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Japan’s ”Unit 731”. All The Torture, None Of The Guilt

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Units 731 is a hardcore metal band formed in Pittsburgh, PA, in 2005. The band combines death metal, hardcore, and slam to create a heavy and chaotic sound for which Pittsburgh bands are notable. Influences include Dying Fetus, All Out War, Irate, and Built Upon Frustration.

Ok, wait… wrong notes. Um… ok, here it is. The Unit 731 we're here to talk about is short for Manshu Detachment 731. It was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that participated in lethal human experimentation and the production of biological weapons during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. Unit 731 was based in the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Manchukuo's government was dissolved in 1945 after the surrender of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. The territories claimed by Manchukuo were first seized in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 and then formally transferred to the Chinese administration in the following year. 

For those of you wondering, "what in the Jim Henson hell is a puppet state," well, according to Wikipedia, a puppet state "is a state that is legally recognized as independent but, in fact, completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders. Puppet states have nominal sovereignty, but a foreign power effectively exercises control through financial interests and economic or military support.

The United States also had some puppet states during the Cold War:

• Cuba (United States), (before 1959)
• Guatemala (United States), (until 1991)
• South Korea A.K.A. United States Army Military Government in Korea (United States), (Until 1948)
• The Republic of Vietnam A.K.A. South Vietnam (United States), (Until 1975)
• Japan A.K.A. Allied Occupation of Japan (United States), (Until 1952)

Some of the most infamous war crimes committed by the Japanese military forces were caused by this Unit. Internally dehumanized and referred to as "logs," humans were regularly used in Unit 731 testing. 

 

Some atrocious experiments included: disease injections, controlled dehydration, hypobaric chamber experiments, biological weapons testing, vivisection, amputation, and weapons testing. Babies, children, and pregnant women were among the victims. Although the victims were from various countries, the majority were Chinese. Additionally, Unit 731 created biological weapons employed in regions of China, including Chinese cities and towns, water supplies, and farms, that were not held by Japanese soldiers. 

 

Up to 500,000 people are thought to have been murdered by Unit 731 and its related activities. It was called "The Kwantung Army's Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department." Unit 731 was first established by the Kenpeitai military police of the Empire of Japan. General Shiro Ishii, a combat medic officer in the Kwantung Army, took control and oversaw the unit until the war's conclusion. Ishii and his crew used the facility, constructed in 1935 to replace the Zhongma Fortress, to increase their capabilities. 

 

Up to the end of the war in 1945, the Japanese government generously supported the initiative. Facilities for the manufacturing, testing, deployment and storage of biological weapons were controlled by Unit 731 and the other units of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. While researchers from Unit 731 detained by Soviet troops were convicted in the Khabarovsk war crime trials in December 1949, those seized by American forces were secretly granted immunity in exchange for the information obtained during their human experimentation. 

 

As if we needed more bullshit to make us question the tactics of the U.S. government, The U.S. quelled the talk of the human experiments and paid the accused of doing it an actual salary. So then, similar to what they did with German researchers during Operation Paperclip, the Americans siphoned and took their knowledge of and expertise with bioweapons for use in their own program for biological warfare. Japan started its biological weapons program in the 1930s, partly because biological weapons were banned by the Geneva Convention of 1925; they reasoned that the ban verified its effectiveness as a weapon. 

 

This begs the question, does this type of government appropriation, paying off and hiring those guilty of explicit acts on humans to use their knowledge to create our own versions of what they committed, considered an act "for the greater good?" Does allowing these turds' immunity to extract their heinous experience worth it?

 

Japan's occupation of Manchuria began in 1931 after the Japanese invasion. Japan decided to build Unit 731 in Manchuria because the occupation not only gave the Japanese advantage of separating the research station from their island but also gave them access to as many Chinese individuals as they wanted for use as human experimental subjects. They viewed the Chinese as no-cost research subjects and hoped they could use this advantage to lead the world in biological warfare. Most research subjects were Chinese, but many were of different nationalities. 

 

Sound familiar? Maybe a precursor to what a bunch of mind fucked Nazis attempted AND SUCCEEDED IN DOING to so many Jews and Jewish sympathizers? 

 

In 1932, Surgeon General Shirō Ishii, chief medical officer of the Imperial Japanese Army and protégé of Army Minister Sadao Araki, was placed in command of the Army Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory (AEPRL). Ishii organized a secret research group, the "Tōgō Unit," for chemical and biological experimentation in Manchuria. Ishii proposed the creation of a Japanese biological and chemical research unit in 1930, after a two-year study trip abroad, because Western powers were developing their own programs. Colonel Chikahiko Koizumi, who eventually served as Japan's Health Minister from 1941 to 1945, was one of Ishii's most fierce supporters inside the Army. In 1915, during World War I, Koizumi and other Imperial Japanese Army officers were inspired by the Germans' successful use of chlorine gas at the Second Battle of Ypres (EEPRUH), in which the Allies suffered 5,000 fatalities and 15,000 injuries as a result of the chemical attack. As a result, they joined a covert poison gas research committee. As a result, unit Togo was started in the Zhongma Fortress, a prison/experimentation camp in Beiyinhe, a hamlet on the South Manchuria Railway 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Harbin. 

 

To start the tests on those in good health, prisoners were often well-fed on a diet of rice or wheat, meat, fish, and perhaps even wine. The inmates were then starved of food and drink and had their blood drained over many days. Finally, it was noted that their health was declining. Shocker. 

Some were vivisected as well. For those who don't watch or listen to disturbing documentaries, vivisection is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structures. Others had been purposefully exposed to the plague bacterium and other pathogens. Ishii had to close down Zhongma Fortress due to a jailbreak in the fall of 1934 that jeopardized the facility's secret and an explosion in 1935 that was thought to be sabotage. Then he was given permission to relocate to Pingfang, which is 24 km (15 mi) south of Harbin, to set up a new, much larger facility. 

Emperor Hirohito signed a decree in 1936 approving the unit's growth and its incorporation as the Epidemic Prevention Department into the Kwantung Army. It had bases at Hsinking and was split into the "Ishii Unit" and "Wakamatsu Unit." The units were collectively referred to as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army" from August 1940 onward. Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Mikasa, toured the Unit 731 headquarters in China and wrote in his memoir that he watched films showing how Chinese prisoners were "made to march on the plains of Manchuria for poison gas experiments on humans." The decree also mandated the construction of a chemical warfare development unit, the Kwantung Army Technical Testing Department, and a biological warfare development unit, the Kwantung Army Military Horse Epidemic Prevention Workshop (later known as Manchuria Unit 100). (subsequently referred to as Manchuria Unit 516). 

 

Sister chemical and biological warfare organizations known as Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Units were established in significant Chinese towns during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Unit 1855 in Beijing, Unit Ei 1644 in Nanjing, Unit 8604 in Guangzhou, and Unit 9420 in Singapore were among the detachments. Ishii's network, which at its height in 1939 had control over 10,000 people, was made up of all these organizations. In addition, Japanese medical practitioners and academics were drawn to Unit 731 by the opportunity to perform human experiments, which was highly unusual, and the Army's robust financial support.

 

Experiments

 

Human subjects were used in studies for a specific project with the codename Maruta. Test subjects were selected from the local populace and were referred to as "logs," as in the phrase "How many logs fell?" Since the facility's official cover story to local authorities was that it was a timber mill, the personnel first used the word as a joke. The initiative was internally known as "Holzklotz," which is German, meaning log, according to a junior uniformed civilian employee of the Imperial Japanese Army working in Unit 731. Nothing like dehumanizing the poor people you're experimenting on.

 

Another similarity was the cremation of the "sacrificed" participants' corpses. Additionally, Unit 731 researchers published some findings in peer-reviewed publications while posing as non-human primates termed "Manchurian monkeys" or "long-tailed monkeys" to do the research.

 

According to American historian Sheldon H. Harris:

 

"The Togo Unit employed gruesome tactics to secure specimens of select body organs. If Ishii or one of his co-workers wished to do research on the human brain, then they would order the guards to find them a useful sample. A prisoner would be taken from his cell. Guards would hold him while another guard would smash the victim's head open with an ax. His brain would be extracted off to the pathologist, and then to the crematorium for the usual disposal."

 

Nakagawa Yonezo, professor emeritus at Osaka University, studied at Kyoto University during the war. While there, he watched footage of human experiments and executions from Unit 731. He later testified about the "playfulness of the experimenters:"

 

'Some of the experiments had nothing to do with advancing the capability of germ warfare, or of medicine. There is such a thing as professional curiosity: 'What would happen if we did such and such?' What medical purpose was served by performing and studying beheadings? None at all. That was just playing around. Professional people, too, like to play.""

 

Prisoners were injected with diseases disguised as vaccinations to study their effects. For example, to analyze the results of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea, then studied. Prisoners were also repeatedly subjected to rape by guards.

 

Vivisection

Thousands of people held in prisoner of war camps were subjected to vivisection (You all know what that is now. Organizations against animal experimentation generally use the phrase as a derogatory catch-all term for experiments on living animals, whereas practicing scientists seldom ever do. Live organ harvesting and other forms of human vivisection, as we also know, have been used as torture.), which was frequently done without anesthetic and was typically fatal. Okawa Fukumatsu, a former member of Unit 731, said in a video interview that he had vivisected a pregnant woman. Prisoners were infected with numerous illnesses before having their bodies vivisected. Invasive surgery was conducted on inmates to remove organs and learn how the condition affects the human body.

 

Inmates' limbs were severed so researchers could monitor blood loss. Sometimes the victims' corpses' severed limbs were reattached to their opposite sides. In addition, some convicts had surgical procedures to remove their stomachs and reconnect their esophagus to their intestines. Others had parts of their organs removed, including the brain, the liver, and the lungs. According to Imperial Japanese Army physician Ken Yuasa, at least 1,000 Japanese soldiers participated in vivisection on humans in mainland China, suggesting that the practice was commonly done outside Unit 731.

 

Biological warfare

 

Throughout World War II, Unit 731 and its related units—including Unit 1644 and Unit 100—were engaged in the study, production, and experimental use of epidemic-producing biowarfare weapons in attacks against the Chinese population (both military and civilian). For example, in 1940 and 1941, low-flying aircraft carried plague-carrying fleas over Chinese towns, notably coastal Ningbo and Changde, in the Hunan Province. These fleas were produced in the labs of Unit 731 and Unit 1644.

 

With bubonic plague epidemics, these flea bombs claimed tens of thousands of lives. During an expedition to Nanjing, typhoid and paratyphoid virus were dispersed into water supplies across the city's wells, marshes, and residences and infused into snacks served to inhabitants. Soon after, epidemics spread to the joy of many scientists, who concluded that paratyphoid fever was "the most effective" of the diseases.

 

At least 12 large-scale bioweapon field tests were conducted, and biological weapons were used to target 11 Chinese cities. According to reports, a 1941 raid on Changde resulted in some 10,000 biological injuries and 1,700 deaths among poorly equipped Japanese soldiers, most of which died of cholera. In addition, Japanese researchers conducted experiments on inmates suffering from cholera, smallpox, bubonic plague, and other illnesses. The defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb, which were used to spread the bubonic plague, were developed as a result of this study. Ishii presented the concept of designing some of these bombs using porcelain shells in 1938.

 

These bombs allowed Japanese forces to launch biological strikes, infecting crops, water supplies, and other places with cholera, typhoid, anthrax, and other deadly illnesses via fleas. Researchers would study the victims dying during biological bomb trials while protected by protective suits. Aircraft would deliver contaminated food and clothes into parts of China that were not under Japanese control. Additionally, innocent people received candies and food that had been tainted.

 

On several targets, bombs containing plague fleas, contaminated clothes, and infected goods were dropped upon the unsuspecting citizens. As a result, at least 400,000 Chinese citizens were killed due to cholera, anthrax, and plague. Also tested on Chinese citizens was tularemia, Also known as rabbit fever or deer fly fever, which typically attacks the skin, eyes, lymph nodes, and lungs.

 

Chiang Kai-shek dispatched military and international medical specialists delegation to document the evidence and treat the sick in November 1941 in response to pressure from various stories of the biowarfare assaults. However, the Allied Powers did not respond to a report on the Japanese deployment of plague-infected fleas on Changde until Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a public warning in 1943 denouncing the attacks. The announcement was made publicly available the following year.

 

Obviously, this is ridiculous and inhumane, but it couldn't be used on us here in the U.S. of "Don't Tread On Me" A, right?

 

Well, hold on to your stars and stripes because during the final months of World War II, codenamed "Cherry Blossoms at Night," Unit 731 planned to use kamikaze pilots to infest San Diego, California, with the plague. The plan was scheduled to launch on September 22, 1945, but Japan surrendered five weeks earlier. So yep, if the United States had not dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there could have been a man-made plague set upon the west coast.

 

Weapons testing

Human targets were used to test grenades positioned at various distances and positions. Flamethrowers were also tested on people. Victims were also tied to stakes and used as targets to test pathogen-releasing bombs, chemical weapons, shrapnel bombs with varying amounts of fragments, explosive bombs, and bayonets and knives.

 

To determine the best course of treatment for varying degrees of shrapnel wounds sustained on the field by Japanese Soldiers, Chinese prisoners were exposed to direct bomb blasts. They were strapped, unprotected, to wooden planks staked into the ground at increasing distances around a bomb that was then detonated. After that, it was surgery for most and autopsies for the rest.

 

This info was taken from the documentary — Unit 731, Nightmare in Manchuria

 

Other experiments

 

In other diplorable tests, subjects were deprived of food and water to determine the length of time until death. They would then be placed into low-pressure chambers until their eyes popped from the sockets. Next, victims were tested to determine the relationship between temperature, burns, and human survival. Next, they were hung upside down until death; crushed with heavy objects; electrocuted; dehydrated with hot fans, placed into centrifuges, and spun until they died. People were also injected with animal blood, notably horse blood; exposed to lethal doses of X-rays; subjected to various chemical weapons inside gas chambers; injected with seawater; and burned or buried alive.

 

The Unit also looked at the characteristics of several other poisons and chemical agents. Prisoners were subjected to substances like tetrodotoxin (the venom of pufferfish or fugu), heroin, Korean bindweed, bactal, and castor-oil seeds, to mention a few (ricin). In addition, according to former Unit 731 vivisectionist Okawa Fukumatsu, large volumes of blood were removed from some detainees to research the consequences of blood loss. At least half a liter of blood was taken in one instance at intervals of two to three days. 

 

The human body only contains 5 liters.

 

As we mentioned, dehydration experiments were performed on the victims. These tests aimed to determine the amount of water in an individual's body and how long one could survive with little to no water intake. Victims were also starved before these tests began. The deteriorating physical states of these victims were documented by staff at periodic intervals.

 

"It was said that a small number of these poor men, women, and children who became marutas were also mummified alive in total dehydration experiments. They sweated themselves to death under the heat of several hot dry fans. At death, the corpses would only weigh ≈1/5 normal bodyweight."

 

— Hal Gold, Japan's Infamous Unit 731, (2019)

 

Unit 731 also performed transfusion experiments with different blood types. For example, unit member Naeo Ikeda wrote:

 

In my experience, when 100 cc A type blood was transfused to an O-type subject, whose pulse was 87 per minute and temperature was 35.4 degrees C, 30 minutes later, their temperature rose to 38.6 degrees with slight trepidation. Sixty minutes later, their pulse was 106 per minute, and the temperature was 39.4 degrees. The temperature was 37.7 degrees two hours later, and the subject recovered three hours later. When 120 cc of AB-type blood was transfused to an O-type subject, an hour after the subject described malaise and psychroesthesia (feeling cold) in both legs. When 100 cc of A.B. type blood was transfused to a B-type subject, there seemed to be no side effects.

 

Taken from— "Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century" (2006) pp. 38–39

Unit 731 tested a slew of chemical agents on prisoners and had a building dedicated to gas experiments. Some of the agents tested were mustard gas, lewisite, cyanic acid gas, white phosphorus, adamsite, and phosgene gas. To put things in horrific perspective, the mortality rate from mustard gas was only 2-3%. Still, those who suffered chemical burns and respiratory problems had prolonged hospitalizations and, if they recovered, were thought to be at higher risk of developing cancers during later life. The toxic effects of lewisite are rapid onset and result from acute exposures. The vesicant properties of lewisite result from direct skin contact; it has been estimated that as little as 2 ml to an adult human (equivalent to 37.6 mg/kg) can be fatal within several hours. Airborne release of cyanide gas, in the form of hydrogen cyanide or cyanogen chloride, would be expected to be lethal to 50% of those exposed (LCt50) at levels of 2,500-5,000 mg•min/m^3 and 11,000 mg•min/m^3, respectively. When ingested as sodium or potassium cyanide, the lethal dose is 100-200 mg. According to a medical report prepared during the hostilities by the ministry of health, "[w]hite phosphorus can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed." The report states that burns on less than 10 percent of the body can be fatal because of liver, kidneys, and heart damage. Adamsite (D.M.) is a vomiting compound used as a riot-control agent (military designation, D.M.). It is released as an aerosol. Adverse health effects from exposure to adamsite (D.M.) are generally self-limited and do not require specific therapy. Most adverse health effects resolve within 30 minutes. Exposure to large concentrations of adamsite (D.M.), or exposure to adamsite (D.M.) within an enclosed space or under adverse weather conditions, may result in more severe adverse health effects, serious illness, or death. 

Phosgene is highly toxic by acute (short-term) inhalation exposure. Severe respiratory effects, including pulmonary edema, pulmonary emphysema, and death, have been reported in humans. Severe ocular irritation and dermal burns may result following eye or skin exposure. It is estimated that as many as 85% of the 91,000 gas deaths in WWI were a result of phosgene or the related agent, diphosgene

A former army major and technician gave the following testimony anonymously (at the time of the interview, this man was a professor emeritus at a national university):

"In 1943, I attended a poison gas test held at the Unit 731 test facilities. A glass-walled chamber about three meters square [97 sq ft] and two meters [6.6 ft] high was used. Inside of it, a Chinese man was blindfolded, with his hands tied around a post behind him. The gas was adamsite (sneezing gas), and as the gas filled the chamber the man went into violent coughing convulsions and began to suffer excruciating pain. More than ten doctors and technicians were present. After I had watched for about ten minutes, I could not stand it any more, and left the area. I understand that other types of gasses were also tested there."

 

Taken from— Hal Gold, Japan's Infamous Unit 731, p. 349 (2019)

 

Super gross.

Takeo Wano, a former medical employee of Unit 731, claimed to have observed a Western man being pickled in formaldehyde after being chopped in half vertically. Because so many Russians were residing in the neighborhood at the time, Wano suspected that the man was Russian.

Additionally, Unit 100 experimented with poisonous gas. The captives were housed in mobile gas chambers that resembled phone booths. Others donned military uniforms, while others were made to wear various sorts of gas masks, and other people wore nothing at all.

It's been said that some of the tests are "psychopathically cruel, with no possible military purpose." One experiment, for instance, measured how long it took for three-day-old newborns to freeze to death. Jesus christ.

Additionally, Unit 731 conducted field tests of chemical weapons on detainees. An unknown researcher at the Kamo Unit (Unit 731) wrote a paper that details a significant (mustard gas) experiment on humans from September 7–10, 1940. Twenty participants were split into three groups and put in observation gazebos, trenches, and fighting emplacements. One group received up to 1,800 field cannon rounds of mustard gas for 25 minutes while wearing Chinese underpants, without a cap or a mask. Another set had shoes and a summer military outfit; three wore masks, while the others did not.

 

They also were exposed to as many as 1,800 rounds of mustard gas. A third group was clothed in summer military uniform, three with masks and two without masks, and were exposed to as many as 4,800 rounds. Then their general symptoms and damage to the skin, eye, respiratory organs, and digestive organs were observed at 4 hours, 24 hours, and 2, 3, and 5 days after the shots. 

Holy shit. Then the psychopaths injected the blister fluid from one subject into another, and analyses of blood and soil were also performed. Finally, five subjects were forced to drink a water solution of mustard and lewisite gas, with or without decontamination. The report describes the conditions of every subject precisely without mentioning what happened to them in the long run. The following is an excerpt of one of these reports:

 

"Number 376, dugout of the first area:

 

September 7, 1940, 6 pm: Tired and exhausted. Looks with hollow eyes. Weeping redness of the skin of the upper part of the body. Eyelids edematous (uh-dim-uh-tose)(Swollen with fluid), swollen. Epiphora. (excessive watering), Hyperemic conjunctivae (ocular redness).

 

September 8, 1940, 6 am: Neck, breast, upper abdomen, and scrotum weeping, reddened, swollen. Covered with millet-seed-size to bean-size blisters. Eyelids and conjunctivae hyperemic and edematous. Had difficulties opening the eyes.

September 8, 6 pm: Tired and exhausted. Feels sick. Body temperature 37 degrees Celsius. Mucous and bloody erosions across the shoulder girdle. Abundant mucus nose secretions. Abdominal pain. Mucous and bloody diarrhea. Proteinuria (excess protein in urinal, possibly meaning kidney damage).

 

September 9, 1940, 7 am: Tired and exhausted. Weakness of all four extremities.

 

Low morale. Body temperature 37 degrees Celsius. Skin of the face still weeping.

 

Taken from— "Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century" (2006) p. 187

Frostbite testing

 

Hisato Yoshimura, an Army engineer, carried out tests by forcing captives to stand outside, putting various limbs into water at multiple temperatures, and letting the limb freeze. Yoshimura would then use a small stick to whack the victims' frozen limbs while "producing a sound similar to that which a board emits when it is struck." The damaged region was then treated with different methods, such as dousing it in water or exposing it to the heat of a fire once the ice had been chipped away.

 

The sadistic fuck, Yoshimura, was described to the members of the Unit as a "scientific devil" and a "cold-blooded animal" because of the strictness with which he would carry out his evil experiments. In an interview from the 1980s, Unit 731 member Naoji Uezono revealed a super uncool and nightmare-inducing incident when Yoshimura had "Researchers placed two nude males in an area that was 40–50 degrees below zero and documented the entire process until the individuals passed away. [The victims] were in such pain that they were tearing at each other's flesh with their nails ". In a 1950 essay for the Journal Of Japanese Physiology, Yoshimura revealed his lack of regret for torturing 20 kids and a three-day-old baby in tests that subjected them to ice water and ice temperatures below zero.

 

Although this article drew criticism, Yoshimura denied any guilt when contacted by a reporter from the Mainichi Shimbun. Yoshimura developed a "resistance index of frostbite" based on the mean temperature of 5 to 30 minutes after immersion in freezing water, the temperature of the first rise after immersion, and the time until the temperature rises after immersion. In several separate experiments, it was then determined how these parameters depend on the time of day a victim's body part was immersed in freezing water, the surrounding temperature and humidity during immersion, and how the victim had been treated before the immersion. Variables like ("after keeping awake for a night", "after hunger for 24 hours", "after hunger for 48 hours", "immediately after heavy meal", "immediately after hot meal", "immediately after muscular exercise", "immediately after cold bath", "immediately after hot bath"), what type of food the victim had been fed over the five days preceding the immersions concerning dietary nutrient intake ("high protein (of animal nature)", "high protein (of vegetable nature)", "low protein intake", and "standard diet"), and salt intake (45 g NaCl per day, 15 g NaCl per day, no salt).

 

Oh, science....

 

Then there's syphilis.

 

For those that may not know, syphilis is a chronic bacterial disease contracted chiefly by infection during sexual intercourse but also congenitally by infection of a developing fetus. The first sign of syphilis is a small, brownish dot on the infected person's left hand. How many of you looked? You dirty birds! 

Actually, the first stage of syphilis involves a painless sore on the genitals, rectum, or mouth. After the initial sore heals, the second stage is characterized by a rash. Then, there are no symptoms until the final stage, which may occur years later. This final stage can result in damage to the brain, nerves, eyes, or heart.

Syphilis is treated with penicillin. Sexual partners should also be treated.

Unit members orchestrated forced sex acts between infected and noninfected prisoners to transmit syphilis, as the testimony of a prison guard on the subject of devising a method for transmission of syphilis between patients shows:

 

"Infection of venereal disease by injection was abandoned, and the researchers started forcing the prisoners into sexual acts with each other. Four or five unit members, dressed in white laboratory clothing completely covering the body with only eyes and mouth visible, rest covered, handled the tests. A male and female, one infected with syphilis, would be brought together in a cell and forced into sex with each other. It was made clear that anyone resisting would be shot."

 

These unfortunate victims were infected and then vivisected at various stages of infection to view the interior and exterior organs as the disease developed. Despite being forcefully infected, many guards testified that the female victims were the viruses' hosts. Guards used the term "jam-filled buns" to refer to the syphilis-infected female detainees' genitalia.

 

And THAT is so gross on just about every level.

 

Inside the confines of Unit 731, several syphilis-infected children grew up. "One was a Chinese mother carrying a baby, one was a White Russian woman with a daughter of four or five years of age, and the final was a White Russian woman with a kid of around six or seven," recounted a Youth Corps member who was sent to train at Unit 731. Similar tests were performed on these women's offspring, focusing on how prolonged infection times influenced the success of therapies.

 

Just when you thought this shit was bad enough, the rape and forced pregnancies came.

 

For use in experiments, nonpregnant female convicts were made to get pregnant. The declared justification for the torture was the possible danger of infections, notably syphilis, being transmitted vertically (from mother to kid). In addition, their interests included maternal reproductive organ injury and fetal survival. There have been no reports of any Unit 731 survivors, including children, even though "a considerable number of newborns were born in captivity." Female captives' offspring are said to have either been aborted or murdered after birth.

 

While male prisoners were often used in single studies so that the results of the experimentation on them would not be clouded by other variables, women were sometimes used in bacteriological or physiological experiments, sex experiments, and as the victims of sex crimes. The testimony of a unit member that served as a guard graphically demonstrated this violent and disturbing reality:

 

"One of the former researchers I located told me that one day he had a human experiment scheduled, but there was still time to kill. So he and another unit member took the keys to the cells and opened one that housed a Chinese woman. One of the unit members raped her; the other member took the keys and opened another cell. There was a Chinese woman in there who had been used in a frostbite experiment. She had several fingers missing and her bones were black, with gangrene set in. He was about to rape her anyway, then he saw that her sex organ was festering, with pus oozing to the surface. He gave up the idea, left and locked the door, then later went on to his experimental work."

 

What in the actual fuck.

 

Prisoners and victims

 

An "International Symposium on the Crimes of Bacteriological Warfare" was convened in Changde, China, the scene of the plague flea bombardment, as mentioned earlier, in 2002. There, it was calculated that around 580,000 people had been killed by the Imperial Japanese Army's germ warfare and other human experimentation. According to American historian Sheldon H. Harris, more than 200,000 people perished. In addition, 1,700 Japanese soldiers in Zhejiang during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi war were killed by their own biological weapons while attempting to release the biological agent, showing major distribution problems in addition to the Chinese deaths. Additionally, according to Harris, animals infected with the plague were released close to the war's conclusion, leading to plague outbreaks that, between 1946 and 1948, killed at least 30,000 people in the Harbin region.

 

Those chosen as test subjects included common criminals, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, political prisoners, homeless people, and people with mental disabilities, including infants, men, elderly people, and pregnant women, in addition to those detained by the Kenpeitai military police for alleged "suspicious activities." About 300 researchers worked at Unit 731, including medical professionals and bacteriologists. However, many people have become numb to carrying out harsh tests due to their experience with animal experimentation.

 

Without considering victims from other medical research facilities like Unit 100, at least 3,000 men, women, and children: 117—of which at least 600 each year were given by the Kenpeitai—were subjected to Unit 731 experimentation at the Pingfang camp alone. Although the literature generally accepts the number of 3,000 internal casualties, former Unit member Okawa Fukumatsu challenged it in a video interview. He claimed that the Unit had at least 10,000 internal experiments victims and that he had personally vivisected thousands of them.

 

1. S. Wells said that Chinese people made up most of the casualties, with smaller proportions of Russian, Mongolian, and Korean people. A few European, American, Indian, Australian, and New Zealander prisoners of war may have also been among them. According to a Yokusan Sonendan paramilitary political youth branch member who worked for Unit 731, Americans, British, and French were present, in addition to Chinese, Russians, and Koreans. According to Sheldon H. Harris' research, the victims were primarily political dissidents, communist sympathizers, common criminals, low-income residents, and those with mental disabilities. According to estimates by author Seiichi Morimura, about 70% of the Pingfang camp's fatalities (both military and civilian) were Chinese, while roughly 30% were Russian.

 

Nobody who went inside Unit 731 survived. Let me repeat that: "Nobody that went inside Unit 731 survived". 

At night, prisoners were usually brought into Unit 731 in black cars with no windows but only a ventilation hole. One of the drivers would exit the vehicle at the main gates and head to the guardroom to report to the guard. The "Special Team" in the inner jail, which was led by Shiro Ishii's brother, would then get a call from that guard. The convicts would then be taken to the inner prisons via an underground tunnel excavated beneath the center building's exterior.

 

Building 8 was one of the jails housing men and women while building 7 held just women. Once inside the inner jail, technicians would take blood and feces samples from the inmates, assess their kidney function, and gather other physical information. Prisoners found healthy and suitable for research were given a three-digit number instead of their names, which they kept until they passed away. Every time a prisoner passed away following the tests they had undergone, a clerk from the 1st Division crossed their names off of an index card and took their shackles to be worn by newly arrived captives.

 

At least one "friendly" social interaction between inmates and Unit 731 employees has been documented. Two female convicts were engaged by technician Naokata Ishibashi. One prisoner was a Chinese woman, age 21, while the other was a Soviet woman, age 19. Ishibashi discovered that she was from Ukraine after asking where she was from. The two inmates urged Ishibashi to acquire a mirror since they claimed to have not seen their own faces since being taken prisoner. Through a gap in the cell door, Ishibashi managed to covertly get a mirror to them. As long as they were healthy enough, prisoners were regularly employed for experimentation. Once a prisoner had been admitted to the Unit, they had a two-month life expectancy on average. Many female convicts gave birth there, and some inmates remained alive in the unit for nearly a year. The jail cells each featured a squat toilet and wood floors. The prison's exterior walls and the cells' outer walls were separated by space, allowing the guards to pass behind the cells. There was a little window in each cell door. When shown the inner jail, Chief of the Personnel Division of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, Tamura Tadashi, stated that he glanced inside the cells and observed live individuals in chains, some of whom moved around, while others lay on the bare floor and were in a very ill and helpless condition.

 

Yoshio Shinozuka, a former Unit 731 Youth Corps member, testified that it was difficult to look through these prison doors because of their tiny windows. Cast iron doors and a high level of security made up the inner jail. No one was allowed admission without specific authorization, a picture I.D. pass, and the entry/exit timings were recorded. These two inner-prison structures were the "special team's" workspaces. This group wore white overalls, army caps, rubber boots, and carried guns.

 

A former member of the Special Team (who insisted on anonymity) recalled in 1995 his first vivisection conducted at the Unit:

 

"He didn't struggle when they led him into the room and tied him down. But when I picked up the scalpel, that's when he began screaming. I cut him open from the chest to the stomach, and he screamed terribly, and his face was all twisted in agony. He made this unimaginable sound, he was screaming so horribly. But then finally he stopped. This was all in a day's work for the surgeons, but it really left an impression on me because it was my first time."

 

— Anonymous, The New York Times (March 17 1995)

 

According to some reports, it was standard procedure at the Unit for doctors to place a piece of cloth (or a portion of medical gauze) inside a prisoner's lips before starting vivisection to muffle any screams.

 

Even though the jail was pretty secure, there was at least one effort to break out... That failed.

According to Corporal Kikuchi Norimitsu's testimony, a fellow unit member informed him that a prisoner had been taken "jumped out of the cell and ran down the corridor, grabbed the keys, and opened the iron doors and some of the cells" after "having shown violence and had struck the experimenter with a door handle." Only the bravest of the inmates were able to jump free, though. These brave ones were killed ". Seiichi Morimura goes into further depth about this attempt at escapology in his book The Devil's Feast.

 

Two male Russian prisoners were being held in handcuffs in a cell. One of them was lying flat on the ground and acting like he was sick. One of the staff members noticed and decided to go inside the cell. The Russian on the ground, suddenly sprang up and overpowered the guard. The two Russians yelled, unlocked their shackles, grabbed the keys, and opened a few more cells. Other Russian and Chinese prisoners were freaking out, up and down the halls while shouting and screaming. Finally, one Russian yelled at the members of Unit 731, pleading with them to shoot him rather than use him as a test subject.

 

This Russian was gunned down and murdered. One employee who saw the attempted escape remembered what happened: "In comparison to the "marutas," who had both freedom and weapons, we were all spiritually lost. We knew in our hearts at the moment that justice was not on our side ". Even if the prisoners had been able to leave the quadrangle, a vigorously defended facility staffed with guards, they would have had to traverse a dry moat lined with electric wire and a three-meter-high brick wall to get to the complex's outside.

