The Red Barn Murder

Imagine you're standing in front of a display case at a museum, Moises Hall Museum, to be precise.

The historic stone building in Suffolk, England, dates back to the 12th century and houses an eclectic mix of exhibits.

One tells the story of William Corder and the Red Barn murder of 1827.

Among the artifacts in the case are William's death mask and a book detailing his crimes and trial bound in William's skin.

Next to that is a second piece of his skin, including his ear, preserved for nearly two centuries.

Before William was even convicted of killing his lover, Maria Martin, the story had already become legendary.

Since then, the Red Barn murder has gone down in history as one of the most infamous crimes of its era.

It spawned ballads, sermons, and stage plays all over the world that are still put on to this day.

So what made this story so enduring?

Was it that the lives of both victim and killer felt particularly tragic?

Perhaps it was the prophetic nightmares that reportedly led Maria's father straight to the spot where William kept her remains hidden for months.

Or...

Maybe it has to do with the strange journey that William Corder's body took after his death, when he was dissected, displayed, and reportedly traded among collectors, leaving a string of ghost stories in his wake.

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Today's story starts in Suffolk, England, with a woman named Maria Martin.

Maria is born in 1801 in a quaint cottage in the village of Polested.

Her father is a molecer by trade.

It's a busy job in such a provincial area, and the family is comfortable, but not well off.

At a young age, Maria is sent away to become a domestic worker.

Her employer teaches her to read and write, but when Maria is just 10 years old, Her mother dies and her father needs help running the household.

So she moves back home, back to the cottage where she was born, just down the road from the Red Barn.

It's a looming structure known around town for the ominous glow it gives off during sunset.

When Maria is a bit older, probably in her late teens, she begins seeing a young man named Thomas.

He comes from a family of tenant farmers.

His father's in charge of working 300 acres of land, including the plot where the red barn sits.

They're of a higher social status than Maria, so it's likely that Thomas's family doesn't approve of their relationship, which is probably why they don't get married, even when Maria gets pregnant.

Now, before we go any further, a word of note.

Most of what we know about this case comes from the reporting of James Curtis, an eccentric journalist for the Times in London.

Some say he's one of the fathers of modern crime reporting.

More than a century before Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood, Curtis was staying up all night with murderers who were condemned to hang the next morning, taking down their stories.

He's devoted to reporting, but he also has to sell papers.

So when the Red Barn murder comes along, captivating the country, he jumps on it.

He sits in on the inquest and the trial, and he travels to Polstead for research.

But the way he speaks about Maria and her eventual killer William may be a little...

oversimplified.

He tends to make her out to be a hapless victim without a single human flaw, as if his readers couldn't accept her otherwise.

So, bear in mind, some of the story has been steeped in legend for so long, it's hard to separate truth from exaggeration.

What we do know is Maria has three children as an unmarried mother at a time when doing so leaves her with very limited options.

Her first child, by Thomas, dies in infancy and they stop seeing each other.

Her second, by a wealthy man living in London, survives and Maria keeps their son with her at her family's cottage, but she never marries.

Then,

William Corder enters her life.

William grew up in Polested too, close to Maria's cottage.

His family is well off and they work as tenant farmers.

And if that sounds like Maria's first beau Thomas, that's because William is Thomas' brother.

When William and Maria start seeing each other sometime around early 1826, the Red Barn becomes their go-to spot to meet up in secret.

The relationship isn't totally underwraps, though.

He stops by her family's house all the time.

and with certain people, he openly talks about the idea of marrying her.

When Maria gets pregnant that same year, her father and her stepmother, Anne, are well aware that William is the father.

So is her sister, who gets the feeling Maria isn't excited about the idea of marrying William.

She just feels like she should.

Maria disappears for a while to have the baby, and after she returns home, the child doesn't survive for long.

Nobody knows for certain what happens, but for now, everyone assumes the death is due to natural causes.

Later,

people won't be so sure.

They find it strange that, instead of burying the baby in town next to Maria's first child, William tells everyone he takes the baby to Sudbury.

The only explanation he gives is that's where the baby was born.

To this day, nobody knows the precise spot where the child is buried.

Now, with no pregnancy and no baby, it seems like Maria and William could go their separate ways if they wanted to.

But that's not what happens.

On May 18th, 1827, William shows up at Maria's house, flustered.

He comes bearing bad news.

The constable has a warrant out for Maria's arrest, presumably for being unable to provide for her living son.

So, William insists to Maria and her family members, now is the time.

They need to run away and get married.

He's even brought some men's clothing for her to wear as a disguise.

Maria wastes no time packing a bag and changing her clothes.

William waits for her by the fireplace, fiddling with his pistol.

As soon as she's dressed, Maria leaves from a different door than William, so they won't be spotted together.

