Laughing Jack-Inspired Murder

Perhaps it is the ultimate Phantom Clown story. 

A correspondent tonight writes: "One of the more disturbing clown events to take place this year. Laughing Jack, a character brewed up on the same site The Slender Man was created. The 12 year old girl claims, Laughing Jack told her to fatally stab her stepmother to death."

~ Urban Dictionary

The New York Daily News captures the latest...

A 12-year-old Indiana girl who fatally stabbed her stepmother said an online horror story clown named “Laughing Jack” told her to do it, according to reports.
The Elkhart girl set her family’s apartment on fire and stabbed Maria Torres “at the direction of a fictional character found on the CreepyPasta website known as 'Laughing Jack,’” according to court documents filed Tuesday and cited by WSBT-TV.
The admission by the girl, who has been declared incompetent to stand trial in the July killing, comes after two Wisconsin girls said they tried to kill their friend in May 2014 to please a different character from the fan-created horror story collections named “Slender Man.”

* * * 

The unidentified Elkhart girl “heard voices and had an 'alter ego' months before the stabbing and begged her father for help,” the court documents said.
One website that posts readers’ own fictional horror stories, creepypasta.com, blocked the Daily News from accessing its site after an inquiry about the stabbings allegedly inspired by CreepyPasta characters. Another one, creepypasta.org, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Doctors have diagnosed the Indiana girl as suffering from post-traumatic stress and dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, WSBT reported. She’s been living for months in a Goshen juvenile detention center, where she’s seeing a counselor and taking medication but still pleading staff for help. She won’t stand trial unless she’s deemed fit to understand the charges against her.
Her family’s main concern is getting her transferred to a state mental hospital after 16 psychiatric facilities have refused her, the girl’s lawyer, Elkhart public defender Holly Curtis, told the TV station.
“This little girl has been failed by everyone,” Curtis said. “The risk level for her is beyond anything I think anybody can imagine. For her not to be able to get the help she's crying out for is probably one of the biggest travesties I've seen so far with the system and with a state agency not willing to step up and do their job.”
State officials have promised to comply with a juvenile court order to move the girl into a mental institution.
“There is work being done to find the appropriate place for this young woman,” state Family and Social Services Administration spokeswoman Marni Lemons said, noting privacy concerns prohibited her from sharing more information about the case.

The overlap between the CreepyPasta clown, Laughing Jack, and Slenderman is, well, creepy, especially because of the recent history of violence with both. A judge ruled in August that the two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls would charged and put on trial as adults. The girls said Slenderman threatened them and their families, if they didn't do his bidding. Plus Slenderman told them he would invite them into his forest castle, if they just would kill one of their classmates.

Metropolis Maria Appears

On November 14, 2015, I was given the Lifetime Achievement in Cryptozoology Award by 2015 PA MUFON, bestowed by the Pennsylvania State Director John Ventre. I was shocked and surprised it was the False Maria from Metropolis, a personal favorite of mine, a fact unknown to these PA folks. Indeed, my wife Jenny had done a painting of Metropolis's robotic wonder for me, months ago.

Ventre (here with his alien partners in crime) made it an adventure by dropping the award twice, as he walked into the college to present it to me. The legs, arms, a hand, and head broke off. Indeed, the statuette was decapitated.

The head went missing for hours. Search parties were assembled, but it could not be found. Then, Erie Ohio's Thomas Lee Curtin Jr. (above) presented me with the head he had found in the brush outside the lecture hall. The day - or at least, the head - was saved, and now to put False Maria back together.

What was I to do? Ventre declared he was not going to touch it again. Luckily, former Yankees' and other MLB teams' pitcher, MUFON insider George "Doc" Medich came to the rescue with super glue. I glued the statute temporarily, and the reconstruction allowed the ceremony to proceed. (The entire body broke away from the base, on the flight home, due to rough baggage handling, apparently, and another repair is in order).

But the Award was in hand, and I am honored by it.

