It may appear to be a charming, tree-lined neighborhood with colorful flowers bursting from flower boxes and rainbow flags adorning the outsides of historic buildings. But looks can be deceiving.
An alarming number of dead and decomposing bodies have been pulled from the waterways running along Canal Street in Manchester, England, in the heart of “the Village,” an area known for its gay bars and restaurants.
“It’s extremely unlikely that such an alarming number of bodies is the result of accidents and suicides,” Professor Craig Jackson, head of psychology at Birmingham University, tells the Independent.
“A lot of people go cruising on the towpath between the two bridges,” hair stylist Kurt Laing added. “Whenever someone dies, it’ll be on Facebook that it’s happened again. There should be more cameras down on the canal bank to make people feel safer.”
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Then he added: “There are lots of rumors about ‘The Pusher.'”
Police do not believe the deaths are suspicious, nor do they believe a serial “pusher” may be responsible, though they did say they are committed to investigating “each and every unexplained death.”
“Only after a robust investigation into the circumstances of each death would the investigators deem one to be ‘non-suspicious’ and pass the file to the coroner,” an official statement said.
Still, this hasn’t stopped some Twitter users from creating the hashtag #ThePusher.
Stephen Faulkner, who works at a local pub, said he believes “The Pusher” is likely a street burglar. “You get people who’ve been drinking and if someone wants their wallet they’ll get pushed in,” he said. “I do believe people are being pushed in to the water.”
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polarisfashion
If they think these drownings are robberies, how come they didn’t mention how many of the bodies were missing their wallets? That would have been an interesting detail for this story. I don’t know of any man that doesn’t carry one because you need it to hold your ID, credit cards, money, etc. If a body doesn’t have a wallet, then its probably a safe assumption they were robbed!
Daveliam
I think the answer to the question in the title is “No. There’s probably not.”
demented
Sorry but “The Pusher” just isn’t a very cool name for a serial killer.
Also is drowning the only method of death or are there signs of anything else? Because you would have to be pretty drunk to be pushed into the water and not try to swim.
Tobi
@Daveliam: “The Pusher” wouldn’t be too bad if they were lacing crystal meth with cyanide. However, I think “The Splasher” has a lot more going for it brandwise. 😉
level75RDM
To be solved a century from now.
IcarusD
@polarisfashion: Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Though I suppose the pusher could take the cash out of the wallet and then toss the wallet into the water after the pushee. Though if many of the corpses were found with their wallets (sans money) floating nearby, that would also be suspicious.