The Churchill Cottage Murder: Fire, Blood & a Fatal Will | True Crime 1879

In the winter of 1879, the quiet Somerset parish of Knowle St Giles was shaken by a death that seemed, at first glance, to be nothing more than a tragic household accident. Eighty-three-year-old Samuel Churchill was found burned beside his hearth, his wife insisting he had fallen into the fire during a fit.

But the scene told a different story.

There was blood on the walls.

Defensive wounds on Samuel’s hand.

A bill-hook hidden beneath a chair.

And the very morning he died, Samuel had dressed in his best clothes to change his will.

In this episode, we trace the investigation from the first suspicious observations to the Taunton trial that followed. Using contemporary newspaper accounts and inquest testimony, we explore the forensic limitations of the 1870s, the conflicting statements that defined the case, and the chilling question at the heart of it all:

Was this truly an accident—or a murder carefully staged by fire?

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