They plan to meet at the Red Barn.

It's the last time Maria is seen alive.

Her little brother, George, takes notice when he spots William later that day, holding a pickaxe.

As far as the family knows, the couple was supposed to leave town.

Maria goes missing for 11 months, only for most of that time, no one has reason to suspect foul play.

Sure, they might find it strange that William shows up back in Polstead without Maria, but he always has an explanation.

He tells her family something went wrong with a marriage license and it's going to take some time to sort out.

For now, he's left Maria at a friend's house and he's returned to the farm to make sure things are in order.

After a string of tragedies, most of the responsibilities on the Corder farm have fallen to William.

First, his father died.

Then, Thomas, Maria's ex and William's brother, fell through the surface of an icy pond.

A search party worked for half an hour to pull him out, but by then, it was too late.

Now, William's two remaining brothers are in a losing battle with tuberculosis.

So, he repeatedly disappears for a few days, then returns to Polested to oversee the farm.

Over and over, he tells the Martins that Maria is fine and that they still plan to be married soon.

When Mr.

Martin asks why his daughter hasn't written them any letters, William says Maria hurt her hand.

He later claims she did write, but the letter must have gotten lost in the mail.

Throughout all of this, William keeps close watch over something.

The key to the red barn.

By September, He's collected his father's inheritance money and he tells the Martins he's finally leaving Polestead to reunite with Maria and marry her.

Before he goes, he directs his farmers to take all of the newly harvested crops and store them in a very specific part of the barn.

Then, William catches a ride from an acquaintance who asks about his bride-to-be.

William tells him, He actually hasn't seen Maria since last May either.

Why would he say he hasn't seen Maria after he he spent months convincing her family she's alive and well?

Who knows?

Maybe the truth just slipped.

Whatever the case, his honesty ends there.

He goes on to totally fabricate another chapter of his fake life with Maria.

He tells her family they've finally gotten married and are living out there happily ever after on the Isle of Wight.

But Mr.

Martin and his wife Anne grow more and more suspicious as 1827 draws to a close.

They still haven't received a single letter from Maria.

Around Christmas, Anne is plagued by two harrowing nightmares.

It's not the first time Maria has appeared to her in dreams, but it is the first time the dreams have gotten dark.

So dark that she has to tell her husband about them.

She's worried the nightmares might be telling her something.

Maria isn't on the Isle of Wight, and she's not alive.

She's been murdered and buried somewhere in the red barn.

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By early 1828, Maria's stepmother has a strong suspicion about where Maria has been.

Despite all of William's stories and excuses, Anne believes she might be dead, and some recent dreams might be trying to lead her to her stepdaughter's grave beneath the red barn.

Across the village, William has a troubling dream of his own in which all of his dead siblings march in front of him wearing white.

He doesn't know what to make of it, but he thinks it might be prophetic.

Like something significant is about to happen.

It's April before Anne convinces Maria's father to actually go to the Red Barn.

Keep in mind, it's not on his property.

It's filled with someone else's crops, and it probably feels a little superstitious to act upon Anne's visions.

But it is the last place Maria was headed before she disappeared 11 months ago.

So, after the corn harvest is removed, Mr.

Martin enlists a friend to help him search the premises.

Inside, the barn is mostly empty, except for some straw littered all over the floor.

They rake through it until they notice a spot where the ground has obviously been disturbed.

Mr.

Martin checks the area using the tool of his trade, a four-inch mole spike, which he plunges into the ground.

As soon as he pulls it up, he can tell something is wrong.

The spike looks and smells like it has hit decaying flush.

More delicately now, the two men brush away the gravel.

Just a foot and a half below the surface, they find Maria.

A doctor is called in to conduct an examination as Maria still rests in her shallow grave.

She's curled up on her right side and wrapped in a sack.

The doctor notices what looks like blood on her cheek, clothes, and the kerchief she'd worn around her neck the day she left home.

The cause of death isn't clear.

It looks like she'd been shot in the eye, but it also appears as though she might have been stabbed, and her kerchief was pulled so tight that it's possible she was strangled.

Regardless, there's no question about it.

Maria is the victim of foul play.

Just a day after Mr.

Martin finds his daughter, a coroner proceeds with an inquest.

He gathers witnesses in one of the village's only large meeting spaces, the inn and tavern, and he starts by interviewing Maria's family.

Not surprisingly, they mostly talk about William, the last person Maria was with before she disappeared.

Her sister adds that William carried a gun.

On the day Maria left home, He warned her not to touch it because it was loaded.

It doesn't take long for the coroner to reach a decision.

He pauses the inquest while police track William down and arrest him.

An officer finds him in London, living with another woman, his new wife.

