Bloody Valentine's Day?

It is a full moon on February 14, 2014, from Albania to Sochi, from Alaska to Xinjiang. May everyone be safe on this Bloody Friday.

I have low expectations for humans on February 14th. The love and romance associated with Valentine's Day seem to turn into killings of different varieties. It is as if, of all the days during the year, this one brings forth the most tension for a few individuals.

Extend this to what has been occurring with homicidal-suicidal feelings recently, and the outcomes are tragic. School shootings, domestic violence in murder-suicide clusters, workplace violence, and more. Are mall shootings, church killings, terrorist attacks, and new domestic murder-suicides in our near future? Does Valentine's Day have an international reach? Will violence visit global locations on February 14th?

On February 14, 2008, six people were dead due to a Northern Illinois University shooting, including the gunman. There were 22 casualties in all.

Yesterday, I received a call from a reporter based in Montreal for the Globe and Mail newspaper. He discussed with me, as he described them, "a recent series of multiple murders involving rage-filled men killing their lovers or ex-lovers and their loved-ones. Three cases involving a total of about 10 deaths, in the space of about 2 weeks." 

I pointed out that Valentine's Day could be a day to watch out for and warn about in his article. Unfortunately, the reporter Les Perreaux felt the story won't get published until the weekend due to the fact there just had been a new murder-suicide, on Thursday, February 13th.

This topic hits close to home for me, and I've always acknowledged that. 

My book, The Copycat Effect, is dedicated to my maternal grandmother (pictured above), who died in a Valentine's Day murder-suicide.

I penned that dedication this way:

For Nellie Gray,

The grandmother I never knew,
as she was killed during a murder-suicide
on Valentine’s Day, 1940.

In my book I wrote an entire section entitled the "Significant of Dates," and began with one special example, St. Valentine's Day. I reprint below what you will find in my book about February 14th, from pages 246-247:

Dates are important, anniversary events especially so. Suicides, murder-suicides, murders tend to clump around dates of loss for at-risk victims.

One such date is one that most people assume should be associated with happy feelings, but it is not. That is Valentine’s Day. For many people, it’s a day that speaks more to emptiness and loss than to joy and love.

One cultural event seems to point to this feeling: the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” of February 14, 1929, in Chicago. On this day the alleged henchman of gangster “Scarface” Al Capone murdered seven members of the George “Bugs” Moran gang in a North Clark Street garage. Colorful names, a memorable day, the windy city, a grand crime, and huge headlines have made this event enormously “infamous” in history. Books and movies have fueled the copycat effect of this date.

A year after “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” Ben Hecht...authoredScarface(1930), which was made into a Howard Hughes produced, Howard Hawks directed movie (1932) about the North Clark Street killings. Hughes supposedly asked that Scarfacebe "realistic, as exciting, as grisly as possible." Censors blocked Scarfacefor two years before Hawks got it to theaters.

How does culture make a 1929 event into currency for a future generation? Through the movies and other media, of course. Some Like It Hot(1959) had Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis playing two Chicago musicians who witnessed the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and are forced to cross-dress as women in order to hide from Al Capone. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre(1967) starring Jason Robards portrays the event in docudrama style.

But beyond fiction, real murders and murder-suicides have also been linked to the specific Valentine’s Day 1929 gangland murders. The gangland and other ripples from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre certainly demonstrate an awareness of the twilight language of the event.

The individual most often identified as the organizer of the Moran gang killings was Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, one of Capone's most trusted men. McGurn (whose real name was James DeMora), an expert with the Tommy gun who had an “eye for the ladies,” especially for blonde women, was killed on the eve of Valentine’s Day, 1936. A nickel was put in McGurn's right hand and, next to his body the killers left a humorous valentine card.

Sometimes personal histories reinforce the negative Valentine’s Day link. My grandmother was killed by her second husband on Valentine’s Day, 1940, in Illinois, in a murder-suicide, as my future mother, a 12 old girl, looked on in horror. The copycat effect sometimes hits close to home.

During the 1980s, St. Valentine’s Day was a focus of teen suicide clusters around the United States, and many families felt the impact of the day.

Earlier in the book, I described a teen suicide cluster in Peekskill, New York. I mentioned on February 4, 1984, Robert DeLaValliere, 13, hanged himself in Depew Park, and then I wrote:

Did another teen then imitate DeLaValliere? Ten days after his suicide, 14‑year‑old Justin Spoonhour picked a tree in back of his home and hanged himself. Spoonhour lived in Putnam Valley, five miles north of where DeLaValliere died. His mother graphically described in a People magazine article how she found her boy. "I turned my light on and saw Justin hanging from a tree,” she wrote. "His eyes and mouth were open, and his tongue was swollen and protruding." As we have noted, this was Valentine’s Day in Peekskill.

