Friday 28 August 2015

Derren brown / Halloween warm-up:

(Image: Channel4)

Derren Brown is a British mentalist, illusionist and mind control extraordinaire.
Showcasing and appearing to display abilities that allow him to hypnotize people, endure pain and extreme conditions, see the future and talk to the dead, he is mostly known for his impressive mind reading and mind control skills and has been blowing the minds of his live audiences since his college days.

Often presenting his shows to appear psychic, spooky or paranormal in nature, Brown is actually a skeptic, who often showcases to his audience how all that is needed to appear to be a medium, clairvoyant or psychic is a good set of skills, such as those he possesses.

An amazing example of which, can be seen in his recorded live show “Infamous”, wherein he invites onto the stage audience members who would consider visiting a medium  in order to contact a deceased loved one.
He then shows them how easily he can do so, by telling detailed stories and giving information that neither he nor anybody other than the audience member could know, without any psychic ability what so ever.

Derren easily lists off the names; exact ages at times of passing, pet names and stories from the lives of the audience members departed loved ones, much to their shock and disbelief.
He assures them that he has no supernatural abilities what so ever, and that anyone who says they do, are cruel scam artists and charlatans.



If like me, you feel it’s never too early to start warming up for Halloween, why not try watching some of the following videos:

(Image: Channel4)

In one of his TV series “Trick or Treat”, Derren hypnotizes a woman to believe that she has died in a car accident, and is wandering as a spirit who none of the paramedics, who are all actors, can see.
The premise of the show was to either “trick” the shows applicants months after they had applied, or “treat” them. Treats would be pleasurable experiences and tricks would be horror experiences.

Part 1.

Part 2.



In another “Trick” episode, a boy playing a zombie arcade game in a local pub is hypnotized and taken to an abandoned building, where Brown’s team have created a real life simulator of a zombie apocalypse, complete with zombie actors who chase him throughout the building.
The boy is given a prop gun and has to fight his way out.


Endlessly brilliant, chilling and entertaining, Derren brown has an extensive back catalogue of recorded live shows and TV series. From putting his life in his own hands with a game of Russian roulette to training a group of old age pensioners to become London’s best art thieves.  From convincing an innocent man to turn himself over to the police as a murderer to conducting séances and talking to the dead.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown
http://derrenbrown.co.uk/

The Frankston Serial Killer:

(Image: Wikipedia)

Paul Denyer was born in Campbell town, New South Wales Australia in 1972.
He suffered a head injury as a child, which often prompted an on running family in-joke whenever he said or did anything clumsy.

Upon relocating to Victoria in ’81, Denyer had trouble settling in as the new kid.  He put on weight and developed self-esteem issues and eventually went on to murder 3 young women in Melbourne during a month and a half spree.

When questioned by the authorities about why he did it, he stated that he just generally hated women.

While incarcerated, having been convicted to serve three life sentences at HM prison, Barwon, Paul began dressing in women’s clothing and requesting the right to wear cosmetics.

He also requested gender reassignment surgery, however was rejected by specialists.

(Image: heraldsun.com.au)

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Denyer
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/serial-killer-paul-denyer-defies-prison-order-to-stop-dressing-as-woman/story-fnat7jnn-1226615249474

The Ripper Crew:

(Warning for content) 

The “Chicago rippers” or as they are more commonly known, “The ripper crew”, were a self-proclaimed Satanic group, which included a member named Robin Geght, who was a previous employee of clown killer John Wayne Gacy. 

Along with two brothers, Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis and their associate Edward Spreitzer, the Ripper crew allegedly cruised around in their van, preying on unsuspecting woman who were often, but not always, working as prostitutes. 

They hunted these women in order to sacrifice them in a ritual that would involve cutting off, masturbating on and consuming their breasts, while reading verses from Anton Levay’s Satanic bible out loud. They were also said to have raped the wound, and were thought to have murdered 18+ victims. The group was eventually caught, when a victim, Beverly Washington, managed to survive an attack. 

Although raped and having had her breast severed, as with the other victims, she managed to hold on and was found alive by some rail road tracks. She gave a description of both the men and their vehicle, leading to their conviction. 

They confessed, and despite Geght claiming his innocence, he got 120 years. Thomas Kokoraleis was sentenced to life, having confessed to his crimes, and is due to be released from the Illinois River Correctional Center where he is currently incarcerated on September 30th, 2017. 
His brother Andrew was executed. 
He was last inmate to be executed in the state Illinois.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripper_Crew
http://www.viralnova.com/ripper-crew/
http://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/gecht-robin.htm

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Cabaret de L’Enfer:


The Café (or Cabaret) de L’Enfer was a Hell themed, 19th century Café in Paris.

