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The Clown and the Candyman (Dean Corll/Gacey)

27,581 Views | 134 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Diggity
Jugstore Cowboy
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AG
Any of yall checked out this series on Discovery+? I can't tell if it's a show or just a podcast included w/ the subscription. Just keep seeing the commercials.

I can get 6 months of D+ free w/ Verizon, but don't give a **** about Chip and Joanna's Shiplap Kitchen or whatever else.

Wondering if this is worth checking out, and if they actually found real ties between Corll and Gacey.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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It was suspected that Coril was involved with some larger ring. Some reports that HPD found evidence of a connection to California but it was swept under the rug because the case was such a debacle that they wanted it to go away.

I think thats probably the case. I also think that there are Coril victims still buried in the Heights.
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Jugstore Cowboy
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Looks like you don't need any subscription for the podcast: https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/podcasts/the-clown-and-the-candyman

Though I doubt I can make it through an 8 part podcast on serial killing pedos.

They also made a 4 part "companion series:"

Quote:

The four-part companion special THE CLOWN AND THE CANDYMAN takes viewers down the rabbit hole to a murky world of predators in the '70s. Centered around the depravity of Gacy and Corll, the special offers a deep dive into their crimes, how they were discovered, and the race to identify their remaining nameless victims. The special also investigates their connections to John David Norman, the key operator of a nationwide pedophile ring, while never-before-heard tapes of Gacy offers viewers a glimpse into the disturbed man and his hideous actions. The documentary THE CLOWN AND THE CANDYMAN begins streaming on discovery+ on Friday, January 15. The four-part special will air on ID on Monday, February 15 and Tuesday, February 16 from 9-11pm. Viewer discretion is advised.
https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/podcast-and-companion-series-the-clown-and-the-candyman-explores-a-network-of-pedophiles-that-connected-two-deranged-serial-killers/

Just to clarify my earlier confusion about the podcast vs tv series.
W
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HPD was a near disaster in the 1970's
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TXAG 05
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Harry Lime said:

Any of yall checked out this series on Discovery+? I can't tell if it's a show or just a podcast included w/ the subscription. Just keep seeing the commercials.

I can get 6 months of D+ free w/ Verizon, but don't give a **** about Chip and Joanna's Shiplap Kitchen or whatever else.

Wondering if this is worth checking out, and if they actually found real ties between Corll and Gacey.


With most of these types of shows, if anything groundbreaking was discovered, it would have been in the news already.
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Stat Monitor Repairman
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Its wild how Coril's accomplice Elmer Wayne Henley says there are more victims buried than what are known.

Says there were more bodies buried on McFadden beach, but now the area is permanently underwater after hurricane Ike. Also seems like I read that there may be more bodies buried near Sam Rayburn.
TarponChaser
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Hell, why bury the bodies there? Just toss them in the Neches or Angelina and the gators will take care of it before anybody finds them.

I've got a buddy with the Harris Co. Sheriffs Dept. and they've found remains in Sheldon Reservoir on more than one occasion that the gators there were feeding on.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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Coril had a cabin up near Sam Rayburn.
W
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AG
morbid sidenote...the COVID got one of Corll's accomplices back in August
bigjag19
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Coril had a cabin up near Sam Rayburn.


The high school in Pasadena?
Jugstore Cowboy
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

It was suspected that Coril was involved with some larger ring. Some reports that HPD found evidence of a connection to California but it was swept under the rug because the case was such a debacle that they wanted it to go away.
Finally watched the 2 part series on Discovery+. Great show to watch if you want to feel awful about humanity right before you're trying to go to bed.

Just the little bits they know and can confirm about John David Norman's national (or international) network is astounding, and the fact that he could maintain that network pre-internet, pre-cellphone is amazing. Even the case investigators believe he had help from powerful people. Wish they could reveal the names they saw on the index cards. Between 3 main people, there were possibly hundreds of victims and God knows how many customers and accomplices.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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Went into a rabbit hole a few years ago reading about this this case and it left me depressed for a few weeks.

Lived in the Heights at the time. When I would drive past a location where some kid was last seen alive I would think about that case. One of the victims worked at the old Long John Silver's on Yale. Its a Chinese restaurant now but the LJS drive through exit sign is still there.
Keegan99
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Texas Monthly article: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-boys/

Growing up in Houston in the 80's and early 90's, I never heard about this case. It was like it was collectively wiped from the city's memory.
Al Bula
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Went into a rabbit hole a few years ago reading about this this case and it left me depressed for a few weeks.

