The Gorilla Man
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: art, comics, monsters, serial killers, weird 2 CommentsAnother drawing I did of a serial killer: Earle Leonard Nelson (1897-1928). Nelson was nicknamed ‘The Dark Strangler’ and ‘The Gorilla Man’ by the press:
Nelson was called ‘The Gorilla Man’ because he strangled women and usually stashed the corpse in some out of the way place in the victim’s own home before leaving (an M.O. that apparently reminded some newspaper readers of Poe’s story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue“). He eluded capture for over a year, murdering at least 22 women across the U.S. and Canada. He preyed mostly upon women who ran boarding houses or who wanted to rent rooms to lodgers. He was well spoken and polite, ofter claiming to be a weary traveler who needed a place to stay. When he got a woman alone, he would attempt to convince them to look at the ceiling, saying something like, “Is that water damage? I think that plaster is about to go…” and then grab them from behind and strangle them. After she passed out, he would knot a cord, cloth or clothing tightly around her neck and then have sex with the corpse. After stealing cash and valuables, he would visit pawn shops, second hand clothing stores and barber shops and change his appearance before moving on.
His early life is filled with examples of bizarre behavior, but, when traveling or setting up a victim, he was always polite and well spoken and made a favorable impression on people. He enjoyed talking at length about religion and usually carried a Bible.
Nelson was skilled at picking locks and slipping away. A Canadian sheriff captured Nelson and put him in a cell fastened with two padlocks. After the deputy left the room for less than two minutes, Nelson picked the locks and escaped. He was recaptured the next day and handcuffed; Nelson was able to slip out of the handcuffs right in front of his captors and hand them back with a smirk.
When he was hanged in Winnipeg for the two murders he had committed in Canada, Nelson maintained he was innocent and claimed to have never visited many of the cities in which murders credited to him took place.
Recommended reading: Bestial by Harold Schecter (2004)
Albert Fish the Cannibal
Posted: October 3, 2011 Filed under: art, comics, monsters, project, serial killers, weird 3 CommentsHere is another drawing of one of the world’s most evil people, Albert Fish. I’ve been working on drawings of Fish and Peter Kürten lately; Fritz Haarmann, Peter Stubbe, Armin Meiwes, Alfred Packer and Andrei Chikatilo and others are all eventually due for their portrait.
Besides murdering and eating people, Fish felt compelled to shove needles so deep into his gootch that he could not pull them back out; there were 25+ needles and pins permanently embedded in his pelvis when he died. Fish was executed by electric chair in Sing Sing prison in 1936. Rumor has it that his crotch lit up like a Christmas tree covered in blue lights when the juice hit him because of all of the metal in there, but that can’t be true, can it?
Creepy Ass Toyota Commercial
Posted: September 24, 2011 Filed under: crass commercialism, douchebaggery, weird 8 CommentsThis Toyota commercial is really fucking creepy… especially when the main character (who is a giant made of dozens of little people) walks outside and sees that he has 4 Toyotas in his driveway. He then falls apart and the little people get in the cars and drive away after loading one of his giant shoes into the trunk.
Welcome to Carcosa!
Posted: September 6, 2011 Filed under: art, monsters, portfolio, publishing, weird 5 CommentsA while back I admired the Longmore illustration for LotFP’s ‘Carcosa‘ and promised to post a few illustrations I drew for Carcosa. There is nothing official about these pictures; I just did them for my own purposes… and they were not made as anything other than to satisfy my own vaguely ‘sword and planet’ illustrations urge… they could just as easily be from Aldeboran or somewhere else.
No children were harmed in order to produce these pictures.
First up: A group of “Carcossan” adventurers.
The dude who looks like ‘Alley Oop’ has both a pistol he stole from Buck Rogers and a bow and arrows while the other guy has binocular specs.
Note the henchman in goofy helmet bringing up the rear.
Second: Snakelady
Somebody bought the nonexclusive rights to use the ‘snakelady’ for a book that, as far as I know, hasn’t been published yet.
In this situation, I’d choose the pistol over the sword, too.
3rd: “Gug” attacks and people die.
4th: She’s gonna shoot that flying worm right out of the sky.
Adventurers and BEM Lurker
Posted: August 31, 2011 Filed under: art, monsters, picaresque, portfolio, underground, weird 7 Comments
Just finished this private commission today. The client gave me great latitude with subject matter, but wanted a group of ‘dungeoneers’ in peril.
Victims of the ‘Satanic Panic’?
Posted: August 20, 2011 Filed under: weird 1 Comment |
| Robert Johnson: Satanist! |
As you may have heard, the ‘West Memphis 3’ are being released from prison after spending 18 years in prison accused of the crime of killing 3 young boys as a part of some kind of alleged ‘satanic ritual.’ In 1994, three 8 year old cub scouts were found murdered and, somehow, police settled on 3 teenage friends who listened to ‘satanic’ heavy metal music, wore black t-shirts and expressed nihilistic sentiments (in other words, they acted like teenaged boys). The accused (one of whom was on death row) were only released because they accepted an ‘Alford Plea.’ More details here.
Under the terms of this ‘Alford Plea,’ the three men were released after they pled guilty to the murder and were given ‘time served’ in exchange for pleading guilty… even though the three maintain that they are innocent of the murders. I guess the ‘Alford Plea’ allows the judge and prosecutor who would have had their work discredited to save face and keeps the victims of false imprisonment from suing the state, prosecutors, judge, court or police.
