The Woman in Black and the Murder of Augusta Dawes | True Crime 1894
News of the Times | Episode 557 | 1894
🕯️ A 19th-century mystery that begins with a murder... and spirals into urban legend.
In the winter of 1894, one of London’s most refined boroughs was struck by two chilling tales — one whispered behind lace curtains, the other screamed across the front pages.
First: a shocking early-morning discovery near Addison Road Bridge. A woman found dead in the street — throat slashed, blood pooling on the pavement, and a cherrywood walking stick left behind. Her name? Unknown.
Then, just days later, a new terror crept in:
A veiled woman in black, described as gliding silently through Kensington’s polished streets, began attacking respectable women in broad daylight, striking their faces with a concealed blade — and walking calmly away.
Newspapers dubbed it “The Kensington Outrages.”
The public whispered it might be Jack the Ripper in disguise.
Was it all just coincidence?
Or was something darker — and more deliberate — hiding beneath Kensington’s genteel façade?
🕯️ In tonight’s Further Particulars segment:
We visit a haunted crossroads in Buckinghamshire… where a headless woman in black is said to appear before passing farmers — and float, quite rudely, through their hedges.
Hosted by Robin Coles
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