The Award

Stan Gordon, Mord McGhee, and Loren Coleman

False Maria

False Maria and Beyoncé (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter).

Beyoncé (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter) and 

J.Lo (Jennifer Lynn Lopez) as False Maria.

What great symbolism.

The Maschinenmensch (German for "machine-human") is a fictional character in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, played by German actress Brigitte Helm in both its robot form and human incarnation. She is a gynoid (female robot or android) created by the scientist Rotwang. Named Maria in the film, and Futura in Thea von Harbou's original novel Metropolis, she was the first robot ever depicted in cinema.
The Maschinenmensch has been given several names through the decades: Parody, Ultima, Machina, Futura, Robotrix, False Maria, Robot Maria, Roboria and Hel. The intertitles of the 2010 restoration of Metropolis quotes Rotwang, the robot's creator, referring to his gynoid Maschinenmensch, literally translated as "Machine human." Source.

This all happened in the weird neverland of Youngwood, Pennsylvania, as world events swirled around a weekend dominated by Friday the 13th of November 2015's Paris Terror Attack. There was more talk of Fayettenam than Paris, as it turned out. That seemed rather bizarre.

Fayettenam

While I was in SW Pennsylvania last weekend giving a talk at a conference, I met several people who were from Fayette County, Pennsylvania. One of the most entertaining was a man named Fred, who use to be a policeman for the town of Fayette City in that county.

Fred became the point man to whom all the other law enforcement officers would send reports of UFOs, Bigfoot, and other strange phenomena. He also told me that police and folks called the area Fayettenam, as a way to describe how crazy things got there. 

Of course, due to my interest and what I've written in the past about the "Fayette Factor" - which relates to the surprisingly high incidence of inexpliable events linked to places named after one of the USA's Founding Fathers, the Marquis de Lafayette - I was intrigued by this business of Fayettenam. 

I asked myself, how widespread is the use of Fayettenam?

I was to discover it was shared by many Fayettes, Lafayettes, and Lafayettevilles, around the country.

 ~Urban Dictionary

According to Fred, Fayette County, Pennsylvania's neighboring state's Fayette County and Fayetteville, in West Virginia, must be added to the list. Folks thereabout call the area Fayettenam too.

But the Fayettenam that dominates the Internet, is the city of Fayetteville in North Carolina, which overlaps with a famed military base. See, for instance, this from 2012:
"Sequestration ground zero: 'Fayette-nam,'" in Politico.

As one ex-military individual observed:

When I lived at Ft. Bragg in the late 1970s, Fayettenam referred to the fact that there was a lot of violence being purpetrated by the military that was living on base. Lots of fights, shootings, etc., between the military and the locals. It also referred to a very high crime rate at that time, particularly crime against the military by the residents. It was literally a "battle zone." Source.

But Pennsylvania's Fayettenam is represented, as well. A few years ago, a website, "Dispatches from Fayettenam," carried bizarre stories of crimes from Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They were ones like this:

Connellsville robber who blamed talking cat sentenced to prison
Friday, August 16, 2013
A Fayette County man who allegedly told police a talking cat convinced him to steal a car, rob a bank and ram a police car was sentenced to up to five years in prison and ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.
Judge John F. Wagner Jr. imposed the 2 ½- to 5-year sentence on James Anthony Shroyer, 51, of Connellsville as part of a plea bargain in which Shroyer entered guilty pleas to charges that included aggravated assault, robbery and receiving stolen property.
Shroyer on Thursday asked the judge to order the mental health assessment because he is “seeing things and hearing voices.” At the time of his arrest in March, Shroyer told troopers he embarked on the mini crime spree at the urging of a talking cat, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said Shroyer stole a Chevy Cavalier in Connellsville March 28 and drove it to the First National Bank on Indian Head Road in Springfield Township. He covered his face, entered the bank, pointed a concealed item at a teller and demanded cash.
...
During an interview with troopers at the Uniontown barracks, Shroyer told them a “cat told him to take the car and get the money with the plastic gun.” According to a criminal complaint, Shroyer told the officers he took the Cavalier when the same cat “jumped up on the car and told him to steal it.”
Shroyer told the troopers he rammed the patrol car, according to the complaint, because the “cat was telling him to hit the cops.”