 

Even members of Unit 731 weren't free from being subjects of experiments. Yoshio Tamura, an assistant in the Special Team, recalled that Yoshio Sudō, an employee of the first Division at Unit 731, became infected with bubonic plague due to the production of plague bacteria. The Special Team was then ordered to vivisect Sudō. About this Tamura said:

 

"Sudō had, a few days previously, been interested in talking about women, but now he was thin as a rake, with many purple spots over his body. A large area of scratches on his chest were bleeding. He painfully cried and breathed with difficulty. I sanitised his whole body with disinfectant. Whenever he moved, a rope around his neck tightened. After Sudō's body was carefully checked [by the surgeon], I handed a scalpel to [the surgeon] who, reversely gripping the scalpel, touched Sudō's stomach skin and sliced downward. Sudō shouted "brute!" and died with this last word."

 

Taken from— Criminal History of Unit 731 of the Japanese Military, pp. 118–119 (1991)

 

Additionally, Unit 731 Youth Corps member Yoshio Shinozuka testified that his friend, junior assistant Mitsuo Hirakawa, was vivisected due to being accidentally infected with the plague.

 

Surrender and immunity

Operations and experiments continued until the end of the war. Ishii had wanted to use biological weapons in the Pacific War since May 1944, but he was repeatedly told to fuck off.

 

With the coming of the Red Army in August 1945, the unit had to abandon its work in a hurry. Ministries in Tokyo ordered the destruction of all incriminating materials, including those in Pingfang. Potential witnesses, such as the 300 remaining prisoners, were either gassed or fed poison while the 600 Chinese and Manchurian laborers were all frigging shot. Ishii ordered every group member to disappear and "take the secret to the grave." Potassium cyanide vials were issued for use in case the remaining personnel was captured.

 

Skeleton crews of Ishii's Japanese troops blew up the compound in the war's final days to destroy any evidence of their activities. Still, many were sturdy enough to remain somewhat intact.

 

Among the individuals in Japan after its 1945 surrender was Lieutenant Colonel Murray Sanders, whose name doesn't really sound Japanese and who arrived in Yokohama via the American ship Sturgess in September 1945. Sanders was a highly regarded microbiologist and a member of America's military center for biological weapons. Sanders' duty was to investigate Japanese biological warfare activity, and B.O.Y. was there a shit ton!

At the time of his arrival in Japan, he had no knowledge of what Unit 731 was. Until he finally threatened the Japanese with bringing the Soviets into the picture, little information about their biological warfare was being shared with the Americans. The Japanese wanted to avoid prosecution under the Soviet legal system, so the morning after he made his threat, Sanders received a manuscript describing Japan's involvement in biological warfare. Sanders took this information to General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers responsible for rebuilding Japan during the Allied occupation. As a result, MacArthur struck a deal with Japanese informants: he secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731, including their leader, in exchange for providing America, but not the other wartime allies, with their research on biological warfare and data from human experimentation. Yessiree, bob! You heard that correctly!

American occupation authorities monitored the activities of former unit members, including going through and messing with their mail. The Americans believed the research data was valuable and didn't want other nations, especially those guys with the sickle, you know... the Soviet Union, to get their red hands on the data for biological weapons.

 

The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal heard only one reference to Japanese experiments with "poisonous serums" on Chinese civilians. This took place in August 1946 and was instigated by David Sutton, assistant to the Chinese prosecutor. The Japanese defense counsel argued that the claim was vague and uncorroborated, and it was dismissed by the tribunal president, Sir William Webb, for lack of evidence! The subject was not pursued further by Sutton, who was probably unaware of Unit 731's activities and allegedly a fucking idiot. His reference to it at the trial is believed to have been "accidental."

 

While German physicians were brought to trial and had their crimes publicized, the U.S. concealed information about Japanese biological warfare experiments and secured immunity for the monsters. I mean perpetrators. 

Critics argue that racism led to the double standard in the American postwar responses to the experiments conducted on different nationalities. For example, whereas the perpetrators of Unit 731 were exempt from prosecution, the U.S. held a tribunal in Yokohama in 1948 that indicted nine Japanese physician professors and medical students for conducting vivisection upon captured American pilots; two professors were sentenced to death and others to 15–20 years' imprisonment. So, it's one thing to do it to THOUSANDS OF CHINESE AND RUSSIANS, but HOW DARE you do that to one of us! The fuck?

 

Although publicly silent on the issue at the Tokyo Trials, the Soviet Union pursued the case and prosecuted 12 top military leaders and scientists from Unit 731 and its affiliated biological-war prisons Unit 1644 in Nanjing and Unit 100 in Changchun in the Khabarovsk war crimes trials. Among those accused of war crimes, including germ warfare, was General Otozō Yamada, commander-in-chief of the million-man Kwantung Army occupying Manchuria.

 

The trial of the Japanese monsters was held in Khabarovsk in December 1949; a lengthy partial transcript of trial proceedings was published in different languages the following year by the Moscow foreign languages press, including an English-language edition. The lead prosecuting attorney at the Khabarovsk trial was Lev Smirnov, one of the top Soviet prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials. The Japanese doctors and army commanders who had perpetrated the Unit 731 experiments received sentences from the Khabarovsk court ranging from 2 to 25 years in a Siberian labor camp. The United States refused to acknowledge the trials, branding them communist propaganda. The sentences doled out to the Japanese perpetrators were unusually lenient by Soviet standards. All but two of the defendants returned to Japan by the 1950s (with one prisoner dying in prison and the other committing suicide inside his cell). In addition to the accusations of propaganda, the U.S. also asserted that the trials were to only serve as a distraction from the Soviet treatment of several hundred thousand Japanese prisoners of war; meanwhile, the USSR asserted that the U.S. had given the Japanese diplomatic leniency in exchange for information regarding their human experimentation. The accusations of both the U.S. and the USSR were true. It is believed that the Japanese had also given information to the Soviets regarding their biological experimentation for judicial leniency. This was evidenced by the Soviet Union building a biological weapons facility in Sverdlovsk using documentation captured from Unit 731 in Manchuria.

 

Official silence during the American occupation of Japan

As we, unfortunately, mentioned earlier, during the United States occupation of Japan, the members of Unit 731 and the members of other experimental units were set free. However, on May 6, 1947, Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, wrote to Washington to inform it that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii, can probably be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'war crimes' evidence."

 

One graduate of Unit 1644, Masami Kitaoka, continued to perform experiments on unwilling Japanese subjects from 1947 to 1956. While working for Japan's National Institute of Health Sciences, he completed his experiments. He infected prisoners with rickettsia and infected mentally-ill patients with typhus. As the unit's chief, Shiro Ishii was granted immunity from prosecution for war crimes by the American occupation authorities because he had provided human experimentation research materials to them. However, from 1948 to 1958, less than five percent of the documents were transferred onto microfilm and stored in the U.S. National Archives before they were shipped back to Japan.

 

Post-occupation Japanese media coverage and debate

Japanese discussions of Unit 731's activity began in the 1950s after the American occupation of Japan ended. In 1952, human experiments carried out in Nagoya City Pediatric Hospital, which resulted in one death, were publicly tied to former members of Unit 731. Later in that decade, journalists suspected that the murders attributed by the government to Sadamichi Hirasawa were actually carried out by members of Unit 731. In 1958, Japanese author Shūsaku Endō published The Sea and Poison about human experimentation in Fukuoka, which is thought to have been based on an actual incident.

 

The author Seiichi Morimura published The Devil's Gluttony in 1981, followed by The Devil's Gluttony: A Sequel in 1983. These books purported to reveal the "true" operations of Unit 731 but falsely attributed unrelated photos to the Unit, which raised questions about their accuracy.

 

Also, in 1981, the first direct testimony of human vivisection in China was given by Ken Yuasa. Since then, much more in-depth testimony has been given in Japan. For example, the 2001 documentary Japanese Devils primarily consists of interviews with fourteen Unit 731 staff members taken prisoner by China and later released.

 

Significance in postwar research on bio-warfare and medicine

Japanese Biological Warfare operations were by far the largest during WWII, and "possibly with more people and resources than the B.W. producing nations of France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and the Soviet Union combined, between the world wars. Although the dissemination methods of delivering plague-infected fleas by aircraft were crude, the method, among others, allowed the Japanese to "conduct the most extensive employment of biological weapons during WWII." However, the amount of effort devoted to B.W. was not matched by its results. Ultimately, inadequate scientific and engineering foundations limited the effectiveness of the Japanese program. Harris speculates that U.S. scientists generally wanted to acquire it due to the concept of forbidden fruit, believing that lawful and ethical prohibitions could affect the outcomes of their research.

 

Unit 731 presents a particular problem since, unlike Nazi human experimentation, which the United States publicly condemned, the activities of Unit 731 are known to the general public only from the testimonies of willing former unit members.

 

Japanese history textbooks usually reference Unit 731 but do not detail allegations following there strict principles. However, Saburō Ienaga's New History of Japan included a detailed description based on officers' testimony. The Ministry for Education attempted to remove this passage from his textbook before it was taught in public schools because the testimony was insufficient. The Supreme Court of Japan ruled in 1997 that the testimony was sufficient and that requiring it to be removed was an illegal violation of freedom of speech.

 

In 1997, international lawyer Kōnen Tsuchiya filed a class action suit against the Japanese government, demanding reparations for the actions of Unit 731, using evidence filed by Professor Makoto Ueda of Rikkyo University. All levels of the Japanese court system found the suit baseless. No findings of fact were made about the existence of human experimentation, but the court's ruling was that reparations are determined by international treaties, not national courts.

 

In August 2002, the Tokyo district court ruled that Japan had engaged in biological warfare for the first time. Presiding judge Koji Iwata ruled that Unit 731, on the orders of the Imperial Japanese Army headquarters, used bacteriological weapons on Chinese civilians between 1940 and 1942, spreading diseases, including plague and typhoid, in the cities of Quzhou, Ningbo, and Changde. However, he rejected victims' compensation claims because they had already been settled by international peace treaties.

 

In October 2003, a Japan's House of Representatives member filed an inquiry. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi responded that the Japanese government did not then possess any records related to Unit 731 but recognized the gravity of the matter and would publicize any records located in the future. As a result, in April 2018, the National Archives of Japan released the names of 3,607 members of Unit 731 in response to a request by Professor Katsuo Nishiyama of the Shiga University of Medical Science.

 

After World War II, the Office of Special Investigations created a watchlist of suspected Axis collaborators and persecutors who were banned from entering the United States. While they have added over 60,000 names to the watchlist, they have only been able to identify under 100 Japanese participants. In a 1998 correspondence letter between the D.O.J. and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Eli Rosenbaum, director of O.S.I., stated that this was due to two factors:

 

While most documents captured by the U.S. in Europe were microfilmed before being returned to their respective governments, the Department of Defense decided to not microfilm its vast collection of records before returning them to the Japanese government.

 

The Japanese government has also failed to grant the O.S.I. meaningful access to these and related records after the war. In contrast, European countries, on the other hand, have been largely cooperative, the cumulative effect of which is that information on identifying these individuals is, in effect, impossible to recover.

 

Top Movies about war crimes

 

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&genres=war&genres=Crime

 

All info comes from the inter webs. Blame them. 

 

Damn, this was a gross episode.

 

Are you actually reading this? That's awesome! How's it going? Life good? 

 

Our History of Swear Words. (Sorry, Mom)

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Do you happen to swear? Is it something you happen to do when you stub your pinky toe on the coffee table? What about when you've just finished dinner and you pull that glorious lasagna out of the oven, burn yourself and then drop your Italian masterpiece on the floor, in turn burning yourself once again? Odds are that if you’re listening to this show, you have a rather colorful vernacular and aren’t offended by those that share in your “darker” linguistic abilities. Those dramatic and often harsh, yet exceedingly hilarious words, have a pretty amazing history. Were they written in manuscripts by monks? Or, did we find them used by regular people and found in prose like the names of places, personal names, and animal names? Well, could they tell us more about our medieval past other than just that sex, torture, plagues and incest was all the rage? Let’s find out!

 

Fuck

 

Let’s start with our favorite word. Let’s all say it together, kids. “Fuck!” This most versatile yet often considered one of the worst of the “bad words” doesn’t seem to have been around in the English language prior to the fifteenth century and may have arrived later from the German or th Dutch. Leave it to those beautiful Germans to introduce us to such a colorful word. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary says it wasn’t actually used until 1500. However, the name of a specific place may have been used even earlier.

 

Many early instances of fuck were said to actually have been used to mean “to strike” rather than being anything to do with fornicating. The more common Middle English word for sex was ”swive”, which has developed into the Modern English word swivel, as in: go swivel on it. Some of the earliest instances of fuck, seen to mean “hitting” or “striking,” such as Simon Fuckebotere (from in 1290), who was more than likely in the milk industry, hitting butter, or Henry Fuckebeggar (1286/7) who may have, hit the poor.

 

The earliest examples of the word fuck in the English language appeared in the names of places. The first of these is said to be found near Sherwood in 1287: Ric Wyndfuk and Ric Wyndfuck de Wodehous. These both feature a kestrel known as the Windfucker which, we must assume, went in the wind. The next definite example comes from Bristol 1373 in Fockynggroue, which may have been named for a grove where couples went for “some quiet alone time.”

 

However, Somewhere among the indictment rolls of the county court of Chester (1310/11), studied by Dr. Paul Booth of Keele University (Staffordshire), a man whose Christian name was Roger is mentioned three times. His less Christian last name is also recorded. The name being mentioned repetitively pretty much means it did not result from a spelling mistake but rather it’s the real thing. Meaning, the man’s full name was Roger Fuckebythenavele. Not only does his second name move back the earliest use of fuck in its modern sense by quite a few decades; it also verifies that it is, in fact, a Middle English word. But of course, there are those fuckers that will undoubtedly debate it’s fucking origin.

 

The stem *fukkō-, with its characteristic double consonant, is easy to explain as a Germanic iterative verb – one of a large family of similar forms. They originated as combinations of various Indo-European roots with *-nah₂-, a suffix indicating repeated action. The formation is not, strictly speaking, Proto-Indo-European; the suffix owes its existence to the reanalysis of an older morphological structure (reanalysis happens when people fail to analyze an inherited structure in the same way as their predecessors). Still, verbs of this kind are older than Proto-Germanic.

 

*fukkō- apparently meant to ‘strike repeatedly, beat’ (like, say, “dashing” the cream with a plunger in a traditional butter churn). Note also windfucker and fuckwind – old, obsolete words for ‘kestrel’.

 

A number of words in other Germanic languages may also be related to fuck. One of them is Old Icelandic fjúka ‘to be tossed or driven by the wind’ < *feuka-; cf. also fjúk ‘drifting snowstorm’ (or, as one might put it in present-day English, a fucking blizzard). These words fit a recurrent morphological pattern observed by Kroonen (2012): Germanic iteratives with a voiceless geminate produced by Kluge’s Law often give rise to “de-iterativised” verbs in which the double stop is simplified if the full vocalism or the root (here, *eu rather than *u) is restored.

Kluge's law had a noticeable effect on Proto-Germanic morphology. Because of its dependence on ablaut and accent, it operated in some parts of declension and conjugation, but not in others, giving rise to alternations of short and long consonants in both nominal and verbal paradigms.

 

If the verb is really native (“Anglo-Saxon”), one would expect Old English *fuccian (3sg. *fuccaþ, pl. *fucciaþ, 1/3sg. preterite *fuccode, etc.). If these forms already had “impolite” connotations in Old English, their absence from the Old English literary corpus is understandable. We may be absolutely sure that *feortan (1/3 sg. pret. *feart, pret. pl. *furton, p.p. *forten) existed in Old English, since fart exists today (attested since about 1300, just like the word fuck) and has an impeccable Indo-European etymology, with cognates in several branches. Still, not a single one of these reconstructed Old English verb forms is actually documented (all we have is the scantily attested verbal noun feorting ‘fart(ing)’).

 

One has to remember that written records give us a strongly distorted picture of how people really spoke in the past. If you look at the frequency of fuck, fucking and fucker in written English over the last 200 years, you may get the impression that these words disappeared from English completely ca. 1820 and magically reappeared 140 years later. Even the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary pretended they didn’t exist. The volume that should have contained FUCK was published in 1900, and Queen Victoria was still alive.

 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

Forms: 

α. 1500s fucke, 1500s– fuck; also Scottish pre-1700 fuk.

 

Frequency (in current use):  Show frequency band information

Origin: Probably a word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Probably cognate with Dutch fokken …

 

In coarse slang.

1. In these senses typically, esp. in early use, with a man as the subject of the verb.

Thesaurus »

Categories »

1. intransitive. To have sexual intercourse.

▸ ?a1513   W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 106   Be his feirris he wald haue fukkit.

 

1. transitive. To have sexual intercourse with (a person).

In quot. a1500   in Latin-English macaronic verse; the last four words are enciphered by replacing each letter with the following letter of the alphabet, and fuccant has a Latin third-person plural ending. The passage translates as ‘They [sc. monks] are not in heaven because they fuck the wives of Ely.’

[a1500   Flen, Flyys (Harl. 3362) f. 47, in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1841) I. 91   Non sunt in cœli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk [= fuccant uuiuys of heli].]

 

1. transitive. With an orifice, part of the body, or something inanimate as an object. Also occasionally intransitive with prepositional objects of this type.

[1680   School of Venus ii. 99   An hour after, he Ferked my Arse again in the same manner.]

 

2. transitive. To damage, ruin, spoil, botch; to destroy, put an end to; = to fuck up 1a at Phrasal verbs 1. Also (chiefly in passive): to put into a difficult or hopeless situation; to ‘do for’.

Cf. also mind-fuck v.

1776   Frisky Songster (new ed.) 36   O, says the breeches, I shall be duck'd, Aye, says the petticoat, I shall be f—d.

 

3. transitive. U.S. To cheat; to deceive, betray. Frequently without.

1866   G. Washington Affidavit 20 Oct. in I. Berlin et al. Black Mil. Experience in Civil War (1982) v. xviii. 792   Mr. Baker replied that deponent would be fucked out of his money by Mr. Brown.

 

4. transitive. In oaths and imprecations (chiefly in optative with no subject expressed): expressing annoyance, hatred, dismissal, etc. Cf. damn v. 6, bugger v. 2a. See also fuck it at Phrases 2, fuck you at Phrases 1b.

1922   J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 560   God fuck old Bennett!

 

Phrases

 

Imprecatory and exclamatory phrases (typically in imperative or optative with no subject expressed sense).

 P1. Expressing hostility, contempt, or defiant indifference.

Categories »

1. go fuck yourself and variants.

1895   Rep. Senate Comm. Police Dept. N.Y. III. 3158   By Senator Bradley: Q. Repeat what he said to you? A. He said, ‘Go on, fuck yourself, you son-of-a-bitch; I will give you a hundred dollars’; he tried to punch me, and I went out.

 

1. fuck you.

1905   L. Schindler Testimony 20 Dec. in People State of N.Y. Respondent, against Charles McKenna (1907) (N.Y. Supreme Court) 37   Murray said to me, ‘Fuck you, I will give you more the same.’ And as he said that, I grabbed the two of them.

 

P2. fuck it: expressing dismissal, exasperation, resignation, or impetuousness.

1922   E. E. Cummings Enormous Room iv. 64   I said, ‘F— it, I don't want it.’

 

P3. fuck me and elaborated variants: expressing astonishment or exasperation.

1929   F. Manning Middle Parts of Fortune II. xi. 229   ‘Well, you can fuck me!’ exclaimed the astonished Martlow.

Cunt

Cunt is a vulgar word for the vulva or vagina. It is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. Reflecting national variations, cunt can be used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleasant or stupid man or woman in the United Kingdom, or a contemptible man in Australia and New Zealand. However, in Australia and New Zealand it can also be a neutral or positive term when used with a positive qualifier (e.g., "He's a good cunt"). The term has various derivative senses, including adjective and verb uses.

 

Feminist writer and English professor Germaine Greer argues that cunt "is one of the few remaining words in the English language with a genuine power to shock".

The earliest known use of the word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was as part of a placename of a London street, Gropecunt Lane. Use of the word as a term of abuse is relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century. The word appears not to have been taboo in the Middle Ages, but became that way toward the end of the eighteenth century, and was then not generally not allowed to be printed until the latter part of the twentieth century.

 

There is some disagreement on the origin of the term cunt, although most sources agree that it came from the Germanic word (Proto-Germanic *kunto, stem *kunton-), which emerged as kunta in Old Norse. The Proto-Germanic form's actual origin is a matter of debate among scholars. Most Germanic languages have cognates, including Swedish, Faroese, and Nynorsk (kunta), West Frisian, and Middle Low German (kunte), Middle Dutch (conte), Dutch kut (cunt), and Dutch kont (butt), Middle Low German kutte, Middle High German kotze ("prostitute"), German kott, and maybe Old English cot. The Proto-Germanic term's etymology ia questionable.

 

It may have arisen by Grimm's law operating on the Proto-Indo-European root *gen/gon "create, become" seen in gonads, genital, gamete, genetics, gene, or the Proto-Indo-European root guneh or "woman" (Greek: gunê, seen in gynaecology). Relationships to similar-sounding words such as the Latin cunnus ("vulva"), and its derivatives French con, Spanish coño, and Portuguese cona, or in Persian kos (کُس), have not been conclusively demonstrated. Other Latin words related to cunnus are cuneus ("wedge") and its derivative cunēre ("to fasten with a wedge", (figurative) "to squeeze in"), leading to English words such as cuneiform ("wedge-shaped"). In Middle English, cunt appeared with many spellings, such as coynte, cunte and queynte, which did not always reflect the actual pronunciation of the word.

 

The word, in its modern meaning, is attested in Middle English. Proverbs of Hendyng, a manuscript from some time before 1325, includes the advice:

 

(Give your cunt wisely and make [your] demands after the wedding.) from wikipedia.

The word cunt is generally regarded in English-speaking countries as unsuitable for normal publicconversations. It has been described as "the most heavily tabooed word of all English words".

 

Quoted from wikipedia:

Some American feminists of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms for women, including "bitch" and "cunt". In the context of pornography, Catharine MacKinnon argued that use of the word acts to reinforce a dehumanisation of women by reducing them to mere body parts; and in 1979 Andrea Dworkin described the word as reducing women to "the one essential – 'cunt: our essence ... our offence'".

 

While “vagina” is used much more commonly in colloquial speech to refer to the genitals of people with vulvas than “cunt” is, its  origins are defined by its service to male sexuality, making “cunt” —  interestingly enough — the least historically misogynistic of the two. “Cunt” has also been used in Renaissance bawdy verse and in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but it was not until Shakespeare’s era that its meaning began to fundamentally shift, during the dawn of Christian doctrine.

 

Arguably, if cunt simply means and refers to “vagina”, then why would that be bad? Vaginas are pretty great! They provide people with pleasure, they give life, and they’re even a naturally developed lunar calendar! So, why would a person refer to another, assumedly pissy person as a vagina? 

 

So, should we as society fight the negative stereotypes and embrace the term cunt again? It’s a tiny word that bears a lot of weight, but it should be anything but scary or offensive. It can be a massive dose of love instead of an enormous force of hate if we actively define our vocabulary rather than letting it define us.

 

Words only have that type of power when the uptight, vanilla flavored, missionary only Karen’s and Kevin’s of the world decide they don’t like them. This has been going on for as long as we’ve been using words. So, let’s take it back.

We love you, ya cunts!

 

coarse slang in later use.

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1. The female genitals; the vulva or vagina. Cf. quaint n.1

a1400   tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 172   In wymmen þe necke of þe bladdre is schort, & is maad fast to the cunte.

1552   D. Lindsay Satyre Procl. 144   First lat me lok thy cunt, Syne lat me keip the key.

1680   Earl of Rochester et al. Poems 77   I fear you have with interest repaid, Those eager thrusts, which at your Cunt he made.

1865   ‘Philocomus’ Love Feast iii. 21   I faint! I die! I spend! My cunt is sick! Suck me and fuck me!

 

1. A woman as a source of sexual gratification; a promiscuous woman; a slut. Also as a general term of abuse for a woman.

1663   S. Pepys Diary 1 July (1971) IV. 209   Mr. Batten..acting all the postures of lust and buggery that could be imagined, and..saying that the he hath to sell such a pouder as should make all the cunts in town run after him.

 

As a term of abuse for a man.

1860   in M. E. Neely Abraham Lincoln Encycl. (1982) 154   And when they got to Charleston, they had to, as is wont Look around to find a chairman, and so they took a Cunt

 

A despised, unpleasant, or annoying place, thing, or task.

1922   J. Joyce Ulysses ii. iv. [Calypso] 59   The grey sunken cunt of the world.

 

Bitch

 

Women were frequently equated to dogs in Ancient Greek literature, which was used to dehumanize and shame them for their alleged lack of restraint and sexual urges. This is believed to have originated from the hunter goddess Artemis, who was frequently depicted as a pack of hounds and was perceived to be both beautiful and frigid and savage. According to popular belief, the term "bitch" as we use it today evolved from the Old English word "bicce," which meant a female dog, about the year 1000 AD. The phrase started out as a critique of a woman's sexuality in the 15th century but eventually evolved to signify that the lady was rude or disagreeable.

 

Clare Bayley has connected this growth of the term "bitch" as an insult to the suffrage struggle and the final passage of women's suffrage in the early 20th century, particularly the 1920s. Men were intimidated when women started to challenge their subordinate roles in the patriarchal power structure, and the phrase started to be used to ferocious and irate females. Men's respect for women and the prevalence of the term are clearly correlated, since usage of the term rapidly decreased during World War II as men's appreciation of women's contributions to the war effort increased.

 

However, as they competed with women for employment after the war ended and the men went back to work, the word's usage increased once more. As the housewife paradigm started to fade away during the war, the position of women in the workplace and society as a whole underwent an irreparable change. However, males perceived the presence of women in the workforce as a challenge to their supremacy in society.

 

With songs like Elton John's "The Bitch is Back" ascending the charts in 1974, the slur became more common in mainstream culture and music in the latter decades of the 20th century. As a result of artists like Kanye West and Eminem using the term "bitch" to denigrate women and depict violence against them in their lyrics, hip-hop culture has also long been accused of being misogynistic.

 

We just need to look at Hillary Clinton's recent campaign for president in 2016 to understand how frequently this slur is leveled at women, especially those in positions of authority who are defying patriarchal expectations and shattering glass ceilings. Rep. AOC being called a "fucking bitch" by a GOP Rep. is another similar example. It is evident that the usage of the phrase and the degree to which males regard women to be a danger are related.

 

bitch (v.)

 

"to complain," attested from at least 1930, perhaps from the sense in bitchy, perhaps influenced by the verb meaning "to bungle, spoil," which is recorded from 1823. But bitched in this sense seems to echo Middle English bicched "cursed, bad," a general term of opprobrium (as in Chaucer's bicched bones "unlucky dice"), which despite the hesitation of OED, seems to be a derivative of bitch (n.).

 

bitchy (adj.)

1925, U.S. slang, "sexually provocative;" later (1930s) "spiteful, catty, bad-tempered" (usually of females); from bitch + -y (2). Earlier in reference to male dogs thought to look less rough or coarse than usual.

The earliest use of "bitch" specifically as a derogatory term for women dates to the fifteenth century. Its earliest slang meaning mainly referred to sexual behavior, according to the English language historian Geoffrey Hughes:

 

The early applications were to a promiscuous or sensual woman, a metaphorical extension of the behavior of a bitch in heat. Herein lies the original point of the powerful insult son of a bitch, found as biche sone ca. 1330 in Arthur and Merlin ... while in a spirited exchange in the Chester Play (ca. 1400) a character demands: "Whom callest thou queine, skabde bitch?" ("Who are you calling a whore, you miserable bitch?").

 

In modern usage, the slang term bitch has different meanings depending largely on social context and may vary from very offensive to endearing, and as with many slang terms, its meaning and nuances can vary depending on the region in which it is used.

 

The term bitch can refer to a person or thing that is very difficult, as in "Life's a bitch" or "He sure got the bitch end of that deal". It is common for insults to lose intensity as their meaning broadens ("bastard" is another example). In the film The Women (1939), Joan Crawford could only allude to the word: "And by the way, there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society - outside of a kennel." At the time, use of the actual word would have been censored by the Hays Office. By 1974, Elton John had a hit single (#4 in the U.S. and #14 in the U.K.) with "The Bitch Is Back", in which he says "bitch" repeatedly. It was, however, censored by some radio stations. On late night U.S. television, the character Emily Litella (1976-1978) on Saturday Night Live (portrayed by Gilda Radner) would frequently refer to Jane Curtin under her breath at the end of their Weekend Update routine in this way: "Oh! Never mind...! Bitch!"

 

Bitchin' arose in the 1950s to describe something found to be cool or rad.

Modern use can include self-description, often as an unfairly difficult person. For example, in the New York Times bestseller The Bitch in the House, a woman describes her marriage: "I'm fine all day at work, but as soon as I get home, I'm a horror....I'm the bitch in the house."Boy George admitted "I was being a bitch" in a falling out with Elton John.

Generally, the term bitch is still considered offensive, and not accepted in formal situations. According to linguist Deborah Tannen, "Bitch is the most contemptible thing you can say about a woman. Save perhaps the four-letter C word." It's common for the word to be censored on Prime time TV, often rendered as "the b-word". During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a John McCain supporter referred to Hillary Clinton by asking, "How do we beat the bitch?" The event was reported in censored format:

 

On CNN's "The Situation Room," Washington Post media critic and CNN "Reliable Sources" host Howard Kurtz observed that "Senator McCain did not embrace the 'b' word that this woman in the audience used." ABC reporter Kate Snow adopted the same location. On CNN's "Out in the Open," Rick Sanchez characterized the word without using it by saying, "Last night, we showed you a clip of one of his supporters calling Hillary Clinton the b-word that rhymes with witch." A local Fox 25 news reporter made the same move when he rhymed the unspoken word with rich.

 

A study reported that, when used on social media, bitch "aims to promote traditional, cultural beliefs about femininity". Used hundreds of thousands of times per day on such platforms, it is associated with sexist harassment, "victimizing targets", and "shaming" victims who do not abide by degrading notions about femininity

 

Son of a bitch

The first known appearance of "son-of-a-bitch" in a work of American fiction is Seventy-Six (1823), a historical fiction novel set during the American Revolutionary War by eccentric writer and critic John Neal.  The protagonist, Jonathan Oadley, recounts a battle scene in which he is mounted on a horse: "I wheeled, made a dead set at the son-of-a-bitch in my rear, unhorsed him, and actually broke through the line."

The term's use as an insult is as old as that of bitch. Euphemistic terms are often substituted, such as gun in the phrase "son of a gun" as opposed to "son of a bitch", or "s.o.b." for the same phrase. Like bitch, the severity of the insult has diminished. Roy Blount Jr. in 2008 extolled the virtues of "son of a bitch" (particularly in comparison to "asshole") in common speech and deed. Son of a bitch can also be used as a "how about that" reaction, or as a reaction to excruciating pain.

In politics the phrase "Yes, he is a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch" has been attributed, probably apocryphally, to various U.S. presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. Immediately after the detonation of the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945 (the device codenamed Gadget), the Manhattan Project scientist who served as the director of the test, Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, exclaimed to Robert Oppenheimer "Now we're all sons-of-bitches."

In January 2022, United States President Joe Biden was recorded on a hot mic responding to Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asking, "Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?" Biden responded sarcastically, saying, "It's a great asset — more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch."

The 19th-century British racehorse Filho da Puta took its name from "Son of a Bitch" in Portuguese.

The Curtiss SB2C, a World War 2 U.S. Navy dive bomber, was called "Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class" by some of its pilots and crewmen.

In American popular culture, the slang word "basic" is used to derogatorily refer to persons who are thought to favor mainstream goods, fashions, and music. Hip-hop culture gave rise to "basic bitch," which gained popularity through rap music, lyrics, blogs, and videos from 2011 to 2014. "Bros" is a common word for their male counterparts. Other English-speaking nations have terms like "basic bitch" or "airhead," such as modern British "Essex girls" and "Sloane Rangers," as well as Australian "haul girls," who are noted for their love of shopping for expensive clothing and uploading films of their purchases on YouTube.

Oxford English Dictionary 

1. transitive. To call (a person, esp. a woman) a bitch.

1707   Diverting Muse 131   Why how now, crys Venus, altho you're my Spouse, [If] you Bitch me, you Brute, have a care of your Brows

 

1. transitive. To behave like a bitch towards (a person); to be spiteful, malicious, or unfair to (a person); to let (a person) down.

1764   D. Garrick Let. 23 Aug. (1963) II. 423   I am a little at a loss what You will do for a Woman Tragedian to stare & tremble wth yr Heroes, if Yates should bitch You—but she must come.

 

1. intransitive. To engage in spiteful or malicious criticism or gossip, esp. about another person; to talk spitefully or cattily about.

1915   G. Cannan Young Earnest i. x. 92   It's the women bitching at you got into your blood.

 

intransitive. Originally U.S. To grumble, to complain (about something, or at someone).

Frequently collocated with moan.

