head is not totally severed.

The lesser-known but even more terrifying Headless Horseman is Texas’ El Muerto. His cape is a serape and his severed head sports a sombrero. Just like the others of his ilk, he keeps his head securely mounted on the saddle horn. There is possibly some truth to this legend. He was perhaps a real man named Vidal who raided ranches and rustled cattle while roaming the untamed Southern Texas ranch land, and soon he had a high price on his head – “dead or alive.” During that summer, a Comanche raid pulled most of the men northward to fight off the attack.  In the meantime, the sparse settlements were temporarily left unguarded.  Vidal, along with three of his henchmen, wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation and gathered up a considerable number of horses on the San Antonio River, heading southwest toward Mexico.  In a dramatic example of frontier justice, a famous Texas Ranger, Big Foot Wallace beheaded Vidal then lashed him firmly into a saddle on the back of a wild mustang.  Tying the Outlaw’s hands to the pommel and securing the torso to hold him upright, Big Foot then attached Vidal’s head and sombrero to the saddle with a long strip of rawhide.  He then turned the bucking horse loose to wander the Texas hills with its terrible burden on his back.  Soon, stories began to abound about the headless rider seen usually in remote country, with its sombreroed head swinging back and forth to the rhythm of horse’s gallop. 

As time went on, more and more cowboys spotted the dark horse with its fearsome cargo and not knowing what it was they riddled it with bullets. But the horse and its rider rode on and the legend of El Muerto, the headless one, began.  Soon, the South Texas brush country became a place to avoid as El Muerto was credited with all kinds of evil and misfortune.

There are several other movies depicting the Headless Horseman according to IMDB: