April 17, 2024 • 22 mins
The Hook, or the Hookman, is an urban legend about a killer with a pirate-like hook for a hand attacking a couple in a parked car. We all know it. It's used to stop teens from making out. But do you know the real unsolved true crime that inspired the legend? Michelle tells us the tale.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You see you guys, it's rainingboles. Michelle's wearing a blanket right now.
Yeah, and nothing else. JustI mean, I've been recording in
the nude this whole time. Welcometo Scary Mystery Surprise, where we talk
about scary things that surprised us aroundthe Internet. I'm Edwin and I'm Michelle.
(00:28):
It's the nineteen fifties. You area teenage girl on a date with
your steady boyfriend, the high schoolquarterback, Dwight trut Nice. First,
you went and got milkshakes slash beatshakes at the burger stand. Oh,
(00:51):
Dwight. Now it's off to LakeDrive, a well known teenage lover's lane.
You park in a secluded spot.There's no one around. Makeout.
Music is slowly playing on the radio. Hormones are raging. All of a
(01:17):
sudden, the music is interrupted bya breaking news bulletin be on the lookout
for a serial killer with a hookfor a hat. He's just escaped the
institution nearby. Then the music startsup again, but the news has kind
of killed the mood always does,and you both decide it's time to call
it a night. Dwight goes tostart the engine, It whirs and then
(01:42):
it dies out of gas. Goddamn it, Dwight. You're both stuck
out there in the dark. Now, Edwin, choose your story ending pick
a number between one and six.Do you live? Do you die?
It all depends on what you choose, because this is the story of the
(02:07):
hook, and there's several outcomes,because there's several different versions of this story.
So what will you choose as well? Okay? Number four? Number
four? Oh? Okay, Sonumber four. Dwight leaves for help.
(02:31):
He saw a gas station a mileor two down from the road. He
leaves you with the car. Thissounds safer than going with them. He
makes it to the gas station andcomes back with a tow truck. There
he finds you murdered with a hookembedded in your chest. Do you want
(02:52):
to pick again? Yes? Numbertwo? Number two? Okay. Dwight
leaves for help he saw a gasstation a mile or two down the road.
While waiting for him to return,you turn on the radio and hear
the report again about the escaped serialkiller slash mental patients, and you are
then disturbed by a thumping on theroof of the car. You eventually can't
(03:17):
stand it anymore, and you're justlike, what is that? So you
get out of the car. Ah, no, I knew that. I
know it's dumb. And on theroof of the car you see the escaped
mental patient sitting on the roof bangingdwight severed head. So the escaped mental
(03:42):
patient with a hook for a handis such a standard urban legend. There's
so many different because you know,like sometimes the girl lives, sometimes she
dies, sometimes the boyfriend. Like, there's so many different versions which I
love, and one of my favorites, well, there's two that I really
like. So here pick again,pick another one. Three, Okay,
(04:02):
Dwight leaves for help he saw agas station a mile or two down the
road. While waiting for him toreturn, you turn on the radio and
you hear about the escape mental patientagain. You are then disturbed by scratching
on the roof of your car,and while you just can't take it anymore
(04:23):
after a while, and when youget out of the car, there's Dwight's
butchered body suspended upside down from atree with his fingernails scraping against the roof.
You panic and you run into themaniac and are also killed, Oh
(04:44):
no, to get that length ofrope for Dwight to be able to scratch
the roof well, and also tohang the body upside down while you're in
the car and not notice like youwould have to be on the tree and
which I love. And you havea hook for a hand, so like
(05:05):
also you're like, oh yeah,there's a lot that goes into it.
One of my favorites is Dwight leavesfor help. We go to the gas
station. You're listening to the radioagain. Suddenly there starts to be rhythmic
tapping on the car roof, likerain. The doors are locked. There's
(05:27):
no way you were going out thereuntil Dwight comes back. Good thinking yeah,
no no, this time you're likeno, no, no, no.
At some point you fall asleep tothe rhythmic tapping on the roof.
In the morning, your car isdiscovered by the police, just like whatever.
Dwight never came back. But thepolice are here now. They escort
you over to one of the squadcars, but they insist that you not
(05:50):
turn around and look back. Soyou turn it around. Yeah, of
course, curiosity gets the better ofyou, though, what have been that
tapping on the car kept you companyall night. It hadn't rained. There
is Dwight's butchered body suspended upside downfrom a tree, with blood from his
slit throat dripping against the car roof. It had been dripping there all night.
