The Village of the Damned
By: Amber Blaize
Tags: Suicide, Wales, Mental Health Awareness, Real Life, Mental Health

Other theories

Like any unexplained event or mystery, some people love a good conspiracy.

Many people started looking for other explanations, with super-sleuth’s taking to forums to discuss their ideas and bounce off each other.

Some even headed to Wales to do their own evidence gathering first hand, which naturally did not go down well with the locals who wanted nothing more than to be left alone to grieve and for the unwanted attention caused by the Media, to cease.

There have been suggestions of causes including Serial Killers, SSIRs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which are commonly prescribed antidepressants), and HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program — a little-known, U.S. military defence project which generated quite a bit of controversy over its alleged weather control capabilities).

Some people believe that something environmental must have triggered the behaviour, and linked this same self-destructive behaviour being seen in Bridgend to that seen being displayed by Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, which occurred during the same time frame as the suicides, but 117 miles away in the vicinity of Keele, near Stoke on Trent.

For those unfamiliar with the story, the Eriksson Twins became infamous when their alarming behaviour was captured on camera and broadcast to millions on the BBC show Traffic Cops, then the 2010 BBC documentary, Madness in the Fast Lane.

In May 2008, the two sisters were spotted on security camera walking illegally down the central reservation of the busy M6 motorway. They attempted to cross the busy motorway, and Sabina was hit by a red SEAT León sedan.

Concerned drivers started contacting the emergency services, as Police, the Highway Agency officers, the Central Motorway Police, and the camera operatives from the Traffic Cops program who were shadowing the unit at the time all headed to the scene.

When the Police arrived, the situation initially appeared calm. The sisters stood on the side of the motorway smoking and chatting affably with them.

Then, without warning, Ursula ran into the road in front of oncoming traffic, the officer next to her tries to grab her coat to prevent her from being hit by vehicles.

Horrified viewers watched on as the Police tried desperately to prevent the women from running into the road, but struggling free of her coat, she runs straight into the path of an oncoming truck, that was travelling, at an estimated, at 56mph.

Seconds later, whilst the onlookers are still reeling in shock at Ursula being hit by a lorry, Sabina (seen above in the red coat) also runs into the road in front of a Volkswagen Polo, which having nowhere to go to avoid the collision, hits her and she smashes into the windshield.

Her twin sister, Ursula, legs crushed by the truck that had just run her over, is lying in the road, spitting and screaming at paramedics trying to attend to her injuries.

An air ambulance was called, and as Sabina starts to regain consciousness, she immediately starts clawing and spitting at the police officers who are attempting to help her.

Ursula starts screaming, “I recognize you — you’re not real.” whilst her sister screams back “They’re going to steal your organs”

Sabrina starts screaming for the help of the police, seemingly unable to establish that the police were already there, shouting “Why do you kill me?” before punching a police officer in the face and running back into the road.

She squared up with the police officers surrounding her so with the help of Emergency workers and several members of the public, she was restrained and carried her to a waiting ambulance, at which point she was handcuffed and sedated. It took 6 people to be able to get her under control.

Ursula was given emergency surgery and survived her injuries. She was sectioned under the mental health act and held for three months of assessment.

Sabina was arrested but released just days later, without having undergone a full psychiatric evaluation. Footage of Sabina in the police station shows her acting very differently than her alarming antics on the M6.

She’s seen smiling and joking with officers, but says one unnerving line that would soon take on an even darker meaning,

“We say in Sweden that an accident rarely comes alone. Usually at least one more follows — maybe two”.

During her time in custody Sabina never once asks about her sister Ursula.

Sabina went on to fatally stab 54-year-old paramedic Glen Hollinshead less than 24 hours after she was released by the Police.

But the weirdness doesn’t end there either. Following the stabbing, Sabina was caught on the run on nearby CCTV. She was carrying a hammer, periodically hitting herself over the head with it. A passing motorist saw this and decided to tackle her in an attempt to take control of the hammer.While wrestling with him, Sabina screamed and took a roof tile out of her pocket and struck him on the back of the head with it. By this time paramedics had found her and gave chase. The pursuit ended at Heron Cross when Sabina jumped from a 12-metre (40 ft) high bridge onto the A50, breaking both ankles and fracturing her skull in the fall. Having also survived this ordeal, she was taken to hospital before being arrested and charged.

Both the prosecution and defense claimed that Sabina was insane at the time of the killing of Mr Hollinshead, and sane at the time of her trial. Her defense counsel explained that Eriksson was a “secondary” sufferer of’ folie à deux’. A rare condition where she was being influenced by the presence, or perceived presence, of her twin sister, with Ursula being the “primary” sufferer in this case.

Nottingham Crown Court accepted her plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to her mental state, the judge, Justice Saunders, determined that she had low level of culpability for her crimes and sentenced her to just 5 years for the murder of Glen Hollinshead.

Ursula returned to Washington State in the USA without any charges.

Sabina has long since been released from jail and is thought to have returned to Scandinavia, her current whereabouts are unknown.

Their odd behaviour has never to this day been fully explained but the theories suggesting shared psychosis as the cause seems to be the strongest justification for their actions.