Inside the messed up head of: Gertrude Baniszewski

 Worst lady in mankind's history. 

Gertrude Van Fossen was born on September 19th, 1929 in Indiana. No one knows much about her childhood but at the age of 11 she witnessed her fathers death.

At the age of 16, she dropped out of high school and married a man by the name of John Banizsewski who was a former police officer. They had 4 children, Stephanie, John, Paula and Marie. But the home was very abusive. John would beat her very often in front of the children. So finally, after 10 years of marriage she left with her children. 

Soon after she married another man named, Edward. That marriage only lasted 3 months. Afterwards she went back to her first husband and remarried him. They had 2 more children, Shirley and James. But they did get divorce again. 

Gertrude then dated a boy named Denis Lee who was only 22. She ends up having another child so Dennis left her. Now she was a single mother to 7 children. 

Gertrude's daughter Stephanie had a friend at school, Sylvia Liken. Sylvia's father was searching for a place for her to stay since the family was going to a carnival circuit to make a living. Gertrude offered Sylvia and her sister Jenny a place to stay. 

At first things were going great. They were treated fairly in the household. But when the Likens sisters' father stopped sending Gertrude money, things started going downhill. 

At first, Gertrude beat the sisters with a paddle and also verbally abused them. They were even beaten 15 times with a paddle for eating too much at a church dinner. 

Gertrude was mostly abusive towards Sylvia. Her oldest, Paula, was jealous of Sylvia because of her appearance. She would constantly pick on her. 

Gertrude didn't give Sylvia food and would tell her to eat from garbage the can. Once they forcefully fed her a molded hot dog, when she threw up, she was forced to eat that too. They would also accuse her of spreading rumors about Paula and Stephanie. They would even take turns beating Sylvia. Stephanie once told her boyfriend that Sylvia was spreading rumors about her, so he went ahead and beat her up. 

The kids would even invite their friends over, and just beat Sylvia up. They would make Sylvia strip down in front of everyone and would sexually abuse her. Her skin was covered in cigarette burns, because they would put out cigarettes on her skin. Gertrude at one point forbade Sylvia from going to school. Sylvia would faint sometimes from the pain, so Gertrude would hit her head against the wall to wake her up. 

So many horrible things happened to the Likens sisters but they told no one. Because Gertrude told them that if they did, she would kill them. The family visited the sisters once in a while but still they didn't notice that anything was wrong and the sisters didn't say anything either. Once they ran into their oldest sister Diana, they told her about the abuse, but she just didn't believe them. 

Gertrude would constantly tie Sylvia up in the basement. She would leave her naked, dehydrated. She would even charge the neighborhood kids 5 cents to abuse Sylvia. The whole family and their boyfriends constantly took their turns to abuse the poor girl. 

Gertrude made Sylvia write a letter to her parents stating that, she was running away with a group of boys. Originally she was going to leave Sylvia in the woods to starve to death. Sylvia attempted to run away when she found out, but was caught. So they beat her up again and locked her in the basement. At one point Sylvia tried to crawl back up but Gertrude hit her on the head again to put her back down. Now at this point, she had passed away. One of her last sentences was "I wish my daddy was here."

Gertrude told Stephanie's boyfriend to call the police. When the police got there, she told them that Sylvia had run away and that she came back like that and she tried her best to help her. But Sylvia's sister Jenny told them everything. 

The police arrested Gertrude Baniszewski, 3 of her kids(Paula, John and Stephanie)  and 2 of their boyfriends(Richard Hobbs and Coy Hubbard) They also arrested 5 neighborhood kids but they were released to their parents. 

According to the autopsy report, Sylvia had over 150 wounds on her body. The official cause of her death was blood force trauma to the head. Gertrude refused the charges and said she only tied her up in the basement sometimes. Later she said, it was the kids fault and she was too 'depressed' to take care of the household. 

AFTERMATH:

Finally, after a 17 day trial Gertrude was charged with first degree murder. Gertrude and her daughter Paula, were given life sentences. But Stephanie's charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, though she did testify against her family. Richard, Coy and John were convicted of manslaughter. 

In 1985, Gertrude received parole and moved to Iowa. She changed her name to Nadine Van Fossen. She died 5 years later of lung cancer in 1990. 

