Morbid Tales

Paul was described as a “star producing clown”, which meant that he both devised and performed tricks for the circus. He was also known as the “Boss of Clown Alley”. Paul was one of the circus’ highest paid performers, and had a “Fun Factory” that he ran with his wife in Florida. Paul was “one of the best known clowns in the business”.

During the month that circus was to play at Madison Square Garden, Paul was staying at the Forrest Hotel, which was nearby, about a block away. He registered with the hotel on March 30th of that year, and the staff never had any problems with him. They found him to be quiet, polite, and kept to himself, never even going to the hotel bar. Occasionally, he would go see a movie in Times Square.

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Paul was last seen on April 20th, 7:30 pm, going into the hotel, following the second show of the day. He didn’t want to go to dinner with the fellow performers, as he was expecting a long distance call. One source says that Paul was also thinking of flying home to Tampa, Florida.

On April 21st, when he didn’t show up for the 10:30 AM show, the assistant circus manager, Dean McMurray, went to the hotel. McMurray went with bell captain, Archie Thompson, with a passkey, as the room was initially locked. Once there, they found Paul’s body.

Paul’s head was crushed in by a blunt instrument, and his hands were tied behind his back. His body was found just inside the foyer between a bed and the wall, which were both blood soaked. One source states that Paul was found lying on his back near the door. He was dressed in a white undershirt and brown striped pajama bottoms. His body was face up, arms behind the back, beneath the body.

The bed had been turned at a 30 degree angle from the twin bed next to it, and the sheet was partly pulled down. Initially, detectives had dismissed robbery as the probable motive, and there weren’t any indications that the room had been ransacked. There weren’t any signs of a struggle either. The murder weapon wasn’t in the room, and all that the detectives found was a six pack of beer and two more cans, all filled. All of Paul’s personal effects remained. Police went to the local stores to see who bought the beer, but that didn’t seem to go very far.

People that knew Paul didn’t understand why he would have been a target. One circus executive was quoted:

“I never knew Paul to have an enemy in the circus, and he has been with us ever since I can remember! He was the guy everybody liked.”.

Paul’s wife said that she couldn’t imagine why anyone would have attacked him, as he wasn’t a violent man. She was also quoted: “It’s that terrible New York City! It’s like a jungle. There have been so many atrocities there in the past few years.”.

One of the other performers, Prince Paul, a good friend, stated: “He had no enemies. It must have been a junkie or an insane person who did this.”.

After the rest of the performers learned of Paul’s death, they were of course heartbroken. They continued the circus shows as planned, but as one said, they were “only going through the motions”. One, Bobby Kay, said: “When I heard the police report that it was foul play, I couldn’t believe it. Natural causes we learn to accept, but foul play, we never accept.”.

— Articles believed that Paul had potentially been beaten with a large flashlight. Police theorized that Paul was killed by someone he knew, that he let into his room. They thought that the killer likely concealed the weapon in his clothing, and it had to have been something not normally found in the hotel, and not connected to the circus. Police believe that Paul was hit in the head, stunning him, and fell, where his hands were quickly tied behind his back. It was believed that as Paul regained consciousness and thrashed on the floor between the bed and the wall, the killer smashed Paul’s head again, which caused several skull fractures, extensive brain damage, and multiple scalp wounds.

The killer didn’t go to the front desk to inquire for Paul, which indicated to detectives that they had already made an appointment to see him in his room. It was noted that Paul couldn’t have accidentally left his weighted door open, as there was no indication that force had been used on the double locks.

The exact time frame from when the killer may have entered, and when Paul was killed was unknown, but the autopsy done estimated Paul’s time of death between 11:30 pm Tuesday, April 20th, and 1 am Wednesday, April 21st.

Surprisingly, none of the other hotel guests heard any commotion or signs of struggle.

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Police didn’t really believe that robbery was the motive, because certain things weren’t taken. One article stated that if robbery was the motive, “the killer was remarkably jittery”. Paul’s wristwatch and ring weren’t taken, and $222 in cash ($2354 in 2026) was found in the pockets of his pants that were hanging the closet of his room.

Interestingly, the police discounted sex as a probable motive, as Paul had been happily married. They didn’t believe that the killer was “some new, casual acquaintance”, and they didn’t believe that drinking was a factor either.

All 169 performers for the circus show were questioned, then another 100 attaches were questioned.

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On April 24th, 1965, Paul’s body was flown to Tampa, Florida. Funeral services were held at Wilson Sammon Funeral Parlor. His body was cremated. Paul’s widow, Elsie, asked that no flowers to be sent. She was quoted:

“Paul never liked to be fussed over. This was his request. He always said he didn’t want people sending flowers.”.

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On May 7th, 1965, articles were posted stating that police had questioned over 1500 people about the case, and had 3 leads. By this time, police stated that the murder weapon was a blunt instrument “described as hotel property and something usually found in hotel rooms”, but was not further identified. They didn’t tell the press much about the suspects, but they stated that one was on the run, and the other was believed to still be in the city.

In June, articles posted that a stolen typewriter was a clue in the case, which eventually lead to the suspects being revealed. One article stated that Paul would constantly correspond by mail to the many people he met over the years, writing on a typewriter. After his death, it was found that his typewriter was missing.

The typewriter wound up in a “hock shop”, or pawn shop, in upper Manhattan, and it was established that it had belonged to Paul. The name and address of the pawner were fake, but the operator of the shop was able to describe the man who sold it. Pawn shop owners elsewhere remembered also pawning items from the same name. In every instance except one, the man gave a phony name. The one time he didn’t, he gave his real name and address, which is what made it possible for detectives to catch him.

Here, it was revealed the suspects were Allen Jones, 24, and Marian De Berry, 21. Allen was described as a jobless laborer, and Marian was a convicted prostitute. The two were both heroin addicts with a $40 ($424 in 2026) a day habit, desperate for money.

One article stated that Paul had gave them an opportunity. De Berry had been invited into Paul’s room for a can of beer. She left the hotel room door unlocked, and Allen Jones followed in, beating Paul with a fire hose nozzle. They then robbed Paul, and fled the hotel.

The same month, the two stated that their “constitutional rights were violated after their arrest”. They tried to claim that the statements they made to police were obtained under duress. Their lawyers tried to claim that “the defendants were illegally detained and their constitutional rights violated.”, and their statements were signed “under threat of fear and force”. On the other hand, the judge stated that their rights “have been, and will be protected”.

Strangely, despite robbery not initially being thought the motive, it was revealed that Paul was robbed of $40 along with the typewriter. So the earlier idea that the robbers were jittery, seemed to have been true.

At this point, official reticence in giving details on the crime was due to a court ruling that the defendants had their rights violated due to pre trial publicity.

Jones and De Berry were held without bail, and a hearing was scheduled for June 15th, 1965, but I couldn’t find any articles on it. On July 1st, it was reported that the two plead innocent.

From there, things slowed, and I couldn’t find any new articles until April of 1966. On April 7th of that year, it was reported that Allen Jones asked to have his case transferred to federal court under the civil rights act. His attorney argued that his constitutional rights had been violated by the refusal of the Manhattan district attorney’s office to reveal information concerning the murder. They claimed that this was due to Allen Jones’ race. Interestingly, this motion was made a month before he was due to go on trial, in May of 1966.

One article quoted Jones and his lawyer’s statement as: “The tactics of the District Attorney is intended to deprive me of my rights in contravention of the constitution of the United State based on my race and heritage. The District Attorney is attempting to discriminate against me by providing even less information for my defense counsel than might be provided to other persons of different race than myself.”.

This must have worked in some way, as the trial in May never happened, and was postponed, but ultimately, his trial was still held in New York state supreme court.

Marian De Berry appeared in articles later that year, in August, where it was reported that she plead guilty to simple assault. The district attorney stated, “we feel that she’s not the killer and not responsible for the death.”. She was released on $1000 bail for sentencing that was to happen on October 5th, 1966. By this point, no trial date was set for Allen Jones. The October date didn’t seem to happen either.

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Nothing happened until September of 1967, when Allen Jones’ trial finally began. By this time, Marian De Berry had pleaded guilty to third degree assault. When she went on the stand, she stated that Allen had demanded money from Paul, who refused to give him any. She was quoted saying, “Allen hit him on the head five or six times with the nozzle.”.

Jones then wiped the two foot long, 7-8 pound nozzle with a hotel towel, gagged Paul, and tied his hands behind his back using one of Marian’s stockings. The couple then left the hotel.

During the trial, it was revealed that Marian had knocked on Paul’s door a week before his death, in search of business. He invited her in, paid her $20 ($212 in 2026) and gave her two circus tickets. After this encounter, Allen Jones had stated that he was going to rob Paul Jung.

From the way articles read, it seems that Marian came to Paul’s room the night he was murdered, and they had “the relationship again”, after which, Allen Jones came into the room with the fire nozzle in his hand. This was when Allen Jones demanded money and the beating followed.

Jones told De Berry, “Look in his pockets”, where it seemed like she only searched Paul’s person, and not anything else. She stated that Paul was still breathing when they left.

There wasn’t much reported about the defense’s plan, only one sentence in passing, stating that they tried to pin the murder on Marian, and that Allen Jones was innocent.

On October 18th, 1967, Allen Jones was found guilty for Paul Jung’s death. The all male jury in the state supreme court deliberated for 4.5 hours, before reading the verdict. District Attorney William Loguen told the jury: “All the evidence proves that Jones committed the brutal and unnecessary murder of this defenseless man.”. When the guilty verdict was read, Allen Jones reportedly showed no emotion.

Allen Jones was sentenced to Life in Prison in November, 1967. He also showed no emotion when this was read. He was to be sent to Sing Sing Prison. Articles reported that Jones was to spend at least 26 years and 8 months behind bars before he could seek parole.

Even though articles stated that Marian was still awaiting sentencing for her participation in the crime, I couldn’t find any articles about what she eventually received.

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I could not find any more information on what potentially happened to Allen Jones after being sentenced. I’m unsure when he or Marian potentially passed away.

There is a find a grave page for Paul Jung. As stated before, he was cremated. He was 65 years old.

