Halloween's Tokyo Joker Attack

A man, 24, dressed as Batman's Joker, attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line on Sunday evening, October 31, 2021, injuring 17, as many party-goers headed into the city center for Halloween. The suspected attacker was arrested on the spot.

According to Reuters, the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire.

A video on Twitter showed a bespectacled man dressed in a purple suit and bright green shirt, as worn by the Joker, seated in an empty train puffing on a cigarette, his legs crossed and looking calm. He can be seen through the window being surrounded by law enforcement in a subsequent clip.

Origins

As David Charles Plate observes, "Alan Moore's The Killing Joke was the first instance of The Dark Knight rendition of Batman along with The Man Who Laughs rendition of The Joker. The Thelema connections are numerous."

It is apparent that the alleged attacker's outfit was copycatted from Heath Ledger's Joker in the "Dark Knight" costuming (which, of course, has a long history before modern cinema). However, the Tokyo individual's costume was a bit off; he was wearing a green shirt, different tie, and a purple vest, as opposed to Ledger's outfit.

The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku, the world's busiest rail station, at around 8 p.m. (1100 GMT).

Phantom Clowns and Jokers

In March of 1982, in Fate magazine, and then in 1983, in my book Mysterious America, I first used the term "Phantom Clowns" to talk of May 1981's Boston, Massachusetts accounts of individuals wearing multicolored clothes who reportedly were trying to entice school children into coming along with them. The eyewitness accounts of clowns in vans bothering children were discussed for the first time comprehensively in a work of Fortean wonders.

The ultimate modern "Killer Clown" was the Joker, which evolved into the killer Dark Knight, appearing in full form at Aurora on July 20, 2012 (see here at "red dawn," with many links therein).

The copycat effect continues....

On October 27, 2021, a Joker character with a knife ~ in Boise, Idaho, was seen but no suspect was apprehended. That would case be a classic Phantom Clown sighting (as per my Fortean clown classification system). The Japanese incident on Halloween 2021 is a physical manifestation of the Killer Clown.

Family Trees

Created in 1998 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

Phantom Clowns, Killer Clowns, Jokers, and Dark Knights issue forth from the same, sometimes deadly, "Trickster"/"Clown" tree. 

Created in 2008 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

With the change of season, we may see the appearance of members of the "Wildman"/"Santa Claus" family tree, as captured above a decade after Vallance's "Trickster" family tree.

See also here, here, and here.

h/t AProdigiosus, Chris Farnsworth, Tim Binnall, Jeffrey Vallance

#Cryptokubrology, #Batman, #Joker.

Footnote: My wife, Jenny appeared to be picking up on this Joker energy on Halloween, and said several things about Batman throughout Sunday. Humm...

Jokers Shall Quietly Repeat

There was a "High School Scare" on Halloween 2019, at the High School for Arts and Business, Corona, Queens, New York. The site is a former bowling alley changed to educational facility. 

Corona = crown 

This makes one think of "king," as in the dark subplot in Joker involving Robert De Niro [Italian: southern variant of Nero, from niro, niru 'black' (Latin niger)]. The "King of Comedy" indirectly returns from his earlier movie.

===

November 1, 2019 article in New York Post.

As of November 10, 2019, Joker has grossed $313.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $673 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $986.5 million. It is the seventh highest-grossing film of 2019 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

As of November 8, 2019, with Joker's global cumulative total of $953 million, DC Films and Warner Bros.’ Joker is the most profitable comic book movie of all time.

In 2012, Joker and his copycats killed many people. In reality.

In 2019, Joker mostly made a killing at the box-office.

"We may be through with the past, but the past is never through with us." 

~ Narrator, Magnolia, 1999, Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Are we done with the Joker's past in the future?

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” 

― Edmund Burke

“Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” 

― Sara Shepard

“Those unable to catalog the past are doomed to repeat it.” 

― Lemony Snicket

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

― George Santayana

"I've got news for Mr. Santayana: we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive.” 

― Kurt Vonnegut

Springfield Active Shooter Syncs to Sylvia Seegrist and Brenda Spencer

October 20, 2018. First hand reports from people inside Springfield Mall telling me they are locked inside American Eagle dressing room in lockdown after reports of active shooter at Springfield Mall. ~ Chris O'Connell, Fox 29, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pictured above is the American Eagle in the Springfield Mall, Pennsylvania. Below is the American Eagle store in the Springfield Mall, Virginia. The stores are widespread throughout the malls of America.

In the Atlanta area, the Stonecrest Mall had experienced a shooting on Saturday afternoon, October 20, 2018.

On October 19, 2018, a shooting had occurred in a mall in South India, in Asia, and a man was injured in an Eastdale Mall, Alabama, USA, shooting.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, October 20, 2018, police and fire crews were dispatched to the Springfield, Pennsylvania, mall at approximately 1:05 p.m. to reports of a shooting in the parking lot near the Baltimore Pike. The argument began inside the store between two groups before it moved outside and escalated to gunfire. An Ulta employee said they heard the shots, but did not see the actual incident. The shooter fled the scene, and there is no longer an active shooter situation.

+++

Springfield Mall Mass Shooting, October 30, 1985.

Sylvia Wynanda Seegrist (born July 31, 1960), an American woman, on October 30, 1985, opened fire at the Springfield Mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Seegrist killed three people and wounded seven others before being disarmed by a man who was shopping at the mall. The individuals killed included two men and a two-year-old boy.

On the first of two trips to the Springfield Mall on the day of October 30, 1985, Seegrist shopped for Halloween items at a party store. She then worked out at a fitness club, before returning to the mall for the last time.