Now, Sylvia's sister, Jenny wasn't nearly as abused as her. But she was so traumatized and haunted by the memories that, she turned into a nervous recluse. She tried to live a normal life. At the age of 54 she died from a heart attack. 

What actually happened to Rose Larner?

 One of Lansing's most shocking cases.

Rose Larner was born on August 19, 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Rose was a very ordinary kid but when she was 4 her parents decided to separate. Young Rose was also diagnosed as hyperactive. 

Besides all the family problems Rose did pretty well in school, she had good grades, great friends and was a regular teenager overall. Many called her a 'vampire'. Because she would stay up at night, roaming around the streets with friends. 

Rose had many friends. But there was one boy she was close with in particular. A boy by the name of Billy Brown. They were friends since 5th grade and would always hangout together.

Her family said she was going through her 'angry teenage years'. Rose would get into fights a lot, almost with everyone. So her mother one day, took her to Rivendell psychiatric hospital to get some help for Rose. 

At first Rose was upset but after 3 months she really liked it there. She made new friends, had therapy. Mostly she liked the individual attention she received from the staff and doctors there. She didn't want to leave. 

After she left the hospital her mother said that her attitude had gotten worse because she wanted to go back to the psychiatric hospital. 

One day, Rose was hanging out with her friend Bailey. They saw a man in the nearby tennis court, watching them. At one point he approached them and rose and the man hit it right off. They were talking and Bailey felt like a third wheel so she left them there and went home.

Later that night Rose showed up at Bailey's house and told her that the man had apparently sexually assaulted her. They immediately filed a complaint and he was arrested but only spent a month in jail. 

But Rose moved on with her life regardless. At the age of 16 she dropped out of high school but got her GED when she was 17. Around that summer she met a local rapper by the name of John Kehoe. And she became  obsessed with this guy, to her he was almost like a God. 

Rose began to date him and Rose, John and Billy would all hangout together very often. At one point John even moved in with Rose and her brothers and mom. But one day Rose's mom walked into her room and found guns and cash just lying around her room. She found out that this John guy was actually a drug dealer. So she kicked him out of the house. 

After this incident John completely started to ignore her. And the more he ignored her, the more she wanted to get his attention. They got into many arguments and he even threatened to kill her. 

December 6th, 1993 Rose got home from her night shift around 11:30. Her brother, who was sleeping on the couch at that time, stated that she called a friend and got into a small argument with them. After that she told her brother that she loved him and she headed out. Around 1:30 she went to convenience the store where her mother worked, and her mother could tell that something was off. But Rose reassured and said that she was just going to hangout with some friends. 

Next morning, Rose still wasn't home yet. Her mothers gut knew that something was wrong so she called the local detective. A day had gone by and they still couldn't find her. 

Her mother found out that Billy Brown wasn't home either, so she assumed that they were probably hanging out together. But the next day Billy called her and told her that he had no idea where Rose was. 

The police found nothing after searching for her all over the area, so they asked help from the community. Soon they started getting many tips. But over a hundred of them had mentioned only  2 names. Billy Brown and John Kehoe. 

Police brought Billy for investigation. He said he knew nothing about Rose. They knew he was lying but had nothing against him. 

The police had many search parties. They searched every corner of the town. Weeks turned into months, months tuned into years but there was no sign of Rose Larner. 

Finally, in 1996, Billy Brown had a confession to make. Billy told the police that, on the night that Rose had disappeared, the 3 of them, Rose Billy and John, were together. He said that Rose had called him to hangout. So John picked Rose and Billy in his truck and Rose and John had sex while Billy just sat there. 

After driving around for a while, John stopped the car and went to a store to get some things. According to Billy, he later learned that John had bought a filet knife, a hatchet, some trash bags and 2 bottles of charcoal lighter fluid. 

Then they drove to John's grandparent's house. They took some drugs and Billy said that John and Rose had sex again. Afterwards all three of them decided to take a shower together. 

After the shower John stepped out of the bathroom for a second while Billy and Rose were still there. John came back with a cord and all of a sudden, started to slit Rose's throat with it. Billy asked him why he was killing her and John told him that she needed to go. 