(06:15):
Oh okay, that one's creepy.Plus when you said the rhythmic tapping,
I was like, maybe she didthat too. You know, Adhd
kicked in and she just started makinga sick fee bump about bump bump bump.
Although you know that one's one ofmy favorites, but this one got
(06:35):
me. This is number six,which Edwin didn't pick, but I'm picking
for him. Dwight decides to headoff on foot to find someone to help
with the car while you stay behind. You fall asleep while waiting. Then
all of a sudden, you heara tap on the glass. Let's wait
you You see a hideous person lookingat you through the window. Luckily,
(06:57):
the car is locked so this personcan't get inside. But to your horror,
the person raises one of their armsto reveal Dwhite's decapitated head resting on
a hook. In the other hand. The car keys jingle, jingle,
jingle. The hook is a deliciousurban legend, and the origins of the
(07:20):
hook are not entirely known, butthe story began to circulate in the nineteen
fifties, and the first known publicationof the story was in November eighth,
nineteen sixty, when a reader whena reader letter telling the story was reprinted
in Dear Abbey, which is apopular advice column. Obviously, Dear Abbey
(07:40):
is just the name of it.There's no more Abby. But here's what
was first, the first time thiswas ever in print. Dear Abby.
If you're interested in teenagers, youwill print this story. I don't know
whether it's true or not, butit doesn't matter, because it served its
purpose for me. A fellow andhis date pulled into their favorite lover's lane
(08:01):
to listen to the radio and doa little necking. The music was interrupted
by an announcer who said there wasan escape convict in the area who'd served
time for rape and robbery. Hewas described as having a hook instead of
a right hand. The couple becamefrightened and drove away. When the boy
took his girl home, he wentaround to open the door, for then
(08:22):
he saw a hook on the handleof the door. I will never park
to make out. As long asI live, I hope this does the
same for other kids. Jeannette.I think that's a pretty common one.
It's like that where like the hookis embedded in the side of the car,
or you know, sometimes the killer'sriding on the roof of the car,
(08:45):
which is weird. Yeah, he'slike on there and they like drive
away and he falls off. Youknow, they get away. You know.
There's a bunch of different versions ofit, which I think is hilarious.
There's so many different versions to tryand keep horny teenagers from necking quote
unquote, because obviously this is likea moral tale. It's everyone's premarital sex
(09:07):
warning, like, don't there's gonnabe a murderer if you go and you
sleep with someone, if you havesex in your car. What if it
was actually started by the auto industry. I was thinking of the Abstinence Coalition
or something. Well, oh,it's definitely that. There's definitely the moral
brigade that's trying to control people,especially teenagers. Well, if it sounded
(09:28):
defective, I would have been creepedout. Yeah, it would make you
go to a lover's lane where there'sa bunch of people, which is weird
too. Tells a weird when there'sa bunch of cars that are steamy.
Yeah, but you know, oncethose car windows get steamy, no one
can see in, so you know, it all works out. But I
(09:50):
like this interpretation that this American folklorusBill Ellis. He interprets the maniac and
the hook as a moral custodian whointerrupts sexual experimenttion of a young couple.
He sees the hookman's disability as hisown lack of sexuality. And then the
threat of the hook man is notthe normal sex drive of teenagers, but
(10:11):
the abnormal drive of adults trying tokeep them apart, which I kind of
like that. I like that,like twist, But this beg is a
question of the story started circulating inthe fifties, where did it come from?
Is there any truth to it?And so? Snokes writer David Mickelson
has speculated that the legend might haveroots in the real life Lover's Lane murder
(10:35):
that took place in nineteen forty six, which has become known as the Texarcana
Moonlight Murders. OO in nineteen fortysix in the town of Texarcana, which
sits nestled between Texas and Arkansas,which I just I don't know why.
(10:56):
It's funny. You look at theword Arkansas looks like our Kansas, so
like it's not that it's Arkansas.I used to say like that all the
time until soccerty Kansas ar Kansas.I also used to say accessories like accessories,
tear it it, don't forget tearit. It embarrassing anyway. A
(11:16):
young couple were enjoying their night.They had just been to watch a movie
together, and they had just takena drive to what was locally known as
a lover's lane, where they weresitting in the car enjoying each other's company.
