it was all whirlwind, heat and flash…

so i dont know why, but ive always been unfailingly fascinated with psycho killers and murderers and stories of violent atrocities.
i dont know what it is, maybe because ive had such a sparkling, care-free life, because ive hardly been touched by death or harm…im so entranced by something so opposite from what ive experienced? im not sure.
regardless, i stumbled upon Myra Hindley’s photograph on this iconic photos blog (which is genuinely worth a look) and i realized i didnt actually know much about her case.
in 1966, Myra and her lover Ian Brady were convicted of murdering and sexually assaulting 5 but possibly 6/7 boys and girls aged 10-17 and then burying them in Saddleworth Moor.
This is Myra with her dog, Puppet, at John Kilbride’s grave (one of their victims)…spooky…

Myra never admitted to actually murdering any of the children. once she confessed, she insisted that she was always somewhere else (in the kitchen, looking out the window, running a bath) while Ian killed them. however, Myra always played a key role in the abduction of the victims…Myra convinced the first victim, 16 year old Pauline Reade, to come along with her to the moor in order to search for a lost expensive glove…Myra has admitted:

” My crime was worse than Brady’s because I enticed the children and they would never have entered the car without my role.”

but in other instances, Myra said that Ian drugged her in order to convince her to go along with the crimes (thats called pullin a Patty Hearst). she and Ian were given multiple life sentences and Myra continually petitioned for her early release but died, incarcerated at the age of 60. Ian, on the other hand, asked to be put in solitary confinement and has said that he never wants to be released. he is the longest serving prisoner in England and Wales and has attempted suicide through hunger strikes. he promised to give up additional information for the right to kill himself, but was denied…hes still alive as of now and has published a book called The Gates of Janus, an analysis of serial murder and specific serial killers.

from wikipedia regarding their relationship:

“Brady asked her [Hindley] on a date to the cinema where they watched a film about the Nuremberg Trials. Their dates together followed a regular pattern; a trip to the cinema, usually to watch an adult film, and then back to Hindley’s house to drink German wine. Brady then gave her reading material, and the pair spent their work lunch breaks reading aloud to one another from accounts of Nazi atrocities. Hindley began to emulate an ideal of Aryan perfection, dying her hair blonde and applying thick crimson lipstick.”

mm, i do love a good riesling…
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there are two made for tv films about the case. the first is Longford for HBO and it concentrates on Frank Pakenham, the Earl of Longford and his unsuccessful 1985 campaign to get Myra Hindley paroled.
he contested that she was merely a political prisoner, that she had repented her sins and become a changed woman. a year after the campaign started, Myra admitted to two more murders but the Earl did not relent his crusade.
this is now at the top of my netflix list, but, i must say…Samantha Morton just cannot pull off those psycho Myra eyes, she kinda looks freaked out…right? i dunno, maybe shes got it….

anyway the second film, is called See No Evil…this totally has a Twin Peaks vibe. now this Myra looks evil and calculating and manipulative…

i guess in Longford, theyre trying to make her out to be a victim of circumstance, coming from an abusive household etc. but yeah, here shes an ax wielding maniac…i mean, bitch was a lying psychopath, lets tell it like it is. i wish i could find more pictures, but its an English series so, this is all i could find.


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and thenn, theres the Marcus Harvey painting “Myra” composed of stenciled children’s hand prints…part of the 1997 Sensation exhibition, and perhaps the most controversial of all the works included in the show. viewers were disgusted by it, even Myra herself said the artist should remove it from the show. it was attacked with eggs and ink and had to be put behind perspex….but i mean…think about it! its demented, its perfect, its fear and inhumanity objectified…
art critic Richard Cork wrote:

“Far from cynically exploiting her notoriety, Harvey’s grave and monumental canvas succeeds in conveying the enormity of the crime she committed. Seen from afar, through several doorways, Hindley’s face looms at us like an apparition. By the time we get close enough to realise that it is spattered with children’s handprints, the sense of menace becomes overwhelming.”

yes.
ugh, there is so much out there about her. just go look it up yerself….
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ok! final thing, and what i think is my most exciting find during this fevered research….
this: Raymond Pettibon’s cover for Sonic Youth’s Goo….

is based on this: a paparazzi photo of Myra’s sister Maureen and her husband David Smith arriving at Myra and Ian’s trial in 1966….David Smith witnessed the pair’s last murder, and it was his phone call to the police that started the entire investigation….

ugh…i did not mean to end up on this rant….i had some other things i wanted to mention…but i guess theyll just have to wait. i can’t help it that interests are interesting…