Minutes later when Rose was completely dead, John put her in the bathtub and started to slowly cut her body parts. Then he proceeded to put her body parts in the basement fireplace and burned them. 

They cleaned up the place and went to Billy's family house where they burned Rose's remaining body parts for nearly 10 hours. Billy stated that at one point he saw John take a piece of burned flesh, put it on a bread and he ate it with mustard. John said it was for the ‘experience’.

They filled garbage bags with Rose's ashes and spread them along the roadsides of Big Rapids, Michigan. Then they went to John’s brother, Tim's house who said he would take care of everything. So, this was Billy's testimony. Later police also found a drop of blood in Johns grandparent's bathroom. And indeed it was Rose's blood.

When John and Tim found out that the police were looking for them, they ran to Mexico. But shortly after were arrested by the Mexico police. 

During Johns trial Billy testified against John in exchange for a year in prison for being an accessory after murder. John was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Though John claimed that he is the innocent one and that Billy did everything and blamed him. 

Even to this day, John claims to be innocent. 

Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker

 

Richard Ramirez was born on 29 February, 1960 in El Paso, Texas, US. He was the child of Julian and Mercedes Ramirez.

 His father was a police officer and was determined to provide for his family. But had anger management issues and would often abuse his wife and also Richard and his 4 other siblings. At the age of 2 he was struck in the head with a falling piece of furniture. That left a big injury in his head, When he was 5 he was struck again in the head with a swing. Perhaps all of this played a role in the person he was about to become. 

By the age of 10, Richard was spending a lot of time with his cousin Miguel. Now Miguel was much older and he had been in the army who served in the Vietnam war. Miguel would tell 10 year old Richard about all the horrible things he had witnessed and done in the war. He would even tell him how he raped and killed women. Miguel even went on to teach Richard some skills, such as how to murder or capture people. 

On 4th May, 1973 Richard was hanging out at Miguel's house, that is when Miguel got into a heated argument with his wife and ended up shooting her. Richard witnessed the entire situation. 

After Miguels arrest Richard ends up moving with his sister and her husband. He would take Richard to peep into the windows of neighbors where there were attractive women. 

As a teenager Richard worked at this hotel as a part time job. He would use this as an opportunity to steal from the guests. One time he found a women alone in the room and attempted to rape her but fortunately her husband showed up. Police arrested him but the couple dropped charges. Richard ended up losing his job and later dropped out of high school in ninth grade. 

At the age of 22 he had permanently moved to California. He went to San Francisco first, where he ended up assaulting and brutally murdering a 9 year old girl in the basement of a hotel. This was Richards first murder. 

Richard had over 25 victims. Here's a look into some of them:

• June 28th, 1984 Richard killed a 79 year old woman by the name of Jennie in her apartment in Los Angeles. She was stabbed repeatedly in her sleep. 
• March 27th, 1985 Richard broke into a home at 2am in Whittier. He shot 64 year old Vincent in his sleep and beat his 44 year old wife, and later shot her 3 times and pulled her eyeballs out with knife, while stealing from them. Police found a lot of evidence against him from this incident. 
• May 14th, 1985 Richard entered the house of 66 year old Bill and his 56 year old disabled wife Lillian. Richard shot Bill in the face and raped his disabled wife and stole their valuables. 
• July 20th around 4am Richard broke into another home. He killed the husband and proceeded to rape the wife. This couple also had a 8 year old son, so when Richard found him he bound him up and dragged him around the house to show Richard where the valuables were. Around this time he told the little boy to "swear to Satan" that he was not hiding any money from him.

The list of his crimes goes on.

A press conference took place and in this conference they gave him the name "The Night Stalker". During this conference they told everyone to be aware and lock their doors. But this made many angry, specially LA detectives, because they knew that Richard was going to watch it and get cautious.

On August 24th Richard tried to break into a house, a little far from LA. 13 year old James heard footsteps outside his house and woke his parents up. Which scared Richard, he got into his car and when he was driving away James ran outside and took notes about the car and contacted the police. 

On August 28th they found the vehicle and on the rear view mirror they found one fingerprint. They matched the fingerprint and sure enough they found a match. Now they had his name. Richard Ramirez.

