Some times in life there are events that happen so horrific that it shocks the whole nation. Sometimes individuals that commit murderous sprees gain the attention of a whole community or country with a common unanswered question of why? John Wayne Gacy was one of those individuals that gained the attention of the mid west of our nation just outside of Chicago Illinois, with the murders of 33 young men and boys.
Looking at the life of Gacy as a killer we do not see any one incident that clicked the serial killer on inside. Gacy did however have many smaller issues in life as a young child that could have led him down a wrong path. Gacy was born in March of 1942, in the City of Chicago. Gacy had for the most part a normal childhood in a decent home. His father was a blue-collar worker that worked in a factory and had some issues with alcoholism and verbal abuse towards his children. On some occasions his father would beat his kids with a leather razor strap for punishment, which in my eyes may have been on the boarder of physical abuse. Looking into the horrific events that Gacy committed during his killing spree of the 33 known people he murdered, there is one alarming fact that is he blended in with society and the community rather well. He had a rather normal everyday social life and nothing would stand out from a person first meeting Gacy.
Learning about Gacy and his family I pick up some things in his life that would later be unfolded after he was arrested for the murders. One thing would be confusion in his sexuality as a child. He would rather help his mother with things such as gardening, dishes and other things that would appear not to be masculine in his father’s eyes. One of Gacy's childhood friends made a statement...
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...theorize that serial killers have brain damage or other biological abnormalities that contribute to their actions. Damage to areas like the frontal lobe, the hypothalamus and the limbic system can contribute to extreme aggression, loss of control, loss of judgment and violence. Henry Lee Lucas, who was convicted of 11 murders, was shown to have extreme brain damage in these areas, probably the result of childhood abuse, malnutrition and alcoholism. Arthur Shawcross, another 11-time serial killer, was found to have had several brain injuries, including two skull fractures. While in prison, he suffered from headaches and often blacked out. Bobby Joe Long, convicted of nine murders, stated at one point, "After I'm dead, they're going to open up my head and find that just like we've been saying a part of my brain is black and dry and dead" [source: Scott].
John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Henry Lee Lucas, Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, Ann Rule, Angel Resendez, David Berkowitz, Albert DeSalvo, Ottis Toole, Eddie Gein, and Herbert Mullin, what do all of these serial killers have in common and why did they kill? This is the question I am going to answer in my paper. I am going to examine several killers and their childhoods, mental disorders, and types of killings they performed.
“He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it … It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.” (Fitzgerald 48). In chapter 4, Gatsby was riding into town with Nick, and then a police came, all Gatsby did was raised a little white paper and the cop apologized for stopping him. This isn’t only about corruption in 1920’s, but how he was above the law. He has the reputation of the president. He can get away with anything he wanted, he loves the power and the respect. When people say Gatsby it’s like he’s an imperial. The spreading rumors of Gatsby are horrific by the sense that, they were so out of this world you don’t know how people really believed them. Everybody had different point of views of Gatsby, he loves each one if the rumor didn’t contain the truth, or him being poor. His actions seem that all he wants people to do is think of him as an opulent man. Gatsby loves recognition. This makes him lose the idea of his past life which he hated. He strived to forget how he grew up, and where he came
John Wayne Gacy suffered from many psychological issues that are shown to have led him to crimes. Gacy was found to have been suffering from Anti-social Personality Disorder that could ha...
During Gacy's late teens, he suffered some turmoil with his father, although the relations with his mother and sisters remained very strong. John's father was an abusive alcoholic, who physically harmed his wife and verbally abused the children. Although, John, Sr. was an unpleasant individual, young Gacy deeply loved his father, and desperately wanted to gain his attention and devotion. Unfortunately, he was unable to get close to his father before he passed away. This was something that bothered John, Jr. for the rest of his life.
John Wayne Gacy was the most frightening serial killer and the first serial killer clown. The first actual clown serial killer, It was later discovered that he had committed his first known killing in 1972, taking the life of Timothy McCoy after luring the teen to his home.
