From the MORNING OREGONIAN printed September 6, 1904

Seattle, Sept. 5 – Frank S. Stevenson, a saloonkeeper at Snoqualmie, Wash., was found dead in a room over his saloon last night with a bullet hole through his heart. Although it is believed by some that he committed suicide on account of ill health, it cannot be explained how the revolver with which he was shot was found on a dresser six feet from him.

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(This last girl may look like a rape victim, but don’t be fooled… she has the “desires of A WOMAN.”)

Child prostitute, 1871. Inscription on the back: Mary Simpson a common prostitute age 10 or 11 year. She has been known as Mrs. Berry for at least two years. She is four month with child.

[Anonymous photographer. Silverprint 8 1/2" x 6", via Wikipedia.]

During Charles Manson’s trial in 1970, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi questioned 20-year-old Manson Family member (and murderer) Paul “Tex” Watson. I’ve edited this down a tad, but don’t worry, I left all the freaky stuff.

HELTER SKELTER

Bugliosi: “During your association with Charles Manson, did he frequently discuss Helter Skelter with you?”

Watson: “Constantly.”

HOW HELTER SKELTER BEGINS

Watson: “There would be some atrocious murders; that some of the spades from Watts would come up into the Bel-Air and Beverly Hills district and just really wipe some people out, just cut bodies up and smear blood and write things on the wall in blood, and cut little boys up and make parents watch…

“[Then] all the other white people would be afraid that this would happen to them, so out of their fear they would go into the ghetto and just start shooting black people like crazy. But all they would shoot would be the garbage man and Uncle Toms, and all the ones that were with Whitey in the first place. And underneath it all, the Black Muslims would know that [Helter Skelter] was coming down.

“So, after Whitey goes in the ghettoes and shoots all the Uncle Toms, then the Black Muslims come out and appeal to the people by saying, ‘Look what you have done to my people.’ And this would split Whitey down the middle, between all the hippies and the liberals and all the up-tight piggies. A big civil war would start and really split them up in all these different factions. And after they killed each other off, then there would be a few [white people] left who supposedly won. Then the Black Muslims would come out of hiding and wipe them all out.”

Bugliosi: “Wipe the white people out?”

Watson: “Yes. By sneaking around and slitting their throats.”

THE UNDERGROUND CITY

Bugliosi: “Did Charlie say anything about where he and the Family would be during this Helter Skelter?”

Watson: “Yes… Charlie used to walk around in the desert and say — You see, there are places where water would come up to the top of the ground and then it would go down and there wouldn’t be no more water, and then it would come up again and go down again. He would look at that and say, ‘There has got to be a hole somewhere, somewhere here, a big old lake.’

“And it just really got far out, that there was a hole underneath there somewhere where you could drive a speedboat across it, a big underground city. Then we started from the ‘Revolution 9′ song on the Beatles album which was interpreted by Charlie to mean the Revelation 9. So-”

Bugliosi: “The last book of the New Testament?”

Watson: “Just the book of Revelation and the song would be ‘Revelations 9′. So …in Revelations 9, it talks of the bottomless pit. Then later on, I believe it is in 10…”

Bugliosi: “Revelation 10?”

Watson: “Yes. It talks about there will be a city where there will be no sun and there will be no moon.”

Bugliosi: “Manson spoke about this?”

Watson: “Yes, many times. That there would be a city of gold, but there would be no life, and there would be a tree there that bears twelve different kinds of fruit that changed every month. And this was interpreted to mean — this was the hole down under Death Valley.”

Bugliosi: “Did he talk about the twelve tribes of Israel?”

Watson: “Yes. That was in there, too. It was supposed to get back to the 144,000 people. The Family was to grow to this number.”

Bugliosi: “The twelve tribes of Israel being 144,000 people?”

Watson: “Yes.”

Bugliosi: “And Manson said that the Family would eventually increase to 144,000 people?”

Watson: “Yes.”

Bugliosi: “Did he say when this would take place?”

Watson: “Oh, yes. See, it was all happening simultaneously. In other words, as we are making the music and it is drawing all the young love to the desert, the Family increases in ranks, and at the same time this sets off Helter Skelter. So then the Family finds the hole in the meantime and gets down in the hole and lives there until the whole thing [Helter Skelter] comes down.”

HOW HELTER SKELTER ENDS

Bugliosi: “Did he say who would win this Helter Skelter?”

Watson: “The karma would have completely reversed, meaning that the black men would be on top and the white race would be wiped out; there would be none except for the Family.”

Bugliosi: “Did he say what the black man would do once he was all by himself?”

