When the Devil Called : The Saville Green Farm Murders (1937)

On a bitterly cold morning on the 27th January 1937, police officers had been alerted to an incident that had taken place high upon the bleak moorland that overlooked the town of Burnley in the North West of England.

Quickly making their way to the scene, upon arrival they would be horrified at what they encountered as lying outside on the ground was the body of 73 year old William Pickup. Roughly five yards away lay the body of 18 year old Jane Ellen Wilkinson. Both had been shot, suffering horrific injuries to their bodies.

But this wasn’t to be the end as, not too far away, the body of 30 year old, Joseph Scriven would shortly be discovered lying in a shippon close to the farm house. He too had been shot.

The events that took place that morning would shock not only the residents of Worsthorne but that of entire county, and with it placing the village under a dark haze for many, many years. Locals would ask how could a tragedy as shocking as this possibly occur on their very own doorsteps.

Foulds Wilkinson was a farmer living at Saville Green Farm that was situated high up on the moors in the village of Worsthorne. A widower since 1929 after the death of his wife Martha, Fould’s shared his farm with his daughter, Jane Ellen as well as his father-in-law, William Pickup.

On the morning of Wednesday, 27th January 1937, he had left home at around half past eight to deliver milk to a local firm in nearby Burnley.

He had left his daughter, Jane, to help with chores around the farm, along with her grandfather, William. Both were consumed by the work and seemed in good spirits as they carried out their usual duties around the farm. Inside the shippon, recently hired farm labourer, Joseph Scriven was also busy working hard.

Foulds would be gone for around an hour, returning back at the farm at around half past nine.

Passing down a long, but straight lane that exited off from Gorple Road, nothing could have prepared him from what he was about to encounter as, after parking up his van in the yard and making his exit, his attention was quickly diverted to seeing the body of a man lying on the ground. Not sure what to think, as he made his way over to where the body was lying, he soon came across another shocking discovery – the body of his young daughter was also lying on the ground, around five yards from where the body of William Pickup was laying.

Without wanting to investigate further, he immediately jumped back into his van and drove to the Burnley Police station.

To read the full story on this case, please visit www.daysofhorror.com where there are photos and newspaper articles that accompany the story.