Lived in the Heights at the time. When I would drive past a location where some kid was last seen alive I would think about that case. One of the victims worked at the old Long John Silver's on Yale. Its a Chinese restaurant now but the LJS drive through exit sign is still there.
really makes you think
Jugstore Cowboy
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I kind of remember my older brother making some sicko jokes about "the candyman," but I had it all mixed up with that guy who poisoned his kid's Halloween candy and set off the big trick or treating scare of the 80s. Remember to make sure the candy wrappers haven't been tampered with and bring it by the police store front to get it x-rayed before you let the kids eat it!

Didn't learn about Dean Corll until modern times.

*btw, Skip - author of that Texas Monthly article - is interviewed in the tv show.
Keegan99
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Oh yeah, I definitely remember hospitals offering to x-ray Halloween candy circa '85 or so. Was promoted on the local news and everything. Not sure a single needle was ever found.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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For sure i remember that.

Looking back people were hysterical about it.

They really were.

This was pre-internet, facebook twitter. Turns out, the hysteria was all perpetuated by the media and word of mouth.
TarponChaser
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Being a kid born in 1977 I certainly remember the hysteria over alleged Halloween candy being poisoned or tampered with. I definitely recall places offering to x-ray candy for needles and crap like that back then. Never once heard about anything being found. And then there was the lacing of Pixie Sticks with cyanide- which, was one kid killed by his own father here in Houston in an insurance swindle. Of course, I cannot fathom killing a child, let alone your own child for money.

As for Corll, I was unaware of the story until the last 10 years or so. It's pretty insane to think of. I mean, 11 victims attended the same middle school. The evil of Corll and his accomplices along with the utter incompetence of HPD are simply astounding.

I had not read the "Texas Monthly" story before last night though. That was not a good decision- Mrs. TC and I have two boys and that stuff made it hard to sleep last night.
BBRex
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I hadn't heard of John David Norman before now. Sounds like DPD or whomever investigated him in Dallas was just as incompetent. Or corrupt.
schmellba99
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

It was suspected that Coril was involved with some larger ring. Some reports that HPD found evidence of a connection to California but it was swept under the rug because the case was such a debacle that they wanted it to go away.

I think thats probably the case. I also think that there are Coril victims still buried in the Heights.
There are likely for sure still bodies buried on High Island and maybe even at Sam Rayburn. HPD literally quit looking for any or doing anything on the investigation after the 30th or whatever body was discovered, they just stopped.
schmellba99
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Harry Lime said:

Looks like you don't need any subscription for the podcast: https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/podcasts/the-clown-and-the-candyman

Though I doubt I can make it through an 8 part podcast on serial killing pedos.

They also made a 4 part "companion series:"

Quote:

The four-part companion special THE CLOWN AND THE CANDYMAN takes viewers down the rabbit hole to a murky world of predators in the '70s. Centered around the depravity of Gacy and Corll, the special offers a deep dive into their crimes, how they were discovered, and the race to identify their remaining nameless victims. The special also investigates their connections to John David Norman, the key operator of a nationwide pedophile ring, while never-before-heard tapes of Gacy offers viewers a glimpse into the disturbed man and his hideous actions. The documentary THE CLOWN AND THE CANDYMAN begins streaming on discovery+ on Friday, January 15. The four-part special will air on ID on Monday, February 15 and Tuesday, February 16 from 9-11pm. Viewer discretion is advised.
https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/podcast-and-companion-series-the-clown-and-the-candyman-explores-a-network-of-pedophiles-that-connected-two-deranged-serial-killers/

Just to clarify my earlier confusion about the podcast vs tv series.

It's a good podcast, you should give it a listen
redag06
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schmellba99 said:

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

It was suspected that Coril was involved with some larger ring. Some reports that HPD found evidence of a connection to California but it was swept under the rug because the case was such a debacle that they wanted it to go away.

I think thats probably the case. I also think that there are Coril victims still buried in the Heights.
There are likely for sure still bodies buried on High Island and maybe even at Sam Rayburn. HPD literally quit looking for any or doing anything on the investigation after the 30th or whatever body was discovered, they just stopped.
HPD searched the HL&P power plant that Corll worked at for bodies.
Jugstore Cowboy
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In the show, the narrator says "between 1971 and 1973, more than 400 boys were reported missing from the Heights."