Articles reported that he had displayed a fat roll of dollar bills to his employees, and said that “business was good”, only fifteen minutes later to be found in a pool of blood, with his head cracked open. The pocket where he stuffed his day’s receipts was pulled inside out, eight pennies and a key were scattered on the floor, and the money he’d shown earlier, was gone. Various sources state that it was $75, the equivalent of $1700 in 2026.

Louis was rushed to the hospital, where he returned to consciousness briefly, mumbled something incoherent, and then died.

Louis’ wife, Hannah, collapsed when she heard of her husband’s death. She fell to the floor of the police station screaming, and two of their daughters wept loudly, as they rushed into their mother’s arms. One article quotes their daughters saying, “Oh, how did it happen, tell me how it happened. Why, Father hadn’t an enemy.” Louis’ brother Benjamin acted the same, when he heard the news.

Hannah told police that her husband had started his day normally, and went to work at 4am. His busy hours were usually 6-8am, and where he sold his bananas. After the morning rush of March 20th, Louis went to the store upstairs and showed his money to a helper named Jimmie Robinson. He told Jimmie, “If you don’t make money in bananas one day, you are sure to the next.”. From there, Louis was seen by going downstairs to the cellar, where his office was.

Around 9:40 am, a man named Julian McPherson who would occasionally sell baskets to Louis went to the cellar, with one of his wares. A minute later, he came running up calling for Jimmie Robinson. That was when they found Louis’ body with a deep gash over his left eye. Robinson called police.

There were overturned baskets in the basement, which indicated a struggle. Louis had been killed in the ripening room, which was a closed off section of the back cellar, where large bunches of green bananas were hung from the ceiling. No-one had heard the scuffle. Police believed that Louis had been attacked shortly before being discovered. Doctors said that he had been beaten so badly, that he could not have survived.

The murder weapon was not found in the basement. And an article from the Courier Post stated that it was potentially believed to have been a piece of pipe. Even though a hatchet that was used to cut the banana stalks was on the floor, police didn’t believe that it was the murder weapon.

Police initially believe that he had been attacked by two men, as Louis was described as exceptionally strong for his age, and “more than a match for any normal man, unless struck from the rear”. One source recalled Louis as stocky and 180 pounds.

A similar robbery had happened the year before, in June of 1936, a man named Morris Schwartz had been hit on the back of the head, and knocked unconscious, robbed of $100. Though he recovered, his attacker was never found.

The first suspects that the police took into custody Louis’ murder, were two African American males. The day after the murder, they were looking for a third man, who had worked for Louis. One of the African American employees was considered suspicious by police, as he was six foot two, and left the cellar “unusually early” the day that Louis was murdered. One source states that the employee would usually stay until noon, but for some reason that day, he didn’t. These suspicions went no-where.

On March 30th, 1937, a man named Fred Turse was detained for questioning, in relation to Louis’ murder. Police had been searching for Turse, and found his truck parked in front of his home. Police stated that he wasn’t booked at headquarters, and willingly consented to talk to police. Turse was shown another man, and identified him as being in the building, the morning of Louis’ murder. Turse was held after the other man had identified the former as having been at the market twice on the morning of the murder.

The man, who wasn’t named, stated that Fred Turse had arrived at the market with his truck and had gone to the basement with Louis, and returned with two doors which belonged on the rear of the truck. Louis then gave Turse a quantity of bananas, who then drove away, but returned a short time later, with the truck, and entered the building.

Turse drove his truck to the police headquarters when he was questioned, and the same rear doors were on the floor inside his vehicle.

Fred Turse and Louis Kable were apparently quite friendly, with Turse readily admitting that he had-had several business dealings with Louis before obtaining steady employment the month before.

Police records showed that Fred Turse had been arrested twice, each for assault and battery. The first was where Turse was one of several men who beat a man from Philadelphia. They attacked the man, as he got off a bus from an industrial plant. Fred Turse had also been arrested in the same industrial plant when he got into a brawl with a fellow worker, who was seriously injured.

On April 8th, 1937, an article from The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Fred Turse saying that Louis Kable’s death was an accident. Turse tried to say that Louis “fell and hit his head on the cellar steps during a tussle over a stalk of bananas”. Police still charged Fred with murder.

First, Fred tried to say that he wasn’t in the cellar where Louis was found. Then, he suggested that it was one of the African American workers who killed Louis Kable. It wasn’t until he was confronted with “the word of half-a-dozen witnesses who saw him enter the cellar”, that Turse admitted to being there with Kable.

The article stated that Fred’s story was that he was “hard up for money-his wife an expectant mother-and that he mentioned this to Kable”. Louis had then offered Turse a stalk of over ripe bananas to sell. Turse told police that they went down the stairs, and he grabbed the stalk from Louis’ hands, and as he did so, Louis fell, striking his head on the cellar steps, and was knocked unconscious. Turse said that he took the bananas, and a roll of bills out of Louis’ pocket. Police were not able to find the money.

On June 18th, 1937, it was reported that Fred Turse changed his plea to guilty in regards to Louis’ murder. Here, it was stated that Turse admitted to the killing. One article stated that Turse admitted going to the building in an attempt to borrow money from Louis Kable, and when he was rebuked, he struck Louis in the head several times, and robbed him of about $75.

On June 29th, Fred Turse was sentenced from 10-20 years for the murder. I am unsure how much of that time was served, and where exactly. Any information about Turse after this is scant.

There is a find a grave page for Louis Kable. He was buried at Mount Sharon Cemetery, in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He was 48 years old.

On March 11th, 1993, The Morning News Tribune posted an article titled: “Depressed Man Hired Out His Own Killing; 2 Charged”.

The article stated that Gregory Wood, 33, and William Joshua Young, 17, had been arrested and charged with aggravated first degree murder, in the death of Frank Ainsworth. At the time of the article, they were held in jail without bail, pending their arraignment.

The article stated that Frank Ainsworth wanted to die, and promised Gregory Wood his truck, if Wood killed him. Wood then got William Joshua Young involved, to carry out the killing, in exchange for drugs. Frank Ainsworth was reportedly depressed over the breakup of his marriage, before his death.

Sheriff Jerry Benning stated:

“He didn’t want to kill himself, so his friend, Mr. Wood, was going to do it for him. But he, (Wood), didn’t have the guts to do it himself, so he hired the kid.”.

Sheriff Benning stated that William Joshua Young was hired to do the job, because he was “known not only as a satanic worshiper, but also as an extremely violent young man.”.

When Frank Ainsworth’s body was found, his head was bludgeoned, and neck was slit. At the time of the article, Sheriff Benning stated that they believed Frank was sleep when he “took the first hit”.

A knife and ax handle were found in a ditch nearby Frank’s home, that authorities believed were used in the killing. The article speculated that the first blow to Ainsworth’s head was likely from a large wine bottle that was found shattered near his body. Authorities also speculated that Gregory Wood wasn’t around when the attack happened. Wood and Young were arrested that same day when Frank’s body was found.

Pacific County Deputy Prosecutor Jim Conley stated that the motive was likely that, Wood and Ainsworth entered the agreement to kill Frank, for his truck, and Young was brought in with the offer of drugs.

There were to be statements presented by the Defense, about Ainsworth’s death wish, Young’s alleged “Devil Worship” and willingness to kill for drugs when they went to court later that week.

Interestingly, at the end of the article, there were a couple of blurbs about “Satan Worship”. It states:

“Satan worshipers often gather in an abandoned concrete bunker atop McKenzie Head trail at Fort Canby. This is a sacred Satan Church.” Supposedly, there was a “marking in the pitch black underground outpost”.

The article ends with Sheriff Benning stating:

“We’ve had satanic worship in this country for quite some time. They come down and they wear robes and burn their incense and have their little ceremonies. They’re not hiding that. They do that when other folks are around.”.

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On March 10th, 1993, Longview Daily News posted an article titled: “Ilwaco Man’s Death Brings Satanism Into Light”.

The article starts with a giant picture of a park ranger named Larry Chapman looking at the “Occult Symbols” in a Fort Canby bunker. At the time, investigators were trying to find a link between Frank Ainsworth’s murder and Satan worship. The image itself shows a faint pentagram and “Satan” on the wall, in what I presume to be old spray paint. Over it, seemed to be newer spray paint, of a cross, and “777” on top of the pentagram.

The article itself talked about William Joshua Young more, calling him “Josh Young”, which is what I assume what name he went by. The article stated that Josh had changed in the previous year, going from an ordinary boy into a drug user quick to pick a fight. The article stated that Josh Young, and his own father William, told Sheriff Benning that Josh considered himself a satan worshipper.

Because of the teen’s interest in so called devil worship, investigators actually looked into this as a potential lead into Frank Ainsworth’s death. The article stated: “The possible connection has some Long Beach Peninsula people figuring it’s time to look into signs that interest in devils may be more than a childish game.”.

Supposedly, in this article, park ranger Larry Chapman “shone flashlights on pentagrams, devils, goats heads, and graffiti.”. One marking even said, “This is a sacred Satan church”. The article stated that paintings marked several remote cement cells in the pitch black underground outpost.

Sheriff Benning was quoted again, with the same talk about Satan worshipers, their robes, and burning incense, though it expands on the quote a little more. Benning also stated:

“Satan worship is not as taboo as it used to be. It’s kind of like AIDS, it’s coming out of the closet.”.

The article then quoted a man named Dan’l Markham, an Ilwaco minister and sheriff’s department chaplain, who stated:

“Some of it can be serious. Some of it’s kids being stupid kids. So I think there needs to be a balance between overreacting and not closing our eyes. I think that we need to keep our eyes open. Yet at the same time, when we run across something written on a wall we shouldn’t overreact.”.

Two students from Ilwaco High School, where Josh Young attended, stated that Josh dropped out and spent most of his time “with all the stoners”. He was recalled as having been “fine in middle school.”. Josh was described as somewhere around 200 pounds, and had recently, at the time of the article, had started a fight over a “foosball game”. A former classmate stated that Josh Young had “some pretty wacked out fruitcake friends.”.

The Ilwaco minister and Sheriff’s Department Chaplain, Dan’l Markham stated that, “Young people unsure of themselves and their beliefs, and those who can’t find acceptance among their peers, are particularly vulnerable to getting involved in strange groups. They’re lonely because of an emotional need but they become ensnared. That’s when they cross the line.”.

