Mary Bell's Tales From The Dark Side

Mary Flora Bell was born on May 26, 1957 in the barren slum in the West End of Newcastle called Scotswood; she was the daughter of Betty McCrickett. While the true identity of Mary Bell’s father is unknown, Mary was led to believe Billy Bell was her father. Mary Bell would become known as one of the most notorious serial killers of her time. Her life influenced shows, books, and even movies. While many ponder on how such a young child could display evil characteristics, many blame Mary’s behavior on her disturbing upbringing (Tales From The Dark Side).

Mary had a depressing childhood; her mother was portrayed to be a raging alcoholic and she had an all but absent father (“Mary Bell”). During Mary’s brief childhood, she experienced the torment of abandonment and drug overdoses. On several occasions, Mary suffered frequent drug overdoses that were more than likely distributed by her mother. Betty reportedly suffered from Munchausen by Poxy Syndrome, which is thriving on the attention over her daughter’s horrific “accidents.” Mary’s most serious case involved her swallowing a number of iron pills that belonged to

The police quickly determined the cause of death: strangulation. Close-at-hand laid a pair of broken scissors thought to be the cause of Brian’s puncture wounds located on his thigh, and the clumps of his hair that had been cut. Also, Brian’s stomach had been marked with an “M” by a razor blade. Although this wound would not be discovered until later, inspection would show someone had inscribed an “N”, and then another mark, perhaps by a different hand, changed the “N” to an “M” (Scott). Inspector James Dobson would later state, “There was a terrible playfulness about it, a terrible gentleness, if you like, and somehow the playfulness of it made it more, rather than less, terrifying.” Medical professionals began to suspect a child could have committed this crime (An Angelic Demon: The Mary Bell