That's just insane. I understand it was a different era and kids were hitchhiking and running away to go be hippies and see the world. And the Heights was a much rougher area. But we're talking an area that's 2 miles wide and 3 miles long.

The TM article says Corll and his henchboys would make the captured kids call their parents or write a note saying they'd be home later. Wonder how many parents just thought their sons had run off.
W
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also incredulous...the prison sentences for sexual assault of a minor (or an adult) back in the 60's & 70's was like 18 months or less
BohunkAg
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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

Went into a rabbit hole a few years ago reading about this this case and it left me depressed for a few weeks.

Lived in the Heights at the time. When I would drive past a location where some kid was last seen alive I would think about that case. One of the victims worked at the old Long John Silver's on Yale. Its a Chinese restaurant now but the LJS drive through exit sign is still there.
It is f-cking depressing as hell. The first time I read about it, it upset me.
TarponChaser
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Harry Lime said:

In the show, the narrator says "between 1971 and 1973, more than 400 boys were reported missing from the Heights."

That's just insane. I understand it was a different era and kids were hitchhiking and running away to go be hippies and see the world. And the Heights was a much rougher area. But we're talking an area that's 2 miles wide and 3 miles long.

The TM article says Corll and his henchboys would make the captured kids call their parents or write a note saying they'd be home later. Wonder how many parents just thought their sons had run off.

That is absolute insanity. I'm with you that it was a different time but I cannot fathom that. I graduated HS in a class of about 650 people and was roughly 50/50 boys and girls- that would be more than every single boy I graduated HS with disappearing.

Really does illustrate how much safer it is for kids these days despite what the Karens and helicopter parents claim.
BBRex
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They show a card that's supposed to be a client card with College Station listed as the location.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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Two things that stick in my mind from this case.

1. One victim's mother was calling the detectives all the time. Leaving all kinds of info in the form of phone messages that would go in the file. Some researcher in the 80s gets hold of the HPD case-file. In one of the files there was a message from the victims mother reporting a suspicious car driving down her street and she gave them the license plate number etc.

So the researcher follows up on this note, goes back and researches the DPS / county records and the car that the victim's mother reported was registered to Dean Coril.

And

2. Some old people were driving around McFadden beach / high island where some of the bodies were buried. They see three guys digging in the sand with shovels. Looks suspicious so they call the sheriff. They take a report and nobody followed up on it.
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
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wow.

Quote:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
TarponChaser
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I mean, WTF was law enforcement doing? It's not like they were caught up battling the cocaine wars in Miami in the 80's. Too busy busting kids smoking pot or cracking on the gays cruising Montrose??
BohunkAg
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TarponChaser said:

I mean, WTF was law enforcement doing? It's not like they were caught up battling the cocaine wars in Miami in the 80's. Too busy busting kids smoking pot or cracking on the gays cruising Montrose??
Too busy pulling over suspicious black dudes.
Diggity
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TarponChaser said:

I mean, WTF was law enforcement doing? It's not like they were caught up battling the cocaine wars in Miami in the 80's. Too busy busting kids smoking pot or cracking on the gays cruising Montrose??
doesn't sound like you guys are too far off

Quote:

Welch was mayor in 1967 when two days of siege by the Houston police at predominantly black Texas Southern University. A police officer was accidentally killed by another police officer. Many Texas Southern students were taken into custody. The events created a rift between the administration and many of Houston's African Americans. In 1968, Welch's last term was marred by controversy, being that his second mayoral bid was financed by questionable sources. It was rumored that his campaign was associated with organized crime with a handful of his cabinet coming under suspicion and indicted as a result of this link. Welch's reputation came under fire because of his friendships with well known crime leaders.

In early 1985, Welch was a leader in the opposition to the extension of job protection rights to homosexuals employed by the city government. Welch came back that year to run against incumbent Mayor Kathy Whitmire, who had served since 1982, in the Houston Mayoral Elections. Some of his comments (namely his candid quote caught by a microphone on live television, suggesting that one way to curb the spread of HIV would be to "shoot the queers") upset the city's gay community.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Welch#cite_note-Reinhold-6][6][/url] The Houston GLBT Political Caucus supported Whitmire, his opponent in the race. She went on to defeat him in that race, remaining the city's mayor until the early 1990s.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Welch#cite_note-Reinhold-6][6][/url]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Welch
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