The article stated that Josh Young lived with his family in a place called “Gilpin’s Trailer Court”, where a quote from one of Young’s own peers stated that people called the place, “Gilpin’s Ghetto”. The article states that Young only lived five minutes from Frank Ainsworth’s trailer. Gregory Wood, lived inbetween these two homes.

The article states that Gregory Wood claimed that Ainsworth had asked to be killed, because he was too depressed to go on living. Ainsworth was described as very despondent over personal matters. Sheriff Benning actually stated that Frank Ainsworth had actually talked to deputies about helping him end his life.

The article goes on further to state that Frank’s daughter, Patty, had told the news they tried desperately to help Frank. Right before his death, Frank’s wife Patricia was separated from him, though, she had been trying to get him some help, trying to get him committed “for over a month”. Frank’s daughter stated, “My dad would never hurt anybody, he was depressed, but he was not violent.”.

Neighbors of Frank stated that he was a loner who seldom had company, and would always go out the door to greet visitors. “You didn’t get a chance to get through the door.” One was quoted.

At the time of the article, Gregory Wood and Josh Young potentially faced the death penalty, as the prosecution was still considering whether to pursue aggravated murder; which at the time, was an offense that the state of Washington would execute for.

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On March 14th, 1993, the Oakland Tribune posted an article titled: “His is a long tale of drinking and drugs and death”.

There wasn’t much newly uncovered in the article, though we saw a few more details into the life of Frank Ainsworth. In it, it was revealed that Frank had moved to Washington from Oklahoma several years before, and separated from his wife Pat, only a couple months before his death.

Frank was a mechanic who worked on and restored cars. He built private roads and driveways, and had tried his hand at woodcutting. His wife had left him because of his drinking. Even though he had stopped in the past, he had recently picked it up again. Once again, it was revealed that Ainsworth had called the Sheriff’s department several times, and talked about suicide.

Gregory Lee Wood was described as a drinking buddy of Frank’s, who agreed to take Frank’s life in exchange for Ainsworth’s 1954 Ford Pickup Truck. Interestingly, the article stated that Wood had a pickup that was “crumbling in his driveway” and didn’t run. So Frank Ainsworth would be the one to pick him up and drive him places.

This article states that William Joshua Young was a 17 year old high school drop out that lived in a tent in the woods. “He told people he had a split personality. Some days he was Billy The Kid.”.

By this time, the prosecution had charged Wood and Young with aggravated murder, asking to try Young as an adult.

The article stated that Frank was likely sleep when the wine bottle was smashed over his head. Frank was beaten severely, and his throat was slashed.

On March 5th, 1993, William Joshua Young stated, “I know Frank’s dead, but I did it.”. Young apparently told this to a neighbor, though the neighbor thought it was a lying boast. He also noted that Young looked drunk, or on drugs. —

On March 13th, 1993, The Daily Advertiser posted an article titled: “Depressed man arranges his own murder”. It states many of the same things as the article before, but there were a few more interesting details. For example, there was the contention that, if Young was tried as a juvenile, he would only be imprisoned until his 21st birthday. If tried as an adult, he would face either life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.

One neighbor stated that Frank had came to her house recently before his death, to see if she had heard anything from his wife. At the time, Frank’s phone didn’t work, and he had been worried that his wife may have been trying to reach him. The neighbor stated that Frank had looked like he had been crying and shaking.

This article states that Greg Wood had lived mostly on government disability checks, benefits from a fall he sustained before moving to Washington from California. Neighbors stated: “Wood drank, and maybe did drugs too. He’s got a bad drinking problem.”.

It was also pointed out the 1954 Pickup that was Frank’s “pride and joy”, something that he had driven from Oklahoma to Washington.

Neighbors recalled that Josh Young had pulled a bottle of homemade wine out of a gym bag and offered it to others. At some point, he also made the claims that he was a Satan worshiper. What’s most interesting, is that the article states that Sheriff Benning had also told this to reporters, though in this article he states:

“Satanism has nothing to do with this. He wasn’t killed in a Satanic ritual.”.

The article states that Young had been put on suicide watch after being sent to juvenile lockup. Interestingly, some people in the article didn’t believe that Gregory Wood had much involvement in Frank’s death. “One way, I don’t want to believe he’s involved in it. But when they go mixing drugs and alcohol, you don’t know what they might do.”.

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On June 19th, 1993, the Longview Daily News posted the article: “Ilwaco Homicide Suspect Pleads Guilty”. The article stated that William Joshua Young plead guilty to lesser charges, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Initially, he was to go on trial in July of 1993, on charges of second degree conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit residential burglary. Young admitted to bashing Ainsworth’s head with a wine bottle and an ax handle, and to cutting Ainsworth’s throat with a knife while he slept. Young admitted to his father and police that he had killed Ainsworth.

Deputy Prosecutor James Conley said that he had planned an “all or nothing” case of aggravated first degree murder against Young and Gregory Wood. But, when the final autopsy reports came in, Dr. William Brady said that the could not positively conclude that the attack killed Ainsworth. Frank Ainsworth’s death may have come from a lethal dose of anti anxiety medication and alcohol he ingested before William Young ever laid a hand on him.

The defense began laying the groundwork for lesser charges trying to have Young tried as a juvenile. They lost the bid in May of 1993, though the Defense decided that they were going to put the coroner on the stand, and “force testimony that there was no proof Young’s attack killed Ainsworth”.

At that point, Judge Penoyar stated that he still wanted Young tried as an adult, though expected a trial over lesser charges, such as “attempted murder”. Penoyar handed down consecutive sentences of 10 years for the murder conspiracy charge, and gave a few years on the burglary conspiracy. The article estimated that Young would be out in 10-12 years if he behaved in prison.

It goes on to further say that William Young had been drinking most of the afternoon before attacking Ainsworth. There were doubts that he “would do such a thing sober”. Young’s lawyer stated that people thought that he “got away with murder” because of the “bizarre overdose twist”.

“But any time someone is facing 15 years in prison, it’s hard to say they got away with a great deal. He wants to make amends for what he’s done and get it over with.”.

The lawyer also went on to say that he saw Young as “a half child half man who just got involved in something that should have never happened.”.

This article reveals that Young had been arrested initially on a minor possession charge, to where he confessed to attacking Ainsworth.

Of course, Sheriff Benning told reporters that Young was a Satan worshiper when he announced that Ainsworth’s assailant was in custody. But, witnesses at subsequent hearings discounted the claim, saying that, “any such remarks by Young were macho bravado, with no basis in truth”.

“That’s pure b—s—“ attorney Smith said. “The kid’s a Baptist.”.

The article stated that Young was a “remorseful young man whose future depends on what he makes of it.”. Testimony at previous hearings portrayed William Young as “something of a lost soul, who once was a C+ student and football player at Ilwaco High School”.

“But about a year ago, relatives and psychologists said Young’s drinking and drug abuse got the better of him. They said he had bounced between family and friends, quit school, and hung out mainly with older people who led him even further astray.”. Gregory Wood was one of those people.

At the time of the article, Gregory Wood was scheduled to go to trial on August 3rd, 1993, for his role in Frank Ainsworth’s death. He had faced charges of conspiring to murder and rob Frank.

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On July 9th, 1993, the Longview Daily News posted an article titled: “Ilwaco man admits he arranged killing”. In it, Gregory Wood plead guilty to conspiracy to commit manslaughter in the first degree. At the time, he faced up to five years in prison for the attack on Frank Ainsworth. Wood’s attorneys and judge Penoyar agreed to give wood a 44 month prison sentence, though the judge could impose up to 60 months. The article quoted one of the lawyers who stated, “Either way, he’s out fairly soon. With time off for good behavior, Wood could possibly serve as little as 30 months.”.

Because of the strange evidence and testimony with the case, there was a risk of acquittal with the defendants. So as not to risk this, Frank’s widow Patricia believed it was better to accept guilty pleas from both defendants to ensure that they would serve at least some prison time. Lawyer Sullivan is quoted saying:

“Reducing any risk of acquittal, Mrs. Ainsworth and the state are willing to accept this agreement. But I don’t think you could say more than that….Nobody’s happy.”.

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On July 15th, 1993 the Longview Daily News posted the article: “Wood Gets 3 3/4 years in prison for his part in Ilwaco murder”. It stated that Gregory Wood was sentenced to 45 months in prison, followed by two years of community supervision. Wood plead guilty to first degree conspiracy to commit manslaughter.

At the hearing, Patricia Ainsworth stated that she had been trying to find forgiveness for those who had caused her so much pain. She’s quoted saying:

“I have suffered tremendously through this process. Frank’s family also have suffered-his parents, as well as our children. The lesson I pray will be learned through this is two-fold:

We must learn to forgive, with God’s help. But the biggest thing we must learn from this-drugs and alcohol are lethal. Adults as well as children need to be aware of the dangers they present, and try to stop the spread of these lethal weapons. I loved Frank dearly, and I know he loved me.”.

Before Wood’s sentencing, Frank’s daughter Patricia said that she, and other relatives were starting to come to terms with her father’s death. But their sorrow was compounded by knowing that he had been so mentally ill, he wanted to die. Patricia stated that she was disappointed that Wood and Young weren’t going to spend more time in prison. She also expressed worry that Young would receive little, if any, rehabilitation in prison, especially with the prediction that he’d be free in less than a dozen years.

Patricia said that Young was likely to return to the streets, capable of committing an equally serious crime. She was cognizant of the fact that when people go to prison, “They come out worse than they went in.”.

—

From there, I could not find any more articles about William Joshua Young, or Gregory Wood. I assume that they were both released, and disappeared back into society.

It is puzzling why Satanism was brought up at all, though I speculate that William Young thought that it made him sound “cool” and “scary”. I agree with the one article that claimed it was something said for the sake of “bravado”. What I find especially strange though, is how the Sheriff himself seemed to put more emphasis on this, than there really was. I can only speculate that it made great news, for a small town, during what was still the Satanic Panic era. And just like many other pieces from that time period, there was emphasis on all the wrong things, instead of the right. It’s very clear that William Young was a disturbed person, “Satanic worship” excluded. What I find crazy about this situation as a whole, is how Young was found more culpable than Wood. Young was brutal, but Wood was the one who told him about Ainsworth to begin with. The fact that both were free no later than 2008, is crazy to me, to say the least.