Supposedly upon approaching the doors, which were double and wooden with a gaping devils mouth baring its fangs looming from above, a doorsman clad in a Satan costume would bellow: “Enter and be damned!”
Once inside patrons would sit at small black tables, under a low, arched ceiling with plaster cast demons reaching down at them, their faces screaming and snarling.
The wait staff and bar tenders would be dressed in apt attire and would serve drinks with dangerous and devilish names.

sources: http://www.coolstuffinparis.com/cafe_de_lenfer_paris.php
http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/06/15/paris-the-ghostly-nightclubs-of-the-belle-epoque/
http://www.leftways.com/2014/07/cafe-de-lenfer-hell-club-19th-century-paris/

Anthropodermic bibliopegy:

BOUND IN HUMAN FLESH


If you’ve ever seen Sam Rami’s 1980’s cult horror classic “Evil dead 2”, you may remember the Necronomicon, aka. “The book of the dead”; bound in human skin and inked in human blood.

But books of this nature are not strictly limited to the fictional horror world as you can find examples of them throughout history.

 Dated back to the 17th century, anthropodermic bibliopegy, as it is called, wasn’t as uncommon as one may think. There is many a book on the subject of anatomy bound in the skins of post-dissection cadavers, who donated their flesh willingly as stated in their last wills and testaments.

 Mostly famously “The Narrative of the Life of James Allen”, an autobiographical work by outlaw and highwayman, James Allen, was a death bed confession and life story, written during his incarceration.
Due to Allen’s illiteracy, the book was transcribed by a warden and published in 1837 by a company named Harrington and Co. 
The original copy was bound in Allen’s own skin, and at his request, presented to one of his previous robbery victims to commend his bravery.

William Burke, of the infamous Burke and Hare murder team were known for their midnight prowling of the streets of Edinburgh, where they would drug and murder their victims, in order to turn their bodies over to a local anatomist for profit. Post execution, Burke’s skin was used to fashion a pocket book, which is currently displayed in Edinburgh museum.

 Another example is English Bristol native and convicted murderer John Horwood, whose court proceedings were bound in his skin after he was hanged in 1821 having murdered his girlfriend after seeing her with another boy. He threw a stone at the couple, which made contact with the head of his then girlfriend, Eliza Balsom, hitting her in the temple, causing a fracture to her skull. 

She died some days later and Horwood was convicted and hanged.
His skeleton was donated to the University of Bristol, where it stood with the noose still around the neck until 2011, when his skeletal remains were eventually laid to rest alongside his father.
(above Left: An anatomy book, bound in skin)

A more opportunistic and grisly example of human flesh bound books, and other various articles, took place during the French Revolution.
As not to waste the vast amount of human surplus left behind by the guillotine executions, the skins of the executed were sold as leather and used to bind books as well as used in the manufacture of leather waist coats and shoes.

From the skins of the convicted, to the flesh donated by admirers, and even erotic texts bound in the skin of women’s breasts, there are many existing examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy still around today.


Sources: Evil Dead (Sam Rami) 
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903742
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropodermic_bibliopegy
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/2/the-skinny-on-harvards-rare-book/
http://etseq.law.harvard.edu/2014/04/852-rare-old-books-new-technologies-and-the-human-skin-book-at-hls/
http://hlrecord.org/2005/11/books-bound-in-human-skin-lampshade-myth/

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Kevin Barrera:

(Image: Google earth)

Kevin Barrera was 14 years old at the time of his murder in 2009.

He was killed by gunshot next to a rail road track in Richmond.
Unfortunately, that is all that is known in regards to the case, which six years later, is still unsolved.

 The story was highlighted by news stations and websites when the discovery of a Google satellite image displaying the image of Barrera’s body was captured on Google maps.

If you have any information of the case PLEASE report to: 
1701 Regatta Blvd, Richmond, CA 94804, United States 
Phone:+1 510-233-1214

sources: http://richmondconfidential.org/2013/11/25/family-of-homicide-victim-still-wait-for-answers/
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24550488/captured-google-maps-4-year-old-murder-haunts

The butcher baker:

Robert Hansen, dubbed by the media as “The butcher baker” was an American born serial killer active been the periods of ’71 – ’83. 
Appearing to be an ordinary man, a bakery owner with a wife and children, nobody would ever suspect how grisly the nature of his secret life would be.
 He had turned to hunting in his youth as a form of escape from a domineering father and childhood bullying, but no one would imagine that he would start hunting humans as game instead.