It turns out, a couple months after he'd left Polested, William had gone to London and placed a Lonely Hearts ad in the newspaper.

He said he was looking for a respectable woman who owned property and wanted to get married.

And he described himself as, quote, sociable, tender, kind, and sympathizing.

He wisely left out the fact that he was a murderer.

But now, the truth has caught up to him.

The police officer who tracks him down says there are serious charges being lodged against him concerning Maria Martin, to which William replies, he's never heard of any such person.

But his tune changes when the officer tells him her body has been found.

Now,

all William has to say is,

when?

William is taken into custody and brought back to Polstead, where the inquest continues.

The coroner hears from more witnesses who paint a pretty damning picture.

A tradesman says William paid him to sharpen a small sword right before Maria's disappearance.

A woman who lives near the Red Barn testifies that in April or May of the last year, William showed up at her house in a hurry, asking to borrow a spade.

And the town constable insists he never put a warrant out for Maria's arrest, as William once claimed.

Now formally charged with Maria's murder, William is removed from the inn and sent to jail to await his trial.

He later pleads not guilty.

As he leaves his hometown for the last time, he passes a growing crowd of spectators gathering to get a look at the alleged killer.

It's quite the scene, but the legend of the Red Barn murder is just beginning.

Before the case goes to trial, Maria is laid to rest in the local churchyard.

Just a few weeks later, her body is exhumed so investigators can take a closer look at her wounds.

Earlier, while examining the clothing she was killed in, they noticed a cut on one side of her dress.

Now, they're searching for a corresponding laceration on her body.

With public interest in the case heating up, they have no choice but to work in the middle of the night by the flickering light of a torch.

But they do find a matching wound hidden between two of Maria's ribs.

Something appears to have made a deep cut, puncturing her heart.

In the low light, the men can't be absolutely sure, but they think the stab wound matches the small sword William had sharpened.

That July, Polstead holds their annual cherry fair.

It's a huge success.

With just weeks to go until the trial, the morbidly curious flock to the small village to see where the alleged murder took place.

And they're not disappointed.

There's not one, but two different plays depicting the imagined events surrounding the Red Barn murder.

In between performances, others stroll through the crowd, singing murder ballads about Maria's death.

Even though William hasn't been convicted or even tried in a court of law yet, the verdict in the court of public opinion has been set.

Interest in the case reaches a fever pitch when the trial begins in August.

The court is so crowded that people spill out into the hallways and outdoors.

Inside, it's so stifling that officials remove their customary wigs and robes.

And because women are barred from the court unless called to the stand, they hoist their Victorian skirts and climb up onto window ledges outside the courthouse, hoping to catch a glimpse.

The Counsel for the Crown proceeds to lay out their evidence.

The ruse William made up about Maria's arrest warrant, the spade and pickaxe he was seen with around the time of her disappearance, the gun, bullet, and sword found in his house in London that fit the description of the murder weapons.

The The prosecution also hears from witnesses who testify about strange comments William made after Maria went missing, like his neighbor Phoebe, who says he once informed her that Maria wouldn't have any more children.

When she protested, saying Maria was still young with many more childbearing years ahead, she says William emphatically insisted,

no, Maria was done having kids.

Startled by his reaction, Phoebe asked if they'd been married yet.

And if so,

why weren't they living together?

To which William replied, she is where I can go to her at any day or hour I please.

It's all circumstantial.

And of course, the Crown can't even prove how Maria died.

But Taken altogether with the fact that William pretended Maria was alive and well for months on end, things aren't looking good for the defense.

So William takes the stand to testify on his own behalf.

He argues that all of the entertainment, the plays, songs, and sermons that depict him as Maria's murderer have caused everyone to assume he's guilty before he's even had a chance to defend himself.

He tells the jury there's an explanation for everything.

He reiterates his claim that he did not kill Maria.

But, he says, he does know how she died and how she ended up in the red barn.

According to Williams' testimony, the trouble began just after he and Maria buried their son.

He says, yes, they lied about bringing the baby to Sudbury, but it was only because he hadn't told his family or church officials about the child.

He insists there was no foul play.

They held a private burial somewhere in Polstead, and since they told Maria's father they were going out of town, she stayed hidden at his house for a couple of days.

He claims that's when she took one of his pistols from his room.

William goes on to state he doesn't really remember saying anything about a warrant for Maria's arrest, and he can only guess as to why she wore men's clothing when she left home.

At any rate, They did meet up at the Red Barn.

He throws in some suspicions about Maria writing writing too often to one of her exes and says despite that, he did have feelings for her.

He would have married her, except that day in the Red Barn, she flew into a rage.

William claims Maria said she would never be happy with him, even if they did marry, and she thought his family would never accept her.

So, according to William's story, He turned and walked away from her and heard a gunshot.