Jimmy Hollis was sitting in the driver'sseat. It was dark out,
but the lane was only a coupleone hundred yards from the last row of
(11:37):
houses, so it wasn't too secludedfor him to be like nervous as the
night went on. But at elevenforty five pm, there was a tap
on the driver's side window and hewas blinded for a moment by a flashlight.
Outside of the car, a manwearing what looked like a pillowcase with
two round holes cut out in theeyes and another around the mouth. Jimmy,
(12:01):
not afraid, was sure it wasjust a prank, you know,
with all the nineteen forties bravado andsweetness of like, how could this be
anything else other than a prank?But then the guy pulled a gun and
it was clear that this was nota prank. The man ordered Jimmy and
his girlfriend Mary Jean Larry out ofthe car. Mary Jean was only nineteen
(12:22):
at the time, so that's prettyfucking scary. Then the man ordered Jimmy
to quote take off his goddamn bridges, which is his pants, which Jimmy
did. Then the man whipped hisgun and hit Jimmy twice in the head.
The sound of him hitting Jimmy wasso loud that Mary Jean thought Jimmy
(12:43):
had been shot, but it wasactually the sound of Jimmy's skull fracturing.
So when Jimmy hit the ground,she kicked into overdrive and was like trying
to do anything to not get themboth killed. So she reached for Jimmy's
wallet, grabbed the wallet and showedthem that they didn't have any money.
It would just leave us alone.We don't have any money, but the
(13:03):
man hit her and she went down, but then he ordered her to stand
up and start running, so MaryJean tried to make it to a nearby
ditch, but he shouted at herand she started running down the road.
She didn't know what else to dountil she saw a parked car, and
she started racing towards it, thinkingit would be someone she could ask for
(13:26):
help. But she got there andno one was in that car, and
that was when the man caught upto her and he hit her in the
head, speculation that there might havebeen like a sexual assault as well,
but she was able to get freefrom him, and then she got up
and ran to the row of houses, which were now eight hundred yards away
because she'd run the opposite direction before. But she got to a house,
(13:50):
banged on the door, woke upthe people inside, and they called the
police. The police showed up abouta half an hour later, and the
guy in the wearing the pillowcase wasgo on. Jimmy and Mary Jean were
both taken to the hospital and gavetheir statements. They both could agree that
man was about six foot tall,but they couldn't agree on his appearance.
(14:11):
Mary Jean during her assault, saidthat she'd seen under the pillowcase and that
it was like a light skinned AfricanAmerican, but Jimmy said that it had
been a white tan Yeah, whitetan pull No, a white tan man
in his thirties. And so withthe differing statements, the police started to
(14:33):
doubt Mary Jean's description of the perpetrateher because of course, and actually began
pressuring Mary Jean and Jimmy for moreinformation, thinking they've known the identity of
the man keeping it from the police, why would you make better Like that's
terrifying. But then the pillowcase guystruck again on and on the twenty fourth
(14:56):
of March nineteen forty six, justa month after the first attack, the
bodies of Richard Griffith, who wastwenty nine, and his girlfriend of just
six weeks, a seventeen year old. There's a lot of problems here,
a seventeen year old named Polly AnneMoore, were found dead in Richard's car.
They were spotted on another lover's laneand they were lying in the inside
(15:18):
the car, and the motorists atfirst that discovered them thought they were asleep,
but they'd both been shot in theback of the head. But it
was clear that they had been attackedoutside of the car first and then put
back in the car. And thenonly a few weeks later, on April
fourteenth, the bodies of Betty JoeButcher was only fifteen, Paul Martin was
only seventeen, and their bodies werediscovered. They found Paul's body at about
(15:43):
six in the morning, and thenthey found Betty Joe's body about three and
a half miles away from Paul's undera tree. Both have been shot by
the same caliber of gun. Andin the second attack, the police were
very clear that they had put upfight like it had been an obvious like
they had fought their attacker. Andthen the third and final attack attributed to
(16:07):
this person. I don't know.This one's like a little off kilter,
like it doesn't seem like it's thesame, but they say it's the same
person. It happened ten miles awayfrom Texarkana, where it said that this
same attack was committed by the sameperpetrator. It's very different because it took
place in a house. This guynamed Virgil Starks was sitting at home reading
the newspaper and was shot twice inthe back of the head through the window.