Around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, 1985, Sylvia Seegrist, dressed in Army fatigues and black boots, parked her car at the front of the Springfield Mall. (Acquaintances said she was always angry and nicknamed her "Ms. Rambo.")
Seegrist alighted from her vehicle, a Datsun B-210, retrieved the weapon she had purchased, and then fired at a man approximately 30 yards from where she stood. The man was not hit and having seen the vehicle she arrived in, flattened one of the Datsun's tires to prevent an escape in that vehicle. Meanwhile, Seegrist had approached the nearest entrance and fired at, but missed, a woman who was using a nearby ATM. Before entering the mall, she shot and killed two-year-old Recife Cosmen who was with his parents waiting to eat at a local restaurant.

Once inside, Seegrist fired into some stores and ignored others. Though many customers fled when they heard the gunfire, she came across (Ernest) Earl Trout, who either could not or did not hear it and was simply standing in front of a store where he became one of the three people killed that day. Augusto Ferrara was the last person killed in the rampage. John Laufer, a local graduate student, disarmed her as she walked up to him and tried to raise her gun to shoot him. Laufer forced her to a nearby store while he waited for the arrival of mall security. The first guard who responded asked her why she had just done what she did; her reply was "My family makes me nervous."

Seegrist was 25 years old and had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia ten years earlier. Having been committed and discharged from mental care several times, her case stimulated discussion about the state's authority to commit at-risk people into mental care facilities versus individual rights.

+++

The following passage is straight from my 2004 book, The Copycat Effect, pages 166-167:

Brenda Spencer, 1979

"I JUST DON’T LIKE MONDAYS"

Media interest in adolescent suicide clusters reached a peak in 1987 with the Bergenfield (New Jersey) incident. Then through the early 1990s, stories about teen suicides faded from the national television, magazines, and newspapers. But it was just a matter of time before the media would find a new, ever-more-sensational, youth-oriented death phenomenon. And that would be school shootings.

The "modern era" school rampages goes back to 1979 and Brenda Spencer, a 16­year-old girl, allegedly addicted to violent films and killing birds with her bb gun. Her father had given her a .22 semi-automatic for Christmas. Spencer would later remark: "I ask him for a radio and he bought me a gun. I felt like he wanted me to kill myself."

On January 29, 1979, Spencer pointed her gun out her bedroom window to San Diego’s Cleveland Elementary School across the street. She waited for the principal to open the school. At that point, Spencer began firing on the students who were coming to school. For twenty minutes, she had the students, teachers, and the crossing guard pinned down. During that period, Spencer killed the school principal and the school’s caretaker, as well as wounding nine students, aged 6 to 12. During the next two hours, Brenda Spencer talked to the police and press, before finally surrendering. Explaining to reporters what he had done, she said: "I just started shooting, that's it. I just did it for the fun of it. I just don't like Mondays.... I just did it because it's a way to cheer the day up. Nobody likes Mondays." She finally surrendered, and was convicted on two counts of murder. Brenda Spencer is serving two 25-to-life sentences.

Brenda Spencer, 1996

The victims: Custodian Mike Suchar and Principal Burton Wragg.

The Boomtown Rats, an Irish rock group touring America at the time of the Spencer shooting, decided to write a song about the event. "I Don't Like Mondays" became their most successful and most enduring hit despite the fact that many American radio stations refused to play it....
A decade would pass — almost to the day — before shootings at schools would start to be "news." On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy, also known as Patrick West and by other names, returned to the school he had attended 15 years before. But he wasn’t interested in a pleasant homecoming. Instead, Purdy, wearing a t-shirt with the word Satan on it, opened fire at the playground of the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, killing five children and wounding 35 youngsters and a teacher with his AK-47. All were the children of Southeast Asian refugees. Purdy then turned the gun on himself, and died by suicide.

Both the Purdy and Spencer incidents were atypical of the later school shooters pattern. Neither was current member of the student body they attacked, and Spencer was female; most school shooters who caused fatalities in the late 1990s were males who were suicidal. But the era of school shooters was dawning, and it would clearly follow a copycat blueprint attentively "followed," if not fueled, by the media. ©Loren Coleman 2004.

Brenda Spencer, 2009.

Brenda Spencer, 2017.

John A. Keel's Brother Has Died

John Alva Keel, 79, known for his UFO research and books, including The Mothman Prophecies, lived most of his life in New York City. He died July 3, 2009, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, after some months in a nursing home near his Upper West Side apartment.

Alva John Kiehle (later to be known as John Keel) was born on March 25, 1930, in Hornell, New York, the son of a small-time bandleader. His parents separated and he was raised by his grandparents. Various half- and full-siblings survived him in upstate New York State and then throughout the country.

One was Raymond Kiley. He has passed away. Below is his obituary. 

Raymond L. Kiley {January 15, 1941 - June 4, 2018}
PERRY {New York} — Raymond L. Kiley, 77 of Perry, passed away on Monday, June 4, 2018. He was born in Warsaw, to the late Chester (Irene Gibbs) Kiley. He is preceded in death by his brother, John Keel.
Ray enjoyed collecting sap, making maple syrup, fishing and cutting wood. He attended services at the First Congregational Church in Perry Center. Ray was a man that loved to work and was still working for Donald G. Butler Construction in Perry.
He is survived by his children, Joyce Wilson of Las Vegas, Nev., Christine (Ken) Gilbert of Pavilion, Denise (Patrick) McIntyre of Perry, Daniel (Wendy) Kiley of Perry; sisters, Mary White and Cheryl Keaton, both of Florida; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; along with many nieces and nephews.
{Raymond L. Kiley was} laid to rest in Glenwood Cemetery in Perry {New York}. Source.

Raymond Kiley enjoyed Halloween. 

Thanks to P.H. and D.S. for info and/or images.

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.