The Ballad of Lydia and Christopher

[YouTube Video Filmed in 2021]

A: This castle is creepy as hell and old as shit. I swear we probably just stepped in some dirt and ruined our new shoes but that's beside the point.

Welcome back to our channel and today we are exploring this castle, built a very long time ago for a purpose which is still a bit shady. Some say it was for a wealthy businessman and landowner, others say it was a place to put people on trial. But let's see what awaits us as we approach...As you can see, there's a large tower on the outside and as we walked in, there was that long, marbled walkway. Whoever did live here was probably richer than we could ever know, but what is weirder is this.

(shows the viewer a large ballroom with a broken chandelier of 10'000 crystals. The floor is cracked and white and the walls have broken paintings which copy those of Botticelli on them)

We genuinely wonder what went on here. It's all very strange and honestly, quite creepy. It's-

B: There's a whole bunch of spiders over here!

A: Ssh! You're ruining the atmosphere. We're going to have to edit this now - it was meant to be a stream... never mind.

Anyways, as you can see, this place is coated in dust, the floor is disgusting and it definitely looks like nobody has set foot in this place for like one hundred years.

Lucky for you though, we did some digging about the origins of this castle and it wasn't all that exciting to be honest. Instead, there's a story of how, around a century ago - some three decades or so after the castle was built - something horrible happened here.

Well, technically the story only starts here but you get the picture.

So, let me take you back one hundred years, to the lives of two people - a married couple named Christopher and Lydia who's deaths are shrouded in strangeness and horrifying circumstance. This isn't a nice story, but it's entirely necessary to understand that throughout history, there has always been rich and powerful people who were terrifying and evil. It is not a new concept.

But what are your opinions of this case?

***

Welcome to the Ballroom. It's 1921 and celebrations are underway in London...

[Narrated by YouTuber: 'A']

It was a Christmas gathering where rich people came to rub shoulders with other rich people and of course, they would consume more food and alcohol in that one room at that one time, than perhaps the entire poor population of London would in a week. It was decadence and the photographs of the ballroom suggest that it was much more glamorous than it is now. It was gilded with golden notes and reflected the aristocracy in ways I've only read about in books like Brideshead Revisited. There was definitely a note of celebration in the air and so, Lydia - the daughter of a wealthy businessman who owned a few factories, and her husband, Christopher - who's family was in the French Wine business - were dancing together. Everyone could see that they were very in love and even though they had been married for around three years, they were yet to have a child.

Christopher was not too interested in the decision himself, but apparently would ask what Lydia thought of the idea, though she would just shrug her shoulders and deflect. She would often say in private that she didn't like children very much at all. Both were dark-haired, green-eyed and tall beings, a match perfectly made for each other. Though they did have quite different personalities as Lydia was a little bit more forthcoming than her husband. She was more interested in being a modern woman of the new age, looking to America's evolving Jazz Era as some sort of inspiration. This was much to the dissatisfaction of her mother who thought it was embarrassing - though her father thought she could do no wrong. Christopher on the other hand, was loathed by both of his parents for being too 'in love' with his wife. He was meant to be a hard-lined businessman but all he wanted was a happy life with his lovely bride, somewhere far from them and far from France.

It is whilst the dinner is being laid that the two finish dancing to welcome Lydia's sister into the ballroom. Christina walked to Lydia and asked her whether she was thinking upon having children soon. Of course, Lydia deflected yet again. "Well, I suggest you give a firm 'no' next time someone asks." Christina was distressed and looked as though she had been crying. Lydia and Christopher asked her what was wrong and Christina replied that her twin son and daughter, Mary and Francis, had gone missing. They were only four years' old. Everyone rushed to tell the grandparents of the missing children and thus, the nightmare began.

[Narrated by YouTuber: 'B']

As we can see by this newspaper (holds up newspaper from 1921 to the camera. We see the headline 'MISSING CHILDREN FOUND FLOATING NEAR THAMES BANK - MURDERED' in giant, black lettering) there had been at least three missing children before Mary and Francis disappeared reported in the area near the Thames. A tall, dark figure in a long overcoat had been seen walking in a large hat along the riverside during the dark, winter nights where only a few hours later, a child's body would be found floating face-down and bloated.

This person, whoever it was, was wasting no time.

But one thing people found odd was the hat. It wasn't a top-hat because it wasn't starched. It was a floppy kind of big hat, one we would more commonly associate with the Cat in the Hat from the children's book. But this one was jet black and was designed to make whatever figure was lurking in the darkness look more menacing and unapproachable if, in case, anyone was lurking around the area and saw them drowning kids.

[Narrated by YouTuber: 'A']

Lydia was deeply shocked by the disappearance of her sister's children and in the newspaper of that evening, there was definitely talk of the hat. She began trying to put things together in her mind but couldn't quite picture it. It cast a dark shadow over Christmas as when the sun rose, the children were finally found. Yes, they were found floating face-down in the Thames River. They had only been there for a few hours but the bodies were bloated and disgusting. The children were pulled out during sunrise as their mother screamed on her knees next to the bank. The father would die of grief only months later, though it was actually starvation since he found it quite impossible to eat. Christina had lost everything.