(16:32):
His wife, Katie came to seewhat was wrong. She saw that
Virgil was slumped down, realized hewas dead. She went to phone the
cops and she was shot in theface, but she lived. She was
able to get to a neighbor's houseand call the police and was like getting
surgery on her face at the hospitaland giving her statement to the police at
the same time. So which iscrazy anyway, At this point, Texarcana
(17:00):
is in a state of panic.Shops had run out of guns ammunition,
people were afraid to go out afterdark. Some people, especially teenagers,
started setting up traps to try andcatch the phantom killer. But these teenagers
weren't the only ones setting up trapshoping to catch the phantom killer. Some
policemen were using teenagers themselves, askingthem to park cars and wait to see
(17:25):
if the killer would approach them whilepolice hid nearby. Some policemen actually would
wait in their cars themselves with theirwives or girlfriends, or sometimes just a
mannequin. The single police officers likeuh. But all of this just ended
up with more chaos because, likeapproaching people's houses, the police would have
(17:47):
to turn on their sirens and waitin people's driveways to avoid getting shot themselves.
Visual anti teenagers shot at patrol shootanybody. Yeah, this teenager shot
at an Arkansas State trooper when heappro which the car. Another time,
the police had to shoot out thetires of a car that had been following
a bus because people thought it wassuspicious, but it turned out to be
(18:08):
a high school student who had justbeen tailing the bus because he saw someone
suspicious get out of a private carand get on the bus. I mean.
And also, teenagers taking this intotheir own hands is pretty good.
I can't imagine that though, Like, hey, let's go catch them,
and then it's like a activity.Yeah, it's definitely like, oh,
(18:30):
we're gonna go drive around and lookfor the killer. You could just like
picture them in their nineteen forties carsdriving around, cruising around looking for this
killer in a pillowcase, which isa terrifying image. But with all the
panic all over town, the investigator'sefforts to find what became known as the
Phantom killer remained just that a phantomspoiler alert. They never arrested anybody for
(18:56):
this, wow, but some investorsbelieve it was a local car thief named
Yule Sweeney, who was arrested forcar theft or something like that. But
in July of that year, Eule'swife admitted that he was the Phantom killer
and was able to give in greatdetail stories about the murder. But then
(19:18):
her story kept changing and she eventuallyrecanted. But the police were actually able
to verify some of her details,but they didn't have enough to prosecute him.
But he went to jail for cartheft and counterfeiting and other crimes.
But many believe that his wife recantingwas because she was afraid of him.
It is widely presumed now that hewas in stories about the case, but
(19:45):
to this day, the case remainsunsolved, which creates the perfect start to
an epic urban legend. It makessense. It happened a little bit before
enough, like enough time for itto like to really get the gossip train
going and to really like change it, you know, like just enough to
change it. It's also inspired afilm called The Town That Dreaded Sundown,
(20:08):
which came out in nineteen seventy six, which sounds kind of good and I'd
like to see it. The filmactually might have become the basis for a
lot of the subsequent myth and folklorearound the murders later, But yeah,
it's pretty crazy. Huh what ifit was a woman? What if it
was the wife? Might have beenthe wife, depending on your side,
(20:29):
she could have been a big woman. We don't know. But taking on
a couple is tough. It wouldbe tough alone as a woman. But
assassinating people through a window maybe that'sthe one tho where I'm just like,
how did they attribute this to this? I don't understand. This is a
terrible way to die, like you'rewatching TV. And then I understand why
(20:51):
there might be some controversy about thatone in particular, because it's like it
really doesn't seem related at all.But maybe I'm not I'm not an investigator.
I like urban legends and I thinkit's a cool thing to like try
to find the source of them,and this would makes sense. This is
like, oh, it's around thattime period, yep, Lover's Lane.
Hey, don't go do that.Something's gonna happen. Then all the craze
(21:14):
kind of dies down, and thenit's like, you know, I heard
this story about this thing, andthen you add the hook, you literally
add the the hook to the story. Yeah, it just makes a story
a lot better. And you werehooked, so I stayed to the end.
It works, so did you guys? So it worked anyway. What
are we going to talk about nextweek? Edwin? I don't know.
