Born Evil?

The Tragic Case of Mary Bell

A. Grace
4 min readAug 19, 2021
Photo by Tommy van Kessel 🤙 on Unsplash

What Happened to Martin Brown?

On May 25th, 1968, a child’s dead body was found in a derelict house by a group of boys, who notified the authorities. The boys were followed back into the building by two little girls, who had to be shooed out by police. They noticed no outward signs of trauma and an empty bottle of pills lying near the body during their investigation. The boy’s death was deemed accidental.

His name was Martin Brown, and he was just four years old at his time of death. His family held a service for him in their home. While grieving, they heard a knock at the door, which Martin’s mother answered.

A little girl stood in front of her, with a heart-shaped face and shiny, black hair. She smiled and asked if she could see Martin in his coffin. This same little girl reportedly laughed at the boy’s funeral.

Her name was Mary Bell.

Born on May 26th, 1957, to Betty McCrickett, Mary was just one day away from her 11th birthday when Martin died. Both children lived in the Scotswood district in Newcastle upon the Tyne in the United Kingdom. Her mother worked as a prostitute to make ends meet and was often traveling to see clients.

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A. Grace

Grace writes fiction & articles on various topics in the western U.S. She is also a photographer, dog mom, and nature lover! Buy her a coffee: Ko-fi.com/agrace