Pogo the Clown was a friendly neighborhood man who hosted parties with intentions to entertain children. The face behind Pogo the Clown, John Wayne Gacy, had a heartbreaking childhood where he was physically abused and talked down upon by his father.
Gacy was also negatively compared to his sisters, leaving him to feel alone. On top of the verbal and physical abuse, Gacy also grew up struggling with his homosexuality. The future of Gacy ended in the destruction of many families and a wildly disturbing story.
Gacy’s first despicable act happened in January, 1972. A boy by the name of Timothy McCoy, went home with Gacy for sex. At 16 years old, the boy was murdered the next morning. Due to Gacy’s paranoia, he killed McCoy without hesitation. After seeing him with a knife in his hand Gacy jumped, to attack and repeatedly stabbed McCoy to death. When in reality, the innocent boy had just made them breakfast, hence the knife. The once friendly neighborhood party clown realized he felt sexual gratification from this act. This moment is what began the name change from Pogo the Clown, to “Killer Clown”.
Victim after victim, Gacy continued to sweep young men’s lives from their families. Once he had killed his first few, he gained patterns. One pattern found in Gacy’s killer era was the use of handcuffs. He’d manipulate these young men into putting the handcuffs on by saying he wanted to show a magic trick. Not only did he manipulate his victims but also police officers. He would make up fake stories or reasons that would be believable enough for cops to not investigate him. He was able to get away many times, and would continue to murder.
The home of John Wayne Gacy could easily be compared to a graveyard with how many bodies were buried inside and outside of his house. He hid many of his victims’ bodies in a crawl space in his house. Eventually he would run out of room and started burying them at a different location. There was a bridge off Interstate 50 near Des Plaines River, Illinois, that he would start throwing the bodies off of. His house was later destroyed to try and find more evidence about his criminal hobby. Later that year, a new house was built over it.
The end of Gacy’s killing streak would end in December, 1978 when he was arrested. His trial started on February 6, 1980. Admitting to killing 30 people, the trial was to decide whether he could be put in a mental facility by pleading insane. He went about this by pleading not guilty due to a multiple personality disorder Gacy claimed to have. After many tests by psychological doctors, Gacy was proven guilty of 33 murders. After 14 years of being in prison, Gacy claimed he was innocent.
Gacy’s life ended on May 10, 1994 where he “accused the state of murdering him”, according to John Wayne Gacy biography.com. His death was caused by lethal injection and has mixed results on whether he had last words or not. After reading this article on John Wayne Gacy, remember to be careful on what is being done, and who it’s being done with. Speak out to friends and family when feeling scared or uneasy about someone.
