Welcome to The Attic, where myth and truth collide.

I had the pleasure of watching the documentary Killer Legends on Hulu Plus today, and I have to say it exceeded my expectations. It takes a very interesting look at some of the most famous urban legends, and how they came to be. Curled up in a blanket, listening to the thunder outside on a Sunday morning was the perfect setting to learn some interesting and terrifying facts about the legends we all think we know so well.

The Hook
This is debatably the most famous of the urban legends, and the chilling story behind it is scarier than fiction. In the 1950s, a serial killer nicknamed “The Phantom” popped up in Texarkana, TX. A young couple was found dead in their car, having both been shot. The killer seemed to be targeting young couples that would park at night in their car. One might think that the story of a killer with a hook for a hand looking to kill promiscuous teenagers would be a cautionary tale. While the hook was created out of lore alone, the Phantom was all too real to this small town in Texas.

Some believed the killer may have been ex-con Youell Swinney, and when his wife was speaking with police, she confessed he was the killer. Later, she backed off and refused to sign the statement, so cops were forced to go after him for other crimes. There was no physical evidence that linked Swinney to the crime scenes, but there was enough in front of them to believe that he was guilty, and a judge locked him up for about 50 years. One girl who survived the attack was assaulted in such a brutal way that she once said she wished that she had been killed. The only description police got from the girl was that the man had been wearing a white cloth mask over his head, with holes cut out for him to see. Some believe the killer had been locked up for good, but others think the true killer was never caught. A horror movie from the early slasher days is The Town That Dreaded Sundown, which was based on the Texarkana murders. Hook or not, many believe this urban legend is based on these killings, and the man responsible was never properly convicted, if at all, for what he did. It is clear why this became an urban legend.

The Candy Man
When you hear this nickname, you think of the God-awful horror film from the 80s, but the first “Candy Man” dates all the way back to the mid-1970s in Pasadena, TX. A father, Ronald O’Brien, took his children and their friends out Trick ‘r Treating in 1974. When they got home, he let them pick one candy each to have. His son, Timothy, wanted one of the Pixy Stix that the father had gotten from a neighbor. He gave one to Timothy first, and helped the kid pour it into his mouth. Moments later, the boy was vomiting and foaming at the mouth. He died shortly later. The Pixy Stix had been laced with cyanide. The family, stricken with grief, laid the boy to rest. Local investigators asked the father where the candy had been passed out. At first Ronald couldn’t remember, but later pointed out a neighbor who lived not far from the O’Briens. The accused had an alibi, and they were left with another dead end.

However, after more investigation they learned that the father himself had tried to purchase cyanide locally, and was later accused and convicted of murdering his own son, as well as the attempted murder of the other children. He was sentenced to be executed, and was killed by lethal injection. The fear of candy being poisoned or having blades or glass hidden inside was created more by a sadistic monster who wanted to kill his own kids than by the stories as we know them today. In fact, little has ever been reported to suggest that kids are actually in any danger on Halloween from the treats they receive. Perhaps it is easier to believe the killer is an unknown, maybe even next door, than it is to believe the killer can be your own father.

The Babysitter
Everyone has heard this urban legend. A teenage girl is babysitting and begins to receive prank phone calls that grow more menacing with each call. In most accounts, the voice asks if the babysitter has checked on the children (most likely added to the story by the horror classic When A Stranger Calls). Growing more scared, she calls the police. They put a track on the calls and the climax leads to the cop calling back, frantically telling her to get out of the house. The calls are coming from inside the house. This story was most likely bred out of Columbia, MO, and much like the Phantom from Texarkana, stems from the 1950s. Janett Christman was found brutally raped and strangled by the cord from an iron in March of 1950.

It resembles a murder a few years back, where a young girl was home alone when an intruder raped and strangled her with an electrical cord as well. A local man (who had killed his wife some time before) was convicted and executed, but the murder of Janett years later left many to believe that the man was innocent in the first case. Some believe the man was a victim of racial hostility more than any real evidence of the murder itself. Janett had called the police for help, but all they heard were screams from the other end. Based on evidence at the house, it would appear that the killer knew the young girl. The stories seem to have sparked the myth that babysitters are somehow targets from murderous men who know the girl is babysitting and alone.

Killer Clown
One of the most chilling urban legends is that of a child-killing clown. In the 1980s, many children in Chicago, IL began reporting to their parents that they were seeing white vans driving around with a clown behind the wheel. The clowns were always trying to lure kids inside the van, usually with candy and/or balloons. Sightings appeared all over the United States from the 1970s on into the 1990s. However, the city that seemed to be the largest target was the windy city. And it would be there that the urban legend of an evil clown would become reality.

The growing fear of mysterious clowns came to a head when John Wayne Gacy became a household name in the most disgusting of ways. He was dressing up as Pogo the clown, and would lure children in with this persona. Between 1972 and 1978 he assaulted and killed 33 young boys and men. 29 were discovered on his property, 27 of those were underneath his house in the crawlspace. After being caught and convicted he was locked away and finally executed in 1994.

Urban legends are often stemmed from true crimes that were either never solved or were too horrific to let die with the case itself, and grow into larger than life myths. This documentary is fantastic. It is chilling, detailed, and fascinating… However, it’s not for the faint of heart. I have always been fascinated by unsolved crimes and the real life cases that have inspired many horror movies. Watch this documentary when you have the chance, you won’t soon forget it.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess