The Disappearance of “The Girl in the Green Mac”
It was a warm summer’s day in Bolton, Lancashire, England, on the 18th of August, 1944. 6-year-old Sheila Fox was wearing a blue flowered dress, a green mac, stockings and shoes, when her mother waved her off to school that morning. She partook in her daily studies and played with her friends before leaving school that Friday afternoon at approximately 4PM.
When she didn’t return home at the appointed time, she was reported missing. As police started their investigation, some classmates reported to them that they had seen Sheila riding on the crossbar of a man’s bicycle. Another classmate said they had seen her walking with a man. When she asked her where she was going, she replied: “I am going with this man.” Typically shy, the friend assumed Sheila knew the man. She wasn’t one to talk to strangers never mind wander off with them.
Over the weekend, air raid wardens and army cadets assisted in the search for the missing girl. Police were called in to offer assistance but they were unable to pickup a scent. Water supply tanks, lodges, rivers and streams were extensively searched. Over the forthcoming years, Sheila’s family clung to hope that Sheila was still alive; they kept their doors unlocked day in and day out just in case she ever returned.
Some believe that Sheila’s disappearance was connected to the murder of Quentin Smith, who was murdered four years after h the disappearance. Another theory is that her disappearance was linked with two stabbing attacks on schoolgirls the same age as her that took place in 1945 and 1948. The perpetrator of these two attacks was said to be a “tall, thin man.”
To this very day, nobody knows for sure what happened to Sheila.