They publicly announced his name and mugshot. Which frightened Richard so he decided to go to his brothers place in Tucson, Arizona. August 30th he took a bus to Tucson but didn't meet his brother. Instead he took a bus back to LA. 

On August 31st after he had gone back to LA, he stumbled across a newspaper rack and every paper had his photo on the front page. He panicked and started running. He tried to carjack a woman but people outside prevented him. He ran again to east LA, he tried to car jack again but a group of men saw him and weren't having it. They beat him up until the police showed up. That is when he finally got arrested. 

On his first court hearing, Richard had a pentagram drawn on his hand and was seen screaming "hail Satan". There were also rumors going around that Richard was planning to shoot the prosecutor in the court. 

Richard even had fans. Many thought he was a very good looking guy. His 'fans' wrote him letters, paid him a visit in the prison. Many even thought he was innocent. A woman by the name of Doreen was absolutely obsessed with him. She wrote him around 75 letters. 

One of the jurors got shot and later on was replaced by another juror, Cindy. Now Cindy was infatuated and obsessed with Richard. She would even write him letters and notes. Richard loved having a jury by his side. 

After a very interesting trial Richard was finally proven guilty and was sentenced to die in California's gas chamber. 

On October 3rd, 1996 he ended up marrying Doreen in California San Quentin State Prison. Doreen ends up leaving him after she found out that he had killed a 9 year old. 

On June 7th, 2013, at the age of 53, Richard passed away in prison After being sick for a while. That is the story of Richard Ramirez aka the Night Stalker. 

Karl Denke: Saint or cannibal?

 

The hidden imposters among us.

Karl Denke was born in 1870 in Silesia (now southern Poland) in a wealthy farming community. No one knows much about Karl's childhood but perhaps it wasn't the best because, at the age of 12 Karl ran away from his parental home for some mysterious reason. 

When Karl was 25, his father passed away, leaving behind a good amount of inheritance money for him. Karl bought a beautiful two story house and established a business with that money, which sold various kinds of pork and leather goods. Karl made a name for himself through his business and he was also considered as the "pillar" of the community. Some even called him "vater denke" which meant "papa".

Karl was also the designated cross bearer for all processions and funerals. He even did charity work, specially helping travelers. 

So imagine everyone's surprise when they found out that this very saint is actually a murderer and also a cannibal. 

On December 24, 1924 Karls neighbor heard screaming coming from his house. When the neighbor rushed there, he found a random man bleeding from his head. There was a giant head injury, and the mans head was almost split open, it appeared that he had been struck by a hatchet of sorts. But before he passed away he told the neighbor who did this to him. Karl Denke. 

The police rushed him to the station, took his statement, but no one believed him. Instead they labeled him as drunk. 

But they still brought in Karl to question him. To their surprise, Karl actually admits to hitting the man but he says that it was out of self defense and that the man was trying to rob and assault him first. So the police said that they would keep him in a cell overnight, just as a "formality" while they sort things out.

To everyone's surprise and disbelief, Karl committed  suicide that very night.

After his death, the police very obviously got suspicious. That night they went to his house to investigate. Right away they noticed a very strong smell coming from his house. Kind of like vinegar, but again Karl was known for his famous pickled pork so they didn't think much of it. 

They didn't find much in his apartment. Just normal things to make the stuff he sold. So, leather tanner, fresh pork, soap making ingredients etc. They also found a pile of bones which they figured were just from the pigs. 

But then, one of the officers found an odd looking dish in the kitchen. They found out that the dish was made out of 240 human teeth. That is when they looked back and realized that all the other things they found may not be from pigs.

They went back and found that the pile of bones were in fact human bones. The police found:

• 2 shoulder blades
• 16 femurs 
• 8 lower parts of elbow
• 120 toes
• 8 heels
• 150 ribs

and the list goes on.

They sent the meat they found to the lab for a test, and indeed it was human meat. Also in Karls closet they found blood stained clothing. 

Police even found documented evidence against Karl. In his journal Karl wrote all the names of his victims, date of death and even the weight of their meat. He also had a collection of documents from his victims. He wrote about 31 of his victims.

Later on they were able to identify 20 victims from Karls records. Although the evidence suggested that he may have killed over 40 people.  