1930   Amer. Speech 5 238   [Colgate University slang] He bitched about the course.

 

†3. intransitive. To back down, to yield. Obsolete. rare.

1777   E. Burke Let. 9 May in Corr. (1961) III. 339   Norton bitched a little at last, but though he would recede; Fox stuck to his motion.

 

Shit

shit (v.)

Old English scitan, from Proto-Germanic *skit- (source also of North Frisian skitj, Dutch schijten, German scheissen), from PIE(proto indo-european) root *skei- "to cut, split." The notion is of "separation" from the body (compare Latin excrementum, from excernere "to separate," Old English scearn "dung, muck," from scieran "to cut, shear;" see sharn). It is thus a cousin to science and conscience.

 

"Shit" is not an acronym. Nor is it a recent word. But it was taboo from 1600 and rarely appeared in print (neither Shakespeare nor the KJV has it), and even in the "vulgar" publications of the late 18c. it is disguised by dashes. It drew the wrath of censors as late as 1922 ("Ulysses" and "The Enormous Room"), scandalized magazine subscribers in 1957 (a Hemingway story in Atlantic Monthly) and was omitted from some dictionaries as recently as 1970 ("Webster's New World"). [Rawson]

 

It has extensive slang usage; the meaning "to lie, to tease'' is from 1934; that of "to disrespect" is from 1903. Also see shite. Shat is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, first recorded 18th century.

 

To shit bricks "be very frightened" attested by 1961. The connection between fear and involuntary defecation has generated expressions in English since the 14th century. (the image also is in Latin), and probably also is behind scared shitless (1936).

 

shit (n.)

Middle English shit "diarrhea," from Old English scitte "purging, diarrhea," from source of shit (v.). The general sense of "excrement" dates from 1580s (Old English had scytel, Middle English shitel for "dung, excrement;" the usual 14c. noun for natural discharges of the bodies of men or beasts seems to have been turd or filth). As an exclamation attested in print by 1920 but certainly older. Use for "obnoxious person" is by 1508; meaning "misfortune, trouble" is attested from 1937.

Shit-faced "drunk" is 1960s student slang; shit list is from 1942. Shit-hole is by 1937 as "rectum," by 1969 in reference to undesirable locations. Shitload (also shit-load) for "a great many" is by 1970. Shitticism is Robert Frost's word for scatological writing.  

Up shit creek "in trouble" is by 1868 in a South Carolina context (compare the metaphoric salt river, of which it is perhaps a coarse variant). Slang not give a shit "not care" is by 1922. Pessimistic expression same shit different day is attested by 1989. To get (one's) shit together "manage one's affairs" is by 1969. Emphatic shit out of luck is by 1942.

The expression when the shit hits the fan "alluding to a moment of crisis or its disastrous consequences" is attested by 1967.

 

Expressing anger, despair, surprise, frustration, resignation, excitement, etc.

1865   Proc. Court Martial U.S. Army (Judge Advocate General's Office) U.S. National Arch.: Rec. group 153, File MM-2412 3 Charge II.   Private James Sullivan...did in contemptuous and disrespectful manner reply..‘Oh, shit, I can't’ or words to that effect.

 

Ass/Asshole

The word arse in English derives from the Proto-Germanic (reconstructed) word *arsaz, from the Proto-Indo-European word *ors-, meaning "buttocks" or "backside". The combined form arsehole is first attested from 1500 in its literal use to refer to the anus. The metaphorical use of the word to refer to the worst place in a region (e.g., "the arsehole of the world"), is first attested in print in 1865; the use to refer to a contemptible person is first attested in 1933. In the ninth chapter of his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy, Richard Wright quotes a snippet of verse that uses the term: "All these white folks dressed so fine / Their ass-holes smell just like mine ...". Its earliest known usage in newspapers as an insult was 1965. As with other vulgarities, these uses of the word may have been common in oral speech for some time before their first appearances in print. By the 1970s, Hustler magazine featured people they did not like as "Asshole of the Month." In 1972, Jonathan Richman of Modern Lovers recorded his song "Pablo Picasso", which includes the line "Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole."

 

Until the early 1990s, the word was considered one of a number of words that could not be uttered on commercial television in the United States. Comedian Andrew Dice Clay caused a major shock when he uttered the word during a televised MTV awards show in 1989. However, there were PG-13 and R-rated films in the 1980s that featured use of the word, such as the R-rated The Terminator (1984), the PG-13-rated National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and the PG-rated Back to the Future (1985). By 1994, however, vulgarity had become more acceptable, and the word was featured in dialog on the long-running television series NYPD Blue, though it has yet to become anything close to commonplace on network TV. In some broadcast edits (such as the syndication airings of South Park), the word is partially bleeped out, as "assh—". A variant of the term, "ass clown", was coined and popularized by the 1999 comedy film Office Space.

 

The word is mainly used as a vulgarity, generally to describe people who are viewed as stupid, incompetent, unpleasant, or detestable. Moral philosopher Aaron James, in his 2012 book, Assholes: A Theory, gives a more precise meaning of the word, particularly to its connotation in the United States: A person, who is almost always male, who considers himself of much greater moral or social importance than everyone else; who allows himself to enjoy special advantages and does so systematically; who does this out of an entrenched sense of entitlement; and who is immunized by his sense of entitlement against the complaints of other people. He feels he is not to be questioned, and he is the one who is chiefly wronged.

 

Many would believe the term ass to be used to describe an ungulate or a hoofed mammal of the smaller variety. Those people would be correct. However ass would be used as slang to describe the incompetence of people as they seem to resemble that of a donkey. Slow and stupid. We don't see donkeys in this manner but the people of old may have.

 

A stupid, irritating, or contemptible person; a person who behaves despicably. Cf. arsehole n. 3, shithole n. 2.

Quot. 1954, from a story originally told in 1933, provides evidence for the development of this sense from figurative uses of sense 1.

[1954   V. Randolph Pissing in Snow (1976) lxx. 106   When God got the job [of making men and women] done,..there was a big pile of ass-holes left over. It looks to me like the Almighty just throwed all them ass-holes together, and made the Easton family.]

 

Dick/dickhead

 

Dick is a common English language slang word for the human penis. It is also used by extension for a variety of slang purposes, generally considered vulgar, including: as a verb to describe sexual activity; and as a term for individuals who are considered to be rude, abrasive, inconsiderate, or otherwise contemptible. In this context, it can be used interchangeably with jerk, and can also be used as a verb to describe rude or deceitful actions. Variants include dickhead, which literally refers to the glans. The offensiveness of the word dick is complicated by the continued use of the word in inoffensive contexts, including as both a given name (often a nickname for Richard) and a surname, the popular British dessert spotted dick, the classic novel Moby-Dick, the Dick and Jane series of children's books, and the American retailer Dick's Sporting Goods. Uses like these have given comic writers a foundation to use double entendre to capitalize on this contradiction.

In the mid-17th century, dick became slang for a man as a sexual partner. For example, in the 1665 satire The English Rogue by Richard Head, a "dick" procured to impregnate a character that is having difficulty conceiving:

 

“The next Dick I pickt up for her was a man of a colour as contrary to the former, as light is to darkness, being swarthy; whose hair was as black as a sloe; middle statur'd, well set, both strong and active, a man so universally tryed, and so fruitfully successful, that there was hardly any female within ten miles gotten with child in hugger-mugger, but he was more than suspected to be Father of all the legitimate. Yet this too, proved an ineffectual Operator.”

 

An 1869 slang dictionary offered definitions of dick including "a riding whip" and an abbreviation of dictionary, also noting that in the North Country, it was used as a verb to indicate that a policeman was eyeing the subject. The term came to be associated with the penis through usage by men in the military around the 1880s.

 

The term "dick" was originally used to describe a vile or repulsive individual in the 1960s.

 

1. A stupid, annoying, or objectionable person (esp. a male); one whose behaviour is considered knowingly obnoxious, provocative, or disruptive. Cf. dick n.1 6.

1960   S. Martinelli Let. 28 Dec. in C. Bukowski & S. Martinelli Beerspit Night & Cursing. (2001) 132   You shd listen to yr own work being broadcast [on the radio]... You cd at least tell ME when to list[en] dickhead!

 

Twat

noun Slang: Vulgar.

vulva.

First recorded in 1650–60; perhaps originally a dialectal variant of thwat, thwot (unattested), presumed Modern English outcome of Old English thwāt, (unattested), akin to Old Norse thveit “cut, slit, forest clearing” (from northern English dialect thwaite “forest clearing”)

 

What does twat mean?

Twat is vulgar slang for “vagina.” It’s also used, especially in British English slang, a way to call someone as stupid, useless, or otherwise contemptible person.

While twat has been recorded since the 1650s, we don’t exactly know where it comes from. One theory connects twat to the Old English term for “to cut off.” The (bizarre) implication could be that women’s genitalia were thought to be just shorter versions of men’s.

 

Twat was popularized in the mid-1800s completely by accident. The great English poet Robert Browning had read a 1660 poem that referred, in a derogatory way, to a “nun’s twat.” Browning thought a twat must have been a kind of hat, so he incorporated it into his own work.

 

Words for genitalia and other taboo body parts (especially female body parts) have a long history of being turned into abusive terms. Consider a**, d*ck, p***y, among many others. In the 1920s, English speakers started using twat as an insult in the same way some use a word like c**t, although twat has come to have a far less offensive force than the c-word in American English. In the 1930s, twat was sometimes used as a term of abuse for “woman” more generally, and over the second half of the 1900s, twat was occasionally used as slang for “butt” or “anus” in gay slang.

 

Twat made headlines in June 2018 when British actor Danny Dyer called former British Prime Minister David Cameron a twat for his role in initiating the Brexit referendum in 2016—and then stepping down after it passed.

 

Twat is still common in contemporary use as an insult implying stupidity, especially among British English speakers.

 

Even though it’s a common term, twat is still vulgar and causes a stir when used in a public setting, especially due to its sexist nature. Public figures that call someone a twat are often publicly derided. Online, users sometimes censor the term, rendering it as tw*t or tw@t.

 

If you’re annoying, you might be accused of twattiness; if you’re messing around or procrastinating, you might be twatting around; if you’re going on about something, you might be twatting on. Twatting is also sometimes substituted for the intensifier ”fucking”.

 

As a term of abuse: a contemptible or obnoxious person; a person who behaves stupidly; a fool, an idiot. Now chiefly British.

The force of this term can vary widely. Especially when applied to a woman, it can be as derogatory and offensive as the term cunt (cunt n. 2a), but it can also be used (especially of men) as a milder form of abuse without conscious reference to the female genitals, often implying that a person's behaviour, appearance, etc., is stupid or idiotic, with little or no greater force than twit (twit n.1 2b).

1922   ‘J. H. Ross’ Mint (1936) xxxv. 110   The silly twat didn't know if his arse-hole was bored, punched, drilled, or countersunk.

The top 10 movies with the most swear words:

1. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013) – 715
2. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safide, 2019) – 646
3. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995) – 606
4. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Kevin Smith, 2001) – 509
5. Fury (David Ayer, 2014) – 489
6. Straight Outta Compton (F. Gary Gray, 2015) – 468
7. Summer of Sam (Spike Lee, 1999) – 467
8. Nil By Mouth (Gary Oldman, 1997) – 432
9. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992) – 418
10. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (Mike Judge, 1996) – 414

The Illuminati. (Someone Just Wanted To Fly.)

Become an elite Poopinati!

www.themidnighttrainpodcast.com

 

The Illuminati

 

So, you're standing amongst the council, being tried by a jury of a higher order. Your crime; Being the most dangerous person across the multiverse. You look shockingly at Mordo, Richards, and the other members of this definitive group of beings as you defend your alleged crimes, for you are facing the… Illuminati!

 

Or some shit like that.

 

We are exploring the super, double extra wannabe cult or the underground rulers of everything evil, depending on your take after today, the "Real Illuminati." At first, we’ll dive into what they SAY IS THE REAL STORY OF THE ILLUMINATI Wink Wink! (Be we all know the truth) and then we’re going to jump right in to what mainstream media (which is controlled by the illuminati) says are “conspiracies”. Strap on your tinfoil hats, Passengers! We’re going for a ride!!

 

The term "Illuminati" refers to several genuine and imagined organizations. However, the term historically refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society from the Age of Enlightenment that was established on May 1, 1776, in Bavaria, which is now a part of Germany and that has the most delicious cream donuts. The association aimed to combat abuses of governmental authority, superstition, obscurantism (intentionally providing information in a vague or complex way to prevent further investigation and understanding or, simply, spewing a bunch of word vomit to confuse people), and religious influence in public life. In its general laws, they stated that controlling the perpetrators without conquering them was the "rule of the day." 

 

Later, the term "Illuminati" was used to describe many groups that are said to represent a continuation of the original Bavarian Illuminati (even though these links have not been proven). To obtain political power and influence and create a "New World Order," these organizations have frequently been charged with plotting to manipulate events and install operatives inside of governments and companies. The Illuminati are portrayed as lurking in the shadows and manipulating the strings and levers of power. They play a crucial role in some of the most well-known and intricate conspiracy theories. This interpretation of the Illuminati has found its way into popular culture, appearing in various books, movies, T.V. episodes, comic books, video games, and music videos.

 

At the University of Ingolstadt, Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) started teaching canon law and practical philosophy in 1773. (Canon Law, according to Wikipedia, is "how the Church organizes and governs herself." It is the system of laws and religious legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church.) He taught in a school-sponsored by Jesuits, whose order Pope Clement XIV (14th) had suppressed in 1773, and was the only non-clerical professor there. The university's finances and some authority, which they continued to see as belonging to them, were still in the hands of the Ingolstadt Jesuits. When course content featured anything they deemed liberal or Protestant, they made constant attempts to frustrate and discredit non-clerical employees, especially in those instances. Weishaupt had a strong anti-clerical stance and decided to use a covert organization of like-minded people to propagate the Aufklärung (Enlightenment) beliefs. The word clerical in this sense means "referring to anything to do with the clergy — those ordained for religious work, usually in the Christian faith."

 

He said "screw it" and established his own society, which was to have a ranking or grading system modeled after Freemasonry, but with his own goals because he felt Freemasonry was too costly and not open to his ideas. Bund der Perfektibilisten, or Covenant of Perfectibility (Perfectibilists), was the new order's initial name and a horrible one, to boot. Still, it was later modified since it sounded like some pretentious bullshit. Weishaupt established the Perfectibilists on May 1, 1776, choosing the Owl of Minerva as their emblem. The Owl of Minerva is often called the "owl of Athena." It has been a symbol of knowledge and wisdom throughout the Western world.

The members were to use aliases within the society. Weishaupt became Spartacus. Law students Massenhausen, Bauhof, Merz, and Sutor, became Ajax, Agathon, Tiberius, and Erasmus Roterodamus. Logan would have been dubbed Hasentus Everseenamovieus, whereas I would have been known as Dopus Asfuckasus. Weishaupt later booted Sutor for being a lazy turd. 

 

In April 1778, the order became the Illuminatenorden, or Order of Illuminati, after Weishaupt seriously considered calling it the "Bee order." Massenhausen was the first to step up and be most engaged in advancing society. Significantly, he hired Xavier von Zwack, a former pupil of Weishaupt who was just beginning his distinguished administrative career while studying at Munich not long after the order started. He was the head of the Bavarian National Lottery at the time, where if you won, you got all the donuts. And, of course, that's not true, but it should be. 

Weishaupt quickly viewed Massenhausen's "go get em attitude" as a liability because it frequently led to attempts to hire the wrong people. Later, his unpredictable love life caused him to become careless. As Weishaupt turned over the leadership of the Munich group to Zwack, it was discovered that Massenhausen had stolen subscription money and read Weishaupt and Zwack's communications. After earning his degree in 1778, Massenhausen accepted a position outside Bavaria and lost interest in the order. The order had nominally twelve members at this point.

 

After Massenhausen left, Zwack put all his effort into finding more responsible and significant recruits. This included Hertel, a canon of the Munich Frauenkirche and a childhood friend of Weishaupt, who was considered a hell of a guy. By the end of the summer of 1778, the order had five territories: Munich (Athens), Ingolstadt (Eleusis), Ravensberg (Sparta), Freysingen (Thebes), and Eichstaedt, with a total of 27 members (including Massenhausen).

 

The order had three membership levels at the time—novice, minerval, and illuminated minerval—but only the minerval level required a problematic ceremony. In this, a password and code were supplied to the candidate. Weishaupt was kept informed on the actions and personalities of his members through a system of mutual espionage, with his favorites joining the Areopagus, the ruling council. Some newbies were allowed to join the army and become insinuates. Jews, pagans, women, monks, and members of other secret societies were told to fuck off, but upright Christians were what they wanted. Favored candidates were wealthy, submissive, eager to learn, and between 18 and 30.

 

After unsuccessfully trying to stop some of his followers from becoming Freemasons, Weishaupt decided to join them to gather resources for developing his own ritual. Early in February 1777, he was accepted into lodge "Prudence" of the Rite of Strict Observance. He learned nothing about the more advanced degrees of "blue lodge" masonry as he excelled through its three degrees. Still, the following year, a priest by the name of Abbé Marotti told Zwack that these deeper secrets depended on an understanding of the earlier religion and the primitive Church. Weishaupt was persuaded by Zwack that their own order should establish cordial ties with Freemasonry and acquire permission to develop their own lodge. At this stage (December 1778), adding the first three degrees of Freemasonry was considered a secondary project.

 

Quickly, a warrant was obtained from the Grand Lodge of Prussia called the Royal York for Friendship. The new lodge was named Theodore of the Good Council to flatter Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. It was founded in Munich on March 21, 1779, and quickly packed with Illuminati. However, the first master, Radl, was persuaded to return home to Baden and ran the lodge by July, per Weishaupt's order.

 

The next step involved independence from their Grand Lodge. By establishing masonic relations with the Union lodge in Frankfurt, affiliated to the Premier Grand Lodge of England, lodge Theodore became independently recognized and able to declare its independence. As a new mother lodge, it could now spawn its own lodges. The recruiting drive amongst the Frankfurt masons also obtained the allegiance of Adolph Freiherr Knigge.

 

Knigge was recruited late in 1780 at a convention of the Rite of Strict Observance by Costanzo Marchese di Costanzo, an infantry captain in the Bavarian army and a fellow Freemason. As he was still in his twenties, Knigge had already reached the highest initiatory grades of his order and had arrived with his own grand plans for reform. Disappointed that his plan found no support, Knigge was immediately intrigued when Costanzo informed him that the order he sought to create already existed. Knigge and three of his friends expressed a strong interest in learning more of this order, and Costanzo showed them material relating to the Minerval grade. The teaching material for the stage was "liberal" literature which was banned in Bavaria but common knowledge in the Protestant German states.

 

Knigge's three colleagues lost interest in Costanzo after becoming disillusioned and extremely confused, like the rest of us. Still, he persisted and was rewarded in November 1780 with a letter from Weishaupt. Knigge was a perfect candidate because of his ties inside and outside Freemasonry. For his part, Knigge was charmed by the attention and drawn to the order's proclaimed goals of educating people and shielding them against oppression. Moreover, Weishaupt recognized Knigge's interest in alchemy and the "higher sciences" and promised to promote them. In response to Weishaupt, Knigge laid out his ideas for reforming Freemasonry when the Strict Observance was beginning to doubt its history.

 

Before he could be admitted to the higher ranks of the order, Weishaupt put Knigge in charge of recruitment. Knigge agreed, but with the stipulation that he be given the freedom to select the recruitment locations. Many additional masons joined the Illuminati's Minerval grade after finding Knigge's depiction of the new masonic order appealing. At this point, Knigge seemed to respect the "Most Serene Superiors" Weishaupt said he served. To delay providing any assistance, Weishaupt assigned him an additional duty despite his embarrassing failure to explain anything about the upper degrees of the order. Because he was full of shit.

 

Knigge then created pamphlets documenting the actions of the illegal Jesuits, claiming to show how they continued to thrive and recruit, particularly in Bavaria, using material provided by Weishaupt. Finally, Knigge wrote to Weishaupt that his position was becoming damn near impossible because he couldn't offer his recruits any real answers to their question about the higher grades. Weishaupt finally broke down and admitted in January 1781 that his superiors and the purported antiquity of the order were bullshit and that the higher degrees had not yet been created as he faced the possibility of losing Knigge and his masonic recruits.

 

Knigge was unusually composed in response to Weishaupt's admittance, even though he was looking forward to learning the promised intricate Freemasonry secrets found in the upper degrees of the Illuminati. Weishaupt pledged to give Knigge complete creative control over the development of the higher degrees and to send him his own notes. Knigge, for his part, enjoyed the chance to express himself through the order. He asserted that his new strategy would increase the appeal of the Illuminati to potential members in Germany's Protestant counties. Knigge received a 50 florins advance from the Areopagus in November 1781 to travel to Bavaria, where he met and partied with fellow Illuminati members.

 

The order had now developed extensive internal divisions. In July 1780, the Eichstaedt command had formed an autonomous province, and a rift was growing between Weishaupt and the Areopagus. They found him stubborn, dictatorial, inconsistent, and obviously full of shit. As a result, Knigge was constantly thrown into the role of peacemaker.

 

In discussions with the Areopagus and Weishaupt, Knigge identified two problematic areas. First, Weishaupt's emphasis on recruiting university students meant that young men with little practical experience often had to fill senior positions in the order. Secondly, the anti-Jesuit ethos of the order at its inception had generally become anti-religious. Knigge knew it would be a problem recruiting the senior Freemasons that the order was looking to bring in. Knigge felt the stifling grip of conservative Catholicism in Bavaria and understood the anti-religious feelings that this produced in the liberal Illuminati. Still, he also saw the negative impression these feelings would provide in Protestant states, making the spread of the order in greater Germany much more difficult. The Areopagus and Weishaupt felt powerless to do anything less than give Knigge a free hand. He had the contacts within and outside of Freemasonry that they needed, and he had the skill as a ritualist to build their projected grade structure, where they had ground to a halt at Illuminatus Minor, with only the Minerval grade below and the merest sketches of higher grades. The only restrictions imposed were the need to discuss the inner secrets of the highest degrees and the necessity of submitting his new grades for approval.

 

Meanwhile, the scheme to propagate Illuminatism as a legitimate branch of Freemasonry had farted out. While Lodge Theodore was now in their control, a chapter of "Elect Masters" attached to it only had one member from the order and still had a constitutional superiority to the craft lodge controlled by the Illuminati. The chapter would be difficult to persuade to submit to the Areopagus and formed a real barrier to Lodge Theodore becoming the first mother-lodge of a new Illuminated Freemasonry. A treaty of alliance was signed between the order and the chapter, and by the end of January 1781, four daughter lodges had been created, but independence was not on the chapter's agenda.

 

Costanza wrote to the Royal York, pointing out the discrepancy between the fees dispatched to their new Grand Lodge and the returned service they had received. The Royal York, unwilling to lose the money they were bringing in, offered to confer Freemasonry's "higher" secrets on a representative that their Munich brethren would dispatch to Berlin. Accordingly, Costanza set off for Prussia on April 4, 1780, with instructions to negotiate a reduction in Theodore's fees while he was there. On the way, he argued with a Frenchman about a lady with whom they shared a carriage. The Frenchman sent a message ahead to the king sometime before they reached Berlin, calling Costanza a spy and having him arrested. He was only freed from prison with the help of the Grand Master of Royal York and was kicked out of Prussia, having accomplished fuck all.

 

Knigge's recruitment from German Freemasonry was far from random. He targeted the masters and wardens, the men who ran the lodges and were often able to place the entire club at the disposal of the Illuminati. For example, Baron de Witte, master of Constancy lodge in Aachen, caused every member to join the order. This way, the order expanded rapidly in central and southern Germany and obtained a foothold in Austria. Moving into the Spring of 1782, the handful of students who had started the order had swelled to about 300 members, with only 20 new recruits being students.

In Munich, the first half of 1782 saw considerable changes in the government of Lodge Theodore. In February, Weishaupt had offered to split the lodge, with the Illuminati going their own way and the chapter taking any remaining traditionalists into their continuation of Theodore. At this point, the chapter unexpectedly surrendered, and the Illuminati had complete control of the lodge and chapter. In June, both club and chapter sent letters severing relations with Royal York, citing their faithfulness in paying for their recognition and Royal York's failure to provide any instruction in the higher grades. Their neglect of Costanza, and inability to defend him from negative charges or prevent his expulsion from Prussia, were also brought up. They had made no effort to provide Costanza with the promised secrets, and the Munich masons now suspected that their brethren in Berlin relied on the mystical French higher grades which they sought to avoid. Lodge Theodore was now independent.

 

The Rite of Strict Observance was now in a critical state. Its leader was Prince Carl of Södermanland (later Charles XIII (13th) of Sweden), openly suspected of trying to absorb the rite into the Swedish Rite, which he already controlled. The German lodges looked to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel for leadership. However, suspicion turned to open contempt when Carl regarded the Stuart heir to the British throne as the true GrandMaster, and the lodges of the Strict Observance all but ignored their Grand Master. This bullshit led to the Convent of Wilhelmsbad.

 

The last Strict Observance convention, postponed since October 15, 1781, eventually began on July 16, 1782, at the spa town of Wilhelmsbad, which is located outside of (and now a part of) Hanau. The 35 participants in a discussion about the future of the order knew that the Strict Observance in its current form was doomed. Also, the Convent of Wilhelmsbad would be a battle over the pieces between the Martinists, led by Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, and the German mystics, led by Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and their host Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel. Only Franz Dietrich von Ditfurth, and Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, objected to mystical higher grades. Ditfurth actively advocated for a return to the fundamental three degrees of Freemasonry, which was the convention's least likely choice. The mystics had previously developed logical replacement plans for the higher degrees.

 

(Martinism is a type of arcane Christianity and Christian mysticism that is focused on the fall of the first man, his material seclusion from his spiritual source, and the process of his return, known as "Reintegration.")

 

The Illuminati were able to promote themselves as a viable option since there wasn't an effective alternative to the two schools of mysticism. Knigge, who now had complete authority to speak for the order, encouraged and helped Ditfurth, who took on the role of their spokesperson. Weishaupt rejected Knigge's initial proposal to form an alliance between the two orders because he didn't see the benefit of working with a dying order. His new strategy was to enlist the masons opposed to the higher degree of "Templar" Strict Observance.

 

At the convent, Ditfurth prevented Willermoz and Hesse from introducing their own higher grades by demanding that the delegates be informed in full of such degrees. Due to their frustration, the German mystics enrolled Count Kollowrat in the Illuminati as a later affiliate. With no claims to additional masonic revelations, Ditfurth's goal was to replace all higher degrees with a single fourth degree. He left the convent early after finding no support for his proposal and reported to the Areopagus that he had no hopes for the gathering.

 

In an attempt to satisfy everybody, the Convent of Wilhelmsbad didn't achieve shit. They renounced the Templar origins of their ritual while retaining the Templar titles, trappings, and administrative structure. Charles of Hesse and Ferdinand of Brunswick remained at the head of the order, but the lodges were almost independent in practice. The Germans adopted the name of the French order of Willermoz, Les Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte (Good Knights of the Holy City). Some Martinist mysticism was imported into the first three degrees, now the only essential degrees of Freemasonry. Crucially, individual lodges of the order were now allowed to mingle with clubs of other systems. The new "Scottish Grade" introduced with the Lyon ritual of Willermoz was not mandatory. Each province and prefecture was free to decide what, if anything, happened after the three craft degrees. Finally, the convent regulated etiquette, titles, and a new numbering for the provinces to show that something had been achieved.

 

The Strict Observance was ended by the Convent of Wilhelmsbad. Along with the higher degrees that bound its most significant and influential members, it rejected its founding tale. It eliminated the rigorous regulations that had maintained the order's cohesion and alienated many Germans who did not trust Martinism. Martinism repulsed Bode, who immediately began negotiating with Knigge before joining the Illuminati in January 1783. The following month, Charles of Hesse joined.

 

Knigge's first efforts at an alliance with the intact German Grand Lodges failed, but Weishaupt persisted. He proposed a new federation where all German lodges would practice an agreed, unified system in the essential three degrees of Freemasonry and be left to their own devices as to which, if any, system of higher degrees they wished to pursue. This would be a federation of Grand Lodges, and members would be free to visit any of the "blue" lodges in any jurisdiction. All lodge masters would be elected, and no fees would be paid to any central authority. Groups of lodges would be subject to a "Scottish Directorate" composed of members delegated by lodges to audit finances, settle disputes and authorize new lodges. These, in turn, would elect Provincial Directorates, who would elect inspectors, who would elect the national director. This system would correct the current imbalance in German Freemasonry, where masonic ideals of equality were preserved only in the lower three "symbolic" degrees. The various methods of higher degrees were dominated by the elite who could afford research in alchemy and mysticism. To Weishaupt and Knigge, the proposed federation was also a vehicle to propagate Illuminism throughout German Freemasonry. Their intention was to use their new union, with its emphasis on the fundamental degrees, to remove all allegiance to Strict Observance, allowing the "eclectic" system of the Illuminati to take its place.

 

The newsletter announcing the new federation outlined the faults of German Freemasonry; unsuitable men with money were often admitted based on their wealth, and the corruption of civil society had infected the lodges. Having advocated the deregulation of the higher grades of the German lodges, the Illuminati now announced their own from their "unknown Superiors." Lodge Theodore, newly independent from Royal York, set itself up as a provincial Grand Lodge. In a letter to all the Royal York lodges, Knigge now accused the Grand Lodge of corruption. Their Freemasonry had allegedly been corrupted by the Jesuits. Strict Observance was now attacked as a creation of the Stuarts, devoid of all moral virtue. The Zinnendorf rite of the Grand Landlodge of the Freemasons of Germany was suspect because its author was in league with the Swedes. This direct attack had the opposite effect to that intended by Weishaupt. It offended many of its readers. The Grand Lodge of the Grand Orient of Warsaw, which controlled Freemasonry in Poland and Lithuania, was happy to participate in the federation only as far as the first three degrees. Their insistence on independence had kept them from the Strict Observance and would now keep them from the Illuminati, whose plan to annex Freemasonry rested on their own higher degrees. By the end of January 1783, the Illuminati's masonic party had seven lodges.

 

It wasn't just the clumsy appeal of the Illuminati that left the federation short of members. Lodge Theodore was recently formed and did not command respect like the older lodges. Most of all, the Freemasons most likely to be attracted to the federation, saw the Illuminati as an ally against the mystics and Martinists. Moreover, they valued their freedom too highly to be caught in another restrictive organization. Even Ditfurth, the supposed representative of the Illuminati at Wilhelmsbad, had pursued his own agenda at the convent.

 

The non-mystical Frankfurt lodges created an "Eclectic Alliance," was almost indistinguishable in structure from the Illuminati's federation. Far from seeing this as a threat, the Illuminati lodges joined the new alliance after some discussion. Three Illuminati now sat on the committee that wrote the new masonic statutes. Aside from strengthening relations between their three lodges, the Illuminati seem to have gained no advantage from this maneuver. Ditfurth, having founded a masonic organization that worked towards his ambitions for Freemasonry, took little interest in the Illuminati after he adhered to the Eclectic Alliance. In reality, the Eclectic Alliance's creation undermined the Illuminati's plans to spread their own ideologies through Freemasonry.

 

The final decline of the Illuminati was brought about by the indiscretions of their own Minervals in Bavaria, and especially in Munich. Despite efforts by their superiors to curb loose talk, politically dangerous boasts of power and criticism of monarchy caused the "secret" order's existence to become common knowledge, along with the names of many important members. The presence of the Illuminati in positions of power now led to some public unease. There were Illuminati in many civic and state governing bodies. Despite their small number, there were claims that success in a legal dispute depended on the person's standing with the order. In addition, the Illuminati were blamed for several anti-religious publications appearing in Bavaria. Much of this criticism sprang from vindictiveness and jealousy, but it is clear that many Illuminati court officials gave preferential treatment to their brethren. In Bavaria, the energy of their two members of the Ecclesiastical Council had one of them elected treasurer. Their opposition to Jesuits resulted in the banned order losing key academic and Church positions. In Ingolstadt, the Jesuit heads of departments were replaced by Illuminati.

 

Alarmed, Charles Theodore and his government banned all secret societies, including the Illuminati. A government mandate dated March 2, 1785, "seems to have been a deathblow to the Illuminati in Bavaria." Weishaupt had fled. Documents and internal correspondence, seized in 1786 and 1787, were then published by the government in 1787. In addition, von Zwack's home was searched, and much of the group's literature was disclosed.

 

So, that was exhausting and supposedly all about the "real Illuminati," right? But, according to the www.illuminatiofficial.org website, this may not be the case.

 

"Since the formation of the Illuminati, many citizens have inaccurately portrayed our organization in a negative manner. These misconceptions have been perpetuated for centuries through videos, photos, articles, books, and unofficial online resources claiming to understand our mission and members. In creating this online destination, we strive to alleviate the concerns voiced by the people of this planet and provide insight into our goals and operations."