(21:37):
I think it'll be a surprise.Scary Mystery. Surprise is hosted by Michelle
Newman and Edwin Komarubies. This podcastwas edited and sound designed by Sarah Borhe's
Wendel, a VW sound
You see you guys, it's rainingboles. Michelle's wearing a blanket right now.
Yeah, and nothing else. JustI mean, I've been recording in
the nude this whole time. Welcometo Scary Mystery Surprise, where we talk
about scary things that surprised us aroundthe Internet. I'm Edwin and I'm Michelle.
(00:28):
It's the nineteen fifties. You area teenage girl on a date with
your steady boyfriend, the high schoolquarterback, Dwight trut Nice. First,
you went and got milkshakes slash beatshakes at the burger stand. Oh,
(00:51):
Dwight. Now it's off to LakeDrive, a well known teenage lover's lane.
You park in a secluded spot.There's no one around. Makeout.
Music is slowly playing on the radio. Hormones are raging. All of a
(01:17):
sudden, the music is interrupted bya breaking news bulletin be on the lookout
for a serial killer with a hookfor a hat. He's just escaped the
institution nearby. Then the music startsup again, but the news has kind
of killed the mood always does,and you both decide it's time to call
it a night. Dwight goes tostart the engine, It whirs and then
(01:42):
it dies out of gas. Goddamn it, Dwight. You're both stuck
out there in the dark. Now, Edwin, choose your story ending pick
a number between one and six.Do you live? Do you die?
It all depends on what you choose, because this is the story of the
(02:07):
hook, and there's several outcomes,because there's several different versions of this story.
So what will you choose as well? Okay? Number four? Number
four? Oh? Okay, Sonumber four. Dwight leaves for help.
(02:31):
He saw a gas station a mileor two down from the road. He
leaves you with the car. Thissounds safer than going with them. He
makes it to the gas station andcomes back with a tow truck. There
he finds you murdered with a hookembedded in your chest. Do you want
(02:52):
to pick again? Yes? Numbertwo? Number two? Okay. Dwight
leaves for help he saw a gasstation a mile or two down the road.
While waiting for him to return,you turn on the radio and hear
the report again about the escaped serialkiller slash mental patients, and you are
then disturbed by a thumping on theroof of the car. You eventually can't
(03:17):
stand it anymore, and you're justlike, what is that? So you
get out of the car. Ah, no, I knew that. I
know it's dumb. And on theroof of the car you see the escaped
mental patient sitting on the roof bangingdwight severed head. So the escaped mental
(03:42):
patient with a hook for a handis such a standard urban legend. There's
so many different because you know,like sometimes the girl lives, sometimes she
dies, sometimes the boyfriend. Like, there's so many different versions which I
love, and one of my favorites, well, there's two that I really
like. So here pick again,pick another one. Three, Okay,
(04:02):
Dwight leaves for help he saw agas station a mile or two down the
road. While waiting for him toreturn, you turn on the radio and
you hear about the escape mental patientagain. You are then disturbed by scratching
on the roof of your car,and while you just can't take it anymore
(04:23):
after a while, and when youget out of the car, there's Dwight's
butchered body suspended upside down from atree with his fingernails scraping against the roof.
You panic and you run into themaniac and are also killed, Oh
(04:44):
no, to get that length ofrope for Dwight to be able to scratch
the roof well, and also tohang the body upside down while you're in
the car and not notice like youwould have to be on the tree and
which I love. And you havea hook for a hand, so like
(05:05):
also you're like, oh yeah,there's a lot that goes into it.
One of my favorites is Dwight leavesfor help. We go to the gas
station. You're listening to the radioagain. Suddenly there starts to be rhythmic
tapping on the car roof, likerain. The doors are locked. There's
(05:27):
no way you were going out thereuntil Dwight comes back. Good thinking yeah,
no no, this time you're likeno, no, no, no.
At some point you fall asleep tothe rhythmic tapping on the roof.
In the morning, your car isdiscovered by the police, just like whatever.
Dwight never came back. But thepolice are here now. They escort
you over to one of the squadcars, but they insist that you not
(05:50):
turn around and look back. Soyou turn it around. Yeah, of
course, curiosity gets the better ofyou, though, what have been that
tapping on the car kept you companyall night. It hadn't rained. There
is Dwight's butchered body suspended upside downfrom a tree, with blood from his
slit throat dripping against the car roof. It had been dripping there all night.
