On January 13th 1958 serial killer, Peter Manuel, was arrested for spree of attacks that left 9 people dead.

Manuel had previous convictions for sexual violence and rape was a factor in some murders, such as 17-year-old Anne Kneilands in 1956 (for which he was never convicted due to insufficient evidence) and 17-year-old Isabelle Cooke in 1957 (whose body he located for police with the chilling words, “I’m standing on her now”). Others were more cold and almost gratuitous, like Peter and Doris Smart and their ten-year-old son Michael whom he all shot dead on New Year’s Day 1958, after which he simply relaxed in their Uddingston house for a week and took care of the cat.

Manuel defended himself at trial, with the usual results; however, latter-day investigations have argued that police in building this extremely high-profile case buried evidence of Manuels’ severe mental illness that might have saved him from the gallows.

In the STV drama In Plain Sight we saw the story of Chief Inspector William Muncie, seen in the second pic, who spent over a decade obsessed with Manuel, I think the series did a good likeness with casting both Dougie Henshall, as Muncie, and Martin Compston, as Manuel.

Prior to his arrest, the media nicknamed the unidentified killer "the Beast of Birkenshaw". Manuel was hanged at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison on July 11th  1958, he was the second to last prisoner to die on the Barlinnie gallows.  His last words are reported to have been: "Turn up the radio and I'll go quietly".

Around the time of his trial and execution, some newspapers published claims that Manuel was responsible for several other unsolved murders from the 1950s, but the evidence for this is tenuous at best, and in some cases it can be shown that he was in prison at the time.

Manuel was one of the last people to be executed in Scotland, only two more were sent to the gallows after him. Read more details about this story here http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/manuel.html

Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel, born 13th of March 1927 was an American-Scottish serial killer who was convicted of murdering a total of seven people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958, and is believed to have murdered two more, nine in all. Prior to his arrest, the media nicknamed the unidentified killer "the Beast of Birkenshaw". Manuel was born to Scottish parents in New York City; the family moved to Detroit, Michigan before migrating back to Scotland in 1932, this time to Birkenshaw, Lanarkshire. During his childhood, Manuel was bullied. By the age of ten, he was known to the local police as a petty thief. At the age of 16, he committed a string of sexual attacks that resulted in his serving nine years in Peterhead Prison. In 1955, he successfully conducted his own defence on a rape charge at Airdrie sheriff Court. On July 11th 1958, Manuel was hanged on the gallows at Barlinnie Prison by Harry Allen. His last words are reported to have been: "Turn up the radio and I'll go quietly".

Manuel, nicknamed the 'Beast of Birkenshaw' , confessed to killing 18 people but was hanged for being convicted of eight murders in the mid to late 50's. Manuel was born in March 1927 in New York to Scottish immigrants. When he was just five, the family packed up and moved to Coventry, England where he spent his youth getting into various sorts of trouble. He was jailed at the age of 16 for sexually assaulting a young woman. Over the next decade, he was arrested and jailed multiple times for rape. Finally, in 1953, he moved to Glasgow to rejoin his family that had moved away years earlier. In 1956, he murdered a seventeen year old girl with an iron rod and dumped her body on a local golf course. As a previous sex-offender, he was questioned by police and released. Two months later, he killed again, shooting three women at close range in their home. Police suspected Manuel in the killing, but once again, he was released after questioning. Manuel went back to jail for a burglary and was released in December 1957. Within days he had killed again, this time randomly shooting a taxi driver, a young student and an entire family, including a ten year old child. Authorities discovered that Manuel took up residence in the dead families house for more than a week after the crime. Ultimately, the murder of that family would lead to his arrest. In January, 1958, he was passing banknotes that he had stolen from the home and aroused the suspicion of a local bartender. Police subsequently traced the notes back to the dead family and arrested Manuel. Once in custody, he began confessing to additional murders and even led the police to the burial site of one of his victims.

“The Beast of Birkenshaw,”

Peter Manual was born on March 13th, 1927. As a child he was bullied ,when Peter was 10 years old he was declared a delinquent, and at 15 years old he was already in custody for sexual assaults.

Peter was convicted of 7 murders in the year 1958. His murders began in 1956 when he stalked, raped, and bludgeoned his first victim. Peter’s next victims were relatives and were killed together in their home. The father of the family was a suspect, arrested, and held for a couple months until the police realized a serial killer was on the lose.

Isabelle Cooke, age 17, was declared missing in 1957 on her way home from work.  Peter had stalked, raped, and strangled 17 year old Isabelle. After Peter’s arrest he would finally lead police to her body.

The Smart’s were the last of Peter’s murder spree. The Smart’s were all shot dead in their home in 1958. After Peter murdered the family, he stayed in their house for a week. He took the Smart’s car and drove to a police officer near by to tell them they are looking in the wrong area for Isabelle Cooke’s body.

Peter didn’t come clean about his murders until his father was arrested.

 Peter’s victims were mainly female with a couple exceptions of males. The murders were of all ages, stabbing, strangulation, beatings, and guns were used as his murder weapons of choice. He was cleared sane.

