Hi everyone, I'm back from Christchurch after having driven for almost 24 hours and staying just about as long as I've driven.
It was a bumpy ride up and an early start, but it felt quite short to be honest. I caught up with Holly, Rae and Neil's youngest daughter, and hung out with her all last night at her church and out with friends afterwards.
And then this morning is when the interesting stuff happened (well it was all fun but I kinda like researching things)...I went into town and found a book store, and asked about the Parker-Hulme murder which is the real events of what the movie "Heavenly Creatures" takes after. The movie is actually quite true to real life - even in locations except in one area, one of the houses, which has been long torn down, apparently.
Anyways, I only had from about 8:30 til 1:30 or so to do the things I planned on doing. So after a short shopping spree at LUSH (saw a new soap that I haven't tried), the book store (got a great NZ photo album) and the music store (Heavenly Creatures DVD), I headed to the library to start doing a little take-home research on the case itself.
As per the request to fill in all you lovely readers on this "Heavenly Creatures" fascination of mine, I will now tell the story as I have researched it thus far:
(Consider this your official warning that this is a fairly gruesome and cruel, but true, tale of two young women. Welcome to your first history lesson on New Zealand!)
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme met in the first year of highschool and quickly became best friends. Having shared similar pasts of illness and being the odd-girl out (Juliet moved around a lot and so didn't have many friends, and Pauline was just a strange sort of girl), they shared a lot of time together and very quickly their friendship turned into a sort of obsessive, intense one where they literally started to live in fantasy world.
They idolized Hollywood stars and dreamed of becoming renowned writers and actresses one day, and somehow discovered that there is a "fourth world" where only the "chosen" ones may visit and go to after death. This Fourth World was ruled by those that they chose to be - the actors or writers or whoever they idolized. They felt that they were superior and had an extra part of their brain that permitted them to know of and understand this fourth world, and because of this they also felt that they were apart from the law (as in their fantasy world, their rulers were also above the law and had very bad tempers).
Their parents started to notice this overly intense friendship of theirs and saw it was becoming grossly unhealthy for them, so Juliet(now 15)'s parents decided to move to South Africa and take her with them. Even before this decision, Pauline (now 16) was getting very irritated with her mother's behaviour and concern for the friendship and her daughter's health and weight (too skinny), and was trying to think of ways to rid herself of this "little problem".
When Honora Parker, Pauline's mother, declared that Pauline would *not* be permitted to move to South Africa with the Hulme family, Pauline made it known to Juliet that the only way that they would be allowed to stay together forever was if mother was dead. She was the *only* thing standing in the way of their being able to stay together as best friends forever. So they started planning the "day of the happy event", which was decided to be 22 June, 1954.
Juliet, outside her home at Ilam, snuck a half-brick from her shed and later gave it to Pauline. This would serve as part of the weapon.
The girls, on a nice sunny afternoon, were pleasant and helpful around the Parker home, and then invited Honora to go on a journey to Victoria Park for a nice afternoon stroll. After having sat in the tea room for a while, the girls carefully chose a walking path that was more secluded than the others, and was also steeper in places. This was to help the death look accidental.
About half an hour and 350m from leaving the tea room, Honora was struck on the back of the head with a half-brick stuffed into a stocking. The girls couldn't believe that the first blow didn't kill her, and knew they had to finish the job now that it was started. They each took turns hitting her over and over in a ferocious and frenzied attack - the report later stated that there were 45 wounds on her head and it was obvious that Honora Parker died where she lay.
The girls went running back up to the tea room, covered in blood, crying for help saying that "Mother has fallen and hit a head on a rock. I think she's dead!".
The next morning, the two girls were taken in for murder, and during a 6 day trial at the court house (about 2 months later), the defending attorney tried to convince the jury that these two young ladies were trapped in what was called "folie a deux", or a type of communicative insanity.
The jury was not convinced, and agreed with the prosecutor's claim that this was a "callously planned and premeditated murder committed by two highly intelligent but precocious and dirty-minded girls". The evidence convicting these girls was mostly a diary that Pauline kept, speaking - without any shred of conscience - of the upcoming "moider" of mother.
