Woman kills family to 'prevent world from being taken over by vampires'
A woman in London is on trial after she fatally stabbed her partner and child in an attempt to ward off vampires.
The Guardian reported that mentally ill Shelley Christopher inserted wooden objects into the bodies of 42-year-old Richard Brown and their daughter Sophia after stabbing them more than 30 times. Police found their bodies on February 27, days after their brutal murders.
Christopher is on trial for the two murders and another attempted murder. The woman attacked and put a pencil into another child, but the girl survived. Christopher denies the crimes by reason of insanity.
Two days before the February murders, the 36-year-old woman went to a mental health unit and told staff that someone was out to get her.
The prosecutor, Crispin Aylett, told jurors that Christopher apparently received a paranormal message on the day of the murders instructing the woman to kill her family in order to "prevent the world from being taken over by vampires":
%shareLinks-quote="The signal had come from a lightbulb in the ceiling. She had done -- or tried to do -- what she was told. After she had attacked each of them with a knife, the lightbulb had told her to put something wooden into each of their chests in order to stop them from becoming vampires." type="quote" author="Crispin Aylett" authordesc="Prosecutor" isquoteoftheday="false"%
A psychiatrist who examined the woman deduced that Christopher had been suffering from a psychotic illness, probably paranoid schizophrenia, during the time. She is currently being held in a secure hospital.
Christopher told a psychiatrist after her arrest that the colors red, orange and yellow had a special significance to her. She said red meant she or someone in her family would be killed. She claimed she received an orange signal telling her to commit the murders in order to save the world from vampires.
%shareLinks-quote="Christopher also told authorities that she had left the mental health unit because she suspected vampires were there. " type="spreadWord"%
After attacking the surviving girl, Christopher then attacked Brown, telling him, "You're one of them. You're a vampire" before stabbing him repeatedly. She claimed his eyes changed colors and he tried to bite her with his fangs.
The mother claimed that she stabbed Sophia after Christopher asked if she was "one of them" and the daughter said yes.
The prosecutor told jurors that should they agree with the psychiatrist's assessment, Christopher would remain in a secure unit in a hospital "for a considerable time to come."
Watch this video to find out how the vampire myth started:
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