Meanwhile, in Fayette, Alabama, this just occurred:

A Fayette teenager was killed Saturday evening [November 14, 2015] when her car left the roadway and hit a ditch.
Samantha Lauren Watkins, 19, wasn't wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Alabama state troopers. Watkins was driving a 2003 Honda Accord.
The crash occurred at around 6:13 p.m. on Alabama 102 near the 14 mile marker, 16 miles east of Fayette. Source.

Besides, Fayette, this one event also involved the recent power name Samantha (see here) and the old standard Watkins (see here). Then there's the fact the story contained the "Lauren" name too. (Lauren meaning may be "Laurel tree," "sweet of honor" or "victory of wisdom". It can also be derived from "laurel" in Latin meaning "seer of second sight" or gift of prophecy as well as immortality, and superior intelligence. Of course, it is the female version of Loren.)

So, as you travel around the country, at least, watch your back when in a Fayettenam!

Friday the 13th = France's 9/11

The date is significant. It always is in a terror attack.

One media report dramatically summarized what happened, as if it was a cinematic plot. One eyewitness said the police on the street, creeping towards the Bataclan, looked like "they were in a movie."

"On a night when thousands of Paris residents and tourists were reveling and fans were enjoying a soccer match between France and world champion Germany, horror struck in an unprecedented manner. Terrorists -- some with AK-47s, some reportedly with bombs strapped to them -- attacked sites throughout the French capital and at the stadium where the soccer match was underway."

What do we know about November 13th?

• 1914 – Zaian War: Berber tribesmen inflict the heaviest defeat of French forces in Morocco at the Battle of El Herri.

• 1947 – The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.
• 1995 – A truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claims responsibility.
• 2001 – War on Terror: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected. 
• 2015 – the November 2015 Paris attacks, A set of coordinated terror attacks in Paris, France including multiple shootings, explosions, and a hostage crisis in the 10th arrondissement of Paris and the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

At least 6 coordinated attacks occurred. Sky News is saying 158 were killed in Paris. All attackers have been killed by law enforcement officers or died by suicide, states Fox News, after reports circulated all night that some were still at large.

Update: By November 14, 2015, the number of deaths was restated as 128 people killed by the terrorists. Reportedly, 8 terrorists were known dead, with 7 of them dying by suicide.

The Bataclan is a theatre located at 50 boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

Built in 1864 by the architect Charles Duval, its name refers to Ba-Ta-Clan, an operetta by Offenbach, but it is also a pun on the expression le tout bataclan(the whole caboodle), the oldest written use of which predates Offenbach in a journal entry of 11 Nov 1761 by Favart. The nearest Métro stations are Oberkampf on Line 5 and Line 9 and Filles du Calvaire on Line 8.

Some individuals escaping from the Bataclan mentioned they had to get back to their cars parked on the rue La Fayette. The Fayette factor?

My Friday the 13th tweet, send out a few minutes before 10 AM Eastern USA, I now find haunting: "Woke to a red dawn...."

We're there visual precursors, syncinematically?

A Strange Murder on the 33rd Parallel North

The story began innocently enough. A body had been found near an isolated county road.

But as it began to unfold, the details seemed more and more bizarre. 

On November 9, 2015, a female body was found in the woods about five miles from Highway 82 on South Sandy Road. The person had been tied to a tree. The body had been stabbed. And it happened around Halloween. 

The site is on the 33rd parallel north latitude. This is significant in twilight language. See "33s: The Rebirth of Pan."

Finally, the victim was identified, as Samantha Payne, whose birthday is October 30th.