The girls, being too young to hang, were sentenced indeterminately at separate women's prisons until it was decided they were allowed to leave. They were not allowed to write to eachother. They were forbidden from ever speaking to or seeing eachother. Ever again.
They each spent about 5 years in their separate prisons, taking studies and doing the regular duties that the inmates were meant to do. Juliet was the first to be released; she quickly changed her identity and disappeared to the UK. Pauline changed her name as well, finished university and also took off to a part of the UK, unknowingly in the same country as Juliet.
It is true that not only one, but both women are living very normal sorts of lives, today.
It has been recently discovered (1997) that Pauline, now Hilary Nathan, has been living as a devout Catholic recluse in a little town called Hoo in England. She teaches horse riding lessons to children and has spent over 40 years in seclusion, paying for her crime in her own way.
Juliet Hulme is now known as Anne Perry, a very successful murder mystery novelist. She has been in the public eye for longer than Hilary (I would imagine it's much harder to keep your past a secret when you are a public figure under an assumed name).
Neither woman has any intention of contacting the other. It has been told by Anne (Juliet) that she did not mean to take part in the incident, but was afraid that if she had betrayed the plans of such a loyal friend (who stuck by her during a severe attack of TB), Pauline would have committed suicide. Hilary (Pauline) has not and will not speak to any of the press - she has simply agreed to make her present life known to New Zealand and now would like to be left in peace, as she has done so for the past 40 or so years.
It is true that perhaps this fascination of mine is a little strange. Morbid, as I call it. I first heard of the story while unable to sleep back in Fisherville, so I stayed in the basement and looked for a movie to watch in the wee hours of the morning. When I read the synopsis for this movie, all i saw was "in New Zealand" and I automatically turned to it. I also saw it was directed by Peter Jackson and am a fan of his work. It wasn't until afterwards before the credits that I discovered it was a true story.
I know that it is always a tragedy when anyone is murdered, and that woman did have a family that loved her (even if Pauline, at the time, didn't claim to). The part that saddened me the most was the fate of the girls, though they likely deserved it. What was meant to keep them together (a stupid plan, mind you, but you try being forced to leave your best friend and see how irrationally you start thinking) had been the deed that separated them. Forever.
Their friendship WAS likely unhealthy, and has been assumed to be a lesbian relationship. Both Anne and Hilary have made it known that *that* part is absolute rubbish. It may be, now, that separating the girls WAS in the best interest of both of them - but nonetheless it makes me so sad how everyone's lives were ruined. I guess this is to be expected in a murder situation - no one really wins do they?
So what did *I* see today while on my journey through Christchurch? I happened to accidentally stumble upon the Court House and took a picture of it. I'm not certain if it is *the* court house that the trial took place in, or if there is more than one. But I'm happy to assume that I found a landmark that I wanted to. I also did extensive research at the library and took home copies of the original newspaper and press releases. And just to top it off, I took a quick sidetrack to Ilam Homestead, formerly the Hulme home where the girls spent MUCH of their time. I took pictures of the house itself (on the outside - it serves as a university staff club now and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to snoop around inside) and of the shed where Juliet found the half-brick. I also bought the movie to keep for myself. The one thing I *really* wanted was to take a stroll in Victoria Park along the pathways, but time and money (lack thereof) restricted me from doing this. Perhaps it was best - that might have just gotten a little too creepy.
So that is the story of my Christchurch journey and the Parker-Hulme murder case. Perhaps you did not enjoy the fact that I put this in my journal for all to read, but I find that it is a very significant part of New Zealand history - as this was the first completely shocking and mind-boggling murder that ever hit this country. If you ever get a chance to see the movie, I suggest you do. The only thing that doesn't quite ring true (if I remember correctly) is that there is much implication and suspicion that the girls are much more than just close friends. But it's a great movie and I believe is one of Kate Winslet's first major film acting roles (though it's far from a "major" film - being filmed in 1994 with a budget of $5million USD), so you should take the time to check it out.
Thanks for having the patience to read this. I hope you don't think I'm too weird for having this "morbid fascination" :)
And with that, I try to get some sleep. Goodnight.