Elsewhere in The Copycat Effect, Valentine's Day figures as a touchstone for understanding the context of violence in which we find ourselves. I noted:

In 2002, National Review online editor Jonah Goldberg, a conservative, commented on liberal Senator Patrick Moynihan’s 1993 essay, “Defining Deviancy Down,” to make some points about the media’s normalizing of terrorism. Goldberg’s and Moynihan’s insights apply here, in understanding how the media makes “celebrities” of events, which then serve as cultural icons that are held up for emulation by followers. In this way, copycats are produced. Calling the essay “one of the most influential articles of the last decade,” Goldberg notes that “Moynihan argued that deviancy - crime, mental illness, out-of-wedlock births, etc. -- had become so rampant, had so thoroughly soaked into the culture, that we simply had to redefine the abnormal as normal to cope.”

“Moynihan's most famous example was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre,” noted Goldberg. “That event was a major turning point in American history, credited with helping to convince Americans to abandon prohibition…The actual details? Four gangsters murdered seven gangsters. In the early 1990s, Moynihan noted, Los Angeles suffered from the equivalent of one St. Valentine's Day Massacre every weekend. And, of course, we can say much the same about suicide bombings in Israel.”

The above passages are from my 2004 book, The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines, a work the American media does not wish you to buy or read. In Canada, intriguingly, they are more open to research findings and the lessons learned.

Quebec's Alleged Shooter Named Bain

You can't make this up: The shooting suspect has been identified as Richard Henry Bain. Yes, Bain, like in Bain Capital, the company founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Bain, which sounds exactly like Bane, was discussed in depth before the appearance of the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, which was shown at the July 20th midnight showing in the Aurora theater where the shooting occurred.

For my deeper dissection of Bane/Bain, please click here.

Richard Henry Bain now pops up as the suspect in this strange shooting in Quebec.

Was there an attempt on the life of the newly elected future premier, Pauline Marois of Quebec, on Tuesday, September 4, 2012?

An undercover security unit officer is shown in plaid. For more on how plaid showed up in Aurora, in the guise of the mysterious "second gunman" candidate, click here.

Photo: Jean-Francois Lemire.

Voting had just returned the Parti Québécois to power Tuesday. A rally celebrating the Marois (Marios = "dweller at or near a marsh") victory in the historic Quebec election ended in tragedy.  Several shoots erupted from a rifle held by a masked gunman, which resulted in one person killed and another wounded. The gunfire began after an apparent diversion fire was set at the back of the crowded Montreal concert hall, where PQ Leader Pauline Marois was celebrating her minority mandate.

The name of the location of the shooting, The Metropolis, reminded me of 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film by the same name, directed by Fritz Lang.

Photo: Jean-Francois Lemire.

One shooting victim, a 45-year-old man, later died, while another person wounded in the shooting was out of danger. A third person was in hospital, recovering from shock.

The balaclava is also called a a Templar cap.

A large 62-year-old man (shown at top) wearing a black balaclava, black shirt, glasses, shorts, and what was described as a blue bathrobe or housecoat was arrested. The suspect reportedly spoke French with an accent. His two firearms were seized. (On Tuesday, he was named as Richard Henry Bain.)

This shooting was taken seriously by the security units protecting Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois.

It was clearly a political shooting. "The English are waking up, the English are waking up ... It's payback ... Yeah, yeah, that's enough," the man muttered as police officers led him away in handcuffs. Local media reported that he also shouted: "It's gonna be fucking payback!"

Photo: Graham Hughes.

Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois is rushed from the stage by her security team as shooting began as she started to speak to supporters in Montreal on September 4, 2012.

Photo: Rogerio Barbosa.

Photo: Rogerio Barbosa.

Photo: Rogerio Barbosa.

After defeating the Liberals, Marois, 63, who had been severely criticized for campaigning on identity and language themes, had some conciliatory words for Quebec's anglophone and native communities, speaking of their shared history. In a rare move for her, Marois spoke in English to say their rights would be respected.

Nevertheless, she struck a tougher stance towards the rest of Canada, hinting of the future struggle for separation on the horizon.

"As a nation, we want to take ourselves the decisions that affect us. We want a country. And we'll have it."

Marois, however, has said she will only hold a third referendum on independence if a win is assured, which is unlikely, given that barely one in three Quebecers currently support secession.

