Editing Henri Désiré Landru (section)

== Execution and aftermath ==
[[File:Head of Henri Landru.jpg|thumb|Severed head presented as Henri Landru's.]]
[[File:Le fourneau de Landru.jpg|thumb|Landru's oven was an exhibit at his trial]]
[[File:Cuisiniere Landru.jpg|thumb|Landru's sketch of the oven]]
Landru eventually signed the clemency appeal, but it was rejected by President [[Alexandre Millerand]]. On 25 February 1922, shortly before dawn, he was executed by guillotine outside the gates of the Prison Saint-Pierre in Versailles. He declined strong alcohol and refused last rites and a final confession, telling the priest to save his own soul.{{sfn|Wiruson|Pittoman|1963|p=148}}{{sfn|Rēn|1996|pp=62-63}} His final request was reportedly for a glass of rum and water, though another account mentions a foot bath.<ref name="Deseret1997"/> The guillotine used was ironically previously nicknamed "The Widow," prompting rumors and gossip at that time about it being the only widow Landru failed to swindle.{{sfn|Shōshin Shobō|1997|pp=2840-2842}}  His body was buried in the [[Cimetière des Gonards]], later moved to an unmarked grave when the lease expired.<ref name="LeMatin1927"/>

On the night before his execution, a large crowd gathered, some waiting through the night to witness the event, including women who reportedly rushed from Paris nightclubs still in their evening dresses. However, only officials and journalists were allowed entry.{{sfn|Shōshin Shobō|1997|pp=2840-2842}} The account of one of them, [[Webb Miller (journalist)|Webb Miller]] earned him a Pulitzer nomination,<ref>{{Cite news|language=en|author=JOHN EBY|date=2007-05-03|title=SMC museum lands Miller memorabilia|url=http://www.dowagiacnews.com/2007/05/03/smc-museum-lands-miller-memorabilia/ |accessdate=2019-09-29|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416080942/http://www.dowagiacnews.com/ |archivedate=2012-04-16}}</ref> which went as follows

{{Quotation|"Landru's bare feet made a light sound on the cold pebbles. His knees seemed not to be doing their job. His face turned red when he saw the terrifying machine, the guillotine...
The blade fell in an instant, and Landru's head fell into the basket with a dull thud. An assistant lifted the hinged board and rolled the headless torso into a wicker basket, and a sickening amount of blood gushed out...
One of the assistants standing in front of the machine grabbed the basket containing the head, rolled it like a cabbage into another large basket, and quickly loaded it onto a waiting covered cart...
When Landru appeared in the prison courtyard, I checked my watch. When the cart left, I looked at my watch again, but only 26 seconds had passed."<ref name="Dowagiac"/>{{sfn|Shōshin Shobō|1997|pp=2840-2842}}}}

Landru's notoriety persisted. After Landru's execution, his possessions were auctioned off as public property in accordance with the law. In 1923, enthusiasts seeking these items gathered at the Versailles courthouse. His Gambais house briefly became a morbidly themed restaurant.<ref name="TomlinsonAftermath"/> His possessions were auctioned in 1923; the infamous oven, believed to be the one Landru used to incinerate his victims, was initially sold to a Dutch bidder for 42,000 francs. However, when this payment was not made, it was ultimately acquired by an Italian bidder for 40,000 lire. Plans to exhibit it were blocked, and it vanished into a private collection.{{sfn|Monesutie|1991|pp=98-103}}<ref name="TomlinsonAftermath" />

In 1963, 46 years after his execution, newspapers published articles titled "Landru's Confession." According to these articles, a purported confession emerged. It was allegedly written by Landru on the back of a sketch of the oven (or a framed picture he gave to one of his lawyers while in the condemned cell). The lawyer's daughter reportedly discovered Landru's hastily written confession on the back of the picture when she removed the frame for cleaning, and it said "Things didn't happen behind the wall, rather something was burned inside the oven."{{sfn|Monesutie|1991|p=103}} The British Daily Express reported that it said "I did it. I burned the women's bodies in the kitchen oven."<ref name="CyriaxConfession"/> The British News of the World reported that it said "The trial witnesses are all brainless. I killed the women inside the house."<ref name="CyriaxConfession"/> The French newspaper France-Soir reported that it said "The witnesses are all idiots. It wasn't behind the wall that things happened, but inside the house that something burned."{{sfn|Shōshin Shobō|1997|p=2843}}

British murderer John Haigh, who used acid to dispose of victims in the 1940s specifically, killing nine people and dissolving their bodies in sulfuric acid), is sometimes said to have been inspired by Landru.{{sfn|Sairyakkusu|1996|pp=662-664}}

Further possible remains linked to Landru surfaced decades later. Even after Landru's death, bodies believed to be connected to him were discovered. In March 1933, in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, when the house next to one Landru had lived in was demolished, the skeleton of what appeared to be a young woman was discovered under the kitchen floor. Also in 1958, when the land of Landru's residence in Gambais was excavated, partial skeletons of two individuals were found. These are speculated to be those of the first victim, Jeanne Cuchet, and her son.{{sfn|Shōshin Shobō|1997|pp=2830-2835}}

A preserved head, claimed to be Landru's, is displayed at the Museum of Death in Hollywood, California.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wade |first1=Pamela |title=This dark Hollywood museum leaves people feeling glad to be alive |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/usa/300961571/this-dark-hollywood-museum-leaves-people-feeling-glad-to-be-alive |access-date=15 November 2024 |work=www.stuff.co.nz |date=October 29, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Museum of Death |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-death-los-angeles-california |access-date=15 November 2024 |work=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref>