Buried Dreams - Inside the Mind of John Wayne Gacy

Tim Cahill

Summary

The definitive study of John Wayne Gacy—from his abusive childhood to the murders of thirty-three boys—based on four years of investigative reporting.   John Wayne Gacy, the “Killer Clown,” was a suburban Chicago businessman sentenced to death in 1980 for a string of horrific murders after the bodies of his victims were found hidden in a crawl space beneath his Des Plaines, Illinois, home. The serial killer had preyed on teenagers and young men—at the same time entertaining at children’s parties and charitable events dressed as “Pogo the Clown.”   Drawing on exclusive interviews and previously unreported material, journalist Tim Cahill “offers the stuff of wrenching nightmares” (The Wall Street Journal): a harrowing journey inside the mind of a serial killer. Meticulously researched and graphically recounted, Buried Dreams brings to vivid life the real John Wayne Gacy—his complex personality, compulsions, inadequacies, and torments—often in the murderer’s own words.   Called “an absorbing and disturbing story” by Publishers Weekly and “surprisingly graceful” by the New York Times, this is a journey to the heart of human evil that you will never forget.

Available since: 07/15/2014.

Print length: 372 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Missing - The Unsolved Cases of...

Barry Cummins

From 1950 to the present day, there have been almost 900 long-term missing people in Ireland. The equivalent of a vibrant village, all gone, vanished without a trace.
Where did they go? Are they dead or still alive somewhere? How many have been murdered? How many killers have got away with their crimes?
RTÉ journalist Barry Cummins has reported on the unsolved cases of Ireland's missing for decades. In this new edition of his bestselling book, he examines the latest leads and developments of Ireland's most high-profile missing cases, including the women who disappeared under eerily similar circumstances in the 1990s and whose bodies have never been found.
Written with the assistance of the gardaí and the families concerned, Missing is a comprehensive and shocking account of the cases that have in turn fascinated, puzzled and horrified the Irish public. It also examines the possibility that there may be a serial killer out there who has gone to extraordinary lengths to evade justice, leaving open the possibility that they could strike again.

Show book

The Apparitionists - A Tale of...

Peter Manseau

A story of faith and fraud in post–Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead. In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America’s imagination. A “spirit photographer,” William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amidst rumors of séances in the White House. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge sided with the defense, suggesting no one would ever solve the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief. An NPR Best Book of 2017 “A rare work of historical nonfiction that is both studious and just plain entertaining.”—Publishers Weekly, Top Ten Books of 2017 “An exceptional story.”—Errol Morris, New York Times Book Review“Manseau has become the foremost chronicler of the deep American desire to believe in the weird, the strange, and the oddly wonderful.”—Jeff Sharlet, New York Times–bestselling author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Show book

More Foul Deeds & Suspicious...

Geoffrey Howse

Barnsley and the surrounding area has a dark and sinister past. There were many foul deeds committed throughout the centuries of the most heinous kind -and many suspicious circumstances. Poverty was at the root of many of the early cases. During the Victorian period some seemingly uncaring magistrates appeared to take the view that to be poor was a crime to be dealt with severely and meted out extreme penalties. The unhappy state of some criminals resulted in ending their days in the workhouse. Throughout the 20th century the area was periodically rocked with murder cases which often made the national headlines.

Show book

America's Dumbest Criminals -...

Daniel Butler, Leland Gregory,...

100 crazy stories of America's dumbest criminals. WARNING: The crimes you are about to read are true. The names have been changed . . . to protect the ignorant.Here is the ultimate collection of the most incredibly stupid and painfully dumb attempts at crime ever brought together.The woman who invalidated her winning $5,000 lottery ticket by altering it to match the $20 prize numberThe accused vending-machine thief who paid his $400 bail entirely in quartersThe streaking robber who thought clothes would make him more identifiableThe convenience store thief who got away with just a hotdog, only to end up in the parking lot choking on the wiener

Show book

The Case of the Golden State...

Michael Ferguson, Michael Morford

By the creators of Criminology: a complete chronicle of the Golden State serial killer investigation, including photographs and documents.   In 1976, a serial rapist terrorized California’s Sacramento County, breaking into homes and leaving a trail of destruction behind him. As the masked predator expanded his turf, his evil urges drove him to murder. In Northern California, he was known as the East Area Rapist. In Southern California, he was called the Original Night Stalker. When his crimes were finally connected, he would become known as the Golden State Killer. By 1986, he had committed a staggering tally of crimes, including at least 12 murders. In season two of their popular podcast, Criminology, veteran podcaster Mike Morford and true crime researcher Mike Ferguson unmasked this killer in a story that spans more than forty years. Joined by the investigators who hunted him, the witnesses who saw him, and the survivors who lived to tell their stories, Criminology Season Two: The Case of the Golden State Killer examines the story of the most prolific serial rapist and murderer in American history. Now, The Case of the Golden State Killer presents an even more complete chronicle of this true crime story. Based on the podcast, this digital volume features additional commentary, photographs and primary source documents.

Show book

Breaking Point

Suzy Spencer

While her husband Rusty, a NASA engineer, was at work, Andrea Yates filled the family bathtub with water and systematically drowned their children, ages six months to seven years. As her eldest child lay lifeless in the bathtub and the bodies of her four youngest rested in her bed, Andrea, a devoted Christian wife and former nurse, called the police to confess her sin.The investigations by the prosecutors, by the defense, and by the press delved deeper into Andrea's mind and history, revealing a disturbing web of suicidal tendencies, depression, and psychoses. While her husband struggled between his overwhelming grief and his loyalty to his incarcerated wife, an outraged nation asked one question after another: How could anyone do this? What would drive a mother to kill her children?Drawing from hundreds of hours of interviews, court testimony, and medical records, including new access to psychiatric and legal files, Breaking Point delves deeper into an all-American family struggling with the darkness of a mental illness that twisted a loving mother into a killer obsessed with hellfire.

Show book