 

"Their Purpose"

 

"Ensuring the survival of over 7 billion humans is a daunting task. Our duty to this planet has spanned across centuries and survived even the most established government entities. To continue functioning throughout societal and generational changes, The Illuminati's operations often require anonymity for both our members and our work. In 2013, the Illuminati authorized the formation of the Department Of Citizen Outreach. Through various initiatives and campaigns, including this website, the modern Illuminati has committed itself to furthering our relationship with our citizens.You may not find us praised in any history book or document. However, the Illuminati has helped with every major movement on this planet since the first human government was established. Our work is often marked by distinct symbols as a means of tracing our influence through history for those wishing to investigate. With gentle guidance from our organization, the human species is allowed to function in their natural order while playing the part of gears in a machine for the betterment of the world."

 

Also, according to their website, they discuss the symbols of their cult… I mean organization. 

 

"THE PYRAMID

 

In popular culture, a great amount of focus is placed on the Illuminati's belief that money is not evil. Some view our encouragement of work and wealth as a promotion of selfishness – overlooking the true meaning of the Pyramid and its underlying messages that motivate our diligence. In the tenets of the Illuminati, wealth is not simply a means of personal enrichment. Instead, money is a tool that can be used to fulfill each person's duty to the advancement of the human species. The selfish pursuit of money is a hollow goal, but the pursuit of the goodness that money can create is one of humanity's greatest responsibilities. The more money a person owns, the more ability they have to positively change the lives of those who are in need. If you are poor and of good heart, and your friend's house is burned in a fire, you will remain a good person but have no ability to help them with what they need the most. If the same house burns but you are rich, you can give your friend a place to stay and a new home because you have more than enough for yourself and anyone around you who needs it. Money has no feeling, no voice, and no soul – its choice between good or evil is decided by those who use it. Though it is not wrong to be poor, the celebration of poverty is rooted in selfishness. A person who is poor can save a life, but a person who is rich can build a hospital and save ten thousand. The poor can do little to help the poor, but the rich can help as many as they are able. If a person is rich, they have the opportunity to do good, but if they are poor they are unable to help anyone but themselves. Those with little can still do much. Money is merely paper and numbers that are traded for a person's time and effort. Therefore if a person does not have money, they can instead use their time and efforts to further the advancement of humanity – positive actions that are of equal value to any charitable donations. The greater a person's fortune, the greater their responsibility to their fellow humans. Like the Pyramid, those with the greatest power can do the greatest good for the largest number of those below them."

 

"THE EYE

We Are Always Watching Out For You

 

The human species is guarded and preserved by a coalition of its most elite members called the Illuminati. Since our origination, Illuminati members have guided Earth's most dominant creature through periods of interpersonal chaos, environmental outbreaks, and other mass attacks that threaten humanity with extinction. The human has made itself this planet's most dominant and advanced species. Even the weakest human is born master of the strongest of all other species on Earth. Through natural selection, every human generation is made of a genetic structure that is stronger and more advanced than the previous. Living humans evolve at a rapid pace, and can continue to advance in ability through study, practice, and a commitment to self-improvement. As a human absorbs knowledge and wisdom, some will experience their Awakening: a pivotal moment when their minds evolve to a level of understanding that is higher than the majority. They begin to see themselves as strings in a universal tapestry with a duty to uplift their fellow humans, and quickly understand the inner workings of wealth, power, and authority. Those who have experienced their Awakening often describe it as the moment their Eye was opened. The Illuminati is made of individuals who have reached this Awakening. Leaders, innovators, and other influential members of this planet have joined together to shape the face of human society and guide its masses into finding their own individual place in the Universal Design. To create a better world, unique beings with unique objectives and beliefs must forgo their differences and work together for the good of all. Progress requires cooperation. Humans must suppress their natural defensive selfishness and aid others who appear, believe, or act in ways that are different from themselves. Unfortunately, many humans are only concerned with their own wellbeing and thus cannot understand the positive intentions of a higher authority. Many would rather this planet remain in turmoil instead of following the directions that will lead them to happiness. Historically, the greatest enemies of human progression have been humans themselves. For this reason, those who have experienced their Awakening understand the need for it to remain secret – for their own safety and the ultimate good of a humanity that often does not know what is best for it. It is the Illuminati's responsibility to ensure the ongoing survival and advancement of the human species, so that all people, in all places, can live in Abundance."

 

"THE LIGHT

Follow The Light

 

Every human is guided by an inner compass that points toward the Light, revealing truth and direction when facing decisions. Given many names by spiritual leaders and unexplainable by science, the Light is an invisible guide that many believe has led them to joy, success, and lives of Abundance. It communicates directly to every human, urging them to strive for goodness and forgo their natural selfishness. All human religions and spiritual beliefs ultimately seek the Light in ways differing only in form and function. Some religions refer to the Light with a name, such as God or Elohim. The core of every religion is founded on the human species' innate desire to understand this invisible force. Even without a formal religious affiliation, every human is naturally drawn to the Light. Individual members of the Illuminati adhere to every variety of personal spiritual beliefs –– but by recognizing that all of our paths lead to the same destination, we find that the Light brings all people into an ultimate unity. There is no proof that a God exists but there is also no proof that a God does not.

The Illuminati's spiritual foundation is based upon this universal conundrum of faith and doubt. Our organization does not question whether a god does or does not exist but instead focuses on the betterment of the humans living on this planet. Though the human mind in its physical form is not capable of fully understanding the Light, conscious thought and intention reveal many of its inner workings and effects. By studying the wisdom of this planet's greatest minds, humans can discover ways to increase the Light's powerful influence in their lives. The Light, under many names, has been attributed to supernatural changes in the physical realm, including increases in wealth, power, prestige, health, and happiness.

Miracles, attraction, and the belief in unseen powers that can alter the physical world have some basis in truth. Though scientific advancements have explored both this planet's environment and the inner workings of the human mind, there are still countless mysteries that remain unsolved. Thus many occurrences that are attributed to the supernatural are merely the result of the human mind processing a concept it cannot explain naturally. Some humans attempt to form a deeper connection with the Light through rituals that have been passed down for centuries. Though these ceremonies often involve complicated steps and requirements, their true effect is not found in their directions or decorations but rather in the state of mind that results within its participants. Many of the Illuminati's traditions include rituals and oaths designed to explain higher concepts, and use the power of focused repetition to strengthen the ability of the human consciousness. The Illuminati prohibits rituals that include human or animal sacrifice. Learn More. A desire to understand the Light is an integral part of the path to illumination. By rising through the levels of illumination, Illuminati members discover more about their world and the true power that hides within their minds. Whatever you seek, whatever you dream, whatever you hope: all is possible if you follow the Light."

 

"THE ETERNAL CIRCLE

Every human is one part of a larger, eternal design – individual gears in a clock that has no end.

 

Your actions have the power to alter the future of the entire world.

Though you may not fully understand your purpose, your part is just as important as the greatest kings and queens of this planet. Some feel as though their temporary lack of wealth or influence makes them powerless to create change. But does a clockmaker favor the larger gears over the smaller? Does the hour hand become jealous of the minutes because it turns slower? Every part has a role in the functioning of a timepiece. Every part supports those around it in ways it may never see. Your absence would undo the order of our universe, even if you do not realize your importance. The world began before you and will continue after you, but it will be different because of the decisions you made. Every generation inherits the world left by the one before it, just as a king inherits the crown of his father. Your pursuit of wisdom and goodness could lay the foundation for your great-great-grandchild's rise into power – the same descendant who might steer a country from war and save lives by the millions. Did the ancestors of Aristotle or Alexander The Great know who their actions would create? Though you will never understand the full influence of your actions, the results of your dedication to humanity are still yours to claim. As you climb the great Pyramid seeking the Light at its top, you will look down and see that you are an integral part of our universe's most intricate mechanism. Though our human members may perish and fade into the annals of time, the Illuminati will continue to stand into eternity."

 

Why a secret society?

"Freedom is an idol of the human species.

The Illuminati operates in defense of you and all humans, in all places, and of all generations. Our duty to this planet has spanned across centuries and survived even the most established government entities. But the cultivation of trillions of human lives is a daunting responsibility, and while the human would not exist today without our protection, many uninformed masses mistake our guidance for a restriction of liberty.

Every human desires to be free of oppression, free of hardship, free of poverty, free of hunger, free of rules and laws — but as you understand, the nature of your species leaves true freedom impossible. Are you free to murder? Are you free to steal? Are others free to murder and steal from you? Or are there certain freedoms that must be given up for the benefit of all? For happiness, the human desires freedom; for prosperity, the human requires leadership. This is the reason behind our anonymity. To continue functioning throughout societal changes and generational differences, the Illuminati must remain behind the curtain — an outsider, belonging to none and loyal to all. You may never understand how your life can be free while guided by our organization. You may never fully comprehend our purpose and why you are safest and happiest with us. Simply open your mind and release your apprehensions, and you will find the relief of truth. We will never take your hand and pull you down the path like a slave to our whims. You must find and travel the road on your own. But your quality of life is our greatest concern, and the reason our symbols are placed in your society as a map for you to follow if you desire."

 

What about the modern-day "Illuminati" or "New World Order?"

 

According to an article from theweek.co.uk,

In a 2017 interview with the BBC, David Bramwell, "a man who has dedicated himself to documenting the origins of the myth," said the modern-day Illuminati legend was influenced not by Weishaupt but rather by LSD, the 1960s counter-culture, and specifically a text called Principia Discordia.

The book praised an alternative belief system – Discordianism – which preached a form of anarchism and gave birth to the Discordian movement, which ultimately wished to cause civil disobedience through practical jokes and hoaxes.

One of the leading proponents of this new ideology was a writer called Robert Anton Wilson, who wanted to bring chaos back into society by "disseminating misinformation through all portals – through counter-culture, through the mainstream media," claims Bramwell.

He did this by sending fake letters to the men's magazine Playboy, where he worked, attributing cover-ups and conspiracy theories, such as the JFK assassination, to a secret elite organization called the Illuminati.

Wilson turned these theories into a book, The Illuminatus Trilogy, which became a surprise cult success and was even made into a stage play in Liverpool, launching the careers of British actors Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent.

What is the New World Order?

The idea of a powerful modern Illuminati conspiring to rule the world remained a niche belief a handful of enthusiasts upheld until the 1990s.

 

The internet changed all that, giving conspiracy theorists a global platform to perpetuate their beliefs and present their evidence to a massive audience.

Theories about how the New World Order operates run from relatively straightforward ideas to the outright bizarre.

Conspiracy theorists obsessively analyze public events for "evidence" of Illuminati influence. The symbols most associated with the Illuminati include triangles, pentagrams, goats, the all-seeing eye – such as the one that appears on U.S. banknotes - and the number 666.

This has led to claims some of the American Founding Fathers were members, with Thomas Jefferson accused in the aftermath of the War of Independence.

Another commonly cited Illuminati symbol, which appears on U.S. currency, is the so-called Eye of Providence, which is said to represent the omniscience of God watching over humanity.

According to a 2013 survey by Public Policy Polling, 28% of U.S. voters believe that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian global government. In addition, it found that 34% of Republicans and 35% of independents believe in the New World Order threat compared to just 15% of Democrats.

Who is supposedly a member?

As well as being king and queen of the charts, Beyonce and Jay-Z are frequently depicted as lords of the New World Order. Beyonce's immense fame and popularity have long made her a favorite target for conspiracy theorists.

Illuminati "experts" seized upon her half-time performance at the 2013 Super Bowl as an example of her "devil-worshipping" choreography, even accusing her on-stage alter ego Sasha Fierce of being a "demonic entity."

However, some musicians enjoy deliberately playing with symbols connected to secret societies.

For instance, Rihanna frequently incorporates Illuminati images into her music videos and even joked about the theories in the video for S&M, which featured a fake newspaper with a headline declaring her "Princess of the Illuminati."

Jay Z has also been accused of hiding secret symbols such as goat imagery and devil horns in his music videos. But, most damningly, the logo for his music label, Roc-A-Fella Records, is a pyramid – one of the most well-known Illuminati logos.

Rob Brotherton, a professor at Barnard College and author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe in Conspiracy Theories, explains that real-life government conspiracies targeting black people in America, such as FBI infiltration of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, planted the seeds for Illuminati theory's popularity among hip-hop artists and fans.

 

Speaking to Complex, he said: "Hip-hop served as this [soapbox] for people to talk about issues that were relevant to them, things like discrimination, poverty, the criminal justice system, which are often seemingly slanted against African-Americans".

"It's a short leap to go from noticing some kind of injustice to thinking about whether there's something behind it. Hip-hop was just a good candidate to revive this myth," he says.

What do celebrities have to say about the theories?

Katy Perry told Rolling Stone in 2014 that the theory was the preserve of "weird people on the internet" but admitted she was flattered to be named among the supposed members: "I guess you've kind of made it when they think you're in the Illuminati!" However, she added she was tolerant of people who wanted to believe in the theory because: "I believe in aliens."

On the other hand, Madonna might just be a believer – all the more interesting given that she has frequently been accused of being a member herself. Speaking to Rolling Stone, she hinted that she had secret knowledge of the group. The claim is not so shocking given that she released a single titled 'Illuminati.' She said: "People often accuse me of being a member of the Illuminati, but the thing is, I know who the real Illuminati are."

In 2016, Beyonce thrilled her fans by unexpectedly releasing a new single, Formation, in February ­– but conspiracy theorists were excited for another reason. The very first line of the track acknowledged the rumors: "Y'all haters corny with that Illuminati mess."

When Prince died suddenly of an accidental overdose in April of the same year, a small but vocal corner of the internet accused the Illuminati of killing the singer-songwriter, who was famous for fiercely protecting his copyrights and artistic freedom from industry interference.

"The Illuminati talk won't stop coming and what doesn't help is that Prince himself seems to have been genuinely convinced that the organisation existed," reports one gossip website.

In 2009, the singer appeared on T.V. to warn of influential mystery figures controlling the world through "chemtrails" – chemicals pumped into the air via jet planes to manipulate human behavior.

 

Some other conspiracies are

. The Illuminati killed Paul Walker.

After starring in 7 films in the Fast and Furious franchise, Paul Walker fans were shocked by his ironic death in 2013. He was the passenger in a Porsche that careened out of control and crashed into a pole — or so the media said. But if you ask conspiracy theorists, the Illuminati is actually to blame.

According to the YouTuber known as Shane, the Illuminati murdered Walker after he threatened to expose the group. The story goes that Walker was involved in charity work when he came across a bunch of wrongdoings like embezzlement behind the scenes that he wanted to go public with. But, of course, the Illuminati couldn’t let that happen and took him out via drone strike.

 

The Illuminati killed JFK.

History buffs know JFK died after being shot twice by Lee Harvey Oswald, but many people aren’t convinced. According to TIME, 70% of Americans believe the assassination is part of something way bigger… So did the Illuminati have something to do with it? According to The Conspiracy Zone, the answer is ABSO FUCKIN LUTELY.

Their evidence is fascinating: JFK was shot in a triangle. ‘John Kennedy’ has 11 letters in it. The assassination date (11/22/63) includes multiples of 11. His limo was traveling 11 miles an hour… the list goes on. 

Why would the Illuminati want JFK dead? Apparently, JFK planned on bringing U.S. troops home from Vietnam and wanted to end the Federal Reserve to end the national debt, which would take away the Illuminati’s control over the country. He was killed just days after replacing Federal Reserve Notes. Conspiracy theorists have pointed to audio from the day of his assassination that proves there was more than one shooter, as well as a bullet trajectory that doesn’t match that of Oswald’s position.

 

Kesha’s song ‘Die Young’ is an Illuminati anthem.

 

Theorists say Kesha’s music also addresses the secret society, whose symbols abound in her early music videos. Take, for example, the video for ‘Die Young: 

The Illuminati symbolism is so blatant that even Billboard called it out, referencing the numerous triangles, an upside-down cross, and all-seeing one eye. The video even begins with a flashing skull and crossbones. According to conspiracy theorist The Vigilant Citizen, “Illuminati symbols are becoming more prevalent because that was the plan all along: To gradually make them part of popular culture.” Oh boy.

 

Lady Gaga is an “Illuminati puppet.”

Lady Gaga is another pop star rumored to be part of the Illuminati. Again, theorists call out the overt symbolism in her videos and persona, calling it a “tribute to mind control.” They say her stage name ‘Gaga’ refers to being totally absent-minded, which can be achieved through mind control. Furthermore, in her early days, many of her videos were rife with triangles and all-seeing eye symbolism.

However, some say her newest project proves that she’s broken free from the Illuminati. After a little hiatus, she boasts a more subdued, realistic image and more meaningful, artistic music. So, then, why didn't they just kill her?

In an appearance at Harvard, Gaga talked about how unhappy she was in the entertainment industry. She calls herself a ‘Stefanie/Gaga hybrid,’ which Illuminati theorists saw as proof that she became an alternate, demonic personality under Illuminati control. She also says she disliked “being used to make people money,” another potential dig as being an “Illuminati puppet.”

 

Donald Trump is an Illuminati mind controller.

 

If all of these stars are under Illuminati mind control, who’s doing the controlling? Aside from alleged Illuminati king Jay-Z, Donald Trump’s hand signals reveal his status as a top Illuminati member. While using your hands when you talk is normal, conspiracy theorists say Trump’s rather odd gestures are secret messages.

The classic “a-ok” symbol apparently means the devil’s number ‘666.’ However, he also frequently makes the triangle symbol with his hands when he’s at ease — which could be the same Illuminati gesture Jay-Z always makes or a reference to the vagina. 

 

The Kanye West/Kim Kardashian/Taylor Swift feud was fabricated by the Illuminati.

Apparently, when West humiliated Swift on stage at the 2009 VMAs, he welcomed her to the Illuminati.

 

As we know, they’ve managed to keep the feud in the media for years. While most people have begun to agree that anything these people do is just for publicity, according to The Vigilant Citizen, it’s actually an Illuminati “psychological operation” aimed at kids “to precondition them to start believing in fabricated events.”

 

OK, lastly, let’s talk about the lizard Illuminati.

David Icke, the nut job conspiracy theorist, is the leading proponent of this theory. 

This should explain it from an article on Time.com, 

 

They are among us. Blood-drinking, flesh-eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids with only one objective in their cold-blooded little heads: to enslave the human race. They are our leaders, corporate executives, beloved Oscar-winning actors, and Grammy-winning singers. They're responsible for the Holocaust, the Oklahoma City bombings, and the 9/11 attacks ... at least according to former BBC sports reporter David Icke, who became the poster human for the theory in 1998 after publishing his first book, The Biggest Secret, which contained interviews with two Brits who claimed members of the royal family are nothing more than reptiles with crowns. (Picture Dracula meets Swamp Thing). 

The conspiracy theorist and New Age philosopher, who wore only turquoise for a time and insisted on being called Son of God-Head, says these "Annunaki" (the reptiles) have controlled humankind since ancient times; they count among their number Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bob Hope. Encroaching other conspiracy theorists' territory, Icke even claims that the lizards are behind secret societies like the Freemasons and the Illuminati. Since earning the dubious title of "paranoid of the decade" in the late 1990s, Icke has written several books on the topic, including his latest work, The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy, while operating his own website — complete with merchandise and advertisements.

The Top Ten Illuminati Movies

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Vigilante Justice - What Goes Around Comes Around. Sort Of.

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Imagine the scene:

A serial murderer is guided by a specific “code” that kills only those who are guilty. He has access to crime scenes as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami police, gathering information and analyzing DNA to confirm a target’s guilt before killing them.

Sound familiar? It should, it’s the premise of the TV show, “Dexter.”

 

Ah, yes, Dexter. I love that show. We figured we would talk about the life of Dexter even though Logan, of course, has never seen it. Jk.

 

Obviously, murder is never acceptable, right? It’s the worst crime we can commit against one another, right? But what if, someone who didn’t believe in the “thou shall not kill” premise decided to murder someone you love? What if someone raped or beat someone you love? What if a child was purposefully abused, raped, or arguably worse, murdered? Does that horrendous situation change the narrative? Would you, COULD YOU, take the life of the person or persons responsible for your now substantial and debilitating loss? I want you to honestly think about that as we go through today’s episode. 

 

Bottom line, do specific human piles of shit DESERVE TO DIE?

 

Pedro Rodrigues Filho, or Killer Petey, is a Brazilian serial murderer. He was convicted and is notorious for hunting out and murdering only criminals as a teenager, between the ages of 14 and 19, particularly an entire gang in retaliation for the killing of his pregnant girlfriend.

 

He served 34 years in prison before being released in 2007, having been formally imprisoned for 71 murders but claimed to have killed over 100 drug traffickers, rapists, and murderers. Filho was initially sentenced to eight more years in jail in 2011 on accusations of inciting violence and deprivation of liberty. However, he was released in 2018 after serving seven years on the condition that he behaved himself. Nevertheless, he murdered 47 inmates inside the prisons where he was held captive, most of whom were rapists.

 

Since his second release from prison in 2018, when he declared himself to be reformed from his self-declared vigilantism as a youth and committed to not committing any more crimes, Filho has gained notoriety as a YouTube personality in Brazil. He runs the channel Pedrinho EX Matador, later renamed 2P Entretenimento, where he comments on current crimes and teaches the general public that committing crimes is not something to be proud of.

 

South of Minas Gerais in Santa Rita do Sapuca, on a farm, Rodrigues was born. His father was abusive and, all in all, a piece of shit and had kicked his mother’s belly during a fight while she was pregnant, leaving the poor unborn child with a bruised skull. 

 

In a quarrel with an older relative at age 13, he shoved the young man into a sugar cane press, nearly killing him, and had pondered leaving him there to die before deciding to save him. He claimed that this was the first time he had felt the urge to kill.

 

When Filho was fourteen years old, his father was accused of stealing food from the high school kitchen where he worked as a security guard, resulting in him losing his job. In vengeance, Filho killed the vice-mayor of Alfenas with Filho’s Grandfather’s shotgun, as he was the one who fired his father. A month later, he killed another guard at the school whom he believed to be the real thief. 

 

On the run, Rodrigues took refuge in Mogi das Cruzes, Greater São Paulo, where he began robbing drug dens and killing drug traffickers, making him a celebrity in the news media as the vigilante “Pedrinho Matador” (Lil’ Petey Killer). Filho killed one of the gang leaders in the area he was ransacking. After killing the gang leader, he took over his role and began running the same gang, almost like a Riddick moment where you keep what you kill.

 

During this time, he met a woman named Maria Aparecida Olympia, nicknamed Botinha. After they found out they were pregnant, Filho proposed! So awesome to see that this man, with what could be perceived as a savage beast-like mentality, actually has a pretty big heart.

 

Unfortunately, a rival gang leader brutally murdered Filho’s fiancee during Olympia’s pregnancy.

 

After finding out about the murder, Filho kind of went full John Wick. He and a few of his friends went to the wedding of the rival gang member. The hit squad brutally massacred all involved in the death of his soon-to-be wife and the mother of his child. He killed 7 at the wedding and injured 16 more. All of this came after Filho went on a torture spree to find out who was involved initially. We don’t know precisely how many were killed or hurt leading up to this point. Dudes an absolute monster and gave zero fucks.

 

Speaking of giving zero fucks, the boyfriend of Filho's favorite cousin knocked her up! Pretty exciting news. Except for the fact that the boyfriend refused to marry her, so… Filho shot and killed him. 

Remember how we mentioned that Filho’s Father was a piece of shit? Well, it gets worse. A few months after the massacre at the wedding, Filho found out that his mother had been killed. By his father. Who had butchered and dismembered her with a machete. After his father was committed to prison, Filho went and paid him a visit! While at the conjugal, Filho stabbed him 22 times! Not only did he kill his father, but he carved his heart out of him and took a rather large bite out of it. Amazing that he still somehow doesn’t have any jail time or was even caught! Brazil, what’s up down there?

 

Well, after a few years of Filho continuing his lifestyle of a gang leader, it’s known that he killed a few more before good old Johnny Law caught up to him in 1973. After he was sentenced to 126 years in prison, he was transported in a police car with another inmate, where he supposedly murdered him in the police car.

 

Filho served only 34 years, however, while in prison. This is because the maximum time a criminal can serve is thirty years when convicted, according to Brazilian law. This was later changed to 40 years in 2019. 

 

While in prison, he didn’t slow down much on the killing. He murdered 47 other criminals serving time in the same prison as him. They were the worst of the worst, though. Murderers, rapists, sex traffickers, etc. That’s valiant, right?

 

But being a killer of killers creates a pretty strong and bad reputation among other criminals. Especially when most of the prison population has that on their rap sheet. So he made some enemies while there.

 

He was ambushed by some of these people. During the ambush, he killed three of his attackers and injured the other two. One bad motherfucker.

 

He was up for release in 2003 but because of the murders within the prison, he was given an extra four years. But he only murdered bad guys. I mean, there was just the one-off murder of his cellmate because he snored too loud, but I mean, come on, who hasn't thought about that? No? Just me? Hmm. Anyways. He did mention that he enjoyed a few of the murders just because they were terrible people, and he wanted to kill them.

 

He was formally let free on April 24, 2007, but on September 15, 2011, he was detained at his home and later found guilty of riot and false imprisonment. He acknowledged that the fact that his girlfriend was not in jail was his primary reason for wanting to be released. However, he was ultimately sentenced to 128 years for these offenses.

 

Filho was released in 2018 due to Brazil’s repeal of the law stating that those with a diagnosis of psychopathy can be imprisoned indefinitely and that the country’s maximum penalty is 30 years. Since then, he has created a YouTube channel where he shares his experiences. In addition, he tries to teach others to not follow in his footsteps.

 

So let’s sum this guy up:

 

Most of the time, Filho hunted down the various types of offenders he wanted to kill by looking up their names and addresses. He then brutally killed them in several methods. However, he admitted that his preferred method was to hack or stab them to death with swords. Usually, when he learned of a crime, that prompted him to take action. When driven by rage rather than thrill, he would occasionally capture criminals (usually professional criminals and drug dealers) and torture them to death. He sometimes modified his approach by following the path taken by his victims when they committed their own crimes, such as when he murdered his father or when he murdered seven people in one day.

 

Now how about we look at some other folks with the same motifs? Now they may not have as extensive of a rap sheet as Filho, but these following people had decided to make it known for taking justice into their own hands when the Justice system didn’t seem to do enough for them.

Marianne Bachmeier

 

She was a struggling single mother who learned with horror that her daughter Anna, age 7, had died. The girl missed school on May 5, 1980, and somehow ended up at the home of Klaus Grabowski, a 35-year-old butcher who lived next door. Later, a cardboard box containing Anna’s remains was discovered on the side of a nearby canal. Grabowski was detained very quickly after his fiancée called the police to report the incident since he already had a criminal record for child abuse. Grabowski argued that he hadn’t sexually molested the little girl before killing her, even after confessing to the crime.

 

Instead, Grabowski made the strange claim that the young girl had attempted to “blackmail” him by saying she would tell her mother he had assaulted her if he didn’t give her money. Grabowski further claimed that the primary motivation for his decision to kill the kid in the first place was this alleged “blackmailing.” 

 

The murder of Marianne Bachmeier’s daughter had already infuriated her. But when the murderer related this tale, she grew even more irate. She was determined to get retribution when the man was put on trial a year later.

 

At Grabowski’s 1981 trial in the Lübeck district court, his defense claimed that since he had been deliberately castrated for his crimes years earlier, he had only committed the offense due to a hormone imbalance.

 

The third day of the trial was Bachmeier’s breaking point. She concealed a .22-caliber Beretta handgun in her handbag, took it out in the courtroom, and fired eight shots at the murderer. Grabowski received six rounds of fire before passing away in a pool of blood on the courthouse floor. Bachmeier reportedly responded, “I wanted to kill him,” according to Judge Guenther Kroeger.

 

Although it was evident from the several witnesses and Bachmeier’s comments that it was indeed her who killed Grabowski, she was shortly placed on trial for the crime. She said, “He killed my daughter... I meant to shoot him in the face but I shot him in the back... I hope he’s dead.”

 

With some celebrating Bachmeier as a hero and others denouncing her conduct, the “Revenge Mother” case swiftly gained notoriety in Germany. Before shooting Grabowski, Bachmeier said that she saw visions of Anna in the trial and could no longer stand for him to misrepresent her daughter. She allegedly sold her story to Stern magazine to pay her defense lawyers for $158,000.

 

In the end, the courts found Bachmeier guilty in 1983 of deliberate manslaughter. For her acts, she received a six-year prison term.

Jason Vukovich

 

Unlike other real-life vigilantes, Jason Vukovich’s search for justice began years before he set out to pursue it. Vukovich, born to a single mother in Anchorage, Alaska, on June 25, 1975, was quickly adopted by his mother’s new husband, Larry Fulton. Fulton seemed devout in public, but in reality, he molested Vukovich during his nightly “prayer sessions.”

 

Vukovich and his brother were often beaten with belts and pieces of wood in addition to sexual torture. And to make matters worse, Fulton got away with all these horrific offenses, which infuriated Vukovich. As a result, Vukovich, who fled terrified at 16, spent years getting by on narcotics and small-time thievery.

 

He returned to Alaska in 2008, but his desire to get revenge on pedophiles like Fulton didn’t go away. It culminated in 2016. Vukovich started by browsing the neighborhood sex offenders list. He then attacked and stole from three of the guys on the list as the last act.

 

In June 2016, Vukovich went after the three guys. Targeting Albee first, he drove to the residences of Andres Barbosa, Charles Albee, and Wesley Demarest. Then, on the morning of June 24, Vukovich broke into the man’s house and smacked the 68-year-old before robbing him and fleeing.

 

Two days later, he approached Barbosa in a very identical manner. However, he arrived at the door at 4 a.m. this time. He assaulted Barbosa with a punch to the face, stole his truck, and fled the scene with two female accomplices and a hammer. Demarest was instructed to get on his knees as Vukovich struck him in the fucking face with a hammer.

 

Vukovich claimed, “I am an angel of vengeance. “I’m going to administer justice to those you injured.”

 

Shortly after, the hammer, stolen items, and a notepad with the names of the persons in it were all discovered by police on Vukovich who was hiding in a nearby car. As a result, 18 charges of assault, robbery, burglary, and theft were brought against him. He decidedly took a plea deal.

 

According to allthatsintersting.com, in 2018, Vukovich was sentenced to 28 years in prison, after which the judge stated that “vigilantism won’t be accepted in our society.”

 

Vukovich has since expressed regret for his actions and urged others in his position not to follow in his footsteps: “I began my life sentence many, many years ago, it was handed down to me by an ignorant, hateful, poor substitute for a father. I now face losing most of the rest of my life due to a decision to lash out at people like him. To all those who have suffered like I have, love yourself and those around you, this is truly the only way forward.”

 

Gary Plauché

 

Now I’m pretty sure we all already know this story, but it fits the agenda of what we share.

 

Jeff Doucet, a 25-year-old karate teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, enjoyed the total confidence of his young pupils and their parents. But on February 19, 1984, when Doucet took Jody Plauché, then 11 years old, for what was intended to be a 15-minute automobile journey, that confidence was horribly betrayed.

 

When their son didn’t come home that day, Gary and June Plauché became quite concerned—and with good reason. Doucet had taken their small boy hostage and was transporting him to the West Coast. Before booking a room at a hotel in Anaheim, California, Doucet shaved his beard and colored Jody’s hair to ward off suspicion.

 

The youngster was repeatedly assaulted there by Doucet until he eventually gave Jody permission to phone his parents. Jody was returned to his family after the police quickly tracked down the call and apprehended Doucet. In the meantime, Gary Plauché, Jody’s father, traveled to the Baton Rouge airport to meet Doucet at arrivals and murder him.

 

Plauché drew a .38 pistol from his boot on March 16, 1984, as soon as he spotted Doucet at the airport. He had been talking to a friend on the other end of a payphone while waiting for Doucet to show up. Even saying, “Look out, he’s coming. A shot is soon to be heard. The subsequent gunshot was recorded on tape since television cameras were filming.

 

Plauché had murdered the abuser of his kid, shooting a hollow-point bullet into Doucet’s head from three feet away. Later, he was put on trial for murder, but the judge sitting on the opposing side of the courtroom was lenient. As a result, Plauché was shortly released after receiving a sentence of seven years with a suspended term, five years of probation, and 300 hours of community service.

 

Jody Plauché, on the other hand, took a while to comprehend all the trauma that had occurred to him at a young age. "I was outraged with what my father did after the incident," Jody said. “I did not want Jeff killed. I felt like he was going to go to jail, and that was enough for me.”

 

He continued, “But my parents, they didn’t force me into recovery. They kind of let me recover at my own pace, and it took a while… but I was able to work through it and eventually accept my dad back in my life.” Jody eventually turned his experience into a book titled Why, Gary, Why?.

Tityana Coppage

Tityana Coppage is a woman from Kansas City, Missouri. She was known as a strong woman who tried to help and lead her family as a young adult.

She was only 21 when she lost her brother – and it wasn’t the first loss her family had to come to terms with.

Her family was extended to several younger brothers with different last names who she cared for equally and passionately.