Over the years, DNA and other evidence has surfaced to suggest that the three teens did not have anything to do with the murders. The presiding judge in the case left for the State Senate, clearing the way for a new Judge to examine the evidence again and work this deal. The sad thing is that the fact that the ‘West Memphis 3’ are out of jail seems to have nothing to do with what actually happened to the murder victims and everything to do with state politics.
The reason I bring it up is because I wonder if these 3 were caught up in the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 80s and 90s. I remember being surprised during those years that people believed that there were ‘secret satanic cults’ everywhere that wanted to engage in human sacrifice and child rape and other things despite the fact that the ‘satanic conspiracy’ never actually materialized. I don’t suppose it should surprise me since many people believe so many goddamn stupid things. Among other things, the ‘satanic panic’ folks believed that heavy metal music, playing Dungeons & Dragons and not going to an evangelical church all inevitably lead to becoming a blood thirsty cultist. I read a book on the history of this time called ‘Satanic Panic; The Creation of a Contemporary Legend’ a while back; an interesting (and terrifying) read. Part of the story that scares me is how frequently people have been falsely accused of crimes on the basis of testimony from ‘satanic cult’ experts.
I don’t know all of the legal ins and outs of the case but I believe the accused are innocent and wish them well; I hope they can start to make up for lost time (although many in the area apparently refuse to accept that the three have been released and may be innocent; beliefs die hard). The funny thing about ‘witch hunts’ is that they never seem to lead to people who have actually done the crimes they are accused of — usually they are just guilty of being unpopular in the community or violating the values of the status quo.
(note: The pic at right is of blues musician Robert Johnson. He has nothing to do with this story other than the fact that he is rumored to have ‘sold his soul to the devil’ in exchange for guitar chops… I think Johnson may have started this rumor himself. Another hero of mine and just another in a long line of people trafficking with Satan to destroy society…)
The Stars are Right!
Posted: August 19, 2011 Filed under: portfolio, post apocalypse, weird 3 Comments
The People have Spoken!Votes total: 48
The Stars are Right!
Posted: August 19, 2011 Filed under: weird 3 Comments
The People have Spoken! In my “what is your favorite apocalypse scenario?” poll, out of 48 votes, ‘The Stars are right’ got the most votes (9 votes, or 18%). Coming in 2nd was ‘Nuclear Holocaust’ (8 votes), and, in 3rd place, ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ (7 votes).
All hail our tentacled Overlord!
Zombie apocalypse: 7 (14%)
Overpopulation + climate degredation = Soylent Green: 2 (4%)
Nuclear holocaust was good enough for dad; it’s good enough for me!: 8 (16%)
Rapture! (not the Blondie song):0 (0%)
Mayan Calendar says so: 3 (6%)
plague!: 4 (8%)
Triffids / Apes / Sleestaks / etc.: 6 (12%)
Space Invaders: 2 (4%)
enuui and/or market forces: 2 (4%)
Environmental collapse: 1 (2%)
Meteor / Sun goes Nova: 1 (2%)
The Stars are right! The old ones awaken!: 9 (18%)
other (please explain in comments): 3 (6%)
Votes so far: 48
File under "ironic."
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: news, weird 2 Comments
According to the Chicago Tribune, a fire recently destroyed ‘The World’s Largest Stove.‘ The stove had been built for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and had later been moved to Michigan where it was on display on the State Fairgrounds. With the recession and double digit job losses the norm in our state, we Michiganders feel we have suffered enough in the past couple years — and now we have lost ‘The World’s Largest Stove.” Fate is a bitch.
Music and Salesmanship
Posted: June 30, 2011 Filed under: bitching, consumer, crass commercialism, debord, douchebaggery, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, music, politics, situationalism, stupidity, weird, wierd stuff 11 Comments
Anyone else remember those pictures of Boris Yeltsin doing ‘The Funky Chicken?’ I can’t decide whether I like Boris more or less after seeing them — sort of the same feeling I got when watching our former President, George W. Bush, funk out with African drummers on the Whitehouse lawn.
Michelle Bachmann recently got taken to task by musician Tom Petty because her crew used his song, “American Girl,’ at one of her rallies. I’m not that familiar with Petty’s “American Girl” pop anthem, but, if memory serves, it’s lyrics might be a bit at odds with Bachmann’s Bible Beater values (something about “making it last all night” makes me think Petty’s American Girl is a bit of a libertine). But I guess since the song has ‘American’ in it, her team feels this gives it relevance. Plus Petty is probably popular with a demographic that doesn’t find much traction in her bible-thumpin’ ways. Anything to appear hip, I guess. But this is apparently just one of a growing number of cases in which a pop star has said to a political candidate, “Hey, stop using my song!”
I remember being a bit taken aback when I heard “London Calling” by the Clash being used to sell Jaguar cars on TV. The context in which I first heard that song seemed greatly at odds with the idea of a luxury automobile. As I recall, the ad just had a few strident guitar riffs and Joe Strummer barking out, “London Calling” and leaving out all those depressing lyrics about the end of the world… perhaps the admen thought that maybe the American ex-punker who had given up on revolution and gotten a career and was now rolling in it would feel the siren song of the half remembered dreams of his former self and head on down to the dealership and buy a really expensive car without really stopping to think about it. Devo as pitchmen for Honda scooters seemed a much better fit.
The world is just getting so fucking weird. Guy DeBord had no idea how right he was.