During this time, Lydia became increasingly maddened by the death of the children and then, the death of her brother-in-law. According to many sources, Lydia thought that her own husband may have been responsible for the deaths of these children since he often went out in the dead of night with her following close behind in order to tail him. She would though, admit to losing him in the darkness. This is around about the time Lydia would suffer a nervous breakdown.

Christopher suggests that his wife should take walks in the park in the evenings to help her mental health and get some fresh air. But, she is increasingly frightened by him, often lashing out and telling him about the hat. "Go and get your hat!" She would shout to him. He would be beside himself, not because of the accusation, but because he was afraid that the greatest love of his life might be lost to this horrific illness. Though, he was determined to go and rescue her from its jaws.

As Lydia became more fearful of her husband, she also begins to spend more time out of the house and wandering around the streets of London. She records seeing horrific poverty, disgusting diseases and terrifying illness. During one of her walks during the later hours of the day, she comes home to find Christopher has searched her writing desk and found the writings where she accuses him of killing the children. She begins to cry and apparently, begins shaking, begging him to forgive her. Christopher is shaken yes, but after discovering this item, he pulls out of the same desk a giant, floppy, black hat.

Lydia's eyes widen and she runs out into the night. We know that from Christopher's diaries that the murderer of these children was not a large man in the night at all: it was Lydia. It was always Lydia. He must have felt the breath catch in his throat as his wife disappeared into the London streets and he, shockingly, went after her - disposing of the infamous hat in the process to the point that it has never been seen since. Nobody knows what happened to it and there's no more records of it even existing. Some people seem to think it was burned and others think it was ripped apart by guard dogs owned by the police at the time. We will never know the answer. We will never know the truth.

He returns home without his wife after some searching, shockened and saddened by the fact that she is missing. He has found all of her writings where she is terrified that he may be the murderer. He keeps them all neatly stacked in his pocket, completely in order. Apparently, according to his final diary entry - he poured himself a glass of whisky, didn't drink it and went to search for his wife once more in the early hours of the London sunrise.

[Narrated by YouTuber: 'B']

When he found her though, it was too late.

Lydia had drowned herself in the Thames River, where her victims once lay face-down and bloated. The love story was over. The hat was gone. But the diaries remained. When the police turned up, the report states that they searched Christopher's pockets, finding the diary entries by his wife and assumed he had 'gotten rid' of her and was planning to burn the papers. He said nothing and went quietly with the police, though Christina apparently stated on the record that it was not possible that Christopher could have done such a thing. He was simply not that kind of man.

But was Lydia that kind of woman?

Judgement is a terrible thing when we don't have all the evidence.

But the weirdest part of this story is Christopher's statement. He confesses to everything. Even the death of his wife. He confesses to murdering all the children, he confesses to killing his wife and finally, he asks for the death penalty.

[Narrated by YouTuber: 'A']

Christopher was hanged on the 14th of February, 1922 - Valentine's Day. Apparently, his last words were 'I've got you, Lydia. I've got you.'

***

[YouTube Video Filmed in 2021]

B: So, did you think this story was strange? Was it romantic? Is it even the real thing? How much do you think has been embellished through hearsay throughout the years?

(the two YouTubers are seen leaving the Ballroom and the Castle through the back garden and walking through the overgrown shrubbery to get to the gates).

A: Look over here. (camera points towards a statue of two lovers embracing in a dance, they both look over each other's shoulders) This is apparently a statue dedicated to Lydia and Christopher - the two lovers from the Christmas Ball.

B: I honestly have no clue why they would have a statue to a literal child-murderer but alright...

A: We talked about atmosphere, didn't we? Anyways, as you can see, the statue probably used to be a shiney white, or at least, grey colour. Now, it's obviously rotten with age and decay. This is a testament to at least, as engraved on the pedastal, that Lydia and Christopher existed. We know of them, we have their diaries, we even have the police report. But the problem is, we have no context for it. Why did Lydia hate children? Why did Christopher protect her? Why did Christina say that Christopher could never do such a thing?

And finally, why did Christopher admit to everything when he didn't do it?

B: We have nothing. Not a word of background. We don't know when these people were born, we don't know whether they met at school or it was all arranged. There is so much left out. The most important thing though, is something that was already brought up: if she was evil, if he was an accessory to the fact, why is there a statue to the two of them in this garden?

A: Did you see that?

B: Now who's ruining the atmosphere...

A: No. ('A' looks up at the statue). That!

B: (camera looks up at the statue) I don't see anything, what am I looking at?

A: Her eyes moved. Her eyes damn-well moved!

B: Her eyes didn't move, you're being an idiot. You've scared yourself stupid. Come on, let's upload this before anyone else gets here and does it before us.

***

[The News Channel, 14/02/2021]

Newsreader: (in the midst of the broadcast) the YouTuber was found drowned in the Thames River this morning as the sun rose, a man aboard a liner found him floating face-down and noticed the body was bloated and disfigured...

Witnesses state also seeing another man, identified as the other YouTuber in the video, running away from an approaching woman with green eyes and dark hair.

The man in question is currently missing and the woman cannot be located for questioning.

More as we get it.