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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Ghost Story

What really happened to Naomi Dancy?

Have you ever investigated a murder in your partner’s family? If it happens to come up, take my advice: think carefully before accepting the case. I have experience here. I’ve spent the last 18 months making a podcast about the murder of my wife’s great-grandmother, Dr. Naomi Dancy, in 1937, and the paranormal incidents that have occurred since. Naomi’s death captivated Britain. She was a beautiful and groundbreaking doctor who had been brutally murdered in her own bed. It was supposed that her brother had killed her and then killed himself. But the shell-shocked brother wasn’t the only other person in the house on the night of Naomi’s murder. Her husband, John Dancy, was there, too. Our investigation found so many lies that the real story of Dancy’s life—and the murder—was blown wide open. Was the murder-suicide actually a double murder committed by the beloved family patriarch, John? This is not a question that goes over well at family gatherings. —Tristan Redman

Photo: Vincenzo Dragani