Watson: “Well, according to Charlie, he would clean up the mess, just like he always has done. He is supposed to be the servant, see. He will clean up the mess that he made, that the white man made, and build the world back up a little bit, build the cities back up, but then he wouldn’t know what to do with it, he couldn’t handle it.”

Bugliosi: “Blackie couldn’t handle it?”

Watson: “Yes, and this is when the Family would come out of the hole, and being that he would have completed the white man’s karma, then he would no longer have this vicious want to kill.”

Bugliosi: “When you say ‘he,’ you mean Blackie?”

Watson: “Blackie then would come to Charlie and say, you know, ‘I did my thing, I killed them all and, you know, I am tired of killing now. It is all over.’ And Charlie would scratch his fuzzy head and kick him in the butt and tell him to go pick the cotton and go be a good nigger, and he would live happily ever after.”

I found this article in a scanned vintage newspaper, it was part of a syndicated feature called “Chronology of the Year”, a veritable orgy of death statistics published in the U.S. at the end of 1901. It seems there were 131 recorded lynchings in the United States that year. We can be confident in the accuracy of that number, I surmise, because lynchings were so carefully documented by unbiased journalists and local law enforcement officials. It certainly puts one’s mind at ease to learn that only nine of the year’s 131 lynchings were motivated by racial prejudice. The remaining 122 executions were justified with various reasons including a lynching for forcing a white boy to commit a crime. “I swear, ma! The negro made me do it!”

Muslims around the globe are outraged that the Pope publically quoted a 14th-century Christian Byzantine emperor who said “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

As I sit on my couch watching Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer is questioning a Newsweek reporter about how the Pope could have said what he did. Not only did he say Islam was violent, chide our television friends, the Pope also failed to mention how crusaders in the early middle ages waged war to reclaim “holy lands” in the name of Christianity. That mean old pope.

Good Morning America didn’t mention the militant muslim repsonse. Furious over the Pope’s unfair accusation that Islam is linked to violence, Muslims are trying to set the record straight. For example, one extremist Sunni group stated the Pope is “doomed” for mischaracterizing the Religion of Peace. After conquering the West, they plan to “break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword.”

If only the Pope could be more like Diane Sawyer, and celebrate (non-Christian) religious tolerance and diversity. Just because someone wants to kill you and everyone you know doesn’t necessarily make them “violent.” Man I hate that pissy old Pope.

Though it might be considered a little tame by today’s limb-sawing, babysitter-gutting standards, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is still considered one of the best horror movies ever made. The story and characters were taken directly from a book of the same name written by renaissance man Robert Bloch, a literary genius whose broad spectrum of published works includes Psycho II, The Psychopath, Psycho House and Psycho-Paths. Bloch penned a number of classics, ranging from the devastatingly witty (Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow; Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of) to the bone-chillingly unclear (Lost in Time and Space with Lefty Feeps; Mysteries of the Worm).

Robert Bloch based Psycho on real-life nutjob Ed Gein. No, Gein didn’t have a spooky hotel, and he didn’t stab anyone in a shower (that I know of). But he did have some mommy-issues. And some making-clothes-out-of-dead-women issues. But who doesn’t, am I right?

Eddie was born in 1906, and spent most of his life on a big ol’ farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin. His mother Augusta was an exceedingly unpleasant woman, who continually reminded Ed and his older brother Henry that all women (except her) were hellbound harlots. As adults, the boys remained on the farm and worked as handymen. Ed worshipped mommy and believed everything she told him, but Henry occasionally shocked young Ed with candid comments regarding her rampant bitchery. Henry died under “mysterious circumstances.”

Several years later, dear Augusta finally died, and I’m happy to report that her body is currently rotting in the cold ground. Ed wasn’t as enthusiastic about her death as I am, so he kept the house exactly as she had left it, a shrine to his dear mamma. He lived in the utility room and kitchen, amusing himself with books about Nazis and South Sea cannibals, as well as local newspaper obituaries. Eventually he started digging up corpses. You know, for kicks.

You see, as it turns out, Augusta’s patented brand of bizarre psychosexual abuse had a lasting effect on her remaining son. I know, I’m just as shocked as you are.

Despite his morbid nocturnal activities, Ed Gein decided to try his hand at something a little more domestic. An aspiring seamstress, he designed and created a lovely lady-vest and lady-mask from lady-skin. When Gus, Ed’s helpful digging partner, was hauled off to a nursing home, Ed continued his hobby by murdering two local women.

The things he did with the dead bodies (all of whom appeared to be roughly the same age and size as his mother) are really quite distasteful. In 1957, word got around that old Ed wasn’t quite right, and police raided the farmhouse. Inside, they found some pretty messed up stuff. If you want to see the grisly crime scene photos, do so at your own risk. I really don’t want them haunting up my site.

