Written By Christopher Knox
The Clown Costume
You may know about John Wayne Gacy, and his many brutal murders in the mid-1970s. He is easily one of the most famous murderers of all time. Killing 33 young men, Gacy also was known to be a children’s party clown in his spare time. He was dubbed as the killer clown due to this fact. And this article we are going to look at that specific aspect of Gacy‘s life, and visit the topic of his clown costume, and part time job.
Pogo the Clown AKA Patches the Clown
Before anyone knew about the gruesome acts of John Wayne Gacy, he was thought to be a great guy. Much of this subjective view was attributed to his time as a children’s party clown named Pogo the clown. Sometimes referred to as patches the clown, Gacy would regularly perform as a party clown for charitable events as well as children’s hospitals.
Often, people find themselves fearful of clowns. You hear it all the time. People saying they don’t like clowns or they are afraid of them. In this case, it is not irrational to be afraid of the specific clown that we are talking about. This clown was a murderer of 33 or more people. The lack of remorse was immensely obvious during several interviews, after being caught and convicted of these brutal acts. This is not even mentioning the fact that he was a party clown for children. If you are an adult, and you are afraid of clowns, and this one, in particular, imagine how bad it must be for the children.
Jolly Joker
Gacy lived in Chicago and had a membership at the moose club nearest him. It was through his connections; made at this club that he came to find another club that went by the name “Jolly Joker”. This club was a clown club that traveled around to local areas to perform for sick children as well as events that raised money for them. While in this club, he put together his own costume, and did his own make up on a regular basis, in order to perform at these events. He has gone on record, saying that pogo the clown was his happy clown while patches the clown was his more serious clown. These two different characters how to play off of each other and his mind. He has also been quoted as saying that acting in the role of these clowns helped him to “regress into childhood”. Usually, Gacy did not receive any sort of monetary compensation for his roles, as either pogo or patches of the clown.
Sometimes after events that Gacy performed in, he would stop at a bar and grab a couple of drinks, while still in his full clown attire and make up. In hindsight, every portion of this is uniquely disturbing. Obviously, the fact that he was a children’s party. Clown is incredibly unsettling. Not only this, but he performed for sick children at charitable events in hospitals and such. Also, the fact that he would sit in bars and have a beer or two still dress, as the clown really seems to speak towards the mentality of Gacy.
The Costumes Role
Gacy would drug his victims and supply them with alcohol. Once they had spent some time together and talked a little bit, as well as his victim, becoming inebriated, Gacy would offer to show a magic trick and/or a clown act. During this clown act or magic trick, Gacy would put his hands behind his back and handcuff them together. With a hidden key, he would then release himself. He would tell his victim to do the same thing, and that he would show them the trick, and how to escape from them the same way. Once his victim was handcuffed and unable to remove them, and escape, Gacy would tell them that the trick was that you had to have the key. Once Gacy had them handcuffed, and where he wanted them, he would then perform his unspeakable acts. This means that on occasion he would be wearing his costumes and for make up during the brutal and gruesome acts in which he was arrested and convicted for and sentenced to death. Out of 33 of these brutal murders. You have to assume that there is a decently sized number of them that happened while John Wayne Gacy was wearing his full clown costume. If that doesn’t scare you, what will?
Gacy’s Thoughts
Gacy was an actual registered clown and performed at many children’s events. He was once quoted, and saying that “clowns can get away with murder”. Clearly, this wasn’t true, because Gacy was caught and convicted of his murders. During his trial and hearing, he stated that he had four personalities, and that the clown was one of them.
During Prison
During prison, John Wayne Gacy, painted many paintings, and several of them were as him wearing his clown attire and make up. He was allowed to make money from selling these paintings, but instead, he chose to give them away. He stated that the reason was he did it to bring people happiness not to make money. It is simply disturbing to think about the fact that he may believe this for himself. A man that committed 33 brutal murders can tell himself and the world around him that he just wants to bring happiness and smiles.
Recap
From before the actual murders in themselves, until the time of his execution and death in prison, John Wayne Gacy was a clown. He dressed as one and acted as one for young sick children all over Chicago. Sometimes he would even use his full clown get up in order to aid him in committing his gruesome murders. John Wayne, Gacy, Pogo, the clown, patches the clown… the killer clown.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this article! : )Christopher Knox
Christopher is a Doctorate student for Psychoanalysis and therapy. He runs the website as the webmaster and creates all content for the oddities blog.