The party's victory came after allegations of corruption and months of nightly student protests over a planned tuition hike, with polls showing widespread dissatisfaction with nine years of Liberal rule.

The masked Quebec shooting occurred near an anniversary involving other men wearing masks.

At 4:30 a.m., on September 5, 1972, a dozen masked, armed Palestinians of the group calling itself Black September, with the assistance of German neo-Nazis, stormed the Olympic Village, taking Israeli athletes and coaches hostage. The end of the situation on September 6th resulted in the deaths of 6 Israeli coaches, 5 Israeli athletes, 5 members of Black September, and one West German police officer. Photo: Kurt Strumpf

Cannibal Arrested

Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, the Montreal man who is accused of killing and eating his Chinese roommate was recently seen in Paris. But it appears to have been a stop along the way. Breaking news is that he has been captured by German police in an internet cafe in Neukoelln, a working class district in the German capital. He had been on the run for almost two weeks.

As previously mentioned, Magnotta has been obsessed with the Eiffel Tower and apparently headed to Paris from Montreal, via London. He was photographed coming through security in France. Three photos of a man standing in line at an airport security gate wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt appeared on Interpol's website Sunday, June 3, 2012, attached to a profile of Magnotta. But the photos appeared to have been taken down shortly after being posted, around 1 p.m. ET, according to CTV News.

The Bar "Le Petit Batignolles" and the hotel "Studio-Batignolles," 36 rue des Batignolles in Paris, where Luka Rocco Magnotta was sighted, according to law enforcement officials, is pictured on June 2, 2012. Photo Credit: Thomas Samson

French media also reported Sunday that personal belongings of Magnotta were found in a hotel in suburban Paris as well as air sickness bags and pornographic magazines.

Magnotta was a master of disguises, before his capture. In one situation, he was known to have dressed as a woman to throw off police. He also had a checkered past. Magnotta is said to have once dated Karla Homolka, a notorious Canadian sex killer who slaughtered schoolgirls. 


Meanwhile, the Toronto mall shooting suspect was also arrested on Monday. See that update here.

Synchromystic Cannibals?

by Loren Coleman ©2012

Kessel le Vieux Jan van (1626-1679) Peinture sur cuivre

Cannibals are in the news this week. Why? Miami, Montreal, Maryland. Did you also hear about Manitoba, as well? Synchromystic cannibals? Synchronicity? Copycat media?


Cannibalism

The word "cannibalism" originated from caníbales, the Spanish name for the Carib people, a West Indies ethnic social group formerly well known for their practice of cannibalism. Cannibalism, also called anthropophagy, is defined as the act or practice of humans (Homo sapiens) eating the flesh of other human beings, although prehistorically Neandertals eating CroMagnons and CroMagnons eating Neandertals has been called cannibalism. Humans eating Homo floresiensis, the so-called little people, the Hobbits of Flores Island may have taken place, and I'm sure that would be called cannibalism, as well. 

A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. They aren't zombies. They aren't vampires. Both of those are mostly fictionalized characterizations. Cannibals are real. The folktale/fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel is, at its core, about cannibalism. The account about Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and ate men and boys between 1978 and 1991 in Wisconsin, is a true tale of cannibalism.

In the last week, the news has been filled with cannibals. Despite attempts to avoid the news, how can we? Cannibals are in the news. Why?


Miami Cannibal
First, we have 31-year-old Rudy Eugene (in box below) videotaped devouring Ronald Poppo, homeless man (face first) during an unprovoked attack Saturday (May 26, 2012) afternoon, which started near the Miami Herald building, and ended on the Mac­Arthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. When Eugene ignored orders to stop, police shot him dead. 

Above Top Secret already detailed, as I often do here, the synchromystic name game. What is to be found is intriguing.


Rudy = Rudolph = Rudolf = from Germanic Hrudolf = hrod/"fame" + wulf/"wolf"
Eugene = "well-born"


Ronald = "ruler's counselor"
Poppo = this has been the name of various religious figures, like Popes.


So, "Rudy Eugene" is a well-born, famous wolf?  A werewolf? And "Ronald Poppo" is to be understood as having some relationship to ruler's decisions, power, Popes, and father figures (poppo - poppy - pop - Popes).

Ronald Poppo, 65, (left) is still alive and in a hospital. A surprising twist in the story is his sister, Antoinette Poppo, thought her brother had killed himself years ago.

As is often heard, friends and neighbors of the attacker did not understand this kind of behavior from the person they knew. Rudy Eugene's girlfriend said the attack could only be explained by Eugene being drugged or the victim of a Voodoo curse, she said.