—

On April 8th, 1993, an obituary for Frank Ainsworth was posted in the Longview Daily News. Frank Ainsworth was born on November 24th, 1939, in Madill, Oklahoma, and had lived in Washington since 1979. He was a self employed mechanic and landscaper, and enjoyed reading the Bible, and books on math, science, and history. Graveside services were to be held on April 19th, 1993, and he was buried next to his brother Doyle.

Frank was buried at Woodberry Forest Cemetery, in Madill, Oklahoma. He was 53 years old.

I walked into the book basically blind, wanting to learn as I read, not trying to ruin it for myself. Long story short, I already knew what most of the book was about, as it was the original blue print for what became “We Are Satanists”. I’ll be completely honest, in that I was rather disappointed with this book, as I had hoped for a more historical look at Anton Lavey, but it devolved into more of an interview with him and would showcase his diatribes. In some ways, the book was just another soapbox for him, which is odd, when you consider that it was supposed to be a biography, not an autobiography. While exploring the thoughts and viewpoints of the subject for a biography could help enrich a book, Anton’s antics and diatribes only seemed to detract from the reading experience overall.

I’m unsure who the ideal demographic is for this book, at least, for when it was originally written. In many ways, it is preaching to the choir, surely a book created for those already in the know about Anton Lavey, and The Church of Satan.

Many of the things Lavey would say would either be just completely off the wall, semi entertaining, or just completely ridiculous. Many of the things said in this book could be taken as dog whistles. Even though Lavey himself called racists stupid, the way this book is written, it can easily be misinterpreted to bolster such thought points even still. It is so odd to me that Lavey really believed there was something special about the people who considered themselves Satanists, that he also wanted them to breed, and create a “master race”. How can you say things like that, mention eugenics, approving a police state, mention Hitler as much as they do through the book, and mention a “final solution” without it being some sort of dog whistle? But I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised; as many religions have an elitist complex that believe their group of people are the special chosen ones. There’s even texts within Mormonism and Christianity that try to justify racism.

It’s very Christian of Lavey to believe that the followers of Satanism are truly special. For example, in the Bible, they mention the 144,000 in Revelations. Many people of a Christian background aware of this, tend to believe that they are part of the “144”, and are thus special, gifted, and among God’s elite. Lavey’s idea of Satanists having some sort of special chromosome or gene, and should reproduce because of it, is utterly ridiculous. Why should people reproduce because of a spiritual belief? Do you even hear yourself? Just because someone can reproduce, doesn’t mean that they should. Satanic or not. Lavey said himself, that Satanists are born, not made. So, by suggesting that Satanists should reproduce with other Satanists, that’s assuming every baby would be a born Satanist, and that’s clearly not true. It reminds me a lot of the Christian idea that everybody is a born Christian. It all comes off as religious craziness to me.

It’s certain points like that, which showed the off the wall ideas that Anton Lavey would have. Others include his fixation on trapezoids, how to become a werewolf, his misogyny, complaining about women always being cold, and his rather creepy fixation on glorified sex dolls.

On the flipside, Anton would say things in the book that would be legitimately funny. I laughed when they mentioned the McDonald’s ice cream machine being broke, even back in 1990! The idea of a man wearing a T-Shirt and underwear not having the same effect as a woman doing it was funny, and even something I remember being the idea of a comic by The Oatmeal back in the early or mid 2000’s. In general, Anton would make rather humorous and somewhat true observations about people that I could agree with in some ways. I found it interesting how Anton would unintentionally predict/call things that did end up happening in the near future, when the book was originally released. For example, he did call that public shootings would only get worse, and they did. Lavey passed away in 1997, and only 2 years later, in 1999, Columbine happened.

There were some ideas that I didn’t completely agree with, though I did see his point on. For example, he talked about how Heavy Metal wasn’t Satanic. Today, in 2025, many people would beg to differ, but thinking about the state of Metal back in 1990, a lot of the Satanic/Diabolist/Luciferian type bands really weren’t around. Even still, not every Metal band is Satanic. Just because a band is Metal, doesn’t automatically make them evil or Satanic. Would I consider Mastodon Satanic? Hell no! Though, I know that this wasn’t what Lavey was really getting at. The way he described it in this book, he was just anti-Metal. Many sources today state that Lavey hated Metal, which is fair. Many Metalheads hate Metal too!

I thought that his idea of the music he listened to growing up being the true Satanic music as interesting, though it didn’t seem like a key to true esoteric knowledge. The way Lavey described it, it just came off as a pretentious Grandpa claiming that the old days were better, and new music sucks now. The idea of using music to achieve a goal during a magical ritual did make sense, though the book describes it as if a person should only use the 30’s and 40’s music, because it’d have a “better charge”. While I understood what the point Lavey was making was, from an outside perspective, I already knew that him saying that totally lost a lot of the readers of this book. That is one of the faults of this book in general, it seems to assume that the reader is already immersed in magic, rituals, and even practices regularly. I often wondered if this was the intent…to only appeal to such a niche audience, or if Lavey believed that more people practice and know about magic than there really are.

It’s because of this assumption that the reader already knows a thing or two about magic, that it comes off as a lot more pretentious that intended. It’s ironic that Lavey claimed he wasn’t pretentious, then essentially challenged any potential detractors with a keyboard battle in the book. Even more ironic, considering that Pretentiousness is considered a sin according to the Church of Satan.

I’ve read a lot about magical and esoteric topics, thanks to some of the music I listen to. Many of the musicians I enjoy have made nods towards Goetia, esoteric symbols, and things of the like within their songs, album art, and merchandise. Even knowing what I do, Lavey would just lose me when he’d go off about certain topics. One of these being: The Trapezoid.

I don’t understand the fixation he had about Trapezoids. Even with the parts I know about esoteric subjects, the talk about trapezoids comes off as a neurodivergent fixation, instead of a true magical piece of knowledge. While I find the concept of “suspending your disbelief” to be important when talking about esoteric topics, Lavey is the only one to have talked about trapezoids, let alone that much. It makes little sense to me. Why would a trapezoid make for a stronger connection than a pentagon, or parallelogram? This is not explained in the book, and remains a mystery to me. It’s parts like this, that I question why this was included in the book. This was one of the parts of the book that made me seriously question, who was this book written for? Anton Lavey perhaps….

I don’t ask that in a brusque way, but out of genuine curiosity. While I’ve read about The Church of Satan before reading this book, there was still so much more that I wanted to know. When reading “The Secret Life Of A Satanist”, I still felt out of the loop when it came to the history on the Church. I often wondered if the intended audience was for people that had been a part of the Church for a long while. If so, that leaves out a major audience who could have found the book more interesting, if more historical information was relayed.

Then again, we have to remember. “The Secret Life of A Satanist” is the approved biography of Anton Lavey. That doesn’t automatically mean it’s the most accurate, historical, or even logical.

While the book starts off as a more historical type, eventually, it devolves into a diatribe from Lavey. This disrupts the flow of how the book reads. Despite being less than 300 pages (depending on what version you get), the book itself chugs and chugs, making small bits of information longer than you’d expect, or want them to be. As a reader, this was not a fun book to read. It felt like Anton interjected too much, turning this biography into an autobiography. While it’s not bad to create an autobiography, we shouldn’t act like this book was just a completely separate project that Blanche Barton completed by herself.

At what point would we be able to call this an autobiography? Anton was so involved with this, that I truly consider this to be one. And that’s not a bad thing! I think it would have come off as more genuine if they conveyed the book this way. The more I looked at reviews from other people online, many said the same thing. I think it’s a justified opinion to have, that Anton was much more involved with the book than it seems.

What’s strange to me, is how people have referred to Blanche Barton as just Anton’s secretary. It’s strange how this has been used as a way to make her seem insignificant, when she was among his baby mamas! Blanche, who I’ll call Professor Barton, was also one of the people would speak on behalf of the Church, especially against the Satanic Panic. Barton is actually incredibly intelligent, and has made great points about the ridiculous witch hunt that was the Satanic Panic back in the 80’s. Even in her position as “Anton’s secretary”, that doesn’t diminish her intelligence, wit, and writing skills as a person.

What I find interesting, is how Professor Barton mentions Stanton Lavey more than his own mother Zeena, ever did. Stanton passed away in 2022, but before he did, she apparently disowned him and left him with Diane, Zeena’s mother, to raise him. Stanton is talked about in the book “Charles Manson Now”, where it states that he did not know who his father was, nor was there one listed on his birth certificate. Despite there being rumors that Anton was the father, “Charles Manson Now” states that the father may have been a stoner “ local delinquent who dropped out of my mother’s school.” Stanton is also quoted: “She dumped me off on my grandmother Dianne and swore she’d never speak to either of us again. Which, considering I had never done anything wrong to her, is strange.”. Later in 2022, Zeena did an interview with Jordan Peterson, and she did not even mention Stanton by name. Stanton Zaharoff, Lavey.

I looked through the sources that were cited at the end of the book. While I could not find every, single, book listed, there were plenty of news articles that actually did corroborate the things written in this book. For example, it is true that Jayne Mansfield would call Anton for a “happy spell”. Anton and Jayne did take some photos together. Now, we can’t prove that he and Jayne had a romantic relationship, but I did find it odd that some of the events, like Anton allegedly going to dinner with Mansfield before one of Brody’s crashes were plausible.

There are a lot of things that Anton said, which couldn’t be completely proven, but were plausible. Perhaps that’s what Anton wanted. To create a web of plausible stories that made him seem a lot more grand than he really was.

Looking through the newspaper archives, the earliest clip I could find of Anton, was a 1955 San Francisco Chronicle where the “Anton Laveys” went to a birthday party. In 1957, the SF Chronicle posted an ad for Anton, who was to be playing at the Wilshire and a couple of other places. On September 30th, 1957, the SF Chronicle posted a snippet about Anton, who was selling his paintings at an art festival. He was referred to as an artist. It’s here that you start to see Anton as more of a showman. A snip from December 16th, 1959, shows a quote from Lavey, who seemed to have had this “Satanic thinking” already underway.