(06:15):
Oh okay, that one's creepy.Plus when you said the rhythmic tapping,
I was like, maybe she didthat too. You know, Adhd
kicked in and she just started makinga sick fee bump about bump bump bump.
Although you know that one's one ofmy favorites, but this one got
(06:35):
me. This is number six,which Edwin didn't pick, but I'm picking
for him. Dwight decides to headoff on foot to find someone to help
with the car while you stay behind. You fall asleep while waiting. Then
all of a sudden, you heara tap on the glass. Let's wait
you You see a hideous person lookingat you through the window. Luckily,
(06:57):
the car is locked so this personcan't get inside. But to your horror,
the person raises one of their armsto reveal Dwhite's decapitated head resting on
a hook. In the other hand. The car keys jingle, jingle,
jingle. The hook is a deliciousurban legend, and the origins of the
(07:20):
hook are not entirely known, butthe story began to circulate in the nineteen
fifties, and the first known publicationof the story was in November eighth,
nineteen sixty, when a reader whena reader letter telling the story was reprinted
in Dear Abbey, which is apopular advice column. Obviously, Dear Abbey
(07:40):
is just the name of it.There's no more Abby. But here's what
was first, the first time thiswas ever in print. Dear Abby.
If you're interested in teenagers, youwill print this story. I don't know
whether it's true or not, butit doesn't matter, because it served its
purpose for me. A fellow andhis date pulled into their favorite lover's lane
(08:01):
to listen to the radio and doa little necking. The music was interrupted
by an announcer who said there wasan escape convict in the area who'd served
time for rape and robbery. Hewas described as having a hook instead of
a right hand. The couple becamefrightened and drove away. When the boy
took his girl home, he wentaround to open the door, for then
(08:22):
he saw a hook on the handleof the door. I will never park
to make out. As long asI live, I hope this does the
same for other kids. Jeannette.I think that's a pretty common one.
It's like that where like the hookis embedded in the side of the car,
or you know, sometimes the killer'sriding on the roof of the car,
(08:45):
which is weird. Yeah, he'slike on there and they like drive
away and he falls off. Youknow, they get away. You know.
There's a bunch of different versions ofit, which I think is hilarious.
There's so many different versions to tryand keep horny teenagers from necking quote
unquote, because obviously this is likea moral tale. It's everyone's premarital sex
(09:07):
warning, like, don't there's gonnabe a murderer if you go and you
sleep with someone, if you havesex in your car. What if it
was actually started by the auto industry. I was thinking of the Abstinence Coalition
or something. Well, oh,it's definitely that. There's definitely the moral
brigade that's trying to control people,especially teenagers. Well, if it sounded
(09:28):
defective, I would have been creepedout. Yeah, it would make you
go to a lover's lane where there'sa bunch of people, which is weird
too. Tells a weird when there'sa bunch of cars that are steamy.
Yeah, but you know, oncethose car windows get steamy, no one
can see in, so you know, it all works out. But I
(09:50):
like this interpretation that this American folklorusBill Ellis. He interprets the maniac and
the hook as a moral custodian whointerrupts sexual experimenttion of a young couple.
He sees the hookman's disability as hisown lack of sexuality. And then the
threat of the hook man is notthe normal sex drive of teenagers, but
(10:11):
the abnormal drive of adults trying tokeep them apart, which I kind of
like that. I like that,like twist, But this beg is a
question of the story started circulating inthe fifties, where did it come from?
Is there any truth to it?And so? Snokes writer David Mickelson
has speculated that the legend might haveroots in the real life Lover's Lane murder
(10:35):
that took place in nineteen forty six, which has become known as the Texarcana
Moonlight Murders. OO in nineteen fortysix in the town of Texarcana, which
sits nestled between Texas and Arkansas,which I just I don't know why.
(10:56):
It's funny. You look at theword Arkansas looks like our Kansas, so
like it's not that it's Arkansas.I used to say like that all the
time until soccerty Kansas ar Kansas.I also used to say accessories like accessories,
tear it it, don't forget tearit. It embarrassing anyway. A
(11:16):
young couple were enjoying their night.They had just been to watch a movie
together, and they had just takena drive to what was locally known as
a lover's lane, where they weresitting in the car enjoying each other's company.
