The Essex shop selling pickled human body parts for thousands of pounds
Background to the story:
I discovered Henry Scragg’s curiosity shop while visiting the adjacent antiques centre in Battlesbridge. A quick online search revealed the obscure items the shop sold and displayed, and I knew if I could speak with the owner it would make a very interesting feature.
Story link: Inside the Essex shop selling pickled human body parts for thousands of pounds
How I developed the story:
After speaking with the shop owner, Henry Scragg, I arranged for myself and a photographer to visit on February 8, 2019. I knew it was going to be a peculiar interview, but went in there with an open mind.
When we arrived, Henry gave us a tour of the shop. He was happy for everything to be photographed and described some of his favourite items. He later offered me a seat in a back room where he kept human body parts and fetuses in jars. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with this but I had a photographer with me so I felt more at ease.
The interview itself was difficult. Henry had some very unusual and controversial opinions which I didn’t necessarily agree with, but I set aside my personal feelings and remained professional. On a number of occasions I used my own judgement and decided against including certain parts of the interview within my final piece.
The article included a picture gallery showcasing some of the items being sold in the shop. Some of the photographs were graphic so in the copy I warned readers about the potentially disturbing content.
How well the story did for our site:
The article delivered 11,094 page views and featured on The Mirror. It reached 53,379 people on our Facebook and had 8,072 engagements. Our readers shared the post 155 times and more than 150 people commented on it. One of those comments led to an equally sensational follow-up story.
How a comment on a Facebook post lead to 8,000+ page views:
Tina Loudfoot commented: “I have my late husband’s large bowel in a jar of formaldehyde. He had it removed 20 odd years ago and wanted to keep it. He passed away last year so now I can say I’ll always have part of him with me….literally!” As soon as I saw Tina’s comment, I knew it could be a great story so I messaged her to see if she would be interested. We arranged a telephone interview and I persuaded her to send me a photograph of her with the jar and its contents.
Story link: The sad reason this Chelmsford mum keeps her late husband’s bowel in a jar
How well it did for our site:
This story had 8,885 page views and on Facebook it reached 28,279 people and had 7,477 engagements. I was approached by our syndication team about Tina’s story, and after speaking with her again, she agreed for the story to be syndicated.
Syndicated links:
Paige Ingram’s Certificate of Journalism Portfolio 