On November 10, 2015, reporter Travis Vaughn filed this report with the Moundville Times:

Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating the grisly discovery of a dead Maplesville woman who was found tied to a tree in the Talladega National Forest on Monday, November 9, and have already arrested two suspects in connection with the death.
The victim has been identified as Samantha Christine Payne, 29, from Maplesville.
A hunter reportedly made the discovery in the Oakmulgee Division of the Talladega National Forest Monday morning around 9:00 a.m. in the forest and close to the South Sandy Shooting Range, off South Sandy Road. The area is near where Hale, Bibb, and Tuscaloosa counties come together.
Late Monday evening, Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Michael Jackson issued this press release: "A female was found tied to a tree in Hale County. She had stab wounds and was dead. Her body was found in the National Forest. The Tuscaloosa Police Department and Hale County and Bibb County Sheriff's Office are investigating. Michael Belcher is the suspect in custody.”
Belcher is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a Capital Murder charge.
Another suspect, Chylli Bruce, 18, of Brent, has also been charged with Capital Murder and is also being held in Tuscaloosa County. More arrests are possible.
Investigators believe Payne, Belcher, and Bruce were together the night of November 1 in Bibb County and that Payne was killed and her body was left sometime between November 1 and early morning of November 2. On the morning of Monday, November 2, law enforcement from Hale and Tuscaloosa counties came into contact with Bruce and Stephen George, 27, of Brent, on South Sandy Road after receiving a call about a suspicious vehicle. Hale County deputies arrested Bruce and George that day on drug charges.
Payne’s body was discovered a week later in the woods 100 yards or so off South Sandy Road. (Permission granted by Vaughn to reprint it here.)

One of the prime suspects arrested is Michael David Belcher, 31. The group "Stop Judicial Corruption in Alabama" has characterized Belcher as an "Alleged Bibb County Drug Kingpin."

Chylli Bruce, 18, was also taken into custody as a suspect.

The victim, Samantha Christine Payne, 29, from Maplesville, had a birthday on October 30, the day before Halloween. She went to Maplesville High School as a teen.

There is some indication that the victim and the arrested parties were fans of the Insane Clown Posse, from Facebook photographs and "likes" (although most have been deleted recently).

Maplesville High School mascot is the Red Devils, complete with Trident and their team's Devil Mascot.

In the Bridgewater Triangle, there once was a similar case that took place decades ago.

That incident was in the Freetown State Forest, Massachusetts, of a dead teen found tied to a tree. In the 1980s, some law enforcement folks talked of the theory it was a Satanic cult killing. But investigators tended to go with straight murder. It became a famed crime story in that area:

From Wikipedia - 

In November, 1978, the body of Mary Lou Arruda, a 15-year-old cheerleader abducted from Raynham, Massachusetts that September, was discovered tied to a tree in the [Freetown-Fall River] state forest. James M. Kater of Brockton, previously convicted of kidnapping in 1967, was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Arruda in 1979. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict, and he was convicted again in 1986. The verdict once again overturned; he was retried in 1992, with that attempt ending in a mistrial

Meanwhile...

Some followers of Insane Clown Posse, also known as Juggalos and Juggalettes, have been known to be involved in alleged kidnappings, killings, and attempted murders. See, especially, the incidents in 2008 and 2011.

Intriguingly, there may have been ISP crimes due South of the site of the Payne killing.

For example, according to a Dothan, Alabama police statement, a robbery took place around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at the Hobo Pantry store. The police reported a man armed with knife stole some cash and ran from the store toward Westgate Parkway. The robber was a white male, about 6 feet tall, who weighed 175 to 180 pounds, had blue or green eyes, wore desert camouflage pants, a black hooded sweater with red and green animated pictures on it along with the black and white Insane Clown Posse mask over his head.

What is known, here in 2015, is that Samantha (a name meaning "flower" that became popular in the USA, after 1964, with its use on the television program Bewitched) Payne (sounds like "pain"; means "villager, rustic," and later "heathen" from Middle English Payn, Old French Paien, which was often given to children whose baptism had been postponed or adults whose religious zeal was lacking) is dead. Two or three suspects have been associated with a crime that must be difficult for her family and friends to believe happened.