Even through all the articles and clips that found, there were still things that I couldn’t find. I could not find any records in the news about the house Anton allegedly bought, being sold to him. I couldn’t find anything about Marilyn Monroe being a burlesque dancer at the Mayan Theater…though there was a clip I found of her being a burlesque dancer in a movie she was in, in 1948.

To me, it’s clear that this book is not about Howard Stanton Lavey. It’s about Anton Szandor Lavey, the showman. These were two different people in my eyes.

In some ways, I understand why Zeena and Nikolas Schreck came out with a fact sheet disproving many of things that Anton said, or claimed to have done. Especially back in the 90’s, when there wasn’t any other way to investigate his claims so easily, I can see how there’d be a lot of people that would believe everything he said. To me, I think it’s easy to see when some of his claims were pure bullshit, but I guess if you knew or talked to Anton in person, it’d be easy to be pulled into his allure or draw.

This fact sheet is mentioned in the updated version of “The Secret Life of a Satanist”, in the last two chapters. After Anton died in 1997, it was released. In a 2025 interview, Nikolas Schreck claimed that Zeena was being hounded by press to confirm details about her father’s life, so they could create obituaries on him. Allegedly, the fact sheet was for the press, and somehow got leaked and posted by someone online. This is referenced on wikipedia and even archived, titled “Anton Lavey: Legend and Reality”.

Certain parts were only minor details clarified, such as the “true names” of Anton’s parents, who, in the past told people/the press his parents’ middle names instead of their first names; and of course that Anton’s birth name was “Howard Stanton Lavey”.

Various other parts discuss Anton never having been a part of the circus, never visiting Germany at age 15, never having been enrolled at San Francisco city college, never having been a part of Rosemary’s Baby, and more.

While it may be true that not all of that happened, I couldn’t help but wonder, “So what did he do?”. I looked up Anton, or Howard, through the 1950 census, and it stated there that his employment was OT. Other. If he wasn’t in college or at the circus, what the hell was he doing?!

The fact sheet also claims that Anton was abusive, towards people and animals. “The Secret Life of A Satanist” mention’s Anton’s “Nubian lion” Togare, who Anton would bring to local areas for kids to see. Anton had to give up Togare after neighbors complained about Togare’s roars, though in a few news clips I found, it turns out that it was more because Anton had agreed to babysit a friend’s jaguar, and the two big cats did not get along. This caused a cat fight, a water pipe getting busted, and Togare having to be sent to the zoo.

Of course, the question comes to mind, “What was with these people and their affinity for big cats?”. In a post 2020 world, it just reminded me of the whole “Tiger King” thing. It appears that Anton definitely knew multiple people who owned big cats like he did. Looking at old news articles from the 60’s about Anton, it just seemed like a show of opulence, than a true love for wild animals. Of course to me, I don’t agree with owning big cats in a suburban setting. The food cost alone would be outrageous, and no backyard is big enough for a wild animal like that. In that sense alone, I do think that it’s cruel to own an animal like that, who was created to roam free.

Nikolas and Zeena’s fact sheet states that Anton would use a cattle prod to frighten Togare, and put him into submission. It also states that Anton only made 2 visits to Togare when he was sent to the San Francisco Zoo. This seems to be corroborated in a news article by The San Francisco Examiner, dated March 3rd, 1970. Titled, “The Anything Goes Church”, the end of the article states that Lavey rarely visited Togare. He’s quoted saying: “I would like to see him more often, but Togare gets too emotional. He yells and cries because he thinks I’ve come to take him home.”.

I looked up Togare on the newspaper archives, and he was not mentioned anymore after this, the only exception being from a drawing by Zeena, dated September 21st, 1970, from The San Francisco Chronicle. Zeena, aged 6 years old, had won the Junior Art Champion, for her drawing of “Togare And His Cubs”.

While in captivity at the SF Zoo, Togare had a few cubs. A 1969 article from The Sacramento Union stated that Togare was eventually moved into a cage with a widow lion named Virginia, and she gave birth to cubs on December 13th, Friday The 13th, of 1968.

The story of Togare is also absurd, where Lavey had even tried to get the lion recognized as a California Pioneer, in an article from The Daily Report, dated 1966.

After Togare was given to the San Francisco Zoo, he ended up at Tippy Hedren’s care. She wrote about various big cats in her book “the Cats of Shambala”, which I was able to rent on the internet archive. The few instances of Togare, mentioned the lion a rather shocking way. I took screenshots of the book, to share what I found.

Hedren’s book stated that Togare, who had “been owned by someone involved in black magic”, came to the canyon flats from the San Francisco Zoo. The zookeepers found Togare “too belligerent for the Bay City zookeepers to handle”. Though he frightened Hedren, Togare did end up being a good father to his cubs.

Interestingly, Togare came with another lion, named Alice, who Hedren stated were “2 wayward black magic lions from the San Francisco Zoo.”. If we know that Togare came from Anton Lavey, where did Alice come from, for there to be another black magic practioner? Hedren’s book does not name Lavey, or the other potential black magician.

Hedren’s book would go on to mention that Togare scared/intimidated most other people. The final part of Hedren’s book on Togare states:

“Though I was afraid of Togare for much of his life, and rightfully so, I still felt a deep loss when he left us.”. —

I’m not going to get into the “He said, she said” parts of the Lavey history. What happened within that family has nothing to do with me, and ultimately, detracts from the review about the book. —

There are many parts to this book that just did not age well. Many things that Lavey said seemed to be taking the piss, and potentially humorous for the time, back in 1990. Of course, that’s 35 years ago now, as of 2025, so I can’t expect these jokes to hit the same, but with the passage of time it has made these bits just flat out disgusting.

Lavey’s misogyny and anti-feminist rhetoric came off as the perfect type of person you’d see on modern day twitter, or streaming on Kick. The idea that women control the world by always being cold, and making the rooms cold was just dumb. It’s scientifically proven that men have more body heat than women. Why go on a tirade about that? His misogyny was actually true though, especially in how he remembered women like Marilyn Monroe, and especially Jayne Mansfield. They were recollected as nothing more than sex objects, while their other talents and skills were diminished. The book states that Jayne hadn’t picked up the violin since she was a girl, but that’s not true. Ten years before her death, she was on TV playing the violin, and piano. Remembering her as a sex doll who loved to piss herself is incredibly dismissive, and does not do her any justice. The fact that the affair Lavey and Jayne allegedly had wasn’t technically acknowledged, was strange to me. It seemed incredibly dismissive of Diane, who had already had a child with Anton by that time.

—

Of course, one of the major parts I was interested in reading about was the Manson connection. I found it disappointing how much the connection between Anton Lavey, Susan Atkins, and the Church of Satan was downplayed. While yes, Susan Atkins was definitely a crackhead, she actually talked about her involvement with the CoS more than Lavey did. I often wondered if Lavey hated hippies because he was a San Francisco resident, and was likely surrounded by them…or if Susan perhaps attributed to his hatred for them. I’m not sure how true it is, but in “Charles Manson Now”, Stanton Lavey stated that Susan had a much bigger role in The Church of Satan than Anton said. Apparently, Stanton had written Charles Manson at one point even, Manson even remembering the letter. Manson said that he recalled Anton would “do anything for a buck”. Which, we didn’t need Charlie to tell us that, as it seemed quite obvious that Anton was quite the showman.

From a magical standpoint, this book, and Lavey in general, really didn’t delve that deeply, not as much as I would have wanted. He spent most of his time talking about social philosophies, and conveying an absolutist, brutal, idea of how people should stay within the confines that he made up. The 1998 book, “Satan Speaks” conveys this very clearly, with Lavey admitting that he was against abortion…though oddly for compulsory birth control, stating that essentially, not every person should be a parent. Sometimes, I wonder if this mentality is why Zeena ended up giving birth at the age of 14. To me, that pregnancy breaks the tenant of “do no harm to little children”.

—

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. There are some books that are written to be read, and there are books that are written to be written. To me, this book was written to be written. It’s not fun to read. It’s not leisurely. There are too many stops and when you finally get to go, it’s still slow. It chugs, and chugs, and even when you find an interesting bit of information, it’s like a needle in the haystack. While I thought that it was interesting, some of the interactions that Lavey had with true crime people such as the Manson Family, such as potentially swapping houses where Jay Sebring used to live, allegedly knowing Abigail Folger’s mother, supposedly being stopped on the street by Richard Ramirez, and even being gifted a John Wayne Gacy painting by Marilyn Manson, these instances were few and far between. It’s here that I see why the book is called the “authorized biography”, and not the “true” biography. Granted, as I stated before, this isn’t the biography on Howard Stanton Lavey, it’s about the showman, Anton Szandor Lavey.

Do I believe that Anton had a genuine interest in magic and mysticism? Yes. There’s even news articles that prove that. He definitely had some sort of small practice going, and genuinely believe that he was a magician of sorts. In the early days of the Church of Satan, he really leaned into those curses. But as time went on, especially after the Satanic Panic, it seems that Anton’s interest in magic waned, and he focused more on writing down his philosophies. I feel like that is the more appropriate way to remember Anton Lavey. 20th century philosopher and showman. Part time magician.

In a way, the Church of Satan reminds me of how McDonalds was founded by the McDonalds brothers, but lead to success by Ray Kroc. Despite Lavey founding the Church of Satan, and its philosophies, it was Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, and Peggy Nadramia, that expanded on the thoughts of self freedom that were initially written about. Strangely, despite all of the controversial things that Anton wrote or said, he would also have good ideas about not harming or bothering people. It’s up in the air if he practiced his own philosophy, but the idea to not be kind to those who don’t deserve it, is of course, agreeable. Granted, there are a lot of things that were written, that I feel a normal person could agree with. Yet, that wouldn’t make them a Satanist.

I saw “Kite String” in person, at a record stare when I was 18. I remember going there, a place called “Ernie November’s” in Rapid City, South Dakota. The day I saw that album, I seriously considered buying it, but as an 18 year old that worked at Burger King, I couldn’t afford the $30 CD, that the store was selling.

But I never forgot seeing that CD. Looking back now, I wish I bought it.

If I knew then, what I know now, a lot of things would be different, but I suppose that’s something most of us would say.

