The city of Manchester has been on edge for more than a decade after rumors began swirling that a serial killer was pushing people into the city’s canals. Over 60 drowning deaths have been reported since 2004. Now, Thomas Sheridan, an expert in psychopaths, is weighing on on the matter.
Sheridan recently left his home in Northern Ireland to visit the area and conduct his own independent investigation surrounding the individual residents have nicknamed “The Pusher.”
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“Walking along the Rochdale Canal, I was followed by a tall man wearing a hood into a poorly-lit area,” Sheridan tells Metro. “The sense of isolation and vulnerability at the location were quite frankly terrifying.”
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The majority of the deaths have occurred in close proximity to the city’s strip of gay bars. Whether or not they are the result of a crazed serial killer or simply intoxicated bar goers falling into the canal remains unclear, but Sheridan says he’s “convinced” that “foul play” accounts for at least some of the bodies.
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“I concur with the people of Manchester that ‘The Pusher’ is almost certainly the cause of some of these deaths,” he said.
He continued: “I believe the killer is targeting gay men or men the killer is assuming to be gay — following them from a night out or more worryingly, picking them up in bars.”
“We may be dealing with a psychopath or extremely disturbed individual. The police need to take this very seriously.”
Greater Manchester Police beg to differ. While they say they are committed to investigating “each and every unexplained death,” they have always maintained that there is no serial killer on the loose. Instead, they attribute the deaths to suicides and accidents.
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Rogério Machado
LuÃs Silva amori tu tem cuidado!
Sukhrajah
In a decade – 60 deaths and police suspect it all to be ‘just fowl-play or suicides’? Well, it’s happening in a ‘gay-area’ so who cares, right? The ‘degenerates’ must deserve it. For the very least – pretend to care. Put up guard rails, if the belief is that drunken people are falling in. Post officers on foot. Do something.
CM_OutLate
Hi Guys
I live in Manchester and go to the gay village each week and as an older guy in my 50s have always felt very safe. The area is covered by security cameras, bouncers (door men), and regular police patrols, and at the weekends the village angels. I do know of rumours of a “Pusher” but on Canal Street itself, right next to the canal, the combination of wall and glass / metal safety barrier are about 3 foot tall, and the bridges are even higher, so you would have to Lift someone over the wall rather than push them.
For my own piece of mind I looked at the Map of canal deaths in Manchester released by the Police under a freedom of information request by the Manchester Evening News and compared it to a Map of Manchester Gay Village. Of the 61 deaths reported between 2008 and 2014 only 1 was in the actual gay village with 2 just outside, according to the maps.
CM
Mykaels
Water flows in canals usually, so if the bodies are turning up in the gay district then they probably entered the water upstream.