John Wayne Gacy was a U.S. serial killer who was found guilty of killing 33 boys and young men (McCormick, 1998). Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois (Sullivan, 2013). John Wayne Gacy had two sisters, Joanne and Karen and had a difficult relationship with his father. His father was an auto repair machanic and World War I veteran (Jones, 2012). Whenever his father came home from work, he would go to the basement and drink. His father was an alcoholic and used physical punishment on all of his children (Jones, 2012). He would even beat the children with a razor strap if they misbehaved (Sullivan, 2013). Gacy’s mother tried her best to protect the children, but Gacy’s father physically assaulted her as well (Jones, 2012). Additionally,
There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how does having an unstable childhood effect a person. It has been proven by psychologist and stated by serial killers that their childhood is one of the many problems they faced that led them to become a serial killer. The childhood of a typical young boy would consist of loving parents, a stable home and having friends. As for serial killers this is not typical at all. During the childhood of a serial killer it is not uncommon that he or she was abused, raped, or even attempted suicide along with many other harmful acts that a child should not be faced with. There have been many studies on the childhood of serial killers, and how they grew up compared to other young children. Some of the traits most male serial killers have as a child would include killing animals, auto-erotic activities, physical head injuries, and even bed wetting.
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Gatsby is not so great because he is a liar. From the very start Gatsby is said to be an alumnus from Oxford, who fought in WWI, hunted big game, and had parents from the Midwest. He even justifies himself when Nicks asks and Gatsby pulls out a picture of him at Oxford and a WWI medal that he carried around in his pocket. He even changed his name, James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, but why? “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (6). Gatsby is mysterious and mystifying, known for his large parties yet no one knows why he has them. Keep in mind this is the prohibition era, but at Gatsby’s parties there is always plenty of alcohol to go around and no one knows where it comes from or how he acquires so much, one of the many mysteries. In attendance at these parties there are people like Meyer Wolfshiem “the man who really did fix the 1919 World Series” (118), to the mayors and governors. More questions arise in this company as to how Gatsby is associated with gangsters and why they attend these large parties. It is completely ironic how so many attend these parties but none ...
He grew up in a working class neighborhood in Chicago. He was close to his mother, Mayrum, and sister, Karen. His father was a violent alcoholic, who beat Gacy frequently during his violent outbursts. Gacy loved his father despite his violent temper and homophobic nature. Throughout his childhood, Gacy strove to make his stern father proud of him, but seldom received his approval.
Many studies suggest that there are significant differences in the brain between individuals who possess antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy). While not all people who possess an antisocial personality disorder will become serial killers, every serial killer studied has an antisocial personality disorder; “Neuropsychological testing revealed abnormalities in all subjects tested” (Blake, Pincus, and Buckner 1642). Brain injury, brain abnormalities, or mental illness affects all the serial killers tested. Even if all serial killers had some type of abnormality in the brain, would that mean that they were doomed to become a serial killer? According to the experimental findings discussed in Neurologic Abnormalities in Murderers; 64.5% of serial killers have a frontal lobe dysfunction and 29% have temporal lobe abnormalities. The frontal lobes of the brain “control the essence of our human...
...mother-in-law stopped the attack. Gacy explained it away, saying that he refused to pay the man for his shoddy work. Thus began a pattern that would carry through until his arrest in 1978: those who fought back, survived. Those who did not or could not, were raped and usually murdered.
So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).
Despite all this Gacy worked very hard at trying to be liked. He was an enthusiastic member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce as "Pogo the Clown" a children's entertainer.
The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire is a tool often used by professionals to assess a patient’s personality subtypes on a rating scale of 20 to 80. Under the higher order temperament factor Positive Emotionality (PEM) there are four trait scales. For the trait scale Well Being, John Wayne Gacy would score a 70. He was an upstanding member of his community, liked by his neighbors and coworkers, and would even attend children’s birthday parties and hospitals dressed as Pogo the Clown (Hickey, 2016). He had a cheerful disposition when facing the public, however, he only receives a 70 because he would, in fact, be subject to violent mood swings. For the trait scale Social Potency, Gacy receives a score of 80. He