 

The brother she lost was Jayson Ugwuh Jr. He was a 16-year-old high school student who loved basketball and rap. He was a bright, cheerful kid despite knowing personal tragedies from mere years beforehand.

He was gunned down in public on January 10 while walking with some of his friends.

A car came up, opened fire, and then sped away. What provoked the incident remained a mystery. The only solid fact was that Jayson Jr. was the primary victim.

Tityana and Jayson both endured a shocking loss in 2016 when a drive-by shooting claimed the lives of her young brother Jayden Ugwuh and younger cousin Montell Ross.

 

The boys were just 9 and 8, respectively, at the time of death. Jayson was present for the shooting and held his little brother Jayden as he faded and died from the bullet wounds.

 

The killer was never found. Tityana was only 16 when the incident occurred, leaving her mentally changed.

 

A few days before the killing of Lars, Coppage posted a tribute to her brother on Facebook.

The post read: “I tried to shield y’all from everything I had to witness as a kid. I supported anything and everything you wanted to do in life. I tried to give you the best so you wouldn’t have to look for fake love in the streets,” she wrote in the January 11 post. “I worked hard and long hours to keep a roof over y’all head, nice clothes and shoes on y’all feet refrigerator full of groceries. The streets didn’t rise y’all I did this sh*t 10 toes down. I was at those games as much as I could, I was paying for your studio time for your trips no matter the cost. All I wanted is to see you happy finish school and make it to the top. But some how I still failed you. This wasn’t you Jayson you was so sweet so quite a honorable young man why didn’t you just hear me out I only wanted more time with you that’s all.”

 

The object of Tityana’s vengeance was Keith Lars. Just two days after her brother's death and burial, she gathered as much evidence as possible to affirm the identity of her brother’s murderer.

 

She traced him as the car owner that carried the gunman who killed her brother and armed herself before they met. Lars didn’t go down quietly.

 

They exchanged gunfire, but Tityana came alive and left Lars dead in his car in the parking lot in the city’s northeast section.

Court records state that Lars was found in the back of a Toyota near Virginia Avenue and Admiral Boulevard in Kansas City on January 13, with officers determining that the shooting had occurred close to the 500 block of Benton Boulevard.

At that scene, police found 23 shell casings from two types of bullets. 8

were .45 caliber, and 15 were 9mm.

 

Was Tityana just an ordinary woman pushed beyond the brink to perform such a murderous act?

 

She had already seen injustice win with the still-unsolved deaths of her young siblings, and she didn’t have enough trust in the system to properly avenge her brother’s death.

 

She assumed the guilt of Lars and got in contact with someone called “Auntie” to arm herself with a .45 pistol, saying “I used to many on Bro!” 

 

The fact that multiple gunshots were fired proves she was an amateur with a firearm.

Thanks to witnesses who came forward and surveillance footage in the parking lot where the murder took place, authorities quickly identified Coppage. They arrested her for the murder, booking her into Jackson County Jail on a $200,000 bond.

 

Evidence was quickly collected against Coppage, and she did not deny the charges.

 

She insisted that she got justice for her dead brother, even going as far as to text his cell phone to assure him that she was sending his killer to him.

 

At the time, no formal evidence was collected, or investigations were pending towards Lars as the suspect, though he was armed and did drive the same, or very similar, truck seen at Jayson’s murder scene.

She admitted during questioning that she knew Lars would be in the parking lot when she shot him. However, Tityana initially claimed that the murder was accidental and that she only shot him in self-defense because he fired his weapon at her first.

Coppage was spurred toward Lars by members of her community who seemed to indicate a shared but hushed knowledge of events that led to her brother’s death.

 

The police weren’t able to corroborate as much in their reporting. So all anyone seemed to know was that Lars may as well have been guilty and could have had his own criminal history.

 

Therefore, the extended family of the community assisted Coppage’s vigilante act she grew up around.

Coppage does not deny what she did or why and is charged with second-degree murder, which is murder without premeditation or planning.

 

By her admission, she fired her gun at the vehicle with Lars in it, but she claimed that he fired first and her weapon was meant for protection.

 

She was celebratory over his death, particularly over vengeance, meaning she went there assuming he was guilty and was armed to act.

Coppage contacted Lars before the meeting to tell him she was coming to ask questions.

 

She claimed to call him to try and settle differences between him and her father, knowing that if she didn’t take action, he absolutely would.

 

COPPAGE TEXTED HER DECEASED BROTHER AFTER KILLING LARS AS WELL.

The message sent to Her brother’s phone read: “I owe em that body,” according to an affidavit. This message and the ones sent to “Auntie” led authorities to file murder charges.

 

Rap artists DaBaby and 42 Dugg made public posts on Instagram voicing solidarity and have reached out to pay $20,000 each of her bond as support.

 

She is currently awaiting trial.

 

Jorge Porto-Sierra

 

Ok, so here we have someone that TECHNICALLY didn’t kill anyone, but that wasn’t for lack of trying.

 

When authorities responded to the scene at the Friendly Village Inn & Motel on U.S. Route 192 in Florida in 2018, witnesses recalled seeing Jorge shout, “I’m going to kill you, child molester,” as he drenched the property in gasoline with a cigarette in his hand. 

Porto-Sierra then returned to the parking lot and attacked two individuals sitting in their car. After that, he rammed his Ford Focus into their vehicle and poured gasoline into it through an open window.

Just as Porto-Sierra was preparing to set the car on fire, police arrived on the scene. He was quickly surrounded and told to surrender.

 

The 50-year-old Porto-Sierra admitted that he had planned to “barbecue all the child molesters on fire and kill them.” However, when police asked him why he didn’t, Porto-Sierra claimed that the police had arrived too fast for him to do so.

 

Authorities soon discovered that at least two of the men Porto-Sierra targeted were indeed convicted, sex offenders. One man had been standing outside his room when Porto-Sierra leaped out of his car and launched into a tirade, prompting him to rush inside his room.

 

“They raped kids, they are all child molesters that all live here and deserve to die,” Porto-Sierra later said as he justified his actions to the police.

While the Friendly Village Inn & Motel is indeed a popular place for convicted sex offenders (because it’s far away from schools and playgrounds), and at least two of Porto-Sierra’s targets were known sex offenders, the real-life vigilante still broke the law and thus found himself arrested for his actions.

 

As of 2020, Porto-Sierra is being held on no bond at the Osceola County Jail and charged with 4 counts of attempted murder.

 

André Bamberski

Andre was born to Polish immigrants in France in the 1930s. He was in the thick of the war that affected him growing up. Later, Andre became a chartered accountant and married Danièle Gonnin, having two kids. However, at the time of the incident, Andre and Danièle were divorced, and the latter was married to Dieter Krombach, a doctor, in Lindau, Germany.

Danièle initially told Andre that Dieter believed Kalinka died due to a heat stroke or the effects of a concussion from a few years prior. However, Andre wasn’t so sure. Dieter had stated that on the morning of Kalinka’s death, he had found her in bed, unresponsive; rigor mortis had already set in. However, Dieter tried to revive her by injecting her with a nervous system stimulant and two other stimulants. But that didn’t work, and Kalinka was dead.

The autopsy report read by Andre later showed that Kalinka had blood around her torn vagina. Inside, there was a whitish substance that was never tested. Besides injection marks on her arms, Kalinka had undigested food in her stomach. Experts later believed she died from asphyxiation from regurgitating her own food. All of this left Andre with only one theory: Dieter was responsible for the death.

Andre believed Dieter raped and then killed Kalinka with an injection, possibly to keep her from talking about it. While the German prosecution closed the case, saying Kalinka died of natural causes, Andre didn’t give up, following Dieter across Europe for years to bring him to justice. About a year after Kalinka’s death, Andre went to Lindau, handing out fliers accusing Dieter of murder. He was arrested and then fined and sentenced in absentia.

However, that didn’t stop Andre. He then prodded the French authorities, eventually leading to Kalinka’s body’s exhumation; she was a French citizen. This time, it was revealed that her genitals had been missing since the autopsy, and there was no trace of them. Andre’s work paid off when a French court convicted Dieter in absentia of violence, bringing on death without intention to do so, and sentenced him to 15 years.

But with Germany refusing extradition, Dieter essentially remained a free man for many years. Then, in 1997, Dieter was convicted of raping a 16-year-old in his clinic. He received a two-year suspended sentence in addition to his license being revoked. But a couple of years later, Dieter moved around and worked in several clinics by providing a photocopy of his license as proof.

Andre didn’t give up, even hiring private detectives to find out what Dieter was up to. He said, “All my friends and family, including my father, told me to quit it at this point. They said, ‘You’re not going to achieve anything.’ But I’m a Slav, you see, and the Slavs are very emotional. I cried all the time when I thought about Kalinka. It was a question for me of moral duty. That was the most important thing: to get the truth.”

 

While Dieter received a 26-month prison sentence, he was released early, and Andre learned he was back to work yet again. Andre then resolved to bring Dieter to France in any way possible. He was in Bregenz, Austria, hoping to look for more information about Dieter in Scheidegg, Germany. Andre talked about kidnapping Dieter and eventually heard from Anton Krasniqi, who agreed to help him. In October 2009, Dieter was taken from his house by Anton and two other accomplices and left outside a building in Mulhouse, France, paving the way for Dieter’s trial.

While Dieter’s pattern of drugging and raping women came to light, he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars. As for Andre, he admitted to knowing about the kidnapping plot but insisted he wasn’t involved in the actual act. In June 2014, he was found guilty of ordering the kidnap and received a one-year suspended sentence. In the end, Andre was happy with the result. He believed that he had kept his promise to Kalinka about giving her justice.

Regarding why Dieter would kill Kalinka, Andre said, “Kalinka had asked to move back to Toulouse, and to no longer stay with Krombach. She was about to escape from him: That could have been a motive. But one will never know. One can never know.” Andre quit his full-time job in 1999 to dedicate himself to bringing Dieter to justice. Through it all, he was supported by his partner (also called Danièle) for several years. Now in his 80s, Andre seems to live in Toulouse, France, and enjoying some much-needed time off.

 

This one is a DOOZY! 

 

Drąsius Kedys was born on September 4, 1972, in Garliava, Lithuania. He and his former girlfriend Laimutė Stankūnaitė had a daughter in February 2004. Stankūnaitė was underage when she gave birth to Kedys’ daughter. The couple split in 2006, and the parents got embroiled in a bitter custody battle. His former girlfriend, with the help of Andrius Ūsas, a politician and advisor to the former Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Muntianas, obtained custody in November 2006. Kedys had visitation rights every other weekend, But later Stankunaite gave up her custody rights, giving them to the father.

On November 29, 2008, Kedys submitted a formal complaint to the police, claiming Ūsas paid Stankūnaitė to sexually molest his daughter. In December 2008, Kedys obtained full custody of his daughter with no visitation rights for Stankūnaitė. The courts repeatedly confirmed that Stankūnaitė had no case to answer, thus dismissing Kedys’ allegations against his former girlfriend as unsubstantiated. Nevertheless, the pre-trial investigation against Ūsas continued. In February 2009, Kedys further pressed accusations against Violeta Naruševičienė, Stankūnaitė’s sister, claiming the former had participated in allowing men to molest her 4-year-old daughter. Finally, in July 2009, Kedys accused Jonas Furmanavičius, a district judge, and an individual known as Aidas of partaking in the molestation. All those people (except for Aidas) professed their innocence and accused Kedys of slander, criminal libel, and death threats.

Kedys was frustrated with the apparent lack of progress in official investigations and convinced that the case was being deliberately stonewalled. So, he sent out 200 DVDs to Lithuanian politicians, media outlets, and law-enforcement agencies, featuring homemade video footage of his daughter’s explicit testimony against three “uncles.” In addition, he promised to send the subtitled version to Members of the European Parliament. However, many sources criticized Kedys, who acted as the cameraman, for asking his daughter leading questions and heavily editing the film (it contained 50 segments filmed across nine occasions).

On October 5, 2009, Furmanavičius and Naruševičienė were shot dead in Kaunas. Kedys became the prime suspect. On the same day, a national search of Kedys was announced, soon followed by an announcement of an international investigation, as he was thought to have left the country shortly after the murders. Kedys' friends Raimundas Ivanauskas and Eglė Barauskaitė were charged with accessory to murder. 

The story caused an uproar in Lithuania, with much of the public siding with Kedys. In the public mind, the case was seen as a father’s futile attempts to pursue justice and protect his daughter and being driven to desperate measures by anger at the injustice. Others questioned whether the killings were actually commissioned by Kedys himself.

On April 17, 2010, at 6:49 a.m., after six months of a police search, a man fishing found Drąsius Kedys' body near Kaunas Reservoir. An autopsy concluded he had died between the evening of April 15 and the morning of the 16th. According to the official report, the cause of death was “choking on vomit” while being heavily intoxicated. However, his relatives were convinced that Kedys was murdered, pointing out wounds on his body. Kedys’ relatives demanded a second opinion from independent experts. Finally, in April 2011, a report was received from the Swedish National Forensic Service confirming Kedys had died from alcohol and drug poisoning and that he choked on the contents of his own stomach. The Swedish report differed from the Lithuanian experts in determining “the injuries on the body appeared before his death” and that the “possibility of drowning is not excluded.”

On April 24, Kedys was buried in Jonučiai cemetery. According to media reports, 6-10,000 people from across the country attended the ceremony.

Ūsas, the main suspect in the pedophilia case, was officially charged with the sexual molestation of a minor. However, he was found drowned in a swamp in June 2010. The death was ruled an accident. Nevertheless, the court case against Ūsas continued, and the court found him innocent in November 2012.

 

Mirriam Rodriguez

 

Miriam’s 20-year-old daughter mysteriously disappeared in 2012. Her daughter had been kidnapped and subsequently murdered, and several men were perpetrators of the crime. Dissatisfied with the Mexican justice system, Miriam decided to take matters into her own hands. To fool authorities and her daughter’s kidnappers, Miriam changed her appearance as best she could and used fake identification to make it more difficult to trace her. 

One of Miriam’s first “victims” was a member of a Mexican cartel who was implicit in the kidnapping and murder of her daughter. She cornered him, held him at gunpoint, and told him, “If you move, I’ll shoot you.”

But she was just getting started. She eventually tracked down her daughter’s killers one by one all across the country. But unfortunately, her vigilantism led to her ultimate downfall when multiple gunmen managed to kill her outside her home. 

Becoming a vigilante against organized criminals is a considerable risk, but it was one that Miriam was willing to take to seek justice for her daughter.

 

Speaking of people standing up against gangs…

 

El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha gang is better known as MS-13. Formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s, many members were deported for vicious crimes. However, several of them continued their criminal activity back home. The gang terrorized a nation plagued by a high poverty rate and a virtually helpless police force — until real-life vigilantes stepped up to help.

Spanish for “Black Shadow,” Sombra Negra was first formed around the early 1990s due to El Salvador’s authorities being glaringly overpowered by MS-13. Frustrated by the situation, Sombra Negra started targeting gang members for execution — especially MS-13 members.

Sombra Negra members come dressed in black with bandanas over their faces. They patrol the streets in unlicensed vehicles and with tinted windows. And one of their primary missions is to capture MS-13 members — and make them “disappear.” As Sombra Negra has grown more powerful over the years, so have the legends of their brutal retribution against the gang members.

 

From sexual torture to dismemberment, the paramilitary group of vigilantes became more of a death squad than a traditional band of crimefighters. In El Salvador, it seemed that only extreme measures would stop MS-13.

“Most of the victims were blindfolded, their hands or thumbs tied behind their backs, and they had received tiros de gracia (a coup de grâce), shots to the base of the skull at close range by weapons such as assault rifles and machine guns,” a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services report said. 

From home invasions to sudden killings in the streets, Sombra Negra carries out its mission ruthlessly and describes it as a “social cleansing.” And some authorities are grateful. Even El Salvador’s head of National Assembly Guillermo Gallegos has admitted: “Morally I support this type of expression because people are tired of the way of delinquency.”

In the end, it’s worth noting that many people have mixed feelings about real-life vigilantes. While they may sympathize with their motives in some cases, they may also find some of their choices reckless or unnecessarily dangerous. But there’s no question that these vigilantes have left a massive impression on the world — for better or worse.

 

And there’s another set of gang-fighting vigilantes…

 

Pablo Escobar needs little, if any, introduction. One of the most infamous drug lords in modern history, the Colombian kingpin ran a colossal cocaine empire that saw thousands of people killed. Yet, with corrupt authority figures in his pocket, Escobar’s reign appeared resolute — until it wasn’t.

In the early 1990s, Escobar had two rival cartel members murdered when they visited him in an opulent prison (which he had built for himself). Fidel Castano, the other cartel’s boss, was none too pleased. And so he helped form Los Pepes. Short for “Perseguidos por Pablos Escobar,” the paramilitary group welcomed “People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar.”

Escobar was marked after he walked out of his prison in July 1992. At this point, even the U.S. government and CIA were aiding Los Pepes in their quest to find the kingpin. But unfortunately, Los Pepes also engaged in bloody bombings against Escobar that killed and injured civilians.

 

Some of these nearly killed their target, including a car bomb that injured Escobar’s daughter. For more than a year, Los Pepes ruthlessly attacked anyone in Escobar’s circle — from friends and relatives to public supporters and officials. Finally, it was in 1993 when they closed in on the man himself.

After Los Pepes forced Escobar into hiding, Colombian intelligence intercepted a phone call from Escobar to his son. Now confident of his whereabouts, Colombian police and military forces headed for Escobar’s newfound hiding place in the neighborhood of Los Olivos — ready for retribution after years of brutal violence in the country. 

Whether Los Pepes members played an active role in killing him remains hotly contested, but one thing is sure: Without their vigilant quest to find Escobar, he would likely lead many more to their deaths. Ultimately, he was chased across rooftops and gunned down while on the run.

 

And lastly, what happens when an ENTIRE TOWN decides a lousy guy needs to die?

It didn’t take long for Ken McElroy to become the resident “bully” of Skidmore, Missouri. And considering his crimes, the “bully” label was putting things lightly. For years after he dropped out of school, he was accused of everything from theft and arson to child molestation and statutory rape. But despite being indicted 21 times, he dodged convictions at every turn.

After McElroy raped a 12-year-old girl, he divorced his wife and married the child when she was 14 to avoid a statutory rape charge. When her parents objected, he shot their dog and burned down their house. And after he shot a farmer in 1976, he somehow produced two witnesses who claimed that McElroy was nowhere near the scene of the crime that day.

Ken McElroy was a true terror for Skidmore residents, who wanted him removed immediately. McElroy’s downfall was a long time coming, but it truly fell into motion in 1980 after he shot the town’s elderly grocer in the neck. Though McElroy was charged with attempted murder and eventually convicted, he appealed the case and was released on bond.

 

Soon afterward, it seemed the entire town was present at a gathering on July 10, 1981, to discuss Ken McElroy. Though exactly what they said is unclear, there’s no question that they decided McElroy had to go.

Residents heard that McElroy had gone to the D&G Tavern for a drink. In a prime example of real-life vigilantes in action, the community walked to the bar to confront him. And with no warning, someone began shooting.

Some accounts describe up to 50 vigilantes involved in the onslaught. In the end, McElroy was shot multiple times and struck by at least two firearms. He succumbed to the wounds in his truck. No one called an ambulance — or agreed to testify against another person in court.

To this day, no one has ever been charged with his death.

 

Top 10 Vigilante Films

https://screenrant.com/best-vigilante-films/

Reincarnation or ”Tarnation” If You’re A Cowboy

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When you die and are brought back as a cowboy, call that reintarnation. That's right folks, we are gonna get pun-iful in today's episode as we dive deep into the life and times of Reincarnation. We’ve all heard about the tales, myths, pseudo-science factuals, testimonials, and first hand accounts of reincarnation. Is it real? Is this tabloid conjecture? Are we stuck in an everlasting cycle until we break free and reach enlightenment? Do we need to join the Flatliners in order to find out? Well, let's go over everything we know and maybe, some things you don't know.

 

For those of you who don't know what Reincarnation is, or maybe, just don't understand what it is; the Latin root of the word "reincarnation" literally translates to "entering the flesh again." Reincarnation is the idea that a part of every person—or, in certain cultures, every living thing—continues to exist after death. The transmigration belief varies by culture and is imagined to take the form of a newly born human being, animal, plant, spirit, or as a being in some other non-human realm of existence. This aspect may be the soul, mind, consciousness, or something transcendent that is reborn in an interconnected cycle of existence.

 

So reincarnation is the transfer of the soul, right? What is your soul? I feel that not everyone has a soul, or at the very least deserves one, but what is your soul? Where does it reside? Is it just an idea we give to help us cope with the nothingness that happens after the lights go out? Or is there more to the equation?

 

According to the religion of the ancient Egyptians, a person is composed of both bodily and spiritual components. Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian religion both contained concepts that are similar. The Kuttamuwa stele, a funeral stele for a royal official from Sam'al who died in the eighth century BCE, records Kuttamuwa asking his mourners to celebrate his life and his death with feasts "for my spirit that is in this stele." One of the oldest mentions of the soul existing independently of the body can be found here. The basalt stele, which weighs 800 pounds (360 kg), is 2 feet (0.61 m) wide and 3 feet (0.91 m) tall. It was found during the third season of excavations by the Oriental Institute's Neubauer Expedition in Chicago, Illinois.

 

The Baháʼí Faith affirms that "the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel". Bahá'u'lláh stated that the soul not only continues to live after the physical death of the human body, but is, in fact, immortal. Heaven can be seen partly as the soul's state of nearness to God; and hell as a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as a natural consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually. Bahá'u'lláh taught that individuals have no existence prior to their life here on earth and the soul's evolution is always towards God and away from the material world.

 

Christian eschatology holds that after death, God will evaluate each person's soul and determine whether they will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell before being raised to life. This viewpoint is shared by the majority of Protestant denominations as well as the oldest branches of Christianity, including the Catholic Church and the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches. Some Protestant Christians think the soul is just "life," and they think the dead don't have conscious existence until the resurrection (Christian conditionalism). Some Protestant Christians think that rather than suffering for all eternity, the sinful' souls and bodies will be destroyed in Hell (annihilationism). Either in Heaven or in a Kingdom of God on earth, believers will receive eternal life and experience everlasting communion with God.

 

The present Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the term soul

 

“refers to the innermost aspect of [persons], that which is of greatest value in [them], that by which [they are] most especially in God's image: ‘soul’ signifies the spiritual principle in [humanity]”.

All souls living and dead will be judged by Jesus Christ when he comes back to earth. The Catholic Church teaches that the existence of each individual soul is dependent wholly upon God:

 

"The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God."

 

Protestants usually hold to the idea that the soul is real and eternal, but there are two main schools of thought regarding what this implies in terms of a hereafter. Some, following Jean Calvin, believe that the soul persists as consciousness after death. Some people, including those who follow Martin Luther, think that the soul passes away with the body and remains asleep (or "sleeps") until the time of the dead.

 

Various new religious movements deriving from Adventism(Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ.) — including Christadelphians, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses — similarly believe that the dead do not possess a soul separate from the body and are unconscious until the resurrection.

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the spirit and body together constitute the Soul of Man (Mankind). "The spirit and the body are the soul of man." Latter-day Saints believe that the soul is the union of a pre-existing, God-made spirit and a temporal body, which is formed by physical conception on earth. After death, the spirit continues to live and progress in the Spirit world until the resurrection, when it is reunited with the body that once housed it. This reuniting of body and spirit results in a perfect soul that is immortal, and eternal, and capable of receiving a fulness of joy. Latter-day Saint cosmology also describes "intelligences" as the essence of consciousness or agency. These are co-eternal with God, and animate the spirits. The union of a newly-created spirit body with an eternally-existing intelligence constitutes a "spirit birth"[citation needed] and justifies God's title "Father of our spirits".

 

Some Confucian traditions draw a distinction between a spiritual soul and a physical soul.

Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means inner self or soul. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Ātman is the first principle, the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain liberation (moksha), a human being must acquire self-knowledge (atma jnana), which is to realize that one's true self (Ātman) is identical with the transcendent self.

 

The Quran, the holy book of Islam, uses two words to refer to the soul: rūḥ (translated as spirit, consciousness, pneuma or "soul") and nafs (translated as self, ego, psyche or "soul"), cognates of the Hebrew nefesh and ruach. The two terms are frequently used interchangeably, though rūḥ is more often used to denote the divine spirit or "the breath of life", while nafs designates one's disposition or characteristics. In Islamic philosophy, the immortal rūḥ "drives" the mortal nafs, which comprises temporal desires and perceptions necessary for living.

 

In Jainism, every living being, from plant or bacterium to human, has a soul and the concept forms the very basis of Jainism. According to Jainism, there is no beginning or end to the existence of the soul. It is eternal in nature and changes its form until it attains liberation.

 

Jiva is the immortal essence or soul of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death. The concept of Ajiva in Jainism means "not soul", and represents matter (including body), time, space, non-motion and motion. In Jainism, a Jiva is either samsari (mundane, caught in cycle of rebirths) or mukta (liberated).

 

According to this belief until the time the soul is liberated from the saṃsāra (cycle of repeated birth and death), it gets attached to one of these bodies based on the karma (actions) of the individual soul. Irrespective of which state the soul is in, it has got the same attributes and qualities. The difference between the liberated and non-liberated souls is that the qualities and attributes are manifested completely in case of siddha (liberated soul) as they have overcome all the karmic bondages whereas in case of non-liberated souls they are partially exhibited. Souls who rise victorious over wicked emotions while still remaining within physical bodies are referred to as arihants.

 

Judaism relates the quality of one's soul to one's performance of the commandments (mitzvot) and reaching higher levels of understanding, and thus closeness to God.

 

The Scientology view is that a person does not have a soul, it is a soul. It is the belief of the religion that they do not have the power to force adherents' conclusions. Therefore, a person is immortal, and may be reincarnated if they wish. Scientologists view that one's future happiness and immortality, as guided by their spirituality, is influenced by how they live and act during their time on earth. The Scientology term for the soul is "thetan", derived from the Greek word "theta", symbolizing thought. Scientology counselling (called auditing) addresses the soul to improve abilities, both worldly and spiritual. The ideologies surrounding this understanding align with those of the five major world religions.

 

A popular belief in Shamanism is soul dualism, which is also known as "many souls" or "dualistic pluralism" and is crucial to the fundamental and vital idea of "soul flight" (also called "soul journey", "out-of-body experience", "ecstasy", or "astral projection"). The idea that there are two or more souls in each human being is known as the dualistic theory of the "free soul" and the "body soul." While awake, the former is connected to physiological processes and awareness, but the latter is free to roam when asleep or in trance states. There are numerous soul types with various purposes in some circumstances.

 

Shinto distinguishes between the souls of living persons (tamashii) and those of dead persons (mitama), each of which may have different aspects or sub-souls.

 

Sikhism considers the soul (atma) to be part of God (Waheguru). Various hymns are cited from the holy book Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) that suggests this belief. "God is in the Soul and the Soul is in the God."

 

According to Chinese traditions, every person has two types of soul called hun and po, which are respectively yang and yin. Taoism believes in ten souls, sanhunqipo "three hun and seven po". A living being that loses any of them is said to have mental illness or unconsciousness, while a dead soul may reincarnate to a disability, lower desire realms, or may even be unable to reincarnate.

 

Damn, we’re getting deep here on the Train! Well, we did say we wanted to do this episode and to do it right, well, this is “da wey”.

 

Now it seems as though the soul is prevalent in just about every religion. Why? Is this just a way of putting a forced answer to a question that we cant solve? Like the creation of our existence or the so-called plan laid before us? Too deep? Anyways, in everything we hear there is usually some truth to what is said. The real strategy is finding out what is true and what is not.

 

While there has been no scientific confirmation of the physical reality of reincarnation, where the subject has been discussed, there are questions of whether and how such beliefs may be justified within the discourse of science and religion. Some champions of academic parapsychology have argued that they have scientific evidence even while their detractors have accused them of practicing a form of pseudoscience. Skeptic Carl Sagan asked the Dalai Lama what he would do if a fundamental tenet of his religion (reincarnation) were definitively disproved by science. The Dalai Lama answered, "If science can disprove reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism would abandon reincarnation…but it's going to be mighty hard to disprove reincarnation." Sagan considered claims of memories of past lives to be worthy of research, although he considered reincarnation to be an unlikely explanation for these.

 

Over the course of 40 years, University of Virginia psychiatrist Ian Stevenson studied more than 2,500 cases of young children who claimed to remember previous lives. Twelve volumes were written by him, including Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect, Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, and Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. He documented the child's statements and the evidence of family members and other witnesses in his instances, frequently coupled with what he thought to be connections to a deceased person who in some ways seemed to match the child's memories. Stevenson also looked at instances in which he believed that birthmarks and birth abnormalities matched the wounds and scars on the deceased. Medical records, such as images from an autopsy, were occasionally included in his documentation. Stevenson anticipated criticism and mistrust of his beliefs since claims of former life memories are always open to accusations of fraudulent recollections and the simplicity with which such claims can be faked. He did look for contradictory information and other reasons for the claims, but as the Washington Post wrote, he frequently came to the conclusion that no regular explanation was enough.

 

Jim B. Tucker, Antonia Mills, Satwant Pasricha, Godwin Samararatne, and Erlendur Haraldsson are a few other academic scholars who have engaged in comparable study, although Stevenson's works continue to be the most well-known. Carl Sagan found Stevenson's work in this area to be so impressive that he used what were apparently Stevenson's investigations as an example of meticulously gathered empirical data in his book The Demon-Haunted World. Though he rejected reincarnation as a reasonable explanation for the stories, he wrote that the phenomenon of purported past-life memories should be further studied. In his book The End of Faith, Sam Harris mentioned Stevenson's writings as a component of a collection of evidence that appears to support the reality of psychic phenomena but only draws on arbitrary human experience.

 

Paul Edwards, a philosopher, called Ian Stevenson's reincarnation tales "purely anecdotal and cherry-picked," refuting Stevenson's assertions. The stories, according to Edwards, are the products of selective thinking, suggestion, and false recollections that arise from the researcher's or the family's belief systems and cannot be taken into account as empirical proof. The philosopher Keith Augustine wrote in critique that the fact that "the vast majority of Stevenson's cases come from countries where a religious belief in reincarnation is strong, and rarely elsewhere, seems to indicate that cultural conditioning (rather than reincarnation) generates claims of spontaneous past-life memories." Further, Ian Wilson pointed out that a large number of Stevenson's cases consisted of poor children remembering wealthy lives or belonging to a higher caste. In these societies, claims of reincarnation are sometimes used as schemes to obtain money from the richer families of alleged former incarnations. Later, Stevenson wrote a book titled European Cases of the Reincarnation Type that collected cases from societies where reincarnation is not widely accepted. Robert Baker said that despite this, all of the past-life experiences examined by Stevenson and other parapsychologists are explicable in terms of well-known psychological characteristics, such as a combination of confabulation and cryptomnesia. Reincarnation conjures assumptions, according to Edwards, that are at odds with contemporary science. Reincarnation is subject to the rule that "extraordinary claims deserve extraordinary evidence" due to the fact that the vast majority of individuals have no memory of former lifetimes and that no mechanism has been empirically proven to allow a personality to escape death and move to another body. Researchers like Stevenson were aware of these restrictions. 

 

Confabulation is a memory error in psychology that is described as the creation of false, distorted, or misconstrued memories about oneself or the outside environment. It is typically linked to a particular subset of dementias or certain types of brain injury, particularly aneurysms in the anterior communicating artery. Confabulation is a behavior that the basal forebrain is thought to be involved with, while research into this topic is currently ongoing. When someone confabulates, their memories are distorted or confused in terms of their temporal framing (such as timing, sequence, or duration), and these distortions can range from small mistakes to outright fabrications. They generally have a high degree of confidence in their memories, even when they are contradicted by other pieces of information.

 

When a forgotten memory resurfaces but is not recognized by the person as such, they think it to be something brand-new and unique. This condition is known as cryptomnesia. A person could mistakenly believe they came up with a joke, a music, a name, or a thought when they didn't mean to copy anything; instead, they were simply experiencing a memory as if it were a fresh source of inspiration. This is a memory bias.

 

Stevenson also asserted that there were a few instances that might have provided proof of xenoglossy, including two in which a subject was said to have engaged in conversation with speakers of the other language rather than just memorizing its terms. Reexamining these cases, University of Michigan linguist and skeptic Sarah Thomason came to the conclusion that "the linguistic evidence is too poor to provide support for the assertions of xenoglossy."

 

The paranormal phenomena of a person being able to speak, write, or understand a foreign language that they could not have learned naturally is called xenoglossy, also known as xenolalia. French parapsychologist Charles Richet coined the term "xenoglossy" in 1905. In addition to modern assertions made by parapsychologists and reincarnation researchers like Ian Stevenson, the New Testament contains claims of xenoglossy. The existence of xenoglossy as a real phenomenon is not supported by science. In xenoglossy, there are two distinct categories. Incomprehensible use of an unlearned language is known as repetitious xenoglossy, while comprehensively using an unlearned language as if it had already been learnt is known as responsive xenoglossy.

