The Hauntingly Excellent Range
John Cotton
In his early 70's, John was one of the eldest people to have been executed in Derby - his crime was the murder of his third wife.​
​
A boatsman from Derbyshire, John was known as an aggressive man and he was one day witnessed shouting at his wife and demanding that she came out of the cabin on their boat - when she did he beat her to death with an iron poker.
​
It turned out however than this wasn't John's first murder, nor his second - it was in fact his third!
​​
Before his execution in 1898, John decided it was time to come clean and confessed to something he'd drunkenly claimed previously - he'd murdered his first two wives as well.
​
This confession made him officially a serial killer and his ghost is said to haunt Vernon Gate - the site of the gaol where he was executed.
Related places to visit in Derby
LOCATION: Vernon Gate, Vernon St, Derby DE1 1UQ
​
CONNECTION: Vernon Gate stands where Derby's third and final County Gaol once stood - in fact the surviving façade of the gaol still stands to this day. It served as Derby's County Gaol from 1828 to 1916 and was the site of numerous executions. At first these were public executions held outside of the front of the gaol, but over time they became private executions behind the gaol walls. John's execution was a private execution.
​​
DIRECTIONS: Click Here.
Derby History Walks
.png)
Come and join us for a 90-minute walk full of revelations, curses, deaths, superstitions, evil doers and much more!!
​
VARIOUS DATES
​
5.30pm to 7.00pm - walk commences from the Derby Uncovered Heritage Centre at 11 Sadler Gate, Derby.
​
Tickets are £10 per person.
Learn all about Derby's most notorious murders and murderers on Derby's murder walk - not for the faint-hearted!!
​
VARIOUS DATES
​
5.30pm to 7.00pm - walk commences from the Derby Uncovered Heritage Centre at 11 Sadler Gate, Derby.
​
Tickets are £10 per person.
.png)
True, but weird, Derby history including frogs falling from the skies, ghouls roaming the town, historic hot dogs, mummified cats & more.
VARIOUS DATES
​
5.30pm to 7.00pm - walk commences from the Derby Uncovered Heritage Centre at 11 Sadler Gate, Derby.
​
Tickets are £10 per person.
A walk full of tortured spirits who met a grisly end including both the murderers and their victims
​
VARIOUS DATES
​
5.30pm to 7.00pm - walk commences from the Derby Uncovered Heritage Centre at 11 Sadler Gate, Derby.
​
Tickets are £10 per person.