He claims she used his gun and he worried people might assume he was the killer.

So he panicked, buried her, and lied about it for months.

There is a major discrepancy between William's version of events and the story laid out by the prosecution.

Maria's sister had testified months earlier at the inquest that William was in possession of his pistol on the day Maria died.

Now, he's claiming Maria had stolen his gun sometime before that.

Nevertheless, he sticks to his new story, that Maria died by suicide, and that his only crime was burying her and lying about it, because he worried the situation would look bad.

He concludes his testimony by arguing, if he had killed her, he wouldn't have done so in the red barn.

He knows people were aware that was their meeting spot, and why would he do it in the middle of the day when he could be easily detected?

He says, if he'd murdered Maria, he would have chosen another place in time to do it, and he wouldn't have stuck around Polstead afterward.

Williams' defense team calls several character witnesses to the stand, but based on the events of the trial recorded by James Curtis, they don't offer any evidence or testimony to back up Williams' claims.

When it comes time for the judge to give his summary, he mentions that he'd planned to raise an important question in the case that he feels went unproven, and that is the identification of Maria's body.

But now, he says, it's actually a moot point.

William has already confessed that it was Maria he buried in the barn.

It seems William has shot himself in the foot.

Now, the jury has just one decision to make: Did William kill Maria or not?

They deliberate for only 35 minutes before returning a verdict

guilty.

That same day, William is sentenced to death.

And that's not all.

It's 1828 and, in Britain, the Murder Act is still being enforced.

It states that all convicted murderers will be executed by hanging and then One of two things will happen to their corpses.

They'll either be gibbeted, meaning their bodies will be suspended up in the air for all to see as they decay, sometimes for years,

or they'll be dissected, placed on a table for public display, and then given to hospitals to be anatomized.

The idea behind the Murder Act was to cause humiliation, to deter those with murder on the mind.

By the 1830s, people turned against the law and it was abolished, but not before William Corder became one of its most infamous subjects.

Shortly before William goes to the gallows, he writes a confession from jail.

He admits he is responsible for fatally shooting Maria and clarifies a few details.

While moving her body, William pulled Maria's kerchief so tight that it probably looked like he'd strangled her.

He admits he did use a spade, then a pickaxe, to dig her grave.

But he maintains, he never stabbed her.

At his execution, William reaffirms to the massive crowd, I am guilty.

My sentence is just.

I deserve my fate, and may God have mercy on me.

Just one hour later, his body is removed from the scaffolding and taken directly to a nearby hall, where a surgeon is waiting.

He prepares William for public display by making an incision down the length of his abdomen and folding back the skin.

All afternoon, thousands of people shuffle past William's body to get a good look.

When the doors are closed to the public, he's hooked up to electric wires.

His body is used in a galvanism experiment to see how the current causes his muscles to move.

Then, He's transported to the county hospital where doctors dissect him in front of a crowd of medical students.

At the time, it's extremely uncommon for anybody to volunteer their body to science.

It's also illegal in many places to dissect a corpse.

But medicine is changing and accelerating.

Doctors need bodies to teach and learn with.

This catch-22 means that corpses made available for legal dissection are pretty hard to come by.

Unless, of course, you can get your hands on the body of a convicted murderer, as mandated by the Murder Act.

Eventually, William's skeleton is placed in the Suffolk General Hospital next to a donation box where visitors can give spare change to patients in need.

Parts of his flesh are preserved too, the ones you can still see today at Moises Hall Museum.

According to legend, one of the doctors who preserved his skeleton swapped out the skull, which he secretly kept.

But it seemed to bring him bad luck.

He felt haunted.

The doctor tried to return the skull to its rightful body, but it hadn't been through the same preservation process.

It looked too different from the other bones on the skeleton.

So, the doctor reportedly passed it on to the next person, who also began having bad luck, as if the skull was cursed.

Whether that's true or not, William's strange journey mostly came to an end in 2004.

That's when one of his descendants successfully argued for having his skeleton cremated and buried.

As she told the BBC, he may have been a villain, but he was also a human.

The Murder Act was repealed in 1832, but the fascination with infamous bodies has endured for centuries.

As Sarah Tarlow writes for the journal Mortality, Perhaps we attach this sense of power and danger to criminal bodies that's so strong, even death can't diminish it.

What happened with William likely fed into the legends, keeping the story of the Red Barn and of Maria Martin alive almost 200 years later.

Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.

To learn more about the Red Barn murder, we found contemporaneous reporting by James Curtis extremely helpful to our research.

Stay safe out there.

This episode was written and researched by Mickey Taylor, edited by Connor Sampson, fact-checked by Lori Siegel, and sound design by Alex Button.

I'm your host, Sapphire Sandalo.