It wasn’t until 2022 that I actually got to sit down, and listen to Acid Bath, I’m almost ashamed to say! To be fair, Rotten records never bothered to make Acid Bath’s music available, before covid.

I think that it should be noted, how it took a worldwide pandemic to cause Acid Bath’s music to finally be put on spotify. I’m not sure if the music was always available for download on the Rotten Records site, but the lack of availability of this band’s music, has been odd. I will never understand why Rotten Records refused to uplift this talented band of musicians. Perhaps it was greed? I can only speculate though, if they wanted money, you’d think that they would promote this band to have a larger fanbase…so they could make more money. Honestly, Acid Bath should have shirts in stores like Spencers. I’ve seen all kinds of band shirts at those type of stores, including Type O Negative.

But, this is about the music. And very simply, the music on this album is great.

“When The Kite String Pops” was released on August 8th, 1994. I found this interesting, because it’s on the 25th anniversary of the Tate murders. For those unaware, on the evening of August 8th, 1969, members of the Manson family went to 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, and murdered everyone there; except for one person, the caretaker, William Garretson.

Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian went to Cielo Drive; Linda staying outside while the other three murdered the others at the residence. Steven Parent, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Voytek Frykowski, were murdered in the late hours of August the 8th, to early August 9th.

When I saw that this album was released on August 8th, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was on purpose, or a complete coincidence.

In December of 2022, I interviewed Sammy Duet, and asked him if this was on purpose. He was actually surprised when I pointed this out, and as far as he knew, it was a coincidence, though, he did tell me that Dax Riggs, the singer of Acid Bath, always had an interest in true crime things.

What’s even funnier, is that Acid Bath’s 2nd album, “Paegan Terrorism Tactics”, was released on Charles Manson’s 62nd birthday, November 12th, 1996.

There’s always been this true crime connection between the arts, and release dates with Acid Bath. The most notorious being the art to “Kite String”, which was created by John Wayne Gacy.

Gacy, a serial killer from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to death in the 80’s, after there were multiple dead bodies found buried underneath his house, in 1978. After his conviction, Gacy spent his time painting; many of his paintings being of clowns.

The album art for Kite String had already been made by Gacy, when they decided to use the art. In an video, Sammy Duet stated that they knew a guy in Florida, who would get in touch with, and write to serial killers, including Charles Manson!

None of the 5 band members could decide on an album cover, and Ron Peterson of Rotten Records suggested it. At first, the band just saw it as a clown, but when they were told it was made by a clown that killed people, they became more interested. They had to pay for the artwork, of course, and according to Sammy, Gacy was still alive when they got his artwork. The person who got them this, is the same one who would later get them the Richard Ramirez art seen on a demo.

When I looked through various sources and archives of John Wayne Gacy’s art, almost none could conjure up the art used on this album. Today, I don’t know who technically owns it, or where the original sits.

I found this interesting though, because that means Acid Bath unintentionally preserved one of Gacy’s artworks, that can’t seem to be found anywhere.

The front work is titled, “Pogo The Clown #15”, and on the back is “Skull Clown 171”. Before Gacy was locked up, he used to dress up like a clown, either going by the name Patches or Pogo, and visiting people in hospitals.

-

Now, onto the music, I think that “Kite String” is legitimately a fantastic album, resurgence aside.

It’s a legitimately good metal album, heavy, and sludge. I think that Sammy and Audie really provided the heavy. Sam has always had that “evil” influence in his music, and it’s clear that he had a special dynamic when playing with Audie.

When I think of Acid Bath, I’ve always thought of Audie Pitre as the main reason for their sludge sound. Sam, with his heavy ass guitars, compliments Audie’s bass, providing this thick, evil duo, that unfortunately, has never been recreated in any of Sam’s other dynamics.

Though the band had 2 guitarist, Mike Sanchez and Sammy Duet, they seemed to play more in unison with each other, than being 2 separate players bringing their own unique styles. It tends to sound like one person playing to me. I know that this was Sam’s first album, so many of the nuances of his style hadn’t appeared yet, but, I get this feeling that Sammy was holding back somewhat. I think that he wasn’t completely sure of himself yet, and it sounds like he let Mike take the lead most of the time. And that’s okay! Sam is a great rhythm player, in general, he has great rhythm.

Even though the music is fantastic, you can still hear how there were different things each member would try to do to show their style in each song. For “Kite String”, this medley of styles works. Each person brings their separate ingredient into the pot, and it creates a delicious meal. Audie would be the meat, like some sort of beef pot roast. Mike is the stock. Jimmy would be the mirepoix. Dax would be some sort of expensive spice or garnish to drive up the price of the meal, and impress people. And Sam, I think we know what he would be. Same would be some sort of blackened seasoning, in cooking terms. If Sam were a dorito chip, he’d be one of those Cooler Ranch ones covered in extra seasoning. One of those chips that make you say, “God Damn!” when you see all the seasoning on it. But it works. Deliciously Salty.

I love the heaviness to this album, seen on songs like “Dr. Seuss Is Dead”, “Dope Fiend”, and “God Machine”. I always felt like the album could have been heavier, though. It seems that some of the demos confirm this. The demo for “Dr. Seuss” is waaay heavier, basically a death metal song. The demo has Audie, Dax, and Sammy on it, which blew my mind when I first heard it. I remember Sammy saying in one video though, that Dax wanted to lower the other vocals to highlight his voice, which is why the album version sounds the way it does.

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Dax’s lyrics are written beautifully. He has a way with poetry. If he released a book just filled with his poems, like Mike Williams has done, I’m sure people would buy it.

I enjoy his vocals on “Kite String”. The screams, the singing. This album seems more of the heavy screams, than the haunted ghoul type voice seen in the second album.

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I remember Sam talking about “The Bones of Baby Dolls” in one of his livestreams. He said that Mike Sanchez was the one to play that intro riff, because Sam could never get it right. I wonder if he ever did?

My favorite songs off this album are, “Dope Fiend”, “Toubabo Koomi”, and “Dr. Seuss Is Dead”. Not surprising, because I just like heavier stuff in general.

I view Kite String as a metal album, even though I know there are plenty of non metal elements to it. I has this nostalgic, 90’s aspect to it, in all the good ways. I can’t help but think of all the memories of my childhood, back in the 90’s, when I listen to his. I’m reminded about the road a lot. Much of my childhood consisted of being in the car as my parents would drive on the long road to wherever we were moving to. Often times, they’d play Lenny kravitz, and the song, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?”, which was released in 1993, the year before this album. Thinking of it now, it makes a lot of sense that I would make that connection. I guess I’ve always associated Rock and Metal as fast driving music. Road trip music. When I’m on the road, I’ve gotta play something fast, or heavy.

With “Kite String”, I’ve listened to it everywhere! On the road, in the tub, at night, in the afternoon, and more! It’s very versatile, but I think it’s best listened to at night. That way, the darkness of the outside compliments the darkness of this album/

“Kite String” holds a special place in my heart because of the personal experiences in my life. But even musically, it is special. Every bend Sammy does. Audie’s rolling gravel tone. Dax’s lyrics, like a ghost haunting a window, or something you’d read in a diary from Resident Evil or Silent Hill.

I do hope, that people will continue to listen, and love this album, in the years to come. It’s not one to be overlooked.

Her remains were found at Nine Mile Board on LA Highway 70, Louisiana near Belle River, all parts recovered. She is stated to have been a complete, or a near complete skeleton. Hair and eye color are unknown. Her remains were found wearing a western style green plaid shirt, size 12. There has been one exclusion to her case, Phyllis Brewer from Ohio.

On the Doe Network, the picture used is noted as a reconstruction of the victim.

Here, it says that she was found in Stephenville, Saint Martin Parish, Lousiana. Her cause of death is noted as blunt trauma to the head.

Distinguishing marks include: a previously injured nose, left rib, and 3 vertebra. Antemortem trauma to the nose with remodeling in surrounding areas; an antemortem fracture on the 7th left rib; and antemortem compression fractures on thoracic verts 5-7.

Antemortem trauma means that these injuries happened before death, and had started to show signs of healing.

As for her dentals, Jane Doe did not have teeth during her life. The Doe Network states that “upper and lower jaw had no teeth during life”. There was pronounced bone resorption and remodeling suggest a long term denture wearer, though no dentures were recovered at the scene. A complete DNA profile is available at the state lab.

Along with the shirt she was found in, Jane Doe was found with 2 rinds, a 3 stone engagement ring, and a gold ring with an emerald stone. She also had a pendant with a bull and a star.

The Doe Network states that Jane Doe suffered a severe facial injury shortly before her death.

I estimate that she was either a Taurus, or a girlfriend of one. The bull is Taurus’ zodiac symbol, and emerald is that sign’s birthstone.

Though listed on the LSU repository, which is how I found her, they don’t have any new information to add. Here it spells the location as Stevensville, LA.

There is a thread for her on websleuths, as started by the user Folieadeux Nola. They stated that they’re familiar with the area, and that there are 2 bordering parishes where Jane Doe was found.

During the time that Jane Doe was found, this was the height of the oil and gas industry boom, where there were workers from all over the country. The area is fairly well traveled, betwixt Morgan City, Belle River, and Pierre Part, there may have been locals in Jane Doe’s area specifically; the area doesn’t have lights, is a tad rural, and off the beaten path, at least, in 2016, when they made that post.

They linked to an article from KATC, but as of January 2025 when I initially wrote this, the link is defunct, and was redirecting to a hentai website.

Quotes from that article include a tidbit saying that a “medical ID necklace showing that Jane Doe was a diabetic” was found. Supposedly, the department, I’m unsure if it mean the Sheriff’s department or police, never received a missing person’s report, and says that Jane Doe may have been visiting the area. I could not find the article on the KATC website. Jane Doe’s case was reopened in 2007 due to Robert Charles Browne confessing to the murders of a dozen women in Louisiana.

A further post in the thread states that the antemortem injuries may have been caused by a car accident. “It is presumed the woman was strangled due to the absence of a bone in her neck (hyoid?), and had been potentially raped due to the position the body was found. Law enforcement had no missing persons reports fitting her description, and presumed she was not from the area, and that her body was brought to the discovery spot and disposed of, or she was traveling/hitchhiking through the area.”.