 He kidnapped women, bundled them onto his two-seat monoplane and flew them out to the Alaskan wilderness, where he would hunt them down using a .223-caliber Ruger Mini-14 rifle 

Hansen confessed to the murder of 17 women when he was convicted in 1984. However it is suspected to have been many more over the 12 years he was active. 
He was arrested following the escape of one of his victims, a then 17 year old girl by the name of Cindy Paulson. She got into Hansen’s car after being offered $200 to perform oral sex, but instead found herself with a gun to her head. She was taken to a house of his, chained by the neck, raped, tortured and abused for hours until her kidnapper drove them both to the airport in an attempt to load her onto his monoplane.

 Paulson decided to make an escape and managed to flag down a truck driver before Hansen got to her. Robert Hansen was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 461 years. He died in prison August 21st 2014.

sources: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/serial-killer-sick-revenge-alaskan-frontier-article-1.1922167 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hansen
http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Hansen

Tuesday 11 August 2015

The Muswell Hill murderer:


(Image: Wikipedia)

Dennis Nilsen, aka the “Muswell Hill Murderer” was a British serial killer and necrophiliac, active between the years of ’78-’83.
He would lure his victims to his flat and proceed to drown or strangle them, before cleaning and dressing the corpses and living with them until he would eventually cut them up and flush them down his apartment toilet, or alternatively burn them on bonfires.  
He was responsible for the death of twelve young men in and around London and was dubbed “The British Jeffery Dahmer” by the media.
He received a life sentence in ’83, and was incarcerated at the Yorkshire based HMP Full Sutton maximum security prison, and resides there until this day.

sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Nilsen

The Flattop John Doe:


(Images: Doe Network

"Dear Lib, I should write in case my situation doesn't improve. This may be the end of my journey.”

 In September 2004 two Elk hunters found the skeletal remains of an unknown man, at the Flat Tops, White River National Forest, Garfield County, Colorado. Dubbed the “Flat top John Doe”, the unidentified man was a white, Caucasian male, around 5”11- 6”1 and estimated between the ages of 35 – 65.

 He had extensive dental work, including crowns, bridge work and a gold capped tooth and also suffered from severe degeneration of the spine and neck. The man had no broken bones and cause of death was recorded as natural / unknown.


Amongst his personal effects at the scene was a journal.
Although damaged over the estimated five years he had gone undiscovered, some of the writing was legible and said as follows:

 "I should write in case my situation here doesn't improve. This may be the end of my journey."

 "Would like for you to claim the body . . . services or memoreal. Cremation."

"Third choice take them up in a glider (I promise not to get sick on you,"

Other pages were less legible and only a few words per sentence could be read.

 The unknown man appeared to be requesting the recipient of the note “Lib” to contact another female in the event of his death.

"ar on the . . . would you call her...d have it sent...you because I . . . want it to . . . where." "be . . . er . . . my . . . s are going."

Other items found on and around the man's person include: -deteriorated pieces of his sleeping bag and backpack.

-Various items of attire including a green rain poncho, blue woolen socks with duct-tape around the toes (possibly to protect from blisters while hiking), a black belt, and underwear.
-An empty bottle of Tylenol pills -A pack of razors, foam ear plugs, a brush, tweezers, finger nail clippers.
 -Six $ Bills, one $1 bill, one $5 bill and one $1 bill, all dated 1999.
-Various camping accessories including a butane gas stove with two gas canisters, two canteens, a dome tent, two drinking cups, a water filter kit, a tent repair kit, an aluminum cooking pot, two National geographic maps wrapped in plastic with the journey route to the discovery site of the skeletal remains marked on them.
-Sun glasses, reading glasses, binoculars and a magnifying glass.
-A 4 in 1 game set including battleships.
-A pack of coloured lighters and twenty packs of camel cigarettes
-A green spiral note book with a heart incorporating three symbols inside, two of which appear to be an X and a cat drawn on the cover. 

The man has not been identified to this day. 
Who was he? 
What happened to him? 
And who is Lib?

The Doe network page for The Flat top Doe

sources: http://doenetwork.org/cases/789umco.html