Montreal Cannibal

Meanwhile, in Montreal, police were seeking Luka Rocco Magnotta (above), a gay porn star in relation to the discovery on Tuesday (May 29, 2012) of a male torso in Montreal and a hand and foot from the torso mailed to Ottawa. Magnotta, 29, fled after a Chinese male associate was chopped up and eaten in Canada. Officials feared Magnotta might be heading back to London.


Luka Rocco Magnotta was born July 24, 1982 in Scarborough, Ontario, as Eric Clinton Newman but also known as Vladimir Romanov or Mattia Del Santo.

The National Post noted: 

On the web, which is where the alleged killer variously known as Luka Magnotta and Eric Clinton Newman and Vladmir Romanov was if not born then certainly nourished, he was identified five days ago as the possible maker of the 1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick video.For the record, the video, whether it is faked or real, whether or not it is ultimately tied to the discoveries in Ottawa and Montreal of a dismembered foot (mailed to Conservative Party headquarters), a dismembered hand (caught by Canada Post) and a torso in a suitcase (discovered by a janitor) is sick-making.

Luka = "Man from Lucania"

Rocco = "battle cry"

Magnotta = diminutive of Magna, a feminine form of Magno, "fat"


Update: See here for more information on the real Russian individual named "Vladmir Romanov" who owns the Scottish football (soccer) team named Hearts. (Thanks, aferrismoon.)

Magnotta's victim has been identified as Lin Jun (above), a 33-year-old Chinese man studying at Concordia University in Montreal. He apparently was killed on May 24th or 25th.

Magnotta is believed to be on the run in France, and reported to be obsessed by the Eiffel Tour.


Update: Magnotta has been arrested. Click here for more details.

Maryland Cannibal
On Thursday (May 31, 2012), at the 21-year-old college student Alexander Kinyua’s bail review, a judge denied him bail. But the suspect, who was arrested on Wednesday, remained calm. He said very little other than he was originally from Nairobi, Kenya, and had strong community ties to Maryland after living here for nine years. But details behind this stunning crime remain a mystery. Investigators say Kinyua killed his Morgan State University roommate 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, and then ate his heart and parts of his brain. He cut off his victim’s head and hands and stored them in his family’s townhouse on Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne, Maryland.

Alexander Kinyua, left, and Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, right.

Kinyua was due to be expelled from university after beating a fellow student with a baseball bat days earlier. That student was left blind in one eye by the apparently random attack.

Agyei-Kodie, a Ghanaian national, was also dismissed from Morgan after receiving a conviction for a fourth-degree sex offense, harassment and stalking in 2008.

I have been unable to find what exact tribal groups these men are from, or what translations there are for their names. 

Update: As a reader notes (under comments), the Kenyan's name is Kikuyu and the meaning of "Kinyua" appears to be Kiswahili for "drinker."

The Kikuyu group is culturally tied to reports of cannibalism. Furthermore, the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya occurred between 1952 and 1960, and involved the Kikuyu-dominated anti-colonial group called Mau Mau. British soldiers developed mythic racist rumors that the Mau Mau were "wild, bloodthirsty and cannibal black terrorists."

Manitoba Cannibal

Missed by most is the precursor news event to these recent cannibal stories, the one that appeared on May 22, 2012. CBC revisited the Manitoba Greyhound bus decapitation and cannibalism incident of July 30, 2008. As Andrew Griffith of Red Dirt Report pointed out to me, the news story put out across Canada during May 2012 was about Vince Weiguang Li (shown above as prisoner), who beheaded and ate a fellow passenger aboard a bus in Manitoba nearly four years ago. Li "believed he was chosen by God to save people from an alien attack."

Vince Li's victim, 22-year-old Tim McLean.

Chinese Cannibal
For more on a Chinese serial killer recently arrested, who is being called a "cannibal," click here.


Cannibals' Name Game

The similar sounding names Poppo, Rocco, and Joppatowne in these three recent stories pop into the mind's eye.

Geographical Groups of Historical Cannibals

The traditional locations of cannibalism have been specific to certain areas of the world, although individual incidents of humans eating humans are known globally. Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans in many parts of the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures, and to the present day in parts of tropical Africa. In a few cases in insular Melanesia, indigenous flesh-markets existed. Fiji was once known as the "Cannibal Isles." Cannibalism has been well documented around the world, from Fiji to the Amazon, from the Congo to Māori New Zealand. Today, the Korowai cultural group is one of very few tribes still believed to eat human flesh as a ritual practice.

Menschenfresserin by Leonhard Kern, 1650