In January 1985, St. Martin Parish officials potentially linked Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole as the suspects of raping and murdering Jane Doe. Toole and Lucas were suspected by law enforcement to have picked up a hitchhiker along I-12 near Baton Roughe, driving her to Stephensville, killing her and dumping the body. Lucas and Toole had travelled through Louisiana betwtixt 1975 and 1982. Lucas had confessed to 4 slayings in the New Orleans area. All though Lucas claimed to have beat an 81 year old Metarie woman with a crowbar in 1982, that was later proven false.

Overall, the original poster suggested various serial killers that may have murdered Jane Doe. User MadMcGood made a good point, in my opinion, comparing Jane Doe as a match for Bettina Antone, a woman who went missing in 1980. Side by side with the reconstruction, it seems very possible.

Bettina Minnie Antone went missing on March 29th, 1980, from Redding, California. At the time, she was 44 years old, having been born on February 21st, 1936. She was 5’3, 120 pounds, white, with black hair, her left eye described as blue, her right eye, white. Minnie had ear piercings, a mole on the left cheek, and a surgery scar on the lower back. She was also known to use the names Tina, Betty Antone, Bettina Minna Antone, and M. Tina Armstrong.

On namus it states: “On April 1st, 1980, Tina called a family member to say she was going camping in the clear creek area of Redding, California, with 2 male friends. An entry in her calendar said she was going hiking in the Lassen Park area. Tina left personal belongings, and her vehicle behind, and has not been seen, nor heard from since.”. Tina wore prescription glasses. There have been 8 exclusions to her case.

On the Doe Network, it states that Bettina had a fractured arm, and fractured leg. She also had dimples on both cheeks. At the time of her disappearance, she was suffering from alcoholism and depression, and she was schizophrenic.

Dentals are not available, but it says that she wore upper and lower dentures. That is very compelling to me, in regards to this Jane Doe.

The Doe Network states that Tina had been in therapy for depression, when she disappeared from her apartment at the California moten in Redding, in late march, or early April 1980. Left behind were her toothbrush, makeup, clothes, car, and photographs of her 2 children, and grandchildren. She may have been in a mental health facility.

The Charley Project states that Bettina’s sister found some money and a note stuffed on or in one of Bettina’s shoes at the motel after her disappearance. The note read, “please save”. Her sister believed that she was either killed, or a patient in a mental facility. It also states that Bettina was transient.

Another person suggested is Doris Anne Tetreault, who went missing on June 1st, 1978, from Blackstone, Massachusetts. At the time of her disappearance, she was 34 years old, and 95 pounds. Doris was white, with black hair and brown eyes. The only details on namus, is that she wasn’t living with her husband at the time, and her mother reported her missing. She was last heard from in june, 1978. There have been 10 exclusions to her case. Based on one of the pictures alone, Doris looks eerily similar to the namus reconstruction.

Another potential match is Ina M. Arnall, who was also mentioned in the websleuths thread. Ina went missing on May 28th, 1981 from Poteau, Oklahoma. At the time of her disappearance, she was 46 years old, having been born on June 14th, 1934. Ina was 4’11-5’2, white, 90-110 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She is noted to have had stretch marks on her abdomen, and full upper dentures. She is listed as having a diamond wedding ring set, diamond dinner ring, a bracelet with diamonds, and a diamond watch. She was last known driving a 1980 Oldsmobile, a 4 car, that was Diesel powered. There are 7 exclusions to her case on namus.

The Charley Project states that Ina also had on a purple shirt, pantyhose, a half slip, a multicolored blouse, brown sandals, and possibly an off white rain coat. She may have used the last name Kreitlein.

It says that she left her home to go visit her daughter 100 miles away in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but she never arrived. She was never heard from again. The following day, Ina’s daughter found her mother’s abandoned car, in a parking lot at the Tulsa airport. Authorities believe Ina left on her own accord. She may have traveled to Nevada, or San Francisco, California. The Doe Network lists similar information.

There seems to be few news articles about Jane Doe, at least what can be found through tools available to the public. Let us not forget, that Louisiana has state laws that prevent a lot of information being known to the public.

An article from Teche News, dated May 26th, 1982, was titled, “Skeletal Remains Those of Woman”. It stated that New Orleans anthropologists confirmed that a skeleton found in Stephensville that prior February, was that of a woman, but the exact cause of death remained a mystery.

In a report compiled for the sheriff’s department, Dr. R. Christopher Goodwin of New Orleans, reconstructed the physical features of the person, whose skeleton was discovered on February 19th, by four hunters along the levee some 5 miles north of Stephensvile.

Dr. Goodwin concluded that the bones were those of a woman in her forties, who stood 5’4 tall, and weight 120 pounds. The article states that she had medium brown hair, which was relatively short at the time of death. She had worn full dentures for a number of years, had blood Type A, and may have been diabetic.

The presence of a diamond engagement ring, and a wedding ring, a gold pierced type earring post, and a ladies western style shirt were found on the remains.

The only sign of recent injury were fractures of the facial bone on the right side of the skull. Dr. Goodwin’s report stated that such injuries are usually caused by a direct, blunt blow to the face. Although the injury appeared to have been inflicted shortly before death, it was not considered severe enough to have caused death.

The report indicated that the body had lain in place for several months before discovery.

In an article titled, “Sheriff links Lucas and Toole to St. Martin Murder Cases”, Henry Lee Lucas was questioned about the woman, titled “Jane Doe 2”. The article stated that Lucas was “very straight forward in the interview, but would not admit to anything.”.

Personally, I do not believe that Jane Doe would have been murdered by Henry Lee Lucas. The information about her antemortem injuries tells me that she was a victim of chronic abuse, in what seems to have come from a loved one. The jewelery, mainly the rings, tells me that she was with somebody, and they, or her, may have been a Taurus, potentially pitting their birthdays between April and May.

I’m unsure what else we could potentially find out about the case, without any sort of DNA testing.

Beyond that, there is little else known about the case.

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I can't post all the links due to tumblrs rules

There are exclusions to his case on namus, 2 from Oregon.

There is very little information about this man, and his background. There is a websleuths thread about him, though it hasn’t had many leads.

A clip from The Oregon Daily Journal was posted, which is dated from April 10th, 1915. It states that a well dressed man was fished out of the river at the Inman-Poulsen mill the prior Thursday. Interestingly, it said:

“The man remained unidentified at the time of article. Relatives of Patrolman Sig Meyers, who has been ill for several months and has been missing for five weeks, called at the morgue; but they were unable to identify the body. The man appears to be about 40 years of age, and the cuff links bear an old English letter H.”

One user, PayrollNerd, made a good point in that he may have succumb to the Spanish Flu, as it was something going around from that time period.

Interestingly, the article stated that Sig Meyers had been missing for five weeks at that time. So that would place his disappearance around late February or early March.

I found an article from The Oregon Daily Journal dated Feb 28th, 1915, where the bodies of a horse and a man were found badly decomposed. It stated that the corpse was still at the morgue, unidentified. Because of the decomposition, the body was turned over to disposal that following monday.

I could not find much on Sigmund in the newspapers. There were a few mentions in time prior to 1915, but even searching for him in 1920 reared nothing. —

There are a few unidentified bodies on namus that are from Oregon. I also used the ‘unsure’ and ‘unknown’ boxes, in case there may be very old skeletons.

One case is a John Doe that was found on August 26th 1972. He was found in Bandon, Oregon, and estimated to have been dead for years. John Doe is estimated to have been 50-80 years old, 5’9, and had full upper and lower denture plates with the number “S1214/66” etched in them. John Doe was found wearing tan leather lace up boots with white soles that were the “Bilt Rite” brand. Next to his body, was a thin brown leather belt, buckled at 42 inches; remnants of gray wool socks with green and red stripes at the top. His remains were near completely skeletonized , if not completely, with one or both hands not recovered. As it goes on namus, the skeletal remains were discovered in a brushy area off of Hwy 101, north of Highway 101 and Highway 42 junction. There have been 3 exclusions to his case, one from Oregon. Interestingly, it was not Sigmund.

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A second John Doe was found on February 6th, 1974 in Multonomah county, Oregon. This case has only had one exclusion. Very little is known about this John Doe, but namus states that he may have been 22-30 years old, 5’8, and that the remains were found skeletonized in the aforementioned county. There is nothing else known about him, such as the estimated amount of time he may have been deceased when found. His race is considered unknown at this time.

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Beyond this, there is little else known about his case.

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On October 20th. 1961, the Tuscon Daily Citizen posted an article title, “Infant Bones In 4 Boxes, Suitcase Found In Indiana Basement”. In Greencastle, Indiana, 4 boxes and a suitcase were found in the basement of an old one story home. In the containers, were the bones of infants.

Coroner John Whitaker said that the bones represented “possibly 4 or 5 skeletons” of babies. He said the exact number would not be known until the fragments were examined by a police laboratory, but he believed there were five. Police discovered the cache of remains, after the present occupant of the time reported that he found a single skeleton stuffed with a handful of rags in a hole near the foundation.

An Indiana State Police Officer said that the bones of three skeletons, and the skull of a fourth were taken to the police laboratory at Indianapolis. Sgt. Gene Trowbridge of the lab said from all indications of the skeletons, were those of “small infants” who had been dead “for some time”. By “some time”, he meant years. “We have no idea how long they have been dead.” Trowbidge said.

The first body was found on October 19th, 1961, by Jack Lawallen [Also spelled at Lewellyn, and Lewellen in other articles], who had been renting the house at the time. Jack had been cleaning up the basement when he noticed a bundle of rags stuffed into an opening between the flooring. Lewallen, who had only lived in the house for several months, said he pulled the bundle out and found a skeleton. He then called the police.

First, officers found another skeleton in a suitcase when they launched a search that morning. Then, they found 4 boxes with bones of three more babies. Police immediately announced they would “dig up the whole basement.”.

The Logansport Press posted an article on October 21st, 1961, talking about the discovery. It states that Jack Lewallen found the skeleton when cleaning up the dirt floor cellar. The bones, wrapped in soiled rags, had been thrust into a small opening between the building foundation and floor above.

