I was around eleven or twelve years old when I first learned about Bella properly. My bus route home from school ran close to Wychbury Hill, right past a field which had a sign reading ‘Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm’ stuck in a hedge. The sign (I have no idea if it’s still there; probably not) matched graffiti which has been appearing around the area since March 1944, just over a year after the body of ‘Bella’ was found in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire. 

But who was Bella, and, indeed, who put her in the wych elm?

In April 1943, four young boys were (illegally) searching for eggs in Hagley Wood. One of them, Bob Farmer, climbed up into a wych elm tree and reached in to pick up what he thought was an animal skull. Unfortunately for Bob, the skull, complete with distinctive teeth and a clump of hair, belonged to a human woman.

The four boys decided not to tell anyone about their discovery – they had been trespassing, after all – but the youngest, Tommy Willetts, ended up telling his father. The subsequent investigation by police uncovered the woman’s full skeleton, a gold wedding ring and a pair of blue shoes. A piece of taffeta had been stuffed in her mouth and her left hand, oddly, had been buried about thirteen paces away from the tree where the rest of her body was located.

It was determined that the woman was aged around 35 at the time of death, which had been at least 18 months prior. She had had one child and was about 5 feet tall. The most likely cause of death was asphyxiation, due to the taffeta in her mouth and the fact that the hollow in the tree was just seventeen inches in diameter in places. She had been placed there almost immediately after – or, as one theory suggests, before – her death.

Police thought they would easily be able to discover the woman’s identity due to her distinctive teeth, but no match was found. Furthermore, the discovery happened in the middle of World War II, at which time there were many missing women in the area – though, again, no match was found.

Bella’s identity still remains a mystery, and the only reason we even have a name for her is because of the aforementioned graffiti. It was initially assumed that the culprit for the graffiti knew something about the case, but the discovery of his identity proved it was just a prank. Copycat graffiti has since been sporadically appearing, most famously on the Wychbury Obelisk.

There have been several theories both to Bella’s true identity and to how she ended up in the wych elm in the first place. None have been conclusively proven, but they make for interesting debate.

Theory 1: Witchcraft

You’d be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at this particular idea. First proposed by anthropologist Margaret Murray in 1945, this theory posits that Bella’s death had all the trappings of a ritual sacrifice. Though it may seem ridiculous, there is a certain amount of evidence to back it up.

The manner in which the body was found – i.e., with the severed hand thirteen paces away – is consistent with a ceremony known as the ‘Hand of Glory’, and the thirteen paces links to an ancient custom from witch executions. Wych elms, too, are tied to black magic, as is the plant belladonna, which apparently also has connections to Hagley Wood.

It’s unlikely to say the least, but the press and the public latched onto this idea, particularly after a man named Charles Walton was murdered in a ritualistic manner in February 1945.

Theory 2: Air raid

A more plausible theory is that Bella sought safety in Hagley Wood during an air raid. There, she may have been attacked and accidentally – or not – killed, at which time she was stuffed into the wych elm.

Unfortunately, there is very little evidence for this theory, and, even if it were to be true, it fails to explain both Bella’s identity and those of her attackers. Arguably, this is a larger mystery than how she ended up in the tree.

Theory 3: Una Mossop

In 1953, a woman going by the name of ‘Anna’ contacted police to say that Bella was a Dutchwoman who had arrived in England illegally in 1941. She had been involved in a pro-German spy ring with ‘Anna’s’ husband and a Dutchman named van Rolt. 

You will never solve the mystery. The one person who could give the answer is beyond the jurisdiction of earthly courts. The affair is closed and involves no witches, black magic, or moonlight rites… The person responsible died insane in 1942, and the victim was Dutch and arrived illegally in England about 1941.

Anna’s statement

‘Anna’ was revealed to be Una Mossop. Her husband, Jack, was an RAF officer who, according to Una, met Bella and van Rolt for drinks in a local pub. Bella, drunk, later passed out in a car and was put in the tree by the two men in the hope that she would wake up in the morning and see the error of her ways.

Some of Una’s claims allegedly could be verified, and there were German spies parachuting into the area at the time. But Jack Mossop died in a Stafford mental hospital in 1942 (apparently tormented by a nightmare of a woman staring out at him from a tree) and the fact that Una did not come forward until ten years after the body was discovered has cast doubt on the theory.

Theory 4: Clara Bauerle

This theory also links to espionage, and it is the one which is most often told in the local area to this day. Indeed, it is the one I was told when I first asked about Bella – though in somewhat less detail.

Declassified MI5 files have revealed a number of German spies parachuting into the Midlands around the same time of Bella’s probable death. One such file, that of Josef Jakobs (the last man to be put to death in the Tower of London) reveals that he was parachuted into Britain in 1941 and immediately captured by the Home Guard after suffering a broken ankle. He carried with him a photo of notable actress, Clara Bauerle, also a spy who had been due to parachute into the Midlands in 1941. 

Clara had been born in 1906, making her 35, and she had spent two years performing in music halls around the West Midlands. As a result, she was able to speak English with a strong Brummie accent. 

A semi-connected theory by writer David McCormick posits the existence of an Agent ‘Clara’ who had parachuted into the Midlands in 1941 and failed to make radio contact. McCormick’s idea lacked evidence at the time and was dismissed, but Clara Bauerle’s career appears to have come to an abrupt end after this date, with no records of performances or recordings bearing her name anywhere.

It’s certainly an intriguing theory and convincing enough to persuade most. Unfortunately, the wind is somewhat taken out of its sails by the 2016 discovery that Clara Bauerle had, in fact, died in Berlin in December 1942.

For all this speculation, however, the true identity of Bella will likely never be discovered. Thanks to facial reconstruction, we may now know what she looked like, but DNA tests are impossible, as the whereabouts of Bella’s skeleton are unknown. The tree, too, is gone, long since rotted away and buried among the younger trees of Hagley Wood.

Yet Bella’s legend lives on. Locally, some children hear her story on the playground, and most in the area know at least some about it. As is the case with most unsolved crimes, speculation over who she was still fascinates, and it likely will for many more years.

Sources:

• Is this the Bella in the wych elm? Unravelling the mystery of the skull found in a tree trunk | The Independent | The Independent
• Revealed after 75 years: The face of Bella in the Wych Elm – Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
• The Creepy Quandary of Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm – YouTube
• Mystery. Murder. And half a century of suspense | The Independent | The Independent