ภาพยนตร์ รายการโทรทัศน์ ในแฟรนไชส์น้อยๆของฮันนิบาล เล็คเตอร์ บทนี้เป็นที่จดจำจากผลงานการแสดงโดยเซอร์ แอนโทนี ฮอพกิ้นส์ เราชินกันเสียงลากนิด น้ำเสียงสุภาพพอๆกับเย้ยหยัน รู้สึกเหมือนเชื่องช้า ซึ่งก่อความน่าเกรงกลัวอย่างช้าๆในสมองเราด้วย ในขณะที่ไบรอัน ค็อกซ์ ฮันนิบาล เล็คเตอร์ คนแรกบนจอเงิน กลับเล่นบทนี้ด้วยพลังที่ไหลอย่างรวดเร็วจากสมองออกมายังการกระทำของชายคนนี้

แต่ละคนที่มารับบทก็มีอ้างอิงและการตีความบทนี้ต่างกันออกไป สำหรับ 4 คนนี้เขาตีความมาอย่างไรบ้าง?

1.  Brian Cox

ค็อกซ์เคยให้สัมภาษณ์ไว้ว่าได้วางการแสดงบทนี้มาจากฆาตกรต่อเนื่องเชื้อสายสก๊อตชื่อ Peter Manuel หรือ The Beast of Birkenshaw เป็นอาชญากรช่วง 1950s และ ได้ให้สัมภาษณ์ไว้ถึงการแปลความตัวละครตัวนี้โดยเขา ว่าเขามองฮันนิบาลเป็นคนที่สมองแจ่มใสมาก คิดอะไรลื่นไหลตลอด ดังนั้นเขาถึงเล่นตัวละครตัวนี้ออกไปทางคล่องแคล่ว รวดเร็วมาก “He’s very bright, and kind of vain in his brightness, so I played him very, very quickly.” (denofgeek.com)

Picture from: http://www.blumhouse.com/2015/12/01/double-take-manhunter-1986-red-dragon-2002/

2. Anthony Hopkins

ฮอพกิ้นส์เคยให้สัมภาษณ์ว่าเขาใช้แคแรกเตอร์ของ Katharine Hepburn (ดาราสาวชาวอเมริกัน เรื่องที่รู้จักกันดีอย่าง Breakfast at Tiffany, Roman Holiday) และตัวละคร HAL 9000 (สมองกลตัวร้ายจาก 2001: A Space Odyssey) และในการสัมภาษณ์เกี่ยวกับภาพยนตร์ฮันนิบาล (2001) ฮอพกิ้นส์ให้สัมภาษณ์ถึงแรงบัลดาลใจในท่วงท่าการเคลื่อนไหวของฮันนิบาลเมื่ออยู่ในโลกกว้างว่ามาจากแมวเหมียว

Picture from: http://www.sliptalk.com/behind-the-scenes/

3. Gaspard Ulliel

อูลิแอลคิดว่าแฟนหนังคาดหวังความคล้ายคลึงกับฮันนิบาลแบบที่ฮอพกินส์สร้างไว้ เขาคิดว่าไม่สามารถทำฮันนิบาลแบบฮันนิบาลในคุกได้ เพราะเขาคือฮันนิบาลวัยเด็กกว่า จึงสร้างแบบฉบับของตัวเอง จากการอ่านนิยายและศึกษาการแสดงของฮอพกินส์เพื่อนำมาประยุกต์ใช้

Picture from: https://movieplayer.it/foto/gaspard-ulliel-in-hannibal-lecter-le-origini-del-male_27883/

4. Mads Mikkelsen

มิคเคลเซ่นมองว่าเขาไม่สามารถแสดงฮันนิบาลที่หลอนสุดๆได้ เพราะฮันนิบาลของเขาเป็นคนที่อยู่นอกห้องขัง และมองหาปฏิสัมพันธ์กับคนรอบข้าง เขาเลือกการตีความจากอ่านหนังสือ Red Dragon โดยเขามองว่าฮันนิบาลไม่ใช่ฆาตกรโรคจิตแบบทั่วไปๆ ที่มีปม มีความเก็บกด มีเหตุมีที่มาที่น่าสงสาร แต่เป็นเหมือนซาตานที่เห็นความน่าพิศมัยบนสิ่งที่คนอื่นมองว่าน่ากลัว ทุกๆวันของฮันนิบาลคือความสวยงามของชีวิตที่ไม่ควรจะปล่อยให้ผ่านไปอย่างธรรมดาสักวินาทีเดียว และถ้าใครทำให้เวลาที่เขามีมันน่าเบื่อหรือไม่ระรื่นหูระรื่นตา หนักหน่อยคงได้ตกไปอยู่บนโต๊ะทานข้าวแน่

“To Hannibal, psychopaths are banal, as they all have a reason for killing: a f*cked-up mum, a dad that hit them, whatever. For me, he’s the fallen angel: Satan on Earth, a man who sees beauty where the rest of us see horror. Or, at least, that’s what I based him on.” (shortlist.com)

“He’s constantly searching for the beauty in life. Every day is beautiful. Life is too short for him to drink or eat anything banal, or to listen to anything that is banal, or speak to anyone banal. If he speaks to someone boring or rude, they have a good chance of ending up on his dining table.” (radiotimes.com)

Picture form: http://unaffiliatedcritic.com/2015/06/hannibal-3×01-antipasto/

Peter Manuel: American-Scottish Serial Killer

Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel (13 March 1927 – 11 July 1958) was an American-Scottish serial killer who was convicted of murdering a total of seven people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958 and is believed to have murdered two more, nine in all.

Prior to his arrest, the media nicknamed the unidentified killer “the Beast of Birkenshaw“. Manuel was…

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The Beast of Birkenshaw and the Murder or the Irwin Sisters

You are standing on her.

Peter Manuel, “The Beast of Birkenshaw” Manuel said this to police while showing them the location of one of his victims. He would later be convicted of seven murders and is believed to be responsible for two more.