The evidence suggested that Karl mostly targeted people who had just been released from a prison or hospital, so they were vulnerable and needed a place to stay, and Karl certainly had that place. The police found Karls large collection of newspaper clippings of people who had recently been released from these places. Most of his victims were middle aged men. But the ages ranged from 16-75. 

So allegedly, he would lure these vulnerable people into his home and promise them food and shelter, but later on murder them and sell their meat and leather their skin.

According to Karls journal he had been killing from 1903-1924. So most of his life he spent killing people and later on eating and selling their flesh. But why? Which events in his life lead him to cannibalism? Guess we will never know. Because There weren't any confessions from him. However, Karl did confess to one cop on the night he died. He told the cop that, he had been only eating human meat for 3 years. The officer didn't really believe him and thought he was just fooling around. 

When everyone in town found out about Karls secret life, they were shaken but mostly disgusted. After all, they were the ones buying his products.

AFTERMATH:

The press had a great time with this case. When the news broke rumors and conspiracies started flooding.

This case took place at the time of world war11, when people were starving to death. So some made it into a political issue and blamed the government and stated that it drove "a moral citizen to commit such crime". Even if it sounds bizarre, but they may or may not be right to a certain extent. Because Karl Denke was just one of the many cannibals around Germany at this time. 

Who was actually Bloody Mary?

 The origin of Bloody Mary: Queen Mary 

"BLOODY MARY" a popular horror game among people that has been around for a long time. It is sort of a ritual where the person goes to a dark room, mostly bathroom, lights candles, stands in front of a mirror and calls out the name "Bloody Mary". It is said that through this ritual one can summon the ghost bloody Mary. However, it is not that serious and just done for fun or a little thrill if you please. 

Although some players claim that Bloody Mary appeared in the mirror. They described her as an angry woman covered in blood. Some also claim that they were attacked by this particular figure.

Even though there's no physical evidence of the ghost, the game has been around for a long time. So who was Bloody Mary really?

The dark history of Queen Mary:

There are many conspiracies surrounding who Bloody Mary actually was. Some believe that Bloody Mary was a woman by the name of Mary Worth who was accused of witchcraft. While others believe that Mary was a woman killed in a car crash. However, many believe that Bloody Mary is indeed Mary, the queen of England. Because of the executions she carried out against the protestants to restore Catholicism to England.

Mary was born on 18th February, 1516, in Greenwich, England. She was the daughter of king Henry V111 and Catherine of Aragon. Mary had an interesting childhood growing up. When she was 17 her parents separated because king Henry was interested in another woman by the name of Anne. However, he claimed that they separated because Catherine couldn't give him a boy, to take over his throne one day. But Anne couldn't give him a boy either. They had a daughter and named her Elizabeth.

King Henry still didn't want  Mary to have the throne. He wanted to make sure that Elizabeth would get the throne one day. So he pressed parliament to declare Mary as illegitimate. 

After her parents were divorced, Mary was banished from seeing her own mother forever. In 1553, her mother passed away from a mysterious death and rumors started spreading. Some believed that she was poisoned. Mary believed those rumors to be true and resented her father and his new wife for it. 

Despite all the odds being against her, Mary became the queen of England in 1553, at 37. Mary knew she had to give her kingdom a new child. So she went on to marry Phillip 11 of Spain. Though their marriage wasn't based on love it was more of a negotiation. It was said that Phillip never liked her much but all Mary ever wanted was to be loved. 

At the time England was divided in two religions, Catholics and protestants. Mary thought it was her duty by God to reunite the nation under one religion. "Marian persecutions" was an act signed by the queen in 1554, which would incite a series of executions. About 240 men and 60 women were condemned as protestants and burned at stakes. Mary was convinced that this would scare the people and make them turn their faith back to God. 

During all of this, Mary's biggest wish came true, she was finally expecting a child. But for some reason the public refused to believe that she was. They assumed she was faking her pregnancy and would steal another woman's child and call it her own.

According to the rules whenever a royal member was about to give birth they would go to confinement, 6 weeks prior to their estimated due date. So Mary did.

Mary went into her chamber with her nursing staff and everyone eagerly waited. Her estimated due date, May 9th passed, but still nothing. The whole time the queen was in confinement rumors were flooding. Some said Mary had died in childbirth, some even said that she gave birth to a, what they called 'a mole'. 