 

Some reincarnationists—Stevenson notoriously not included—place great emphasis on purported past-life memories that are regained while hypnotized during past-life regressions. The technique, which was made popular by psychiatrist Brian Weiss, who claims to have taken patients back in time more than 4,000 times since 1980, is sometimes referred to as a form of pseudoscience. These so-called memories have been shown to include historical mistakes derived from historical texts, popular historical myths, or contemporary popular culture. Studies on people who had past-life regressions found that the two most significant influences on the reported details of recollections were the individuals' reincarnation beliefs and the hypnotist's suggestions. The use of hypnosis and provocative inquiries may make a subject more prone to have false or distorted recollections. The source of the recollections is most likely cryptomnesia and confabulations, which mix experiences, knowledge, imagination, and suggestion or instruction from the hypnotist, as opposed to recall of a prior existence. Once they are formed, the memories become identical to memories based on actual life occurrences for the person.

 

Because it offers no proof for its assertions and makes people more susceptible to false recollections, past-life regression has been criticized as immoral. According to Luis Cordón, this can be harmful because it breeds delusions while passing itself off as therapy. Due to the fact that the memories are perceived as being equally vivid and impossible to distinguish from authentic recollections of actual occurrences, any damage may be challenging to repair.

 

The use of past-life regressions as a treatment technique has been contested by APA recognized groups as unethical. Furthermore, the hypnotic technique used to support past-life regression has come under fire for leaving the subject open to the implantation of false memories. Gabriel Andrade contends that past-life regression violates the Hippocratic Oath's first, do no harm (non-maleficence) tenet since the implantation of false memories may be damaging.

 

Now that we have a phenomenal understanding of reincarnation and the simplified version of the soul, we would like to share some examples of first hand accounts where reincarnation shows itself. All we ask of you, the listeners, is to give us your honest opinions and maybe share your own stories or beliefs. 

 

Thank you to Listverse.com for some of the first hand accounts of reincarnation

 

10. Edward Austrian

A four-year-old boy called Edward Austrian had been complaining of a sore throat since his mother can remember. He also can’t stand grey, drizzly days, apparently. Around this time, the little boy began referring to his sore throat as his “shot”. His mother thought nothing of it. After all, kids mix up their words all the time. Doctor after doctor led to an unnecessary tonsil removal, which then led to an unexplained cyst developing in Edward’s throat. His parents were understandably worried. But then something strange happened. Edward started telling his mum detailed stories from WWI – things a four-year-old wouldn’t be able to absorb and remember from a TV show or movie. He spoke of life on the trenches and the day-to-day goings on of the war. And then… one day… he told his mother a graphic story of being shot in the throat and killed. “My name was James. I was 18 years old, in France,” he told his parents. “We were walking along through the mud. It was damp. It was cold. My rifle is heavy. I remember looking out and seeing trees and then there was desolation. I heard a shot come from behind. It went through someone else, hit me square in the back of the neck and I felt my throat fill with blood.” Let’s remember this kid is FOUR YEARS OLD. So that’s not the kind of thing he would learn from the Wiggles, right?

 

9. Bruce Whittier

 

Bruce Whittier had recurring dreams of being a Jewish man hiding in a house with his family. His name had been Stefan Horowitz, a Dutch Jew who was discovered in his hiding place along with his family and taken to Auschwitz, where he died. During and after the dreams, he felt panicked and restless. He began to record his dreams, and one night he dreamed about a clock, which he was able to draw in great detail upon waking.Whittier dreamed about the location of the clock in an antiques shop and went to look. The clock was visible in the shop window and looked exactly like the one in his dreams. Whittier asked the dealer where it had come from. It transpired that the dealer had bought the clock from among the property of a retired German major in The Netherlands. This convinced Whittier that he really had led a past life.

 

8. Peter Hume

 

Peter Hume, a bingo caller from Birmingham, England, started having very specific dreams about life on guard duty at the Scottish border in 1646. He was a foot soldier of Cromwell’s army and his name was John Raphael. When put under hypnosis, Hume remembered more details and locations. He started to visit places he remembered with his brother and even found small items that appeared to have come from the era in which he had lived, such as horse spurs.With the help of a village historian in Culmstock, South England, he even managed to positively identify details about a church that he had known—he was able to tell her that the church used to have a tower with a yew tree growing from it. This was not a published fact, and it startled her that Hume knew it—the church tower had been taken down in 1676. In local registers, John Raphael was discovered to have been married in the church. A civil war historian, Ronald Hutton, investigated the case and asked Hume very era-specific questions while under hypnosis. Hutton was not satisfied that Hume was totally in tune with the era of his past life, as he could not answer all his questions in a satisfactory way.

 

7. Gus Taylor

 

Gus Taylor was 18 months old when he started to say that he was his own grandfather. Young children can be confused about their own identity and those of their family members, but this was different. His grandfather had died a year before Gus was born and the boy totally believed they were the same person. When shown some family photographs, Gus identified “Grandpa Augie” when he was four years old.There was a family secret that nobody had ever spoken about in front of or around Gus—Augie’s sister had been murdered and dumped in the San Francisco Bay. The family were perplexed when the four-year-old child started to talk about his dead sister. According to Gus, God gave him a ticket after he died. With this ticket he was able to travel through a hole, after which he came back to life as Gus.

 

6. Imad Elawar

 

Five-year-old Imad Elawar from Lebanon started talking about his life in a nearby village. The first two words he spoke as a child were the names “Jamileh” and “Mahmoud,” and at the age of two he stopped a stranger outside and told him they had been neighbors. The child and his parents were investigated by Dr Ian Stevenson. Imad made over 55 different claims about his previous life.The family visited the village that the boy had been spoken of, together with Stevenson, and found the house where he claimed he had lived. Imad and his family were able to positively identify thirteen facts and memories that were confirmed as being accurate. Imad recognized his previous uncle, Mahmoud, and his mistress from a former life, Jamileh, from photographs. He was able to remember where he had kept his gun, a fact verified by others, and was able to have a chat with a stranger about their experiences during their army days. In total, 51 out of 57 of the experiences and places mentioned by Imad were verified during the visit.

 

5. James Leininger

 

At a very young age, James Leininger started to remember his life as a navy fighter pilot. Airplanes were the only toys he would play with, and after a time his plane obsession turned into a nightmare. He lost a lot of sleep and kept talking about flying planes, about the weapons, and the scary accident with his plane. James, who only watched kids’ programs on TV, showed his mother what a fighter plane drop tank was, and was able to check a plane over as a pilot would during a preflight check when he was just three years old.The child was able to tell his father that he used to take off from a boat called the Natoma and knew the name of a co-pilot, Jack Larson. The Natoma was indeed a Pacific ship and Larson was still alive. After James told his father that he had been killed in his plane at Iwo Jima, his father discovered a pilot called James M. Huston Jr. who had died there. This was especially strange, as James had started to sign his drawings “ ‘James 3’ ”. James’ family contacted Huston’s sister, and she sent James a bust and a model airplane that had been returned to her by the navy after her brother’s death.

 

4. Ruth Simmons

 

One of the best-known reincarnation stories is that of Ruth Simmons. In 1952, she underwent a series of hypnosis sessions during which her therapist, Morey Bernstein, regressed her back to her birth. She suddenly started to speak with a heavy Irish accent and remembered many specific details from her life as Bridey Murphy, who had lived in Belfast, Ireland in the 19th century. Not many of the things she mentioned could be verified. However, she recalled two people from whom she used to buy her food—a Mr. John Carrigan and a Mr. Farr. The town directory for 1865–66 lists the two individuals as grocers. The story is shown in a film from 1956 called The Search for Bridey Murphy.

 

3. Cameron Macauley

 

Cameron Macauley was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Since the age of two he told his mother he was from an island called Barra, off the west coast of Scotland. He talked about a white house and a beach on which planes landed. He had a black-and-white dog and his dad’s name was Shane Robertson—he was killed by a car. He drew the white house by the beach and complained of missing his other mother. As the child got more and more upset about missing Barra, his mother took him on a visit the the island, which was an hour-long flight away. The plane landed on the beach.The family found a white house owned by the Robertsons, and the black-and-white dog was in one of their family photographs, along with a car that Cameron had remembered. However, nobody recalled Shane. Cameron knew his way around the white house and was able to point out all its peculiarities.As he grew older, Cameron slowly lost his memories, but he is still convinced that death is not the end. Like Gus Taylor, he stated that he ended up in his mother’s tummy after he fell through a hole. The story was picked up by British television, making the Barra case one of the best-documented reincarnation stories.

 

2. Parmod Sharma

 

Parmod Sharma was born in India in 1944. When he reached the age of two, he told his mother that his wife in Moradabad could cook for him, so she did not have to. Morabad was 145 kilometers (90 mi) away from his birthplace, Bisauli. Between the ages of three and four, Parmod described a business venture called “Mohan Brothers,” where he had worked with family members, selling cookies and water. He built miniature shops and served his family mud cookies and water. He had been a well-off tradesman and complained about the financially less rosy situation of his current family. He advised his parents against eating curd, and would not touch it himself. He said that he had become very ill after eating it in his old life. Parmod hated being submerged in a bath and told his parents that he had died in a bathtub. Pramod's parents promised to take him to Moradabad once he had learned to read. It turned out that there was a family by the name of Mehra that had run a soda and cookie shop called “Mohan Brothers.” Manager Parmanand Mehra had died in 1943 after gorging on curd and suffering from a gastrointestinal illness and peritonitis, from which he had eventually died. Parmanand had tried medicinal baths as a cure and had been given a bath very shortly before his death.

 

1. Steve Jobs

A software engineer called Tony Tseung, an employee of Apple, sent an email to a Buddhist group in Thailand, asking if they could tell him what had happened to Apple founder Steve Jobs after he died. The answer was that Jobs is now a celestial philosopher, in a glass palace that hovers over the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.In Malaysia, a group of Jobs’ admirers performed a religious ceremony after his funeral. During the ceremony, the group each took a bite from an apple before throwing it into the sea to speed up the process of reincarnation. Phra Chaibul Dhammajayo, one of the abbots at the Dhammakaya Temple, is convinced that Jobs has already been reborn. He is now a divine presence with a specific interest in science and art. Followers have received this information through a special message that was broadcast worldwide. Apparently, more specific details will be communicated when Jobs feels the need to pass on any knowledge or messages.

 

Ok… one last person who claims they were reincarnated!

Born on Dec. 11, 1926, Shanti Devi appeared to be a perfectly normal baby, until around the age of four when she began to ramble on about a past life in a town called Mathura, nearly 75 miles away..

Shortly after she learned to speak, Devi regaled her parents with stories of her past life in a town neither she nor her parents had ever been to.

Simple events would trigger memories of this life, like eating a meal that reminded her of foods she used to enjoy in her old days, or while getting dressed she’d tell her mother about the clothes she used to wear.

Devi eventually informed her parents that her previous name was Lugdi and that she died shortly after bearing a son in October of 1925. She added uncanny details about her labor pains and the surgical procedures she underwent.

Such facts, it seemed, couldn’t have been conjured up by even the most imaginative child.

When she revealed the name of her former husband, Devi’s family was shocked to discover that he was still alive and lived precisely where Devi had said she was from. A historic meeting was arranged between them ⏤ that not even science could quite explain.

Devi recalled in startling detail all the shops and streets in the town. She also began to speak of her husband, a merchant whose name she refused to reveal until she was about nine years old. But she did tell her parents that he was fair, had a wart on his left cheek, and wore reading glasses.

Despite the unusual specificity of her memories, Devi’s parents dismissed her recollections as mere childishness. But when Devi revealed that her husband’s name was Pandit Kedarnath Chaube, sometimes referred to as Kedar Nath, a friend of the family decided to find out if there was any truth to what she’d been saying.

The friend sent a letter to a merchant named Kedar Nath in Mathura to inquire about Devi’s unusual memories. To the friend’s surprise, Nath wrote back confirming all the details. Nath also agreed to send a relative to Devi’s home to gauge the situation.

In an effort to test her knowledge, the relative was brought before Devi first and introduced as her husband. Devi was not fooled and said that no, this was her husband’s cousin.

Shocked, Nath and the child he had with Lugdi, now ten years old, entered the home themselves. Upon seeing them, Devi reportedly burst into tears.

Nath requested to speak with Devi on his own, and by his own admission, claimed that each response she gave to his questions was entirely accurate.

“He found the replies to be quite correct and was moved to tears!” Read an account by an investigator on the case in 1937. “It was as though his dead wife was speaking.”

Shanti spent several days with Kedar Nath and his son before they had to return to Mathura. Saddened by their departure, she pleaded with her parents to let her take a trip to her former home.

She promised she could lead them directly to her old house and, perhaps to persuade them further, explained that she had a box of money buried there.

Devi’s parents relented — though considering the story had captured the attention of Mahatma Gandhi, they hardly had a choice. The famed Indian leader set up a commission to investigate the astonishing case, and in November of 1935, a dozen researchers joined Devi and her parents on the three-hour train ride to Mathura.

As one of the investigators recounted, “Once getting out of the railway station… the girl was put in the front seat and our carriage went ahead of all others. Necessary precautions were taken that no pedestrians should be allowed to lead the way. The driver was instructed to follow the route indicated only by the girl, without caring as to where he went.”

Sure enough, Devi had no problem directing the group to what she claimed was her former home. Along the way, she noted various streets that hadn’t been paved earlier and buildings that weren’t there during her previous life. The driver confirmed these observations were correct.

While exploring the house with Kedar Nath, a member of the commission asked about the buried treasure she mentioned. Shanti Devi promptly ran upstairs and headed straight to a corner of a room, declaring the box was hidden beneath the floorboard. Kedar Nath opened up the flooring and indeed found a small coffer. It was empty.

Shocked, Shanti Devi began looking inside the hole, certain the money was there. Kedar Nath then admitted that he had taken the cash after his wife’s death.

Devi’s reunion tour of Mathura continued to her former parents’ house. “She not only recognized it but was also able to identify her old ‘father’ and ‘mother’ in a crowd of more than 50 persons,” one of the investigators wrote. “The girl embraced her ‘parents’ who wept bitterly at her sight.”

Though she wished to stay in Mathura longer, Devi’s current parents and the investigators were soon headed back to Delhi. In their report, the commission found “no rational explanation” for what they witnessed.

Not only was Devi able to recall her life before, it seemed, but she also had an explanation for the afterlife. In 1936 and 1939, she relayed her experience in death to skeptics and hypnotists alike.

She claimed that at the time of her death, she felt dizzy and enveloped in a “profound darkness” before a flash of light revealed four men in yellow underwear before her.

“All the four seemed to be in their teens and their appearance and dress were very bright,” she once said while under hypnosis. “They put me in a cup and carried me.”

Devi said she saw the Hindu god Krishna showing each person a record of their good and bad activities on earth and telling them what would happen to them next.

Then, Devi said she was taken to a golden staircase from which she could see a river as “clean and pure as milk.” She said she saw souls there and they appeared like flames in lamps.

Years later, a 1958 newspaper interview followed up with her. At the time, Shanti Devi was 32 years old and had never married. She was living a quiet, spiritual life in Delhi.

She also said she’d planned to form an organization “devoted to the idea of living our lives according to the dictates of the inner voice.”

Shanti Devi passed away in 1987 at the age of 61. However, her story lives on courtesy of a book written by Swedish author Sture Lonnerstrand in 1994, which was translated to English in 1998.

Okay so that last one definitely seems a little… off kilter to say the least. One recurring theme with a lot of these stories though, is that the prior life that's experienced was cut short during a traumatic event. Now as we all know, most hauntings seem to be along the same lines. So are hauntings just reincarnation of the life lost with unfinished business? Stuck in Purgatory? I guess after this long ass episode we still don't have any answers. Hopefully, though, we have put you closer on the track to figuring it out for yourselves. Hey! If you figure something out, make sure to drop a line. After all, if we can't figure it out in this life, maybe we will be around to talk about it in  the next.

 

The Best Movies About Reincarnation And Coming Back To Life (ranker.com)

Why isn't The Mummy on this list?!?!?!

The Servant Girl Annihilator (Your Jack the Ripper is Showing)

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We’ve all heard the story of Jack the Ripper, right? Hell, we did a two-parter on the case not too long ago. You know the story. Some crazy person, running around hacking up people, disemboweling them, and nobody knows who it was. You know, that old chestnut. There were other cases similar to the Jack the Ripper case, like the Vallisca ax murders, the Hinterkaifeck Murders, and quite a few more that we’ve covered right here on the Midnight Train. 

 

Well, this story is right in line with those unsolved atrocities and… it happened before Jack the Ripper decided to go all willy nilly and mutilate a bunch of poor women.

 

The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Austin Axe Murderer and the Midnight Assassin (which is my favorite for obvious reasons), was a still, as of yet, unidentified serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, between 1884 and 1885. The murderer’s nickname originated with the writer O. Henry. Apparently he had mentioned the murderer in a letter he had written, coining the dipshit murderers name.

 

The brutal killings in Austin occurred three years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London's East End (and there are some who believe the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same person and we’ll touch on that later). Although these murders happened 75 years before the term serial killer was coined, it still sealed Austin's reputation as the first city in America to have a serial killer — and the peice of crap responsible to be known as the first serial murderer in the country. Not exactly someone sane is running to be the first, but someone has to be the first something, right?

 

First, let’s talk about Austin, Texas and a smidge of its history.

 

As per Wikipedia:

Evidence of habitation of the Balcones Escarpment region of Texas can be traced to at least 11,000 years ago. Two of the oldest Paleolithic archeological sites in Texas, the Levi Rock Shelter and Smith Rock Shelter, are located southwest and southeast of present-day Austin respectively. Several hundred years before the arrival of European settlers, the area was inhabited by a variety of nomadic Native American tribes. These indigenous peoples fished and hunted along the creeks, including present-day Barton Springs, which proved to be a reliable campsite. At the time of the first permanent settlement of the area, the Tonkawa tribe was the most common, with the Comanches and Lipan Apaches also frequenting the area.

The first European settlers in the present-day Austin were a group of Spanish friars who arrived from East Texas in July 1730. They established three temporary missions, La Purísima Concepción, San Francisco de los Neches and San José de los Nazonis, on a site by the Colorado River, near Barton Springs. The friars found conditions undesirable and relocated to the San Antonio River within a year of their arrival. Following Mexico's Independence from Spain, Anglo-American settlers began to populate Texas and reached present-day Central Texas by the 1830s. The first documented permanent settlement in the area dates to 1837 when the village of Waterloo was founded near the confluence of the Colorado River and Shoal Creek.

 

Got all that? Good… maybe you can explain it to me later. Just kidding… kind of.

The victims

 

The first unfortunate victim was Mollie Smith, a 25-year-old cook working for the Walter Hall residence on Sixth Street (then named Pecan Street). She was killed on December 30, 1884, in a grisly killing filled with an extreme amount of blood due to the ax wounds to her head, abdomen, chest, legs, and arms. Her body was found outside and placed in the snow next to the family outhouse. She was attacked with an axe in her sleep, dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered. Walter Spencer, 30 yrs. old, also attacked and wounded.

 

The second poor victim was Eliza Shelly, a young woman who worked as a cook for the family of Dr. Lucian Johnson. Killed a few months after Mollie Smith, Shelly had been brutally murdered on Cypress Street on May 7, 1885, and her head left almost completely split from the blows of an axe. She was the mother of three children.

 

Because of the killer's apparent weapon of choice — an axe — the murders were first known as the Austin Axe Murders until a well-known resident, William Sydney Porter (that writer guy with the pen name, O. Henry) wrote in a letter to a friend: "Town is fearfully dull, except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively during the dead of night." After his letter became public, locals and reporters began referring to the murderer as the Servant Girl Annihilator. 

 

On May 23, 1885, a third hapless woman, also a young servant person, became the next victim. Her name was Irene Cross and she lived on East Linden Street, just across from Scholz Garten. A reporter on the scene after her vicious attack stated that she looked as if she had been scalped. This victim was killed with a knife, as opposed to the aforementioned ax. Was this attack the work of the Annihilator or a different lunatic? 

 

As summer dwindled down, August brought forth the arrival of a horrendous attack on Clara Dick. Later that month, another servant named Rebecca Ramey was wounded and her 11-year-old daughter Mary was killed.

 

At this time, the citizens of Austin were scared as shit and began protecting their homes with extra measures. Other cautions, such as increased patrols in neighborhoods, going home before sunset, and 24-hour saloons closing at midnight, we all also put into place. (It's worth noting that despite the legend, Austin's famous moontowers were not constructed during this time. They came later in the 1890s.)

 

Next victims were 20 year old Gracie Vance and her 25 year old boyfriend Orange Washington. They were sleeping in a shack behind the home of Vance's boss when the couple was brutally attacked with an ax. According to the local paper, Vance's "head was almost beaten into a jelly." Gracie was also dragged into the backyard, raped and murdered.

Lucinda Boddy and Patsy Gibson, both only 17 yrs. old, were also attacked and wounded. 

 

Weird note here, up to this point all the victims were African-American, but they were not all servant girls. And many noted that white residents had not been attacked. At least not yet.

 

The final two murders occurred on Christmas Eve (or possibly December 28th), 1885. First, 41 year old Sue Hancock, the mother of two, described as "one of the most refined ladies in Austin," was found in her backyard (now the Four Seasons Austin) by her husband. She had been dragged there while sleeping and succumbed to her wounds.

 

Hours later, 17 year old Eula Phillips, "one of the prettiest women in Austin," was found dead in her in-laws backyard (where the Austin Central Library is now located) she was also dragged into the back yard, raped and murdered. Her 24 year old husband, Jimmy Phillips Jr, sustained severe wounds in the attack. Ultimately, both spouses of Sue Hancock and Eula Phillips were accused, but found not guilty of the murders.

 

After the Christmas Eve murders in 1885, the killings stopped, but the fear was still palpable. At the time of the murders, Austin had been changing from a small frontier town to a cosmopolitan city, but the reputation it acquired because of the crimes put a halt to the city's growth.

 

The suspects

Although approximately 400 men were eventually rounded up by authorities and questioned in the killings, all suspects were released and the murders remain unsolved. However, there are a few names from history that stand out as possible murder suspects.

 

Nathan Elgin was native of Austin and a young African-American domestic servant who knew the streets of his hometown. 

 

The majority of this next part was taken from the website servantgirlmurders.com

 

Late one night in February 1886 a saloon in Masontown in east Austin was the scene of a violent and disturbing incident. The surrounding neighborhood was in an uproar because a drunken, raging man had dragged a girl from the saloon to a nearby house where he could be heard beating and cursing her while she screamed for help. The entire neighborhood had come out in the streets and the commotion caught the attention of a nearby police officer. Police officer John Bracken arrived on the scene and the saloon keeper, Dick Rogers and a neighbor, Claibe Hawkins, went with Bracken to stop the man from beating the girl to death.

 

Rogers and Hawkins went into the house and pulled the man away from the girl and into the front yard. As Rogers and Hawkins grappled with the man, Officer Bracken got out the handcuffs. The man would not be subdued – he threw off Rogers and Hawkins and knocked Bracken off his feet. The man turned on them and brandished a knife. As Bracken tried to recover a shot rang out. Bracken drew his pistol and fired. The shot brought down the raging man.

The man’s name was Nathan Elgin. There was no explanation for Elgin’s rage at the girl, named Julia.

Bracken’s shot did not kill Elgin instantly but it did leave him paralyzed and mortally wounded; he died the following day.

A subsequent autopsy revealed that Bracken’s bullet had lodged in Elgin’s spine which accounted for the paralysis. The doctors had also noticed another detail – Elgin was missing a toe from his right foot.

During the investigations of the crimes the authorities had carefully noted the footprints which were often bloodstained and had made distinct impressions in the soil as the perpetrator carried the weight of the victim.

Apart from general measurements of size and shape, footprints in most instances are not especially distinctive and they would not have been much use to the authorities had they not possessed some unusual feature. But the footprints left behind at the Servant Girl Murder crime scenes did share a very distinct feature – one of the footprints had only four toes.

The authorities never shared this fact with the press or the general public during the course of 1885. The press frequently complained about the secrecy surrounding the murder inquests and argued that making all the details of the crimes public would facilitate the capture of the responsible parties more quickly. The authorities disagreed and kept certain details of the cases to themselves – details that they hoped would eventually identify the perpetrator and link him to the crime scenes.

After Nathan Elgin’s death the authorities unexpectedly had the direct physical evidence they had been waiting for – a foot that matched the distinctive footprints of the killer. But the foot belonged to a dead man. What were they to do with that information? What could they do with it?

To imagine the state of mind of the authorities at that time one has to understand the heightened state of fear and suspicion that was present in Austin at the beginning of 1886. In the month since the last murders in December 1885, the city’s police force had been tripled in size. A curfew had been enacted and private citizens had organized into patrols to guard the neighborhoods after dark. Strangers were forced to identify themselves or be evicted from the city. Saloons and other raucous downtown establishments, usually open twenty-four hours a day, were forced to close at midnight. A new era of law and order had begun. Would there have been any advantage in revealing that perhaps the midnight assassin was dead? And what if Elgin was not the mysterious murderer of servant girls? It was in the authorities’ best interest to wait and see if the murders continued. Maybe the authorities believed they had gotten lucky – they couldn’t arrest, prosecute of convict Elgin, but perhaps the problem had been solved. But in February 1886 it was still too early to be sure. It is important to remember that at the beginning of 1886, the Christmas Eve murders were not the last murders, simply the latest, and the investigations into the murders continued, notably with detectives still shadowing other suspects.

While the authorities were not able to make use of the evidence against Elgin, the defense attorneys for James Phillips and Moses Hancock certainly were. Eula Phillips, wife of James Phillips, and Susan Hancock, wife of Moses Hancock, had both been murdered on December 24, 1885 and both husbands were subsequently charged with murdering their wives.

In May 1886, during the trial of James Phillips, defense attorneys introduced into evidence floorboards marked with bloody footprints that had been removed from the Phillips house after the murder. They were compared to the footprints of the defendant, who removed his shoes and had his feet inked and printed in an elaborate demonstration in the courtroom. Even though Phillip’s footprints were substantially different in size than the bloody footprints on the floorboards, the jury was unconvinced. The motives of jealousy and drunkenness as argued by the prosecution convinced the jury and they found Phillips guilty of second degree murder.

When the case against Moses Hancock was finally brought to trial, the Hancock received some substantial legal help in the form of pro bono representation by John Hancock (no relation) a former U.S. Congressman, one of the state’s most prominent political figures and one of Austin’s most astute legal practitioners.

Also providing assistance for the defense rather than the prosecution, was Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby, who during his testimony, described making a cast of Elgin’s foot after his death, the significance of the missing toe, the similarities between Elgin’s footprint and the footprints left at the Phillips and Ramey murders, and that fact that there had been no further servant girl murders committed since Elgin’s death. Even so, the jury was not completely persuaded and after two days of deliberation, a hung jury was declared and the case was discharged without a verdict.

The verdicts in the Phillips and Hancock trials illustrated the consensus on the Servant Girl Murders and the motives behind them – that the murders had been committed by different persons with conventional motives.

Was Nathan Elgin the Servant Girl Annihilator? In my opinion, he most likely was based on 1) direct physical evidence linking Elgin to the crimes, 2) testimony of Sheriff Malcolm Hornsby as to Elgin’s ostensible guilt, 3) the fact that there were no further Servant Girl Murders after his death, and 4) Elgin fits the criminal profile of such a killer.

***

Nathan Elgin – A Criminology

The Servant Girl Murders were over 130 years ago and few official records pertaining to them have survived. Likewise, there is little surviving biographical information about Nathan Elgin, however the information that is available strongly correlates to traits associated with a Disorganized/Anger-Retaliatory (D/AR) serial killer profile, and the crime scenes of the Servant Girl Murders correspond exactly to that of anger-retaliatory crime scenes:

• In the anger-retaliatory rape-murder, the rape is planned and the initial murder involves overkill. It is an anger-venting act that expresses symbolic revenge on a female victim. Nettled by poor relationships with women, the aggressor distills his anguish and contempt into explosive revenge on the victim… the aggressive killer will either direct his anger at that woman or redirect his anger to a substitute woman. Because the latter type of scapegoating retaliation does not eliminate the direct source of hate, it is likely that it will be episodically repeated to relieve internal stresses. Dynamically, the rape-homicide is committed in a stylized violent burst attack for purposes of retaliation, getting even, and revenge on women.
• The perpetrator tends to choose victims from familiar areas… and may use weapons of opportunity in percussive assaults with fists, blunt objects or a knife.
• The subject tends to leave a disorganized crime scene, and the improvised murder weapon may be found within 15 feet of the body.

The following traits are common to the D/AR serial killer profile and I would argue that they are present in the historical record specifically in connection to Nathan Elgin:

• childhood abuse or neglect
• early violent episodes
• violent fantasy
• resentment of authority
• escalation
• stressors

Additionally, Nathan Elgin would have possessed the locational expertise critical to successfully enacting the murders and eluding the authorities, culminating in a distinctive signature killing style – the attack on sleeping female victim using blunt force to the head, carrying the body away from the house into the yard where the victim was then raped.

Childhood Abuse Suspicions

• All of the murderers were subjected to serious emotional abuse during their childhoods. And all of them developed into what psychiatrists label as sexually dysfunctional adults. 
• From birth to age six or seven, studies have shown, the most important adult figure in a child’s life is the mother, and it is in this time period that the child learns what love is. Relationships between our subjects and their mothers were uniformly cool, unloving and neglectful. (4)
• The disorganized offender grows up in a household where the father’s work is often unstable, where childhood discipline is harsh, and where the family is subject to serious strain brought on by alcohol, mental illness, and the like. (5)

One of the primary components in the creation of the D/AR serial killer profile is a dysfunctional, abusive relationship within the family and especially between the mother and the subject. The mothers often have psychological disorders or they have been victims of emotional and sexual abuse themselves and are then subsequently abusive with their own children. At best the mothers are emotionally distant and at worst they are physically and psychologically abusive.

Nathan Elgin was born in 1866, the fourth of five children in his family. The Elgin family had moved to Austin from Arkansas after the war, to the freedman’s community that came to be known as Wheatville. Nathan had three older siblings that had already married, started their own families and evidently lived normal lives while Nathan was still a child growing up in Austin. However the older siblings’ mother, Angeline, had been a different woman than Nathan’s mother, Susan. (6)

There is no record of what happened to Angeline, she presumably died or separated from her husband, Richard Elgin, but after she left, a woman named Susan Pearce appeared in her place to raise Nathan – whether she was his biological mother is unknown. I think this substitution in the maternal line is significant and I would speculate that Susan Pearce was an abusive catalyst in Nathan’s emotional development.

The 1880 census listed 14-year-old Nathan Elgin as still living with his parents; it noted his ability to read and write, and his occupation as “servant.” He was likely placed into service by his mother. For Nathan, being a domestic servant at that period in time would have entailed working in an environment with Victorian strictures and discipline, submitting to the authority of women, both black and white, carrying out whatever tasks were ordered without argument.  Habitual abuse or humiliation of young Nathan could have been facilitated by such conditions and it is easy to imagine him having suffered abuse in such a position considering the rage directed at this particular class of women only a few years later.

Any abuse Nathan experienced as a child without having the physical ability to stop it, would in the meantime have fueled an inner world of revenge fantasy and anger waiting to be unleashed. Not until he was a teenager would he finally gain the physical ability to express that anger, except toward whomever was the source. The source or its memory, the humiliation and shame they had used to define him, would retain the ability to make him feel helpless and impotent. The result, once he had gained maturity, would be not just fantasies of rage, but their physical expression, enacted again and again upon victims who were substitute for its source.

Early Violent Episodes – Resentment of Authority – Violent Fantasy

• These adolescents overcompensated for the aggression in their early lives by repeating the abuse in fantasy – but, this time, with themselves as the aggressors.
• He is seen as an explosive personality who is impulsive, quick-tempered, and self-centered.

In the summer of 1881, Nathan Elgin was arrested for carrying a pistol and getting into a confrontation with another young man near the Governor’s mansion, “they cursed each other for some time and aroused the neighborhood.” Such incidents were not particularly remarkable for that time period and the newspaper frequently reported similar skirmishes between young “bloods,” however it does demonstrate that Elgin already had a violent disposition at a young age.  

More remarkable was an incident in 1882, when Elgin sent a threatening letter to a deputy sheriff promising to “whip destroy and kill” the deputy the next time they met. The written expression of violent threats and fantasies, especially toward the police or other authorities, is one of the classic serial killer tells. Nathan’s letter was described “reckless and bloodthirsty” in the newspaper, a description that would later be more fittingly applied to the murders of 1885. 

Locational Expertise

Apart from committing the murders in the middle of the night and using the cover of darkness for concealment, an intimate knowledge of the city would have been key to the killer’s ability to elude the authorities.

Nathan Elgin had locational expertise – he had grown up in Austin as it was being built. As a child in the 1870s he would have seen the wood-framed buildings that lined Congress Avenue and Pecan Street replaced by brick and mortar storefronts. He would have seen the streets graded and the wooded hills cleared for elegant neighborhoods, schools and churches.

