Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

Serial Killer: "Bible John"

"Bible John" is an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have murdered three young women between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Each of the victims of Bible John were young brunette women between the ages of 25 and 32, and all had met their murderer at the Barrowland Ballroom: a dance hall and music venue in the city. The perpetrator has never been identified and the case remains both unsolved, and one of the most extensive manhunts in Scottish criminal history.

The murders committed by Bible John would prove to be the first time in Scotland in which the Crown Office authorized the publication of a composite drawing of an individual suspected of murder for public viewing.

This unidentified serial killer became known as "Bible John" due to his having repeatedly quoted from the Bible and to have condemned any form of adultery while in the company of his final victim. The known movements and modus operandi of convicted serial killer and rapist Peter Tobin have given rise to suspicions that he may be Bible John.

First murders

Patricia Docker

On 23 February 1968, the naked body of a 25-year-old auxiliary nurse named Patricia Docker was found in the doorway of a lock-up garage by a man on his way to work in Battlefield, South Glasgow. The location of her body was only yards from her home in Langside Place. Her body bore evidence of extensive blunt force trauma—particularly to the face and head, and she had been strangled to death with a strong ligature, possibly a belt. Patricia's handbag, watch, and clothes were missing from the crime scene; her clothing was never found, although her handbag was later recovered from the River Cart by an underwater search unit, whereas her watch was recovered from a pool of water close to the scene of her murder.

Extensive door-to-door inquiries in the area produced a woman who recalled hearing a female scream, "Leave me alone!" the previous evening, although little hard evidence was discovered at the crime scene. Nonetheless, an ambulanceman who retrieved the body informed investigators the victim had been a nurse who worked at Mearnskirk Hospital in nearby Renfrewshire. Consequently, the victim was formally identified by her father the following day.

The night prior to her murder, Patricia—a married mother of one estranged from her husband—had informed her parents of her intentions to spend the evening dancing at the Majestic Ballroom in nearby Hope Street, although for unknown reasons, she had chosen to spend the majority of the evening at the Barrowland Ballroom, likely to attend the over-25s night which the Barrowland hosted each Thursday. When she failed to return home that evening, her parents presumed she had opted to spend the evening with a friend. Police inquiries would only determine several days later that in the late evening, Patricia had left the Majestic Ballroom to attend the Barrowland, where she had likely encountered her killer.

A postmortem conducted by Gilbert Forbes at the University of Glasgow Medical School would confirm that the cause of death had been strangulation, and that Patricia's body bore no clear evidence of sexual assault. Furthermore, the stage of rigor mortis upon her body at the time of discovery indicated she had likely died shortly after she had left the Barrowland Ballroom. Investigators would conclude this individual had likely grabbed Patricia before repeatedly punching her and kicking her in the face as she twice screamed "Leave me alone!" He had then proceeded to rape Patricia before strangling her to death, before leaving her body—naked with only 1 shoe next to her—close to the doorway of the lock-up garage at Carmichael Place.

Jemima McDonald

On Saturday, 16 August 1969, a 32-year-old mother of three named Jemima McDonald also opted to attend the Barrowland Ballroom to spend the evening dancing. Jemima was a regular attendee of the Barrowland, and as per family custom, her sister, Margaret O'Brien, took care of her three children as Jemima attended the Barrowland. As midnight approached, Jemima was seen by several individuals to be in the company of a young, well-dressed and well-spoken man of slim build aged between 25 and 35 and between 6 ft 0 in and 6 ft 2 in (180 and 190 cm) in height. This individual had short, dark brown hair with fair streaks, likely spoke with a distinctive Glaswegian accent, and occasionally inserted brief Biblical quotations into his conversation.