Well I did warn my kids...

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Goddlefrood" <gav_fiji at ...>
wrote:
>
> > Pam:
> > Sweeney Todd is not based on a true story. It's based on a 19th 
> > century "penny dreadful" novel.  
> 
> Goddlefrood:
> He most certainly was real. This would tell you a little about him:
> http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/todd/index_1.html
> 
> Hung 1802. The only questionable part is whether he operated out 
> of Fleet Street or elsewhere. The murders for pies are true. Truth 
> is often stranger than fiction ...
>
Catlady:
Wikipedia says he was fiction:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeney_Todd>:
"According to the English tale, Todd was tried at the Old Bailey and
hanged at Tyburn in January 1802, in front of a large crowd. However,
no record of the trial can be found in the Old Bailey sessions papers
or the Newgate Calendar, nor are there any contemporary press reports
either of the trial or of the hanging. Also, Tyburn was no longer used
for hangings after the end of the 18th century. As early as 1878, a
contributor to Notes and Queries noted this absence of authentic
non-fictional sources. It has also been rumoured that Todd fled to
Forres, Scotland where he died and was buried in the local cemetery.[8]"

"Sweeney Todd may not be a wholly fictional character. In two
books,[1][2] the horror and killing story writer Peter Haining argues
that Sweeney Todd was a historical figure who committed his crimes
around 1800. Nevertheless, other researchers who have tried to verify
his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's
claims.[3][4][5]"

Haining is the source cited in the first two chapters (all I read) of
your crimelibrary source.

"Todd's first appearance could have been in a British penny dreadful
called The People's Periodical, in issue 7, dated November 21, 1846.
The story in which he appeared was titled "The String of Pearls: A
Romance," and was written by Thomas Peckett Prest,[6] who created
several other gruesome villains. He tended to base his horror stories
partly on truth, sometimes gaining inspiration from real crime reports
in The Times."

Added to Wikipedia's article since I last read it last month: "There
is, however, a similar story reputed to have occurred on the Rue de la
Harpe in Paris that likely influenced the stories of Todd."

"There is also an earlier story, about an unnamed perruquier
(hairdresser) assisted by a patissier (baker) in Paris that appeared
in an edition of The Terrific Register, published in London in 1825
[7]. It tells how two gentlemen stopped for a shave while on an
important errand, and the first man, when done, went ahead with the
errand while his friend remained behind. When he returned for his
friend, he was told by the hairdresser that he had gone, but curiously
left his pet dog waiting behind. This led, eventually, to the dog
revealing that the man's corpse was hidden in the hairdresser's
basement, which adjoined to that of the baker's; it was also indicated
that this was not the first such crime the two had committed, for the
baker routinely had been making pies from corpses. The story concludes
with the claim that a monument was built over the site of the murders."