By 1885 he would have been intimately familiar with how the city worked and moved. He would have known all the shortcuts, the hiding places, which yards had dogs, which doors were left unlocked. He would have known how to go unnoticed and he would have known what was around every corner.

Escalation

• The disorganized killer has no idea of, or interest in, the personalities of the victims. He does not want to know who they are, and many times takes steps to obliterate their personalities by quickly knocking them unconscious or covering their faces or otherwise disfiguring them. 
• [The victim] will often have horrendous wounds. [The killer] does not move the body or conceal it.
• The offender is usually somewhat younger than his victims. 

In July 1884, there were two instances of women, both African American, being stabbed in the face as they slept. The women survived; the authorities investigated them as separate incidents. In August 1884, an African American woman was struck in the head with a smoothing iron as she slept. These nocturnal attacks, though not fatal, were so idiosyncratic in style that they must have been a fledgling attempt by an anger-retaliatory killer who would later escalate with gruesome results. 

In November 1884, police reports mentioned a non-fatal nocturnal assault on a domestic servant as she slept in her bed. This incident never appeared in the newspaper. 

A little over a month later, an African American woman named Mollie Smith was struck in the head with an axe as she slept; she was dragged into the backyard and raped. Her body was hacked to pieces by the killer and left at the scene. 

Mollie Smith’s murder set the pattern for all that followed.

Locational Expertise and Escalation and Signature in the Vance/Washington and Hancock/Phillips Murders

• The disorganized killer doesn’t choose victims logically, and so often takes a victim at high risk to himself, one not selected because he or she can be easily controlled… 
• …the assault continues until the subject is emotionally satisfied 
• The killer’s personal expression takes the form of his unique signature, an imprint left by him at the scene, an imprint the killer is psychologically compelled to leave to satisfy himself sexually.

After four murders the killer had become very adept and perhaps overly confident and by the time he entered the cabin of Gracie Vance he was confident enough to attack four persons simultaneously.

Gracie Vance was a domestic servant employed by William Dunham and she lived, along with Orange Washington, in a cabin in the rear of his property. When the killer entered Gracie’s cabin, instead of finding a solitary sleeping woman, he found three women and one man. Undeterred he proceeded to incapacitate all four as quickly as possible; however, one of the women was only briefly insensible and she went for help while the crime was still in progress.

Neighbors were awakened by the disturbance and the police were called. Dunham and the neighbors went to investigate and a man was seen fleeing the scene. They fired their pistols at him as he made his escape in the darkness. As with the other victims, Gracie Vance was found in the backyard; her face had been pulverized with a rock. The suspect had fled in the direction of Wheatville, just to the west — the neighborhood Nathan Elgin had grown up in. 

The Christmas Eve murders were in many ways the skeleton key to all the murders in that they demonstrated all the specific facets of the killer’s MO and signature — his locational expertise, his ability to improvise and adjust at the scene as well as his emotional escalation which demonstrated the extent to which he would go to enact a very specific sex murder scenario – an attack in the bedroom upon a sleeping victim, then rape and murder in the backyard – even when the completion of that scenario was problematic. 

Susan Hancock, unlike the other victims, was white, but other than that, the murder was carried out identically to the previous murders. It is unlikely the killer had the specific intent to select a white victim; rather something about the location, the house, and the fact that there was an axe in the backyard attuned to the killer’s preferences.

As with the other victims, Susan Hancock was struck in the head with an axe while she slept and then carried into the backyard. Susan’s husband was asleep in another room but was awakened by the disturbance. He went into the backyard, saw a figure standing over his wife and threw a brick at him. Even though the perpetrator was armed with an axe he didn’t retaliate against Hancock – instead he fled the scene by jumping over a fence into the alley. Hancock then ran to the east side of the house to cut him off but he wasn’t there. 

Instead of fleeing into the darkness, the perpetrator ran west, back toward Congress Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare. This peculiar evasion demonstrated that the perpetrator was very confident about where he was going — that he expected he could hide in plain sight.

It is interesting to note that had Hancock gone west to cut off the fleeing perpetrator he might have been able to stop him, which could have brought a definitive resolution to the murderous events of that year. However, seeing the perpetrator had escaped he went back to his wife and called for help.

Heading toward Congress Avenue, the perpetrator cut through the yard of the residence of May Tobin where his sudden appearance out of the darkness startled a young woman and her male companion – in his haste he could have literally run into the young woman. A confrontation occurs – the man threatens and insults him in demeaning and racist terms, perhaps the woman does too. The perpetrator has to retreat again and this would have been too much. The urge to kill had not been satisfied and would only have intensified after a humiliating confrontation. He follows the couple’s cab across town to the residence of James Phillips. The cab arrives, the young woman, Eula Phillips, discreetly makes her way into the quiet house. Less than an hour later she is found in the backyard, raped and murdered.

The killer could have dispatched Mr. Hancock and completed the crime at the Hancock residence but he did not. Likewise, he could have attempted to kill Eula and her companion in the relative seclusion of May Tobin’s premises. Instead, the killer’s primary motivation was the realization of a very specific violent sexual murder scenario.

I believe a confrontation must have occurred at May Tobin’s residence between Eula Phillips, her imperious companion, John Dickinson, and a very volatile Nathan Elgin. The confrontation had to have made him angry enough to pursue her across town — even though he had no idea where they were going or what he would find when he got there. I believe he was so angry that he pursued her at his own peril, when other, easier opportunities for a kill were in closer proximity.

The bloody footprints left at the Phillips house would subsequently be affirmatively compared to the footprints of the deceased Elgin. 

Austin Daily Statesman 3 June 1887

Stressors

• …by the very nature of their childhood, serial killers are most likely to lead lives full of stressful events. As children and adolescents they lack self-esteem, are isolated and maladjusted, and are therefore poorly prepared for coping with life as adults. 
• Historically, the retaliatory killer’s marriage will have been ill-fated and he will usually be in some phase of estrangement. …If he has a relationship, there will have generally been a history of long-term spousal abuse, which will not likely have been covered by criminal complaints. 

In the study of serial sexual homicides, a “stressor” is defined as an event, interaction or conflict in which the killer is reminded of past humiliations and abuses. To purge his feelings of shame, inadequacy or powerlessness the killer will endeavor to enact a murderous scene in which he is powerful and in total control.

In the case of Nathan Elgin, there is a remarkable example of a pre-crime stressor in the instance of his wife, Sallie, giving birth to a child the same night two women were being murdered on Christmas Eve. I believe that this was more than a coincidence and whatever stressors Elgin was susceptible to were triggered by this event. While the birth of a child would not normally seem to be cause for a murderous rampage, in the case of a D/AR profile it very well could.

Nathan had married Sallie Wheat in 1882. She was a year older than him. They did not live together. It is not unusual for serial killers to be married, however it is rare in the case of the D/AR killer profile because of their volatile temperament towards women. Sallie could have held the power in the relationship; conversely she could have been subjected to abuse herself. There is an indication that Sallie was aware, at least subsequently, of Nathan’s responsibility for the murders – as a means of disassociation she raised Nathan’s son under the surname Davis rather than Elgin. 

Post Mortem

• We read a great deal of theorizing about the series of murders in Austin, that all the assassinations were the work of a cunning lunatic — a monomaniac on the subject of murder.  From what I can learn, I don’t believe anything of the kind, and it is my deliberate opinion that these murders can not only be unearthed, but when probed to the bottom, it will be found that they were committed by different individuals and that in each case they were prompted by lust, jealousy, or hatred. (27)

A Monomaniac On the Subject of Murder would be an apt title for a 19th century dime novel. The quote above by Waco Marshal Luke Moore was closer to the truth than he realized but the ideas he articulated were not exclusive; Nathan Elgin was indeed a monomaniac on the subject of murder and he was motivated by lust, hatred and revenge.

In contemporary criminal investigations of serial sexual homicides, law enforcement will have decades of criminal profiles at their disposal which have been painstakingly created as a resource to match types of murders to specific types of offenders. In other words, they know who they’re looking for. And the more unusual the murders, the easier it is to focus the investigation toward a specific type of offender.

If the Servant Girl Murders were committed in this day and age and the perpetrator had left behind similar evidence, contemporary forensic resources and methods would create a criminal profile and evidence collected could confirm or eliminate potential suspects. The perpetrator would most likely be apprehended very quickly.

Serial killers who are apprehended and convicted are later questioned extensively by the authorities and they are usually quiet happy to talk about themselves because they frequently have an inherent superiority complex and are eager to expound upon their mastery and superiority even though they are behind bars.

It is interesting to note that the wounded Elgin was not interviewed by reporters, which was unusual – almost everyone involved in a shooting at that period in time had a reporter waiting for them after being attended to by a physician. Nor did the police make any statement regarding Elgin. The inquest of his death was held in secret. Elgin most likely spent his last hours delirious as doctors made a futile attempt at finding and removing the bullet that entered his side and lodged in his spine.

If Elgin’s murder spree had followed the trajectory of most disorganized serial killers, he would have continued to escalate until his confidence overcame his self-restraint and he would have eventually been caught or killed fleeing the scene.

Hypothetically, if he had been arrested for a murder, unless he specifically admitted to it, I doubt the authorities would have connected him to all the murders. Had he been arrested and interrogated I think Elgin would have baffled the police, but they wouldn’t have spent much time contemplating him; he would have undoubtedly been indicted, tried and hung in short order. The newspaper account of him would have been a typically villainous caricature from that time period, and people today would still wonder if he was responsible.

So now, another suspect and a possible connection to Jack The Ripper.

 

The next suspect was Maurice (no last name given), a Malaysian cook who worked at the Pearl House in downtown Austin. The Pearl House had connections to a majority of the victims of the Annihilator, therefore this theory took off like a mother fucker..

 

Allegedly, once Maurice left Austin only 3 weeks after the last murder, bound for New Orleans and ultimately London, the murders ended. And although the killings by Jack the Ripper were arguably more brutal in nature, many believe the Austin and London killers were actually the same person — a murderer that began to escalate his killings. Something that has been studied and noted by psychologists and other people smarter than us. Maurice apparently told acquaintances at the hotel that he was going to work aboard ships as a cook to earn his passage to London for a fresh start. A little known fact: the cook Maurice was actually suspected after the last murder and put under surveillance

 

According to Reddit author Sciencebzzt:

 

So many people who follow the Ripper case seem to want him to be a suave, elegant dude. A surgeon or a royal or a tormented upper class freak of some kind. But the facts don't suggest that. People say whoever killed the girls must have been skilled with a blade, that may be true, but the "brutality" suggests they were cut up like animals, skinned and gutted almost. The way a butcher... or a cook... might.

Anyway, back to Austin in 1886. Most experts on serial killers will tell you it's unlikely that the murders will just stop, unless the murderer is dead, in prison, or has moved elsewhere. In fact, most will say that the serial killers M.O. usually evolves, and changes... while the main motivation doesn't. This would explain the difference in the Ripper murders 3 years later... and also why they seem to have the same extremely brutal motivations. Jack the Ripper didn't use an axe the way the Servant Girl Annihilator did, however, this may have been because an axe was not a common thing to carry around in 1888 London, the largest city in the world at the time. In 1884 Austin, a town of 10,000 at the westernmost terminus of a railroad line, an axe was likely less conspicuous.

The scariest part though... is what happened after 1888. Whoever "he" was, he was obviously a highly driven, aggressive murderer, and he already had success (probably) in leaving Austin and getting away with murder.

Well, consider this: After 1888, similar serial murders of women started happening in port towns along major trade routes, like Nicaragua, Tunis, and Jamaica. If the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same man, given the highly aggressive style, brutality and rapid succession of the murders, one quickly after the other... it's likely he killed far, far more girls than we know about, all over the world.

 

Did Maurice leave to avoid the authorities and escalate his murders or did her simply leave because his reputation was tarnished? 

 

The Jack the ripper murders were allegedly from april 3 1888 to 1891. 

 

The Vallisca ax murders were on June 10th, 1912

 

New orleans ax murders May 1918 to October 1919

 

I spent countless hours looking up ship records from 1886 and there is one record of a “Maurice” that went to England from the US. The funny thing is, his name was Maurice Kelly. The Ripper’s last known and documented victim was Mary Jane Kelly. It’s probably just a coincidence but what if it isn’t?

 

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The Grim Reaper and Death.

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The Grim Reaper

Nothing in life is guaranteed, except for death and taxes, as the old adage goes. We boldly circle April 15th  in red on our calendars so that it stands out like a swollen thumb. Of course, there is also the Internal Revenue Service here in the US, which has taken in over 3 trillion dollars in taxes from over 250 million taxpayers and felt that we aren’t paying enough and hired 87,000 more agents and gave them powers much like a government police force including lethal force. But we don’t need to be on that soap box today. 

 

What about death, though? The other certainty of being human is, for most of us, not quite as certain. Biologists define death as the complete cessation of all life processes, which eventually take place in all living organisms. Sadly, that description doesn't provide a clear picture. It doesn't describe what death feels like. How will you feel then? How will it look? What are our plans? Where are we headed?

 

The embodiment of death in a black robe and scythe in hand, the Grim Reaper, enters. We all know of this deity and its so-called motivations. It approaches everyone while watching for the last sand particle to fall, holding an hourglass in its hand. When that happens, it cuts the soul free with a razor-sharp slice that it has perfected over time. Although it may not be a pretty picture, it is distinct and obvious.

 

Putting a human face on the idea of death is ultimately the Grim Reaper's "job." But why did people feel the need to give the Grim Reaper such a gloomy appearance? Why not turn him into a welcoming and useful tour guide for the underworld? Why must he also be a man, for that matter?

 

We'll examine the Grim Reaper's history, the symbolism attached to his appearance, and how he's portrayed in other cultures. We'll also look at how the Reaper has been depicted in literature, film, and art. When we're done, you'll understand the identity of the Grim Reaper, his methods, and most crucially, the reason for his existence (should you see him prowling around your deathbed).

 

As Lewis Carroll once said, it's best to begin at the beginning. And for the Grim Reaper, the beginning can be found in the creation myths present in all cultures.

 

Death itself must exist before the Grim Reaper, a personification of death, can exist. Humans were initially formed as immortal creatures who descended from their level of perfection in almost all civilizations and religions. The Bible's most famous example is the story of Adam and Eve's fall. The Book of Genesis claims that God made Adam and Eve to care for the world He had made and to help populate it. The Garden of Eden was a paradise where the first man and woman resided. Adam was instructed by God to tend to the garden and gather fruit from all the trees, with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately, Eve was duped into eating the fruit by Satan, who was speaking via a serpent. She then gave Adam the fruit, who consumed it as well despite being aware that it was wrong. Adam and Eve died physically and spiritually as a result of defying God.

 

In other religions, people were formed as mortals who made valiant attempts to become immortal but failed. This tale is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, a character from Mesopotamian literature, was the progeny of a goddess and a human ruler. Gilgamesh, however, was still a mortal being, just like his closest buddy Enkidu. When Enkidu passes away, the great hero is troubled by the idea of dying and embarks on a mission to become immortal. He meets Utnapishtim, a man who has been granted eternal life by the gods, during his travels. Gilgamesh is promised immortality by Utnapishtim if he can last a week without sleeping. Gilgamesh eventually nods off, but Utnapishtim still gives him a plant that can restore its owner's health. Any hopes Gilgamesh had of becoming eternal are dashed when the plant is devoured by a hungry snake on the way home.

 

Gilgamesh returns home in the mythology of Mesopotamia and joyfully accepts his life as a mortal man. But most people aren't that laid back. The thought of our own mortality disturbs us. Everything we accomplish is constantly plagued by the shadow of death. Research supports this. According to a 2022 survey, 20% of Americans over the age of 50 experience anxiety when they consider their afterlife. 53 percent of respondents think ghosts or spirits exist, and 73 percent think there is life after death.

 

Undoubtedly, and as it has been for thousands of years, what happens to us as we die, as well as what occurs after we die, is a huge issue. Humans use a tried-and-true strategy: they give death a form they are familiar with in order to make sense of dying and mortality. As a result, a vague, invisible phenomenon becomes a concrete, observable phenomenon. You can comprehend death if you see a familiar face in it. Better yet, if you can put your anxieties aside and perceive death as a kind, gentle face.

 

It can, of course, also go the other way. Looking at death might reveal a frightful countenance. The terrifying visage of the Grim Reaper arose following a particularly trying period in human history, as we'll discover in the following section.

 

Why not give death a kind face if you're going to give it a human one? The Greeks adopted that strategy and gave death the name Thanatos. Hypnos, the deity of sleep, and his twin brother Thanatos were both shown as attractive, young males. Thanatos is depicted in some images as having wings and a put out flame. He had the responsibility of going to Hades, the Greek underworld, with the deceased. There, Charon, the ferryman on the River Styx, would receive the souls from Thanatos. In this interpretation, death is lovely and beneficial rather than fearful and ugly.

 

There are also feminine variations of death. The Valkyries were depicted as stunning young women in Norse mythology who carried soldiers' souls to their afterlife as well as acting as messengers for Odin. In actuality, the word "Valkyries" refers to "slain's choosers." They would ride on winged horses during battle and pick intrepid soldiers to perish by scouting the battlefield. They would then deliver these spirits to Odin's realm, Valhalla. The valiant spirits were recruited to participate in the terrible struggle known as Ragnarok after they reached the afterlife.

 

The Valkyries are comparable to angels, who serve as a spiritual bridge between God and people. Angels provide messages to mankind or defend them in some myths. In other tales, they converse with the dead and torture the sinners. Many religions and civilizations feature the Angel of Death, a spirit that removes a person's soul from the body at the moment of death. In Judeo-Christian tradition, the archangels Michael and Gabriel have served as death angels. The Islamic Angel of Death known as Azrael can occasionally be seen as a terrifying ghost with eyes and tongues covering every inch of his body. Every soul in the world has a birth and a death recorded in a vast ledger that Azrael keeps updated.

 

By the Middle Ages, the Angel of Death had been conceptually ingrained in both European religion and culture. But in the latter half of the 14th century, an epidemic occurrence changed how the common person perceived and reacted to death. The plague of the Middle Ages, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, was that occurrence. The initial plague outbreak claimed at least 25 million lives, while subsequent plague outbreaks that recurred for centuries resulted in millions more deaths [source: National Geographic]. Fear swept the entire continent: fear of death, fear of an unknown epidemic, fear of the agony of the disease's late stages, when the skin on a victim's extremities grew black and gangrenous. All activities were characterized by a morbid atmosphere, which also had an impact on the period's writers and painters.

 

Unsurprisingly, skeletons started to represent death in artwork at this time. In reality, the skeletal form of death was frequently depicted in a similar manner by painters. He was frequently pictured with a crossbow, dart, or other weapon. These tools would eventually give way to the scythe, a mowing instrument with a long, curved blade attached at an angle to a long handle. Many artworks depicted the hereafter chopping down souls like grain by swinging its scythe through a throng of humanity. A young woman would occasionally stand at the grave to serve as a reminder of the connection between life and death. The idea that death might communicate with the living and lure them into the hereafter was another prevalent one. Due of this, skeletons are depicted dancing and having fun with people from all walks of life in the Dance of Death, also known as Danse Macabre.

 

These post-plague images of death led to the creation of the Grim Reaper. We'll look at the significance of his form and physique on the following page.

 

The Grim Reaper is an incredibly symbolic figure. When he eventually arrives, the items he is carrying and even the clothes he is wearing will reveal something about his character and his objectives. Let's examine some of the symbolism one symbol at a time.

 

Skeletons and skulls. It was common to observe piles of decaying bodies as the disease spread through Europe and Asia. One in five Londoners perished during the Great Plague of London, which struck the city between 1665 and 1666 [source: National Geographic]. Given how common death and dying are, it is reasonable that artists and illustrators started to represent death in the form of a corpse or skeleton. The skeleton figure serves as a metaphor for the decomposition of human flesh—what remains after worms and maggots have done their dirty work. It also feeds into one of the biggest concerns that people have: the dread of annihilation.

 

Black cloak. Black has long been connected to loss and gloom. Funeral attendees dress in black, and black hearses are used to transport the deceased. Black, however, is frequently associated with bad energies. The Reaper exudes mystery and danger thanks to his dark cloak. The Reaper hides beneath the shadows of his cloak, playing off our fears of the unknown because the things we can't see worry us just as much as the things we can see.

 

Scythe. The Reaper is seen clutching arrows, darts, spears, or crossbows in early depictions. These are the tools he use to kill his victim. A scythe eventually took the place of these other tools of killing. A scythe was an implement used for cutting grass or reaping grain. It made sense for this symbol to be put to death in an agricultural community where harvesting in the fall signified the end of a year. Death harvests souls for their passage into the hereafter in a similar manner to how we harvest our crops.

 

Hourglass. Sand pours from the upper to bottom glass bulb of the traditional hourglass over the course of an hour. It has endured into the digital age as a reminder to be patient as our computer loads a Web page or executes a command because it is such a potent representation of time and how it passes. Additionally, the Grim Reaper holds an hourglass, reminding us that time is running out. Our time is up when the sand is gone. We can only pray that we have more time to live than an hour.

 

It was so common to see this representation of the Grim Reaper in religious writings. The Book of Revelation in the Bible provides the best illustration. Four horsemen appear in Revelation 6:1–8 to bring about tragedies signifying the end of the world. Pestilence, war, famine, and death are the four horsemen. Only Death is expressly mentioned out of the four. He is seated on a pale horse, which is frequently mistaken for pale green, the hue of illness and decay. Most often, Death is portrayed as the Reaper himself, with a grimacing skull and scythe in hand, ready for the gory labor that lies ahead.

 

The Grim Reaper is still a popular subject for writers today. We'll examine at a few instances of the Reaper in popular culture in the section that follows.

 

Without a doubt, the Grim Reaper makes a fantastic character, which explains why he has long been a part of myths and legends. One typical tale, known as the "cheating death" tale, describes a person who tries to deceive the Grim Reaper in order to avoid dying. A well-known illustration is "The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Death for the holy man in Longfellow's poem arrives with the somber proclamation, "Lo! the time approaches near/When thou must die." Can I hold the sword of death? the rabbi enquiries. The rabbi receives the weapon from Death, who hurriedly flees and hides until God can step in to save him. Ben Levi is not killed when God appears, but the rabbi is instructed to give the sword back to its rightful owner.

 

Other influential works, such the Danse Macabre, or Dance of Death, a sort of drama that appeared after the Black Death, have established our contemporary understanding of the Reaper. These plays were intended to help churchgoers accept the certainty of death. A victim's encounter with death, symbolized as a skeleton, was portrayed in the performance, which typically took place in a cemetery or churchyard. The victim makes various justifications for why his life should be saved, but these are rejected, and death eventually follows him away with an entourage of other skeletal creatures. Several German engravers, like Bernt Notke and Hans Holbein, found that the scenes from this play made for interesting themes. These artists' prints depicted dancing skeletons amid people from all social classes as a message that nobody, not even royalty, could avoid death.

 

Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" has had a similar impact on current culture. The 1957 movie is about Antonius Block, a knight who returns from the Crusades to discover that the disease has killed many of his countrymen. Max von Sydow plays Antonius Block in the role. Block is also awaited by Death, who is portrayed by Bengt Ekerot. Having reached a standstill, the knight challenges Death to a game of chess, which Block ultimately loses. The image of Ekerot's Death, a menacing white visage disguised beneath a black cloak, endures so vividly despite the story's unsettling nature.

 

The Grim Reaper also plays a key role in the following works:

 

• "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," a song released by Blue Öyster Cult in 1976 and now regarded as a rock classic
• "Because I could not stop for Death," a poem by Emily Dickinson, in which the narrator shares a carriage ride with Death
• "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, in which the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, cloaked and skeletal, appears to show Scrooge how he will die
• The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, which feature Death as an ally of mankind
• The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, a groundbreaking series of comic books in which Death appears as a girl
• "Death Takes a Holiday," a 1934 film about Death's decision to take a break from his normal business to see what it's like being mortal; a 1998 remake, "Meet Joe Black," starred Brad Pitt in the role of Death.
• "Scream," a 1996 homage to slasher flicks in which a murderous teen stalks his victims in a Reaper-like costume
• "Dead Like Me," a Showtime series that explores the lives (or afterlives) of a group of grim reapers who walk among the living

 

Whether he is funny or terrifying, a man or a woman, the Grim Reaper will probably always be a part of our pop culture diet. The Reaper will calmly wait in the shadows and come for each of us in the end, even if storytellers grow weary of dealing with death and dying.

 

Lastly, we thought since we are talking about the personification of death, we should also include some theories as to what happens after we die. Let’s see how many you, the listeners, agree with; and how many we think are stupid and illogical. Let's begin!

 

10. Excretion 

The idea that the universe is actually one enormous brain of a higher species has been around for many years. In certain containers, it might be one or more brains. This hypothesis states that the solar system is merely a brain cell. Humans are insignificant components of this cell as well. For that enormous brain, our thousands of millions of years of history occurred in a fraction of a second. Let's examine what it says on life after death. How are our own dead cells handled? They are discarded after being sloughed off. Similar things will happen to us if we are a small piece of a vast mind. That is, the universe will leave our consciousness where it dumps its waste when we pass away. Oh, how disgusting. I am aware that this notion is a little unusual and a little challenging to understand, but that is only because we do not fully understand it.

 

Just like that, my life became meaningless.

 

9. You enter the cosmic consciousness

 

Life: What is it? Knowing the answer to this question is crucial. We are conscious of our existence and are fully in charge of our own thinking. Only 20 watts of power are required for this by our brain. Most light bulbs use more electricity than that because this power is so low. Biologists are still unable to properly explain how our brain makes every decision so precisely. Our area of expertise is consciousness, but we do not understand its origin. And where does it go after we pass away? In accordance with Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff's orchestrated objective reduction theory of the mind, coherent quantum processes in clusters of microtubules within brain neurons are biologically "orchestrated" to produce consciousness. You can imagine this universe as a sea of consciousness, according to this notion. Human mind originates from this place and travels back there once we die. Consciousness connects all things in the cosmos. You can think of it like this: If you think of the universe as a sea, then our consciousness would be a wave. It remains on the ground for some time before going back. The conclusion is that after we die, our consciousness returns to the universe, where it may remain eternally or it may temporarily inhabit another body.

 

Our consciousness is therefore deeply ingrained in the cosmos and is inherently perplexing.

 

8. Being Human Is just One Level

 

Reincarnation theory holds that after we die, our souls transfer into new bodies, giving rise to a subsequent birth. Dr. Ian Stevenson has studied incarnation and looked into countless instances of young people claiming to have lived before. He established the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia and was an academic psychiatrist. He describes incarnation as the "survival of personality after death" at times. Along with genes and environment, he thinks it can provide a plausible justification for a variety of personality traits, including phobias. However, no one's allegations have been shown to be true. When this notion first emerged, little was understood about the universe's complexity and mysticism. Because of this, they only thought that our spirit may reincarnate in a different body on earth. What if your soul has a different physical body somewhere else in the universe? What if your spirit adopts a shape that we are unaware of rather than moving into a new body? This idea holds that our Souls or conscious entities can travel anyplace in the cosmos. This implies that you could once more be a person, a cool alien, a pointless insect, or something else else. In reality, we have no idea who or what we will be after we no longer exist as humans.

 

7. The Universe Ends

 

Can you demonstrate the reality of this world and the cosmos? The likelihood is that you will affirm and provide the objects and people in your environment with proof. However, according to the solipsistic hypothesis, there is nothing outside of your mind and brain. For you, what you see and hear is accurate, but you can never establish the veracity of the people in your immediate vicinity. Let's use GTA 5 as an example. When you are at a specific location in this game, everything around you is functional. There are other close residents there, so nothing strange is happening to you. What about the locations where you are not? Actually, those places didn't exist back then. According to this hypothesis, there is no other life in the cosmos besides you. Therefore, the universe stops existing after you pass away. That implies that every person you know and love likewise vanishes. Simply said, everything and everyone is a projection of your subconscious mind.

 

Therefore, take another look at the world and stop griping about pointless things. After all, you are the one who made it all.

 

6. Life Starts over again

 

I'm sure you've experienced this at least once in your life. that a location or person appears familiar to you, despite the fact that you've never been there or interacted with them before. This is known as déjà-vu. What if everything feels familiar? That implies that your life keeps repeating itself? Therefore, it appears that you may be familiar with that location or that individual. Two things could lead to this. First of all, your life is like a movie that never ends. Second: Although your life is repeated, you always have more influence over it. This reminds me a lot of the film Groundhog Day. Obviously, there are some significant differences; in this case, life restarts after death rather than after a day, and you have significantly less influence than in the film. Therefore, have luckier next time, bro. God knows how many times we are experiencing a life (which stinks) without even realizing it is a déjà-vu.

 

You have successfully entered a loop.

 

5. The Dreamer Wakes Up

 

It's entirely possible that our existence is nothing more than a creature's dream, despite the fact that this may sound like some made-up stories from the 1980s. You must have all had dreams. Only until we wake up do we know that dreams were just illusions. We become unable to distinguish between reality and dreams. Since dreams come from our own subconscious minds, their reality may or may not be in question. Vital Signs: The Nature and Nurture of Passion author Gregg Levoy concurs. And some of the most well-known concepts in the modern world, including Google, the Theory of Relativity, the first periodic table, etc., had their origins in dreams. Thus, it is possible for dreams to be quite real. So it's possible that we wake up in the "actual" world after we pass away. very similar to Inception The subject of what occurs when a dreaming creature passes away now arises. For the time being, there is no clear response to this query. We have no idea if the person who is waking up from sleep is a soul, a human, or something else entirely.

 

4. You Get Re-programmed

 

This hypothesis proposes that our world is a computer simulation. The most prevalent option on this list is this. It's likely that you have heard of this before. Nick Bostrom, an Oxford philosopher, made the initial suggestion in 2003. It contends that either all intelligent species perish before being able to produce an ancestor simulation or choose not to do so for some reason. Or perhaps we are merely acting out a simulation. In the event that we are simulations of our ancestors, our Consciousness is programmed. We play a very small part in the simulation. So, after erasing your memories, our programmer can transport us to a different space and time in the simulation when we pass away. They only need to make a few tweaks as they already have our base code. It is really difficult to foresee what those programmers will perform. They have a wide range of options at their disposal. What a blast?

 

3. Our Consciousness Is Unreal

 

The simulation hypothesis is also related to this notion. Avoid saying, "There are two theories on the same hypothesis." Theo Musk believes that the odds of us actually living in the "true" world are one billion to one. It is completely believable. This side, though, is substantially darker. As your "Consciousness" is merely programming, we lack our own free will. We appear to be operating according to a code. They are free to run or remove your code whenever they wish. They might have entered your code the last time you closed your eyes. While you slept last night, all of your memories were implanted in you. Even though it has only been a few hours, you suddenly believe you have been this person for years. They can also alter or remove your code the next time you go to bed. Depending on what they need, they could simply "remove" you from the simulation or completely change who you are. This reminds me a lot of Westworld. In this case, a fictitious universe is made, and characters are formed with certain duties allocated to them. We all contribute to some larger narratives. By simply adding new memories of a different location and possibly even time to the code, they can change the role of any person according to their needs. Everything you believe yourself to be is merely an illusion. Therefore, all that we are is a collection of 0s and 1s. And we carry out our pre-programmed actions.

 

We can at least be glad that our life, despite appearing to have no purpose, has helped our creators in some way. Or why did they even decide to make us?

 

2. Death Is An Illusion

 

Humans are the only animals on Earth with understanding of time, in contrast to other animals. We are aware that Time can only advance in units of days, months, or years. But is it really this time of day? The concept of time that we have today was developed by humans. Anything we believe about time could be incorrect. We think that time always flows like a river's stream. It is not required for the Universe to function in the same manner that we perceive time to function. Along with the present, the past and the future also exist in the cosmos, but we are not able to view them. Imagine that consciousness is the projecting light that causes us to see the film and that reality is a film strip. We are unable to notice the light unless a frame is placed in front of it. Its presence, however, cannot be disputed. The same principles govern Time and Reality. The past and future are not visible to us, but they coexist with the present. Three-dimensional space-time surrounds us and binds us. So how does this relate to death? You don't actually die. Death is just a fantasy. Because you are unable to exist in frames where you are dead, you must always exist in frames where you are living. Just that other people think you are dead because this does not hinder ‘their’ existence.

 

1. Anything is Possible

 

About what happens after death, we cannot be certain. The many-worlds interpretation hypothesis postulates that there are an almost unlimited number of realities. There are countless parallel universes, each containing every conceivable concept. There is a universe where you are a billionaire, Hillary won the election, and I am reading this essay you wrote. Therefore, in some universes, anything is conceivable after death. Reincarnation occurs in some universes, or heaven and hell exist in some as well. In some universes, after we pass away, we become zombies, whereas in others, we simply pass away. In some alternate universe, all of the aforementioned theories are plausible. We simply don't know what universe we reside in, or perhaps it hasn't been determined yet. You might pass away in the cosmos or theory you hold dear. According to the solipsism theory, your universe will come to an end when you pass away. Anything is possible, after all. 

