The shocking history of the Glasgow smile

It seems that humans are creative in inventing new ways to inflict pain on people who are weaker than them, and our human history, from different civilizations and cultures, testifies to this through several terrible ways that people used to torture their kind. And today, we'll talk about one of these methods that has won a lot of Fame, namely the Glasgow smile.

A Glasgow Smile is a slit that starts from one side of the victim's mouth, or both, to extend down to the ears. This method of torture originated during a dark period in the history of the Scottish city of Glasgow, and this is how it acquired its name. On top of that, the victim's screams cause those cracks to tear even more, resulting in a terrifying scar that will remain on the victim's face forever.

In today's world, this smile –also known as the Chelsea smile or Chelsea grimace– has been associated with the evil character "Joker" within the superhero Batman stories. But in fact, the history of this smile carries more evil and horror.

Birth from the Scottish slums

The origins of that Glasgow smile lie deep in the slums of Scotland during the Industrial Revolution. Between 1830 and 1880, the population of the Scottish city of Glasgow doubled due to the migration of peasants from their small farms in the countryside.

The establishment of several maritime factories and workshops made Glasgow one of the most popular destinations for these new workers coming from the countryside, transforming Glasgow from a small historical city to the largest city in Scotland.

Unfortunately, this pursuit of work in industry led to the absence of many standards of decent life for the new residents of Glasgow, namely safety and health, so the new working class lived overcrowded in buildings hit by disease, malnutrition and poverty, and these things are a classic recipe for the spread of violence, crime and despair.

The end of the first World War exacerbated these problems, so a group of criminal organizations appeared in Glasgow, and they were gangs armed with sharp blades, controlling a small criminal empire in the eastern and southern parts of the city, specifically in the neighborhood known as Gorbals, a neighborhood based on the Southern Bank of the Clyde River, whose population at the end of the XIX century increased significantly and the population density was equivalent to 40 thousand individuals per square kilometer.

In turn, these gangs also had religious differences; the Protestant Billy Boys gang was facing the Catholic Norman konks gang, while the latter gang gave rise to smaller and more violent gangs and groups, fighting their opponents with blades in endless battles.

The most prominent method of Revenge of these gangs was the" Glasgow smile", and they could perform it quickly and easily using blades, knives, or even shards of glass. That smile was the fate of every single Glaswegian facing the wrath and fury of one of those many fighting gangs.

The city elders tried to get rid of Glasgow's bad reputation due to the underworld of crime and rampant violence, enlisting a veteran policeman in the UK, named Percy Sillitoe, to fight gangs. He was able to fulfill his mission, and the thirties ended with the dismantling of many gangs and putting their leaders in prison. But getting rid of them did not prevent the spread of that hallmark of Glasgow gangs, namely a smile. Thus, the "Glasgow Smile" has become a universal way of mastering the mutilation of the victim.

Examples of the Glasgow smile, from fascists to victims of heinous crimes

Fascist politician becomes victim of Glasgow smile

The Glasgow smile was not limited to the gangs of Scotland; for example, the American-born British politician (William Joyce) was also one of the victims. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a poor Irish Catholic father, Joyce was never a nobleman or Aristocrat. Later, Joyce became involved in the Irish War of Independence, then went to England, discovered there his love for fascism, and became one of the hosts and servants of the British fascists.

In that period, British fascist activists were finding employment for themselves protecting politicians from members of the Conservative Party, and this is what Joyce worked on during 1924. But on the night of October 22 of that year, specifically in the Lambeth area of London, Joyce was standing on guard duty, and was surprised by someone attacking him from behind and hitting him in the face with a sharp object before disappearing.

Joyce suffered a frighteningly long and deep incision in the right side of his face, and after his treatment and healing, this incision left a "Glasgow smile" on the man's face. Later, Joyce joined the Union of British fascists, and later worked for the Nazis on one of the radios broadcasting Nazi propaganda from Hamburg to Britain, uttering his famous phrase on the radio ”Germany is calling, Germany is calling“ in an aristocratic British accent. His wound was called ”de Schramm“ or ”scratch“, and he received German citizenship in 1940. Thus, when the Allies invaded Nazi Germany in 1945, they were able to identify Joyce because of the incision on his face, and then executed him a few months later for treason.

The criminal and child killer who left a Glasgow smile on the face of one of the victims

The Glasgow smile was not the preserve of Britain. In 1934, the reign of terror provoked by a murderer in New York known as the "Brooklyn Vampire", whose real name was Albert Fish, came to an end. This cold-tempered man had a terrifying habit of mutilating and torturing the bodies of his child victims, and then eating those victims.

10-year-old Grace Budd was the first victim of Fish, and the investigation of her disappearance case led to the disclosure of more victims, or what remains of them. Billy Gaffney was the second victim, in February of 1927, the child did not return home, and investigations and suspicions eventually came to point to fish, so the police discovered a lot of atrocities, and it turned out that fish cut off Gaffney's ears and nose, and made a slit in his face from the right ear to the left.

Fish was tried for the murder of Grace Budd in 1935, but the Gaffney family did not even have the opportunity to bury their son, as the remains of the child were never discovered, while the photo of the little boy's mutilated face remained the last thing left of him, thus ending the page of the most famous serial killers in the history of America.

The murder of the Black Dahlia, the most famous crime in the state of California

In the American context, the Glasgow smile figured in one of the country's most notorious crimes, the murder of Elizabeth Short, who was known as the "Black Dahlia". Short was an aspiring amateur actress in Los Angeles, but one January day in 1947, her mutilated body was found in one of the open spaces.

The case of her murder achieved world fame, as the victim's face was divided into two halves, her limbs had signs of wounds using a knife, and her limbs were left in a strange position, and most importantly, her face was neatly cut from the mouth to the right ear. This image has remained in the memory of Americans a lot, especially after newspapers and magazines rushed to publish her shocking image.

Despite the large investigation that took place, in which the authorities suspected about 150 people, and the emergence of many analyzes, allegations and characteristic confessions regarding the identity of the killer, it is not known to this day who killed Elizabeth Short, and this remains one of the most frightening cases in criminal history.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the girl could not achieve fame not by a role or work she performed, but by the image of her face disfigured by a Glasgow smile, and by the disgusting way she was killed.

Glasgow's smile revived again.

Alas, the Glasgow smile reappeared, and in the country of origin too. In the seventies of the last century, gangs based around football teams emerged in the United Kingdom, which were causing violence during the holding of matches. In contrast, the number of racist white supremacist, neo-Nazi and other hate groups has been increasing in the UK. From this toxic mix was born the so-called ”Chelsea headhunters“, a group of criminals associated with the Chelsea Football Club, establishing their reputation based on extreme brutality and criminality.

In heated matches, members of the“ Chelsea headhunters " faced their opponents in the districts and suburbs of London, and those confrontations often led to loud fights that the police did not even want to intervene to break up. On King's Road in the city of London, which is the street near Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium, these criminals were mutilating the faces of anyone who objected to them, even if this person was a fan of the club itself, but fans of other clubs had worse luck.