Jimmy Hollis was sitting in the driver'sseat. It was dark out,
but the lane was only a coupleone hundred yards from the last row of
(11:37):
houses, so it wasn't too secludedfor him to be like nervous as the
night went on. But at elevenforty five pm, there was a tap
on the driver's side window and hewas blinded for a moment by a flashlight.
Outside of the car, a manwearing what looked like a pillowcase with
two round holes cut out in theeyes and another around the mouth. Jimmy,
(12:01):
not afraid, was sure it wasjust a prank, you know,
with all the nineteen forties bravado andsweetness of like, how could this be
anything else other than a prank?But then the guy pulled a gun and
it was clear that this was nota prank. The man ordered Jimmy and
his girlfriend Mary Jean Larry out ofthe car. Mary Jean was only nineteen
(12:22):
at the time, so that's prettyfucking scary. Then the man ordered Jimmy
to quote take off his goddamn bridges, which is his pants, which Jimmy
did. Then the man whipped hisgun and hit Jimmy twice in the head.
The sound of him hitting Jimmy wasso loud that Mary Jean thought Jimmy
(12:43):
had been shot, but it wasactually the sound of Jimmy's skull fracturing.
So when Jimmy hit the ground,she kicked into overdrive and was like trying
to do anything to not get themboth killed. So she reached for Jimmy's
wallet, grabbed the wallet and showedthem that they didn't have any money.
It would just leave us alone.We don't have any money, but the
(13:03):
man hit her and she went down, but then he ordered her to stand
up and start running, so MaryJean tried to make it to a nearby
ditch, but he shouted at herand she started running down the road.
She didn't know what else to dountil she saw a parked car, and
she started racing towards it, thinkingit would be someone she could ask for
(13:26):
help. But she got there andno one was in that car, and
that was when the man caught upto her and he hit her in the
head, speculation that there might havebeen like a sexual assault as well,
but she was able to get freefrom him, and then she got up
and ran to the row of houses, which were now eight hundred yards away
because she'd run the opposite direction before. But she got to a house,
(13:50):
banged on the door, woke upthe people inside, and they called the
police. The police showed up abouta half an hour later, and the
guy in the wearing the pillowcase wasgo on. Jimmy and Mary Jean were
both taken to the hospital and gavetheir statements. They both could agree that
man was about six foot tall,but they couldn't agree on his appearance.
(14:11):
Mary Jean during her assault, saidthat she'd seen under the pillowcase and that
it was like a light skinned AfricanAmerican, but Jimmy said that it had
been a white tan Yeah, whitetan pull No, a white tan man
in his thirties. And so withthe differing statements, the police started to
(14:33):
doubt Mary Jean's description of the perpetrateher because of course, and actually began
pressuring Mary Jean and Jimmy for moreinformation, thinking they've known the identity of
the man keeping it from the police, why would you make better Like that's
terrifying. But then the pillowcase guystruck again on and on the twenty fourth
(14:56):
of March nineteen forty six, justa month after the first attack, the
bodies of Richard Griffith, who wastwenty nine, and his girlfriend of just
six weeks, a seventeen year old. There's a lot of problems here,
a seventeen year old named Polly AnneMoore, were found dead in Richard's car.
They were spotted on another lover's laneand they were lying in the inside
(15:18):
the car, and the motorists atfirst that discovered them thought they were asleep,
but they'd both been shot in theback of the head. But it
was clear that they had been attackedoutside of the car first and then put
back in the car. And thenonly a few weeks later, on April
fourteenth, the bodies of Betty JoeButcher was only fifteen, Paul Martin was
only seventeen, and their bodies werediscovered. They found Paul's body at about
(15:43):
six in the morning, and thenthey found Betty Joe's body about three and
a half miles away from Paul's undera tree. Both have been shot by
the same caliber of gun. Andin the second attack, the police were
very clear that they had put upfight like it had been an obvious like
they had fought their attacker. Andthen the third and final attack attributed to
(16:07):
this person. I don't know.This one's like a little off kilter,
like it doesn't seem like it's thesame, but they say it's the same
person. It happened ten miles awayfrom Texarkana, where it said that this
same attack was committed by the sameperpetrator. It's very different because it took
place in a house. This guynamed Virgil Starks was sitting at home reading
the newspaper and was shot twice inthe back of the head through the window.