Weeks and months pass by, still the people had no answers. Finally an ambassador paid a spy to gather info from a midwife from Mary's chamber. The midwife stated, "For weeks she'd lie in her bed without speaking a word like one dead, then she'd sit for whole days on the floor huddled up with her knees against her face."( a position nearly impossible to do during pregnancy).Nearly after a year Mary announced her pregnancy, in August Mary came out of her chamber, without a child in her arms.

This was history's most well documented case of pseudocyesis. This condition is known as false pregnancy, where a woman is so eager to have a child that her mind starts to believe she is expecting one, without actually being pregnant. The body plays along with the mind and shows signs of pregnancy. So, breasts swelling, menstrual pause, belly growing etc. 

2 years later Mary believed she was pregnant again but this time no one could care less. This time it wasn't pregnancy either, she had entered menopause. The following year Mary died at the age of 42 from ovarian cancer. 

Elizabeth took over the throne shortly after. She followed her step sister's footsteps and sent hundreds for execution.

Bloody Mary is still a popular name among young people. And it is a very scary game but the true history behind the actual bloody Mary is dark but more so upsetting.

The dark history of the clowns.

CLOWNS: Comedians or killers?

We all know clowns have been around for a long time, entertaining us. Yet some people are terrified of them. Even though most clowns are harmless this fear may not be totally irrational.

Ancient times:

A version of early clowns were actually found in ancient Egypt. It was said that Egyptians did everything for entertainment and a good laugh. Legend has it that some priests were also playing clowns as a side hustle. The Egyptians would capture other tribes to entertain their kings, sometimes as clowns.

Just like everything else the ancient Greeks had their own version of clowns. Though It was more of a mime.

Even the Romans had clowns. Plays were a big thing in Roman times. So the clowns had a big role to play. They were called stupidus. It was all fun and games, however, things took a darker turn when in ancient Rome, if a person died, the family would hire a clown in the funeral. The clown pretended to be the person who died and made them laugh. 

Middle ages:

In the middle ages clowns were considered as more of a servant. They were called court jesters. They had to wear patch works to symbolize that they are lower class. Some of  them served the royals. Interestingly enough, the clowns were the only ones who were allowed to make fun of the royalty.

By the 1500s every culture had their own version of clowns. Some native Americans believed that to  gain wisdom and spiritual powers, getting all the laughter out first was important. The priest who performed the ceremony was given the name 'heyoka' which means sacred clown. 

Italy also had their own version. Clowns were a big part of entertainment. Their characters were based on the mask the actors would wear. Each mask had its own personality. 

The 17th century is when clowns really started looking like the clowns we know today, with cartoonish and colorful outfits and makeup. 

Joey Grimaldi, born on 18th December 1778, in London, was the most famous clown of all time. Growing up, Joey had an abusive father who was also a professional dancer, which created a lot of pressure for young joey to perform on stage. At 9 years old, when Joey's father passed away the family's responsibility fell on his shoulders to make a wage. But people all across the town loved 'Joey the clown'. The clown makeup we know today was created by Joey Grimaldi. 

Things were going well for Joey, until one day during one of the performances he had shot himself in the foot, which put him in bed rest for a month. At the time he fell into serious depression, which also led to him drinking. The term sad clown was probably invented then. Joey's health got worse and worse. In 1837, the famous clown passed away. 

Now around this time, a famous French clown, Jean Gaspard Deburau, ends up murdering a little boy. That, along with Charles Dickens book called 'The Pickwick Papers' (inspired by joey), really gave clowns a bad reputation. 

In the 1800s, When circus became a thing, clowns did not have much of a role. They were just there with their costumes, clown makeup, and acting drunk. 

Modern times:

In 1947, Alan Livingston, a music executive, came up with the clown Bozo. Kids as well as adults loved him. Bozo was this happy healthy clown. He had his own cartoon show, merch, TV show etc. 

During the 60s a company reached out to the actor, who was playing Bozo at the time, for a new clown mascot, and that is how Ronald McDonald was created. 

Things were going good for clowns for a while. But then John Wayne Gacy came into the picture. He was the man who ruined people's trust in clowns forever. 

