Title: My Dennis Nilsen tour of London.
Tags: Dennis Nilsen London Highgate
Blog Entry: Today I had nothing to do and decided to go on my own self constructed "Dennis Nilsen Tour" taking in his 2 flats and also the cemetery he used to walk in to visit the grave of his communist hero Karl Marx. And so it was, that today I left the house early with the sun already beating down and caught the train to Central London. Having corresponded with Nilsen continuously for over a year now I figured it'd be nice to go see where he used to live/kill. So first stop, Melrose Avenue. I got the tube north to Willesden Green tube station, the place he would walk out of 12 times with men destined to die at his home round the corner. Past the off-licence where he would buy his Bacardi and take it home to leave his proposed victim drunk and unaware. The road itself was very long, it took a while to reach the house, and when I did get there I didnt want to act like a tourist as I'm sure the road is sick of people coming to look at the place, also I noticed the window was open on the second floor so I didnt hang around, just took a quick photo (with a nicely placed tree, sorry!) and scurried off, took a shot of the road sign at that end, then walked back again past the house slower this time having a proper look, imagining ringing the bell and seeing him answer it. Weird to walk past there, knowing that he strangled and then hugged, slept with and finally disected and burnt 12 people in there. Looking around I see women with prams walking along smiling, I think about the mother knowing and the child being so innocent, and maybe one day when that child grows up and if they still live in the area the mother might tell her child what happened here. I felt the urge to go up to the door but I didnt want to piss off the current owners. Next stop, his second flat in Muswell Hill, this place was quite hard to find actually as Cranley Gardens (the name of the road) is listed in the A-Z map as being in another part of London altogether (Chelsea infact) but I knew I was on the right track as I had read enough books on the case to know it was definitely Muswell Hill that was the area. So after a little searching around I found the road, its on a very steep hill and the place is packed with cars lining the road. I walk along and there are a few people around and I dont want to make it obvious what Im looking for so the first time I see the house I glanced at it quickly and kept walking for another 100 metres, crossed the road and turned back once the coast was clear, I walked back and took two photos, his place in this house was the upstairs flat which you can see in the pictures, its the top floor facing the road. This is the house that brought his downfall, you see at his old place in Melrose Avenue he had exclusive use of the back garden and used it to feed hearts and lungs to foxes etc (by sticking such items in a hole by the fence where he knew animals would get to them) and also he would stack bodies hidden in suitcases in the shed at the bottom of the garden (as well as under the floorboards inside), and so when he ran out of space he would have a big bonfire out the back of the garden where there was wasteland and get rid of them that way, but of course at this new flat he was upstairs in the top room and so had nowhere to get rid of bodies, thus he began to cut them up and flush them down the toilet which ultimately led to his capture once someone complained that the drains were blocked (a plumber was called out and called the police after finding lumps of skin and bone down the drain which was causing the blockage). So, the house I was standing outside of was where a further 3 murders (which were to be his last) occurred, this was the place where he boiled a severed head in his cooking pot so that he could cut the flesh off easier and this was also the place he was arrested and his killing ended. I had a weird feeling looking at it. Again I didnt stay long as I didnt want to draw attention to myself. As you can see from the pictures the 2 places haven't changed much. Lastly on my tour I got the tube down to Archway and visited Highgate Cemetery where Nilsen used to walk, he enjoyed coming here especially as it is where his hero Karl Marx is buried. I found his grave (complete with statue) and took a few photos, then sat on a bench and had a sandwhich and a can of coke I brought with me and surveyed the cemetery, the heat was strong at this point, the place was so silent, all I could hear was the birds singing, there are daffodils on almost every grave I see (I have scanned my two tickets for the cemetery, as you have to pay to get in to help out with the upkeep, also it costs an extra pound if you want to take photos, which I did). So I sat there and began to write a new letter to Dennis telling him where I was and what I had been up to this morning. Hopefully he wont mind that I visited his old places. Here are the photos I took http://adam-walsh.com/nilsentour05.htm Compare them with the old black and white shots the press took 23 years ago and youll see they havent changed much. Was a nice day out anyway, I havent been to those areas of London before, and the sun was shining too which is rare in the UK.
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