(16:32):
His wife, Katie came to seewhat was wrong. She saw that
Virgil was slumped down, realized hewas dead. She went to phone the
cops and she was shot in theface, but she lived. She was
able to get to a neighbor's houseand call the police and was like getting
surgery on her face at the hospitaland giving her statement to the police at
the same time. So which iscrazy anyway, At this point, Texarcana
(17:00):
is in a state of panic.Shops had run out of guns ammunition,
people were afraid to go out afterdark. Some people, especially teenagers,
started setting up traps to try andcatch the phantom killer. But these teenagers
weren't the only ones setting up trapshoping to catch the phantom killer. Some
policemen were using teenagers themselves, askingthem to park cars and wait to see
(17:25):
if the killer would approach them whilepolice hid nearby. Some policemen actually would
wait in their cars themselves with theirwives or girlfriends, or sometimes just a
mannequin. The single police officers likeuh. But all of this just ended
up with more chaos because, likeapproaching people's houses, the police would have
(17:47):
to turn on their sirens and waitin people's driveways to avoid getting shot themselves.
Visual anti teenagers shot at patrol shootanybody. Yeah, this teenager shot
at an Arkansas State trooper when heappro which the car. Another time,
the police had to shoot out thetires of a car that had been following
a bus because people thought it wassuspicious, but it turned out to be
(18:08):
a high school student who had justbeen tailing the bus because he saw someone
suspicious get out of a private carand get on the bus. I mean.
And also, teenagers taking this intotheir own hands is pretty good.
I can't imagine that though, Like, hey, let's go catch them,
and then it's like a activity.Yeah, it's definitely like, oh,
(18:30):
we're gonna go drive around and lookfor the killer. You could just like
picture them in their nineteen forties carsdriving around, cruising around looking for this
killer in a pillowcase, which isa terrifying image. But with all the
panic all over town, the investigator'sefforts to find what became known as the
Phantom killer remained just that a phantomspoiler alert. They never arrested anybody for
(18:56):
this, wow, but some investorsbelieve it was a local car thief named
Yule Sweeney, who was arrested forcar theft or something like that. But
in July of that year, Eule'swife admitted that he was the Phantom killer
and was able to give in greatdetail stories about the murder. But then
(19:18):
her story kept changing and she eventuallyrecanted. But the police were actually able
to verify some of her details,but they didn't have enough to prosecute him.
But he went to jail for cartheft and counterfeiting and other crimes.
But many believe that his wife recantingwas because she was afraid of him.
It is widely presumed now that hewas in stories about the case, but
(19:45):
to this day, the case remainsunsolved, which creates the perfect start to
an epic urban legend. It makessense. It happened a little bit before
enough, like enough time for itto like to really get the gossip train
going and to really like change it, you know, like just enough to
change it. It's also inspired afilm called The Town That Dreaded Sundown,
(20:08):
which came out in nineteen seventy six, which sounds kind of good and I'd
like to see it. The filmactually might have become the basis for a
lot of the subsequent myth and folklorearound the murders later, But yeah,
it's pretty crazy. Huh what ifit was a woman? What if it
was the wife? Might have beenthe wife, depending on your side,
(20:29):
she could have been a big woman. We don't know. But taking on
a couple is tough. It wouldbe tough alone as a woman. But
assassinating people through a window maybe that'sthe one tho where I'm just like,
how did they attribute this to this? I don't understand. This is a
terrible way to die, like you'rewatching TV. And then I understand why
(20:51):
there might be some controversy about thatone in particular, because it's like it
really doesn't seem related at all.But maybe I'm not I'm not an investigator.
I like urban legends and I thinkit's a cool thing to like try
to find the source of them,and this would makes sense. This is
like, oh, it's around thattime period, yep, Lover's Lane.
Hey, don't go do that.Something's gonna happen. Then all the craze
(21:14):
kind of dies down, and thenit's like, you know, I heard
this story about this thing, andthen you add the hook, you literally
add the the hook to the story. Yeah, it just makes a story
a lot better. And you werehooked, so I stayed to the end.
It works, so did you guys? So it worked anyway. What
are we going to talk about nextweek? Edwin? I don't know.
(21:37):
I think it'll be a surprise.Scary Mystery. Surprise is hosted by Michelle
Newman and Edwin Komarubies. This podcastwas edited and sound designed by Sarah Borhe's
Wendel, a VW sound
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