The Most Dangerous Gangs; Part One of...

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So thank you to a beautiful and wonderful listener, we decided to do an addendum to our top police stings and follow it up with the top most dangerous mobs/gangs of all time. 

La Cosa Nostra

One of the biggest threats to American civilization from organized crime is the Cosa Nostra, sometimes referred to as the "Mob" or the "Mafia," which sprang from the Sicilian Mafia. The term "La Cosa Nostra," used by the US government, and "Cosa Nostra" by its members literally translates to "this thing of ours" or "our thing." This international organization of criminals, made up of many "families," is committed to combating crime and defending its members. These organized and major racketeering activities are being carried out by these crime families or groups, which are connected by kinship or by conspiracy. A wide range of illicit activities, including as murder, extortion, drug trafficking, government corruption, gambling, infiltrating lawful enterprises, labor racketeering, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, tax fraud schemes, and stock manipulation are also engaged in by them. The Cosa Nostra is most prevalent in the urban areas of New York City, New England, and portions of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago. The Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families are among the prominent ones in the New York City region. Sometimes, members and associates of one La Cosa Nostra family collaborate with members of other La Cosa Nostra families to carry out joint criminal activities.

 

Within these families, members collaborate on "crews" that are commanded by a "capo" or "captain," who is in charge of overseeing his crew's illicit actions and offering them assistance and safety. The crews are made up of trusted outsiders known as "associates" and "made" members known as "soldiers." An associate must be of Italian heritage, have proven their capacity to make money for the Family, and have shown a willingness to use violence in order to become a "made member" of the Family. The three highest-ranking members who manage the Family are the Boss or Acting Boss, the Underboss, and the Consigliere, or advisor. Cosa Nostra has its origins in Italian organized crime, although it has existed as a distinct organization for a long time. It still collaborates with many criminal organizations with Italian headquarters today in a variety of illicit operations. 

 

Labor racketeering, in which it attempts to dominate, manage, and control a labor movement in order to have an impact on associated businesses and industries, is one of its main sources of income, power, and influence. Organized criminal organizations may profit greatly from labor unions, particularly their pension, welfare, and health funds. The mafia tries to regulate these schemes by giving businesses "sweetheart" contracts, cordial worker relations, and weak work regulations, or by manipulating union elections. Large cities like New York, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia that have robust industrial bases and labor unions tend to be the epicenters of labor law infractions. Additionally, there are several organized criminal characters in these cities. Labor racketeering costs the American public millions of dollars annually through increased labor expenses that are ultimately passed on to consumers, according to many FBI investigations.

 

In order to investigate potential violations of labor law, the FBI collaborates closely with other governmental organizations and uses methods such as electronic surveillance, covert operations, use of secret sources, and victim interviews. The passing of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in 1970 was the one event that helped more than anything else to deter organized crime. The agencies were able to work more effectively as a result of this action because they could target the entire corrupt organization rather than incarcerating individuals who might simply be replaced by other members or affiliates of organized crime.

 

The first known Sicilian Mafia member to immigrate to the United States was Giuseppe Esposito. After assassinating 11 rich landowners, the chancellor and vice chancellor of a Sicilian province, and six other Sicilians, he escaped to New York. In 1881, he was detained in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then sent back to Italy. 

 

The nation's first significant Mafia event occurred in New Orleans. Police Superintendent David Hennessey of New Orleans was executed on October 15, 1890. Numerous Sicilians were detained, and 19 were ultimately charged with the crime. An acquittal spread allegations of widespread corruption and scared witnesses away. On March 14, 1891, a group of angry New Orleans residents formed a lynch mob and murdered 11 out of the 19 defendants. Eight managed to flee, nine were shot, and two were hanged.

 

As different gangs gained and lost power throughout the years, the American Mafia changed. The Black Hand gangs in the early 1900s, the Five Points Gang in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s, and Al Capone's Syndicate in Chicago in the 1920s were a few of the earliest.

 

The Italian Mafia factions started fighting during Prohibition for exclusive control of lucrative bootlegging networks. They struggled for dominance of bootlegging alongside Jewish and Irish ethnic gangs. By the conclusion of the decade, two Italian organizations were competing for dominance of the nation's criminal underworld. Joe Masseria, the head of the Genovese criminal family, oversaw one gang, while Salvatore Maranzano, who oversaw the Bonanno crime family, oversaw the other. The deadly Castellammarese War, which raged from February 1930 to April 15, 1931, was the result of the rivalry's escalation. When Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Masseria's senior soldier, and Salvatore Maranzano planned to have Masseria assassinated, the battle came to an end.

 

Maranzano eventually rose to prominence as the nation's most powerful Mafia leader, referring to himself as "Boss of Bosses." Maranzano designed the organization's code of conduct, set the conflict resolution processes, and split New York City into five families. Charles "Lucky" Luciano was designated as the leader of the Genovese family, as it eventually came to be known.

 

Maranzano's leadership position would, however, be transitory. Maranzano preferred to exclusively associate with Sicilians and upheld the traditions of the purported "Old World Mafia '' by refusing to cooperate with non-Italians. Younger Italian organized crime figures like Luciano believed that limiting their business dealings to Italians would restrict both the development of their individual careers and the possible expansion of their criminal empires. As long as there was money to be made, these men—known as the "Young Turks''—wanted to deal with Irish and Jewish gangsters.

 

Marazano quickly saw Luciano as a threat and gave the order to kill him. On September 10, 1931, Marazano was murdered by a group of mobsters at his office in the New York Central Building when Luciano learned about the scheme.

 

In order to prevent future Mafia battles, Lucky Luciano formed "The Commission," a coalition of five Mafia families of similar magnitude, with the aid of his lifelong buddy, Meyer Lansky. Vincent Mangano, Tommy Gagliano, Joseph Bonanno, and Joseph Profaci served as the commission's other leaders. After then, this panel made decisions about all organized criminal activity throughout the 1930s. The leaders of the Chicago Outfit and the Five Families of New York City reportedly still make up the Commission.

 

The organized crime groups quickly diversified into new businesses after Prohibition ended in 1933 because they were unable to maintain the high profits they had made throughout the 1920s. These new businesses included labor racketeering through the control of labor unions, construction, loan sharking, extortion, protection rackets, sanitation, transportation, prostitution, and drug trafficking.

 

In Las Vegas, Nevada's legal casinos by the 1950s, numerous Mafia leaders had made legitimate investments and were skimming money before it was recorded. It is assumed that the sum was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

For years, the Mafia operated in secrecy with little opposition from the law because local law enforcement authorities lacked the tools or expertise necessary to successfully confront organized crime perpetrated by a covert organization they were unaware even existed.

 

It wasn't until 1951 that a U.S. Senate investigation concluded that this country was home to a "sinister criminal organization," subsequently known as La Cosa Nostra. Six years later, in the little upstate New York hamlet of Apalachin, The New York State Police discovered a gathering of important La Cosa Nostra officials from all across the nation. Numerous guests were taken into custody. The incident served as the impetus for altering how organized crime is combated by law enforcement.

 

Joe Valachi, the first Mafia member to turn state's evidence in 1963, divulged extensive details about the organization's inner workings and trade secrets. After then, the National Crime Syndicate of the Mafia was aggressively attacked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although the Mafia came under additional pressure as a result, its illegal operations were not significantly reduced.

 

However, the Nevada State Legislature's passage of a measure in 1969 that made it simpler for companies to run casinos caused the Mafia's power in the Las Vegas economy to start to decline. A year later, the RICO Act was approved by the US Congress, giving law enforcement extra power to go after the mafia for its criminal operations. By the start of the 1980s, the FBI had achieved success when it was able to free Las Vegas casinos from Mafia rule and made a concerted effort to weaken the Mafia's grip on labor unions.

 

23 mafia bosses from all throughout the country were found guilty of violating the RICO statute between 1981 and 1992. By 1990, almost 1000 members of criminal families had been found guilty. While many Mafia organizations around the nation were severely damaged, the most powerful families continued to control crime in their regions.

 

The Mafia has persisted in engaging in a wide range of illicit operations into the twenty-first century, including extortion, government corruption, gambling, infiltration into lawful firms, labor racketeering, loan sharking, and more. Today, Chicago and the Northeast still account for the majority of its operations.

 

La Cosa Nostra's organizational structure has not altered since the 1930s, and Cosa Nostra has operated for more than a century in a variety of guises.

 

Camorra Mafia

 

Now We talked about the American Mob, and we hear about them a lot, so let's talk about the True Italian Mafia, The Camorra.

 

Due to that gang's effect on American organized crime, the term "Mafia" has come to symbolize all forms of organized crime in popular culture. However, that phrase is really the name of the organized criminal gang rooted in Sicily, according to Mafia historian Umberto Santino's study of Mafia and Mafia-type groups in Italy. The 'Ndrangheta, from Calabria, the Sacra Corona Unita, from Apulia, and the Camorra, from Campania, the area that includes the city of Naples, are further "Mafia-type" groups.

 

The history of the Camorra is "particularly discontinuous," according to Santino. Despite having origins that may go as far back as 15th-century Spain, sources like Britannica claim that the organization first rose to prominence in the 19th century. Santino, however, claims that the organization's current form dates back to the late 1950s, when local criminal organizations in Campania started using the term "camorra." In the 1960s, these organizations expanded and became increasingly effective at smuggling cigarettes.

 

In this decade, they also forged advantageous relationships with a number of Neapolitan Mafia factions, which in the 1970s led to the development of profitable black market drug trafficking. However, there is one key distinction between the Cosa Nostra, sometimes known as the Mafia, and the Camorra. While the Mafia has a top-down, pyramidal structure of authority, the Camorra has a more dispersed system of small organizations, or "clans," that hold power. The Camorra has found success with its organizational structure, and as a result, is currently more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia.

 

According to Santino, the Camorra has 7,000 members spread throughout its 145 clans. The Camorra is the most prosperous and feared criminal gang in Italy thanks to its domination over the trafficking in narcotics including cocaine and heroin. The Independent published a story in 2006 about an Italian author named Roberto Saviano who wrote a book that revealed a few more details about the Camorra than the gang would have wanted. He had excellent reason to worry for his life. "This sprawling network of criminal gangs, according to [Saviano]," wrote reporter Peter Popham, "now dwarfs both the original Mafia of Sicily, the 'Ndrangheta and southern Italy's other organized gangs, in numbers, in economic power and in ruthless violence."

 

The New York Times reported that Saviano's book Gomorra was a "literary sensation" that sold more than 500,000 copies, but it also resulted in death threats and compelled him to go into hiding because it depicted gang violence, drug trafficking, child soldiers, and other aspects of the Camorra's business that the gang would prefer to keep hidden from the outside world. Aspects like the rampant government corruption, which causes trash to pile up in the streets car-high, or the fact that the Camorra has killed much more people recently than the Sicilian Mafia and made Campania one of the most deadly regions in Europe.

 

Sicily is where the Mafia that we know and admire today originated. They first appeared at some time in the late 19th century, and over the next 150 years or so, they expanded all over the world and became involved in just about everything. It has long been a mystery how this highly ordered system came to be, but new study from the University of Nottingham suggests that it all began with lemons.

 

Sicily discovered they had the ideal mixture to develop a lucrative crop in the late 1800s. Despite having the greatest concentration of lemon trees in all of Italy, they also faced a particular set of issues. Lemon farmers eventually turned to hiring their own private protection firms to protect their investment and themselves because of factors such as a wealthy upper class that exploited the peasant class to the fullest, a glaring lack of public law enforcement, and a government that really wasn't keeping the peace. Add a few more elements now: Sicily's location on a key Mediterranean trade route, the rapidly expanding citrus industry, and the demand for private security forces to safeguard interests make it the ideal location for the Mafia to establish itself.

 

Don Calo Vizzini was at the head of the Villalba Mafia during World War II, and he may have said it best. He was quoted by the University of Nottingham paper as saying, "In every society there has to be a category of people who straighten things out when situations get complicated. Usually they're functionaries of the state. Where the state is not present, or where it does not have sufficient force, this is done by private individuals."

 

The roots of the Camorra have speculated that it originated from a secret 12th century organization of assassins.

 

The Beati Paoli were a Sicilian group that originated in the 12th century; no one knows why they were given that name, although it's presumably religious in nature. The tale claims that they formed in response to the persecution of the aristocratic class, and the majority of what we know comes from Francesco Maria Emanuele, Marquis of Villabianca. They not only attracted each and everyone to their cause, but they also created a hierarchy akin to a royal court. From there, they set up security services, employed themselves as paid killers, and... well, secrets prevent us from knowing what else. Since they obviously had an underground hideout, we do know that it was accessible through the crypt of a Palermo church.

 

There are even reports that the Camorra had a lot to do with helping the allies sabotage Mussollini in World War 2. Much information was originally written up as German control and sabotage during this time but many years after, with arrests of many members, documents were found that showed that the Camorra and other factions helped screw over Ol’ Mussollini.

 

Crips

 

The Crips were only a social group, as one Original Gangster (OG) put it, and by most accounts, he is right (Kontos 99, 2003). While there are numerous uneven areas throughout the turbulent history of the Crips, there are also recurring themes. However, unlike the violent, frequently fatal incidents connected with the Crips, which are frequently portrayed with dramatic exaggeration, the genuine components of the narrative do not make for riveting television. Many OGs and gang members have voiced their shock and disappointment at how the Crips have been portrayed, while still admitting the group's flaws and its final transition from activism to gangsterism. Debra Addie Smith, a close friend of the founder of the Crips, once expressed that she “was wondering when someone was gonna finally tell the real story about the Crips”.

 

The Black Panther movement was being dismantled by the police, who were making "mass arrests, incarcerations, and deaths of black teenagers by the police," which led to the formation of the Crips, a grassroots group mostly made up of African-Americans. The CRIPS (Community Resources for Independent People) emerged in South Central Los Angeles, California, in 1969 with a message of resistance and justice during a period of despair and pessimism within the black community, following the ultimate dissolution of the Black Panther movement. Raymond Washington, a "fearless and strong 5-foot-8 fireplug who liked to fight and detested guns," is credited with founding the gang. He finally distanced himself and was killed as the Crips started using guns and formed a feud with the Bloods.

 

Stanley Tookie Williams met Raymond Lee Washington in 1969, and the two decided to unite their local gang members from the west and east sides of South Central Los Angeles in order to battle neighboring street gangs. Most of the members were 17 years old. Williams however appears to discount the sometimes-cited founding date of 1969 in his memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption. In his memoir, Williams also refuted claims that the group was a spin-off of the Black Panther Party or formed for a community agenda, writing that it "depicted a fighting alliance against street gangs—nothing more, nothing less." Washington, who attended Fremont High School, was the leader of the East Side Crips, and Williams, who attended Washington High School, led the West Side Crips.

 

Williams recalled that a blue bandana was first worn by Crips founding member Buddha, as a part of his color-coordinated clothing of blue Levis, a blue shirt, and dark blue suspenders. A blue bandana was worn in tribute to Buddha after he was shot and killed on February 23, 1973. The color then became associated with Crips.

 

By 1978, there were 45 Crip gangs, called sets, in Los Angeles. They were heavily involved in the production of PCP, marijuana and amphetamines. On March 11, 1979, Williams, a member of the Westside Crips, was arrested for four murders and on August 9, 1979, Washington was gunned down. Washington had been against Crip infighting and after his death several Crip sets started fighting against each other. The Crips' leadership was dismantled, prompting a deadly gang war between the Rollin' 60 Neighborhood Crips and Eight Tray Gangster Crips that led nearby Crip sets to choose sides and align themselves with either the Neighborhood Crips or the Gangster Crips, waging large-scale war in South Central and other cities. The East Coast Crips (from East Los Angeles) and the Hoover Crips directly severed their alliance after Washington's death. By 1980, the Crips were in turmoil, warring with the Bloods and against each other. The gang's growth and influence increased significantly in the early 1980s when crack cocaine hit the streets and Crip sets began distributing the drug. Large profits induced many Crips to establish new markets in other cities and states. As a result, Crips membership grew steadily and the street gang was one of the nation's largest by the late 1980s. In 1999, there were at least 600 Crip sets with more than 30,000 members transporting drugs in the United States.

 

Funny side note: As of 2015, the Crips gang consists of between approximately 30,000 and 35,000 members and 800 sets, active in 221 cities and 41 U.S. states. The states with the highest estimated number of Crip sets are California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Members typically consist of young African American men, but can be white, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander. The gang also began to establish a presence in Canada in the early 1990s; Crip sets are active in the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto.

 

Bloods

 

The Bloods gang was first established in Los Angeles as a defense against the Crips. The Pirus street gang, which was initially a group of the Crips, split out during an internal gang battle, united with other minor gangs to create the gang that would later become known as the Bloods, which is where the Bloods' origins and their rivalry with the Crips begin. At the time, there were three more Crips sets than Bloods sets. Despite this disparity in numbers, Bloods sets became more aggressive, especially towards rival Crips members, in an effort to demonstrate their dominance. Therefore, it is believed that the Pirus were the original Bloods founders. The gang's concentration changed to drug manufacture during the emergence of crack. The United Blood Nation, a gang that started out on Rikers Island, is frequently associated with blood sets on the East Coast.

 

The George Motchan Detention Center (GMDC), often known as C 73, is located on Rikers Island and is home to the United Blood Nation, also known as the Bloods. Problem offenders were separated from the rest of the jail facilities using GMDC. The Latin Kings were the most prominent and well-organized gang in the NYC jail system before this time. The majority-Hispanic Latin Kings were violently abusing White and occasionally African American prisoners. These African American prisoners created a defense organization they named the United Blood Nation after being organized by some of the most aggressive and charismatic prisoners. This prison group, United Blood Nation, was copying the Bloods street gangs in Los Angeles. Eight initial Blood sets were formed by many of the leaders of this freshly formed prison gang to recruit in their local communities around New York City.

 

By 1996, the Blood street gang had grown to include thousands of members and was becoming one of the most powerful gangs in existence. It also kept up a regular recruiting push. The Bloods were at this point less organized and more vicious than other gangs. Numerous slashings (attacks with a razor blade or knife) that were recorded during robberies were later determined to be Bloods initiations. The Bloods' signature ceremony was the Blood ritual. Bloods found recruits all throughout the East Coast.

 

In addition to members of other races and ethnicities, African Americans make up the majority of the Bloods. Early adolescence to mid-twenties is the average age of members, however some continue to retain leadership roles well into their late twenties and, on occasion, their thirties. Although there is no one person who can be identified as the Bloods' national leader, each individual Bloods set has a hierarchical leadership structure with distinct degrees of membership. Status within a gang is indicated by these membership levels. Each set is managed by a leader, who is often an older person with a longer criminal history. A fixed leader is not chosen; instead, he or she exerts themselves through creating and overseeing the gang's illicit businesses, using their reputation for brutality and violence as well as their own charisma to do so. The majority of the cast members are "soldiers," and they range in age from 16 to 22. Because of their readiness to use violence to win the respect of gang members and to deal with anybody who "disrespects" the set, soldiers have a strong feeling of dedication to their set and are very dangerous. Although they are not full members, "associates" participate in a variety of illegal acts and identify with the gang. If any women are involved in the gang, they are often associate members and are frequently employed by their male counterparts to carry guns, store narcotics, or engage in self-prostitution in order to support their group.

 

The surroundings of a recruit frequently affects recruitment. Bloods actively seek for school-age African Americans in particularly impoverished regions. Youth might find security and a sense of belonging by joining a gang. Economically deprived children who observe the trappings of gang life—gold jewelry, cash, pricey sportswear—can likewise experience instant satisfaction.

 

Based on how long a person has been a part of a certain set, blood sets have an informal hierarchy of levels.

 

The ranks are only a symbol of respect for individuals who have been a part of the set the longest and have survived the longest; they do not indicate leadership or domination over the set. Bloods of lesser ranks are not subject to those in positions of authority. Bloods of lesser status frequently refer to Bloods of higher rank as "Big Homies." They also call one another "relatives." Once a person joins a Blood set, they cannot quit the set or flip (move to another set) for the rest of their lives.

 

Members of the Bloods frequently refer to themselves as dawgs or ballers, HKs (an initialism for Hoover-Killer), CKs (an initialism for Crip-Killer), and MOBs (an initialism for Member of Bloods) (meaning drug dealers). Contrary to popular belief, Bloods & Crips are typically friendly amongst sets. Although it is against the law, bloods sometimes engage in civil war with one another. For example, the deuce 2x Crips and tray 3x Crips are at war, and they frequently work with Crip sets to eliminate their fellow blood competitors.

 

The many gang indicators used by Bloods members to distinguish themselves from other gangs include colors, attire, emblems, tattoos, jewelry, graffiti, language, and hand signals. Red is the gang's primary color. They like donning athletic attire, such as team coats that display their gang's colors. San Francisco 49ers, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Portland Trailblazers, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers, and Chicago Bulls are a few of their favorite clubs.

 

The most commonly used Bloods symbols include the number “5,” the five pointed star, and the five pointed crown. Despite common misconception Bloods are not a people nation (with the exception of a few) but they will however tie flags with the people for defense or mutually such as how the Crips & BGDs consider themselves cousins. These symbols may be seen in the tattoos, jewelry, and clothing that gang members wear as well as in gang graffiti, which is used by the Bloods to mark their territory. Such graffiti can include gang names, nicknames, declaration of loyalty, threats against rival gangs, or a description of criminal acts in which the gang has been involved. Bloods graffiti might also include the word “Piru” which refers to the fact that the first known Bloods gang was formed by individuals from Piru Street in Compton, California.

Yakuza

 

During the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603–1868), two distinct groups of outcasts gave rise to the yakuza. The tekiya were the first of such groups; they were nomadic peddlers who moved from village to village selling cheap things at fairs and markets. Many tekiya belonged to the burakumin social class, which was essentially underneath the four-tiered Japanese feudal social order and consisted of misfits or "non-humans."

 

The tekiya started forming close-knit gangs in the early 1700s under the direction of bosses and underbosses. The tekiya began to engage in customary organized crime operations including turf battles and protection rackets after being strengthened by fugitives from the upper classes. In keeping with a long-standing custom, tekiya frequently provided security for Shinto festivals and, in exchange for payment for protection, assigned stalls at the associated fairs.

 

Between 1735 and 1749, the shogun's government appointed oyabun, or officially recognized leaders, in an effort to quell gang conflicts among various tekiya factions and lessen the amount of fraud they engaged in. The oyabun was given the privilege of using a surname and carrying a sword, which was previously reserved for samurai. The term "oyabun," which refers to the bosses' roles as the leaders of their tekiya families, literally means "foster parent."

 

The bakuto, or gamblers, were the second social group that gave rise to the yakuza. During the Tokugawa era, gambling was outright prohibited and is still outlawed in Japan today. The bakuto hit the highways and preyed on gullible prey using hanafuda card games or dice games. They frequently adorned their bodies with vibrant tattoos, which gave rise to the practice of full-body tattooing among modern yakuza. The bakuto naturally expanded from their primary line of work as gamblers into lending shady business and other illicit pursuits.

 

Depending on how they make the majority of their money, certain yakuza groups may still refer to themselves as tekiya or bakuto. They still use the rites that were a component of the initiation ceremonies of the older organizations.

 

Yakuza gangs have seen a rise in prominence since the end of World War II following a decline during the conflict. More than 102,000 yakuza members in 2,500 different families were reported to be employed in Japan and overseas by the Japanese government in 2007. Despite the burakumin being officially exempt from discrimination since 1861, many gang members today are descended from that marginalized group. Others are ethnic Koreans, who are also subjected to a great deal of prejudice in Japanese society.

 

The distinctive characteristics of modern yakuza culture bear traces of the gangs' antecedents. For instance, a large number of yakuza have full-body tattoos that were applied with conventional bamboo or steel needles as opposed to sophisticated tattooing guns. Even the genitalia may be tattooed, which is a very unpleasant ritual. Although they typically wear long sleeves in public, the yakuza members frequently take their shirts off while playing cards with one other and show off their body art as a reference to the bakuto customs.

 

The practice of yubitsume, or cutting off the little finger's joint, is another aspect of yakuza culture. When a yakuza member disobeys or otherwise offends his boss, he will perform a yubitsume as an apology. The offender provides the boss with the top joint of his left pinkie finger, which he has amputated. Subsequent offenses result in the loss of other finger joints.

 

This practice dates back to the Tokugawa era; the gangster's sword grip is weakened by the loss of finger joints, theoretically making him more reliant on the group as a whole for defense. To blend in, many yakuza members wear prosthetic fingertips today.

 

The three biggest yakuza organizations currently in existence are the Sumiyoshi-kai, which started in Osaka and has about 20,000 members, the Yamaguchi-gumi, centered in Kobe, with 15,000 members, and the Inagawa-kai, located in Tokyo and Yokohama, with 20,000 members. The gangs engage in illegal activities such the trafficking of people and goods, the exportation of weapons, and the smuggling of illegal drugs. They do, however, also own a sizable amount of stock in well-established companies, and some of them are well-connected to the Japanese financial, banking, and real estate industries.

 

It's interesting to note that the Yamaguchi-gumi were the first to assist victims in the gang's hometown after the tragic Kobe earthquake of January 17, 1995. Similar to this, many yakuza organizations delivered truckloads of goods to the afflicted area following the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The yakuza also has the strange benefit of suppressing small-time criminals. Because small-fry thieves don't intrude on yakuza turf, Kobe and Osaka, with their strong yakuza syndicates, are among the safest cities in an overall safe country.

 

The Japanese government has clamped down on the gangs in recent decades despite these unexpected social benefits of the yakuza. A strong new anti-racketeering law known as the Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members was passed in March 1995. All of the listed businesses with ties to the yakuza were removed from the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2008. Yakuza bosses have been detained by authorities since 2009, and businesses that support the gangs have been closed down.

 

Even though the police are currently working very hard to quell yakuza activities in Japan, it appears improbable that the syndicates would completely vanish. After all, they have endured for more than 300 years and are intricately linked to many facets of Japanese society and culture.

 

Mara Salvatrucha(MS-13)

 

La Mara Salvatrucha, also referred to as MS-13, is a ruthless, inhumane street gang. As many as 40 states in the United States are now home to MS-13 members who commit murder, rape, maiming, and terror. Legendary tales exist of their heinous crimes.

 

No one contests the veracity of these statements. MS-13, like many street gangs, actually takes pride in its well-deserved image. The U.S. Department of Justice claims that the group's motto is "kill, rape, control."

 

If you believe President Donald Trump and others, America's broken immigration system is to blame for MS-13. The belief is that the United States will be a lot safer if it can stop MS-13 gang members from committing all of their mayhem, deport them, and stop them from crossing the border.

 

Unfortunately, things don't work that way.

 

"Attention to gangs is valid. About 13 percent of the homicides in this country are gang related. That's far more homicides than from mass shootings or terrorism," David Pyrooz, a sociologist at the University of Colorado who specializes in gangs and criminal networks, says. "But let's remember this. The maximum number of homicides associated with MS-13 in a given year — gang-related homicides — is about 2 percent of the total ... gang-related homicides in the United States. That is, I hate to use this language, but that is in many ways a drop in the bucket when it comes to gang activity."

 

"MS-13 is sort of the perfect boogeyman," Pyrooz says. "They are the moral panic; the connection to immigration, the connection to Latinos, and then the heinous violence, makes it so they can function as this evil boogeyman."

 

It's frequently forgotten in discussions of MS-13 that the organization didn't start out in Latin America and then storm the border to wreak havoc on the American way of life.

 

The gang was founded in the United States in the 1970s. El Salvadoran immigrants went to Los Angeles in an effort to escape a devastating civil conflict. There, they lived in areas of the city that were already under the influence of other gangs, used marijuana, and listened to heavy metal music. La Mara Salvatrucha was created when the newcomers came together to socialize and to defend themselves from other groups.

 

A brief explanation of the group name is as follows: In El Salvador, the word for "gang" is "mara." Here is an explanation of "Salvatrucha" and the subsequent 13 (again, from the DOJ):

 

Salvatrucha is a slang term for "alert," "watch out," or "cunning," and it combines the terms "Salva," which stands for "Salvadoran," and "trucha." The "13" stands for the 13th letter of the alphabet, or "M," signifying the group's ties to the Mexican Mafia, an organization that operates inside prisons.

 

Police started to crack down as the new gang confronted more established organizations in Los Angeles and linked up with other gangs (including the Mexican Mafia), deporting some members to El Salvador, where civil instability remained rife.

 

However, some of those MS-13 members returned to the United States in the 1980s, and others from El Salvador joined them. However, it seems unlikely that there was a premeditated influx of gang members from Latin America into the country.

 

"Criminal migration is real," according to "MS13 in the Americas: How the World's Most Notorious Gang Defies Logic, Resists Destruction," a report by The Center for Latin American & Latino Studies at American University in Washington D.C., and Insight Crime, a foundation that studies organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. "But this does not appear to be part of a master plan, nor is it coordinated from some central headquarters. Gang members appear to move in the same patterns as the rest of the population, and many of them move to escape the gang and the violence associated with it."

 

Currently, MS-13 claims to have 10,000 members in the United States and 30,000 members worldwide. Thus, it ranks among the largest gangs in the entire world. The group is the first and only street gang to be listed as a global criminal organization by the American government.

 

Despite its size, MS-13 does not have a particularly significant criminal presence in the United States when compared to the total number of gang members in the nation. The National Gang Intelligence Center estimates that there are 1.4 million gang members nationally, and MS-13 is just one of the 33,000 gangs that the FBI has identified.

 

"What's interesting about them, what makes them different from other groups — partly in response to what the president has been tweeting and talking about them" Pyrooz says, "we can't think of an example in recent history of a single group that has attracted such attention on a national level."

 

According to news reports and those who have investigated the MS-13 gang, its members engage in money laundering, prostitution, drug trafficking, racketeering, and other illicit activities. They are extremely brutal in how they do their street business. The group has been implicated in numerous violent assaults, kidnappings, rapes, and most infamously, some horrifying murders.

 

"Gang violence is far more lethal than what it was four or five decades ago," Pyrooz says.

 

From "MS-13 in the Americas":

"Violence is a major part of the glue that binds the MS-13. It is part of every stage of an MS-13 member's life: Potential members commit violent acts to be considered for membership and ultimately to gain entry; they are then beaten into the gang in a ritual that has left more than one permanently scarred; they move up the gang ladder by 'putting in the work' and showing 'commitment,' euphemisms for committing violent acts in the name of the gang."

 

According to the Washington Post, up to 10 MS-13 members lured a guy into a park in Maryland in 2017 before stabbing him more than 100 times, beheading him, and chopping out his heart. In vengeance for her boyfriend's murder, an 18-year-old Virginia lady admitted to taking part in the killing of a 15-year-old girl. The 18-year-old killed the younger girl by stabbing her 13 times and recorded it to show MS-13 leaders.

 

"It's hard to say that the attention is not undue or not deserved," Pyrooz says. "But it's hard to be able to focus specifically on them without paying more attention to what the problem of gang activity is in the United States as a whole."

The 25 Best Gang Movies of All Time - IMDb

Suicide Pilots

Listener Discretion Is Advised. 

A pilot who intentionally crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft in an attempt to commit suicide, often with the intention of killing other people on board or on the ground, is said to have committed suicide. This is occasionally referred to as a murder-suicide. It is known to have caused some commercial aviation crashes and is likely to have contributed to others. In general, it is challenging for crash investigators to pin down the pilots' intentions since they occasionally take deliberate actions to obstruct recordings or other inquiries. Pilot suicide is therefore sometimes impossible to establish with absolute certainty.

 

Unless there is strong evidence that the pilot was actually committing suicide, investigators do not classify aircraft events as suicide. This proof could come in the form of suicide notes, prior suicide attempts, suicide threats, or a history of mental illness. Eight deaths were determined to be suicides in a study of pilot suicides from 2002 to 2013, and five other cases of unclear causes may have been suicides. To ascertain if the suicide was a terrorist act, investigators may also consult with terrorism experts and look for connections to extremist groups.

 

The majority of pilot suicides occur in small, general aviation aircraft. The lone occupant of the airplane in the majority of these situations is the pilot. A flying prohibition would have ordinarily resulted from the pilot using drugs, most frequently alcohol or antidepressants, in around half of the cases. Many of these pilots have a history of mental illness that they have tried to hide from authorities.

 

As most people know, the strategy of war where pilots will dive bomb their aircrafts into land or sea based vessels has been around since World War 2 so we arent really going to talk too much about incidents such as those. However, the first person credited with doing so was Russian aviator Nikolai Gastello. He was credited with the first takedown of a land based vehicle with his aircraft, although his aircraft had been shot down and was in a rapid partially controllable descent which this is later to be disputed. Other notable incidents are the kamikazes of the Empire of Japan during the Pacific Campaign of World War 2.

 

Now lets talk about cases where pilots had suicidal thoughts or temptations of murder while piloting an aircraft.

 

Hosted by Jonathan Sayre and Logan Sayre

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