During 1972-1978 John killed 35 people, most of the time, dressed as a clown. This is the man who inspired Stephan King to write horror stories about scary clowns. He even wrote the book "IT" featuring the famous clown "Pennywise". 

All this sets the stage for the 'Phantom clown theories'. During 1981 people ( mostly children) would randomly spot evil clowns. But there wasn't any physical evidence of it, so no one knows if kids were making it up, being paranoid, or if some clowns were actually there.

In 2016, these theories returned when people randomly started seeing clowns in different places. In Texas,  a clown was even caught in a security camera, trying to break into a house with a knife. Police really couldn't keep up with all the calls, reporting creepy clowns. Few months later news came out that those clown sightings were really some people trying to make a low budget clown horror movie. However, no one knows for sure.

AFTERMATH:

Clowns have been there for our entertainment for centuries. Even though they are portrayed as evil or scary, there are many great clowns out there who are passionate about making people laugh. At the end of the day, they do deserve more credit. 

Johnny Kitagawa: Godfather or serial assaulter?

Johnny Kitagawa: Godfather of j-pop or serial assaulter?

Johnny Kitagawa 

Johnny Kitagawa was and still is known as the godfather of j-pop (Japanese pop music). It was said that he could take someone from the streets and turn them into this global sensation. But this very man was also the most vile predator the entertainment industry has ever witnessed.

Everyone knows being an idol is not for the weak. But in order to become an idol at JNA (Johnny and associates) some said that you had to be a victim first or even sell your soul to the devil himself.

Every year thousands of male trainees would audition to be a part of JNA and have their dreams of becoming an idol come true, only to face assault and trauma. Let's talk about how Johnny Kitagawa created japan's most popular boy bands and got away with assaulting them over and over again.

Koji Matsushida was one day randomly discovered by Johnny at a concert. It was truly a dream come true for the minor. He was an idol before he knew it but also Johnny's new victim. After he retired from the boy band, koji wrote a book about everything he had witnessed in those years. It was a warning for all the young male trainees out there.

From the book a lot of interesting and terrifying information came out. Johnny basically treated the trainees as his commodities of business. He wanted them to be who he said they were and not have any form of identity. But things were much deeper than that.

After kojis book, allegations came flooding in. One victim stated, "When I was lying in my bed he suddenly burst into the dorms and I was alone. There was no one else in the bed. He slid in beside me. I thought he was holding something strange. He took it and rubbed it on my private parts...he continued to assault me." 

Koji stated in his book that during his trainee days for four to five years, Johnny would invite him into his room every night and assault him. Koji said that it was confusing because Johnny had made them feel like it was an act of love. Even if they could see right through his manipulations they did not feel they had the right to say no because after all Johnny was their Godfather. 

After koji debuted and became an idol he found a little power. He would reject Johnny's advances here and there but Johnny did not really seem to care. He just moved on to younger trainees. 

In 2011 Koji passed away from liver cancer. But he opened a door for other victims. Many victims came forward but it was all swept under the rug. That is the amount of power JNA had over the media.

After Koji another idol named Natakani came out with his book. He was the member of Johnny's very first boy band The Johnnies.

He alleged that Johnny would invite them over to his apartment. One time they were alone. He did not think he had anything to worry about, he trusted Johnny like his older brother. But that is when the assault began. He remembered being confused because Johnny made it seem so natural and normal. 

Natakani and the other band members did not understand at the time what had happened to them. But when they grew up they saw clearly. Many of them fell into drugs to help them cope with the pain. 

AFTERMATH:

Johnny Kitagawa has assaulted and abused countless amount of male trainees in his 50 years career. Yet he is still considered as this Godfather of J-pop. 

Well there are a couple of reasons behind it. But mostly because like many other cultures most Japanese believe that "men cannot be victims of rape or assault". It has always been hard for male victims to come out. Japans law until 2017 did not recognize that men can be victims of sexual violence.

Also most of the allegations started coming out after his death. And the Japanese also do not like to speak ill of the dead they say. Though many people stood by the victims most did not want to be the wave makers.

Lastly, Johnny Kitagawa was the man with undeniable power. The very power that got him out of prison even though he was proven guilty in one of the trials.