Annnnnyway, Ed Gein confessed to the two murders and lived the rest of his life in an insane asylum. (I love a happy ending!)

[tags]Ed Gein, crime, murder, Psycho[/tags]

Historically, guys have never liked being told what to do. For centuries, men have used the law to keep women from saying things they don’t like. Unfortunately, many of my gender are currently engaged in retaliatory social castration , and two wrongs don’t make a right. However, I think three might do the trick. How about tossing in some arson, or maybe a little bank fraud, ladies?

In medieval times, creative punishments were used to prevent wives from employing objectionable phrases like, “We would have money for food if you didn’t spend it all on booze,” “We wouldn’t have 14 mouths to feed if you’d just keep it in your pants,” and “Stop hitting me.” Women who were judged to be “scolds” were secured to a “ducking stool” and repeatedly dunked in the local pond or river.

The ducking stool became slightly less popular after the invention of a technologically advanced shrew-taming device called the “scold’s bridle.” This fashionable accessory included an iron frame that fit around the head, holding in place a spiked tongue depressor. (Hey, it’d be nice to have one of those around next time she won’t shut up about those ugly shoes she just bought… am I right, guys? Am I right?? YEAH! *high five* ) There was also a handy loop so the scold could be led around town and mocked, an example to other women who may have been thinking about saying something to somebody about something.

[tags]crime, women, criminology, law, history[/tags]

On this day in 1961, Wilbert Rideau, age 19, robbed a Louisiana bank of $14,000 and kidnapped bank manager Jay Hickman and tellers Julia Ferguson and Dora McCain. Rideau forced them into Ferguson’s car and drove to a remote area where he shot all three. Julia Ferguson had the audacity to beg for her life, so Rideau walked over to her and repeatedly stabbed her in the heart. Hickman and McCain survived.

It’s the south in the early 1960s: Racism is rampant, segregation is widespread. A media-happy sheriff conducted his interrogation in front of television cameras, and Rideau’s video confession was played on the local news. Last year Rideau explained he only confessed because, “I had never seen a television camera before. All I saw were bright lights and shadowy figures… I thought this must be the electric chair I’d heard about. I thought they were going to execute me.” Uh huh.

Anyhoo, after the confession, Rideau was found guilty by a southern all-white, all-male jury. It’s probable the jurors were racist, corn-fed Klanners; however, this doesn’t negate the fact that Rideau committed the crimes. The verdict was eventually overturned because the confession’s broadcast had tainted the jury pool. In the years to come, two more trials and two more guilty verdicts were overturned on the grounds of racial bias and other jury selection violations. In 2005, a fourth trial took place. The prosecution said he murdered a woman in cold blood, and should spend life in prison. Rideau argued that he killed her, but he didn’t murder her.

A racially mixed jury was selected in Lake Charles, LA. To ensure jury nullification, Johnny “Chewbacca” Cochran was hired to lead the defense team. Cochran played up the strengths of their case:

• In prison Wilbert Rideau had published an award-winning prison-bashing magazine, co-authored a Criminal Justice textbook, shared an Academy Award nomination for an anti-prison documentary, become a sought-after lecturer, and gained many high-profile supporters who fought for his freedom.
• Racist officials were racist.
• Thirteen prosecution witnesses were now dead.
• In a major victory for the defense, the judge only allowed the jury to consider verdicts that would have been available in 1961: Premeditated murder (life without parole) or manslaughter (21 years). If they had gone by 2005 law, he would have almost certainly been sentenced to life without parole, the sentence for killing someone in the commission of a felony.
• Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks?

Well, Johnny straightened us out, and Rideau walked out with time served. It seems we were all turned around about who the victim was in this case. If you thought it was Julia Ferguson, the Sunday school teacher who cared for her invalid father and was stabbed as she begged for her life, you were waaaaaaaaay off.

The victim is poor Wilbert Rideau, who stated he would have been released from prison years ago, but the man kept him locked up just because he was a black man who killed a white woman. So, he’s a victim of his victim’s race. Not only that; he was the unwitting victim of a nefarious telephone that rang and startled him during the armed robbery, forcing him to take hostages.

Today, Rideau is a media darling happily steeping in victimhood. NPR refers to him not as a murderer or ex-con, but as an “embattled journalist.” When the taped confession was played at the 2005 trial, the Washington Post describes young Wilbert as a “skinny and frightened man, his voice barely audible.” Rideau watched his recorded confession from the defense table”with his hands folded beneath his chin, prayerlike.” The same man who left Julia Ferguson bleeding on the road, deadlike.

“Everything I became, everything I have achieved, has been in spite of this unholy force from Lake Charles dedicated to destroying me and denying me the ability to be anything more than the criminal they wanted me to be.” ~Wilbert Rideau