Police conducted a further search that Friday and found 4 more skeletons. One in a metal box, another in a suitcase, and two more in piles of trash. Police said 2 other skeletons turned out to be the bones of a dog and cat.

Coroner John Whitaker said it appeared that the remains were several years old, but that they were too badly decomposed to determine immediately the cause of death. Police Chief Roy Newgent said the skeletons looked to him like the remains of full term infants, and not the result of abortions.

The house, unpainted and some of the windows broken, was situated near the Pennsylvania Railroad Tracks south of the DePauw Campus. At the time of the article, the home was owned by Mary Moore, a spinster in her 90’s that was in a nursing home near Greencastle. Miss Moore moved into the house in 1917, and the dwelling was occupied in the early 1930’s by her brother, Joe Moore, and his family of 3 daughters and 1 son. The house had been recently converted into a 2 family unit; state police technicians said it would have possibly taken a month to complete the examination of the skeletons.

An article from the Princeton Daily Clarion, dated October 20th, 1961, states that the house was located on S. College Avenue, only 3 blocks from the campus of DePauw.

On October 26th, 1961, The Star Press posted the article, “Greencastle Babies’ Bones May Belong To One Mother”. This articles states that there were four babies, and though not proven, were believed to have all had the same mother. Coroner John Whitaker said that the verbal report he received from Indiana Police State Labs were mostly inconclusive, but it did confirm that the babies had been in the cellar of the old house for varying lengths of time.

“This means they could all belong to one mother, but it does not prove that they were. The pathologist is not going to be able to do much more than say that. Our best hope now is that an anthropological study will provide more data.” Whitaker is quoted.

Whitaker confirmed that rumors about a dead baby in the cellar of the house had been circulating in Greencastle prior to the discovery. There had never been an official report until the one with Jack Lewallen. “Police get reports like this sometimes and do not check them out because they seem to be of dubious origin” Whitaker stated.

Jack Lewallen heard the rumors about what was in the cellar of the house he was renting from a 90 year old “invalid” so he started probing in the half century of accumulated junk and found the first little skeleton. The others were found by police later. Whitaker said that the preliminary report did confirm the babies were full term. “But he may never know whether death was anything but natural. We probably won’t know for sure they weren’t stillborn.”. He is quoted.

The coroner said that a skeleton found in a can was the most recently born of the four, but that the preliminary report did not indicated how recent in the terms of years. He said authorities located and talked to some of the former tenants of the old house, just off the DePauw University Campus. “But there is not much questioning that can be done until we have more information.”. He was quoted.

Multiple articles from the this time said the same things.

On June 13th, 1962, The Indianapolis News posted the article, “Fallout Tests Planned In Mystery of Baby Bones”. It was about how investigators were still trying to determine the times of death for the four infants. The investigators believed that they would have been able to gain some answers through the testing for Strontium 90 deposits.

Strontium 90 is a radioactive element released in the explosion of a nuclear weapon. It is absorbed in the bones of living animals exposed to atomic fallout, or in animals which eat growing matter that’s been exposed to such fallout.

The evidence in this case included the 4 small skulls, and the larger part of 3 skeletons, all found on October 20th, 1961, in the “crumbling basement of a weather beaten house, some 6 blocks south of the DePauw University Campus”.

The investigating team turned over the remains found in the debris littered basement to the anthropology department at Indiana University. Dr. George K. Neumann, an anthropologist, said the infants were full term babies, possible from the same mother. Dr. Neumann could not determine the time or cause of death in any instance. The remains were then transferred to the state police laboratory at Indianapolis.

Lt. Charles A. Davis was in charge of the laboratory service, and stated that the check for Strontium 90 was about the only investigative process that they had left. His plan was to test the remains for traces of radioactive Strontium 90, and if there was a measurable amount to compare the findings with known amounts of Strontium 90 which all human beings now (at least at the time of article), carry in their bones.

“We know there was a measurable amount in humans before the first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico in July 1945. The level was increased somewhat after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs drops the following month. After the United States tested the hydrogen bomb in the Pacific in 1952, the level rose quite sharply.

I hope then to measure the amount of Strontium 90 -if any- in the bones and determine if the infants died prior to 1945 or 1952.” -Lt. Charles Davis

Because the state police lab did not have the equipment for such an experiment, it had to be conducted at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indiana. “It may take months” Lt. Davis said.

Meanwhile, authorities had compiled a record of the residents who lived in the house where the infant bones were found. They assembled a list of persons who lived in the area and who may have had access to the house. Clues were scant, and the coroner hadn’t made any inquests.

Roy Sutherlin, Putnam County Prosecutor for that time, said that the case was far from closed. Sutherlin hinted that there were some suspects, but authorities had not been able to move until laboratory tests gave them some answers.

I could not find any more articles about this cold case. I have no idea what ever happened, and what, if any, conclusions there were.

The house is more than likely no more. In modern day, it looks like DePauw University has expanded its campus. I speculate that the house was on what is part of the southern part of the university, in 2024. I could not find any old houses on zillow that would have fit the description of the one in the articles.

Information on this cold case is scant. I’m unsure why someone would also keep the bones of deceased animals in the basement. I fear that all of the deceased were hidden, after death. I am cognizant of the possibility that all might have had their lives taken from them.

Either way, I mourn the deceased, and burn a candle for them. This is a dark story.

If anyone has anymore information about this case, or perhaps, even any anecdotes that may be relevant, please let me know.

Further Questions:

What happened to Jack Lewallen after this?

Was there any chance that the babies were from Miss Mary Moore’s own family?

Was the house destroyed after this? Did the college buy the house and land?

Who all rented the house? Would it have possible for the babies to have belonged to college student there?

What happened to those babies? I could not find any info on the results of the remains. I don’t know what happened to them. I couldn’t find any grave on find a grave, nor any results about the Strontium 90. I’m inclined to believe that they didn’t find any Strontium, which if that was the case, that may have dated the infants back to the 1930’s. This is my speculation though.

I’m not even sure how to solve a case like this in modern day. Without any idea of where the remains went, we cannot do any sort of DNA testing.

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He is listed on namus as having been white, remains not recognizable, with other features unknown. The namus profile was created on April 23rd, 2022. He doesn’t seem to be listed on the Doe Network. There are no comparisons to his case on namus.

There’s very little information about this case, even the Utah gov website’s page is scant on this one.

On February 18th, 1947, The Daily Herald posted the article, “Coroner’s Jury Finds Babe Met Felonious Death”. The article stated that the baby was scheduled to be buried in Provo’s Potter’s field that same day. I’m not sure what cemetery that would be in modern day. I looked on find a grave, but there wasn’t anything that looked like Baby Doe’s grave.

The coroner’s jury ruled that the baby met his death by felonious means. An inquest was held that Monday afternoon into the death of the baby, whose body was found late that recent Saturday, floating in the Provo Millrace at the Golf course. A 3 man jury returned a verdict that the child met death “feloniously by either drowning, or hemorrhage, caused through felonious intent by a person, or persons unknown.”.

The article stated that the case would more than likely go no further, unless the people involved came forward, or if doctors were able to find a clue.

Testimony that Monday came mostly from the 3 boys that found the baby, and Dr. Fred Taylor, who examined him. Dr. Taylor said that the “body was well developed, and that there was no evidence of broken bones and apparently no marks of violence.”. He is quoted, “I rather believe the mother had no medical aid”, he told the jury. “My opinion is that the child was born alive, but I cannot be sure.”.

The doctor said he couldn’t state whether or not the death was caused by unlawful means; he estimated that the baby had been in the water one to two weeks, though he added that he didn’t think an autopsy would add anything or reveal anything further.

Beyond this, there doesn’t seem to be any more info known about this case. I have my speculations and questions about this situation though. My first question is. “Why would someone dump the body of a newborn, anywhere?”. Why would someone just dump the body outside, if the baby was stillborn? No matter if the baby was stillborn or born with a disease, or perhaps even died of SIDS, that doesn’t justify dumping the body anywhere. I speculate that this baby may have been potentially born out of wedlock and dumped there, or, another theory.

From the details in the article and namus, I am inclined to believe that the child may have been a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Shaken Baby Syndrome is a real and dangerous brain injury, caused by forcefully shaking an infant or toddler. The Mayo Clinic states that it’s also known as, “abusive head trauma”, “shaken impact syndrome”, “inflicted head injury”, or “whiplash shaken infant syndrome”.

Shaken Baby Syndrome destroys a child’s brain cells, preventing the baby from getting enough oxygen to their brain. This can lead to permanent brain damage or death.

What’s important to note, is that you won’t always see symptoms of physical injury to the child’s outer body. Injuries can be internal and include: -bleeding in the brain and eyes -spinal cord damage -fractures of the ribs, skull, legs, and other bones.

On the Mayo Clinic website, they sate that Shaken Baby Syndrome usually occurrs when a parent or caregiver severely shakes a baby due to frustration or anger-often because the child won’t stop crying. Babies have weak neck muscles, and can’t support the weight of their heads. If a baby is shaken, their fragile brain moves back and forth inside the skull, causing bruising, swelling, and bleeding.

This is something that we learned about when I was in school. When I was in college, we were required to take a Child Psychology course, to which, it was very helpful. The books stated the same thing the Mayo Clinic does, and went into the reasons why it happens.

One of the main reasons is tiredness and frustration from the parent, though that alone does not justify killing your child (nothing does!). Other risk factors include: -young parents -single parents -domestic violence -history or mistreatment of babies, and more.

In one way or another, it seems that the cycle of abuse contributes to this.

Going back to Baby Doe, I speculate that he may have been the victim of this, as his body was dumped, like as if the perpetrators were embarrassed and tried to hide their actions. Like as if disposing the body away from where they lived would have made the death “okay”. The fact that the coroner had no real signs of violence (at least according to the news article), can point to the decomposition process destroying the signs of abuse. If there were bruises, they would be long gone due to the state of decay. Further, shaken baby syndrome would have been hard to determine in an autopsy, at least in 1947, before much of the technology we have today came around. I do wonder if the coroner speculated if this was the cause of death too.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to say about this scenario. I am unsure as to the state of/location of the remains, and I have no idea if any DNA has ever been submitted through Namus’ website.

[originally written 11/22/2024]

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