AMERICAN HORROR STORY: True Crimes That Inspired Freak Show

hey everyone i'm back for another edition of true crime ahs today we're diving into freak show american horror story's fourth season featured a variety of characters that were based on real life figures and a few of them were involved in some serious true crimes before we jump in make sure to subscribe to the channel for all your ahs needs we have more true crime explorations and the latest on the upcoming season of ahs double feature we also have a ton of breakdowns from past seasons of the show [Music] the children forgot that they loved me the freaks were stealing them just like before i knew what i had to do let's begin with one of the most terrifying killers that we've ever seen on american horror story twisty the clown his terrifying picnic introduction and freak show will forever be etched into my memory as we learn in freak show twisty was dropped on his head as a child and developed a mental disability but that didn't stop him from his carnival career and passion for performing by 1943 he worked as a traveling clown for rusty's westchester traveling carnival but two evil dwarfs were jealous of his popularity so they spread rumors that he was inappropriate with children overnight twisty was unable to find work his lifelong dream was over and his reputation was forever tarnished coupled with that the death of his mother twisty attempted to commit suicide but failed the shotgun blew off his lower jaw but he survived to hide his hideous injury he wore a prosthetic smile hello beautiful twisty would dedicate his life to saving children from their evil parents which basically meant that he would kill innocent people kidnap unsuspecting children lock them up in cages against their will and scare the living hell out of people twisty's reign of terror continued until halloween and the arrival of edward moore drink i'll get to him later mordrick asked to hear twisty's tragic life story and deemed him worthy to join them in the afterlife at last the killer clown finally found his home in mordrech's ghostly troupe clearly twisty's story is a work of fiction but this monster is inspired by a real-life killer clown john wayne gacy who made a living dressing up as a clown named pogo for children's birthday parties fittingly john carroll lynch who played twisty also played john wayne gacy in season 5 and we even see gacy with clown makeup on during devil's night now there are some big differences between twisty and gacy twisty was more of a misguided murderer while gacy was a stone-cold psychopath between 1972 and 1978 gacy raped and killed at least 33 young men all of his murders were committed inside of his ranch house outside of chicago illinois which was also referenced in ahs 1984. according to gacy he would lure his victims back to his home then torture and rape them before strangling them to death he hit the bodies at least 26 of them in a crawl space in the back of his house the others were dumped elsewhere on his property and by a nearby river by december of 1978 an investigation into the disappearance of teenager robert peice led authorities to gacy's arrest at the time of his conviction gacy was the most prolific serial killer in us history he was executed by lethal injection on may 10 1994. for more on gacy's haunting story make sure you check out this episode of true fiction on the channel right now oh and gacy's work unfortunately lives on he was also an artist and his series of haunting self-portraits are straight nightmare fuel next up let's talk about freak shows jimmy darling portrayed by the one and only evan peters jimmy was born with a condition called ectrodactyly in which the fingers or toes are fused together to resemble claws jimmy is the son of two other freak show performers the stupendous strongman del toledo and the bearded woman ethel darling due to his deformity he was exploited his entire life his father even sold tickets to watch jimmy's actual birth dell would eventually abandon jimmy and ethel and the pair packed up and traveled the country from freak show to freak show years later they all crossed paths again in jupiter florida jimmy was a charming young man and extremely loyal to his fellow freaks he also had dreams of leaving the show behind and trying to live a normal life in order to make some extra cash jimmy used his god-given extremities for a pleasure and a lot of ladies lined up for his services i took in that new roadside attraction wandered into an empty tent and the real show began he was also sick and tired of the treatment he and his fellow freaks would have to suffer through it reached a boiling point when he saved the twins bettendot tattler from getting arrested for the murder of their mother jimmy wasn't going to let them get caught so he slit detective bunch's throat and together they disposed of the body the murder wasn't very jimmy-like if you ask me but it brought the freaks closer than ever before look jimmy had a long and complicated story arc for season 4 including a face-off with twisty the clown he was also framed for the tupperware party massacre at one point and even tricked into donating his hands to pay for legal services stanley sucks not to mention that he had to deal with the monstrous dandy mott but luckily for jimmy the season ends on a happy note extremely rare for ahs we see him and the twins living happily ever after bed and dot are pregnant with jimmy's baby and they spend halloween watching elsa mars tv special as for the real life inspiration jimmy darling was modeled after the famous performer grady styles jr also known as the lobster man born in pittsburgh in 1937 grady like jimmy was born with ectrodactyly styles was part of a whole family line of people who had the same condition just like jimmy on the show he was forced to become a sideshow act at a young age and became an abusive alcoholic unfortunately stiles's life doesn't mirror the happy ending that jimmy had on hs grady's condition left him unable to walk so he learned to use his hands and arms to get around causing him to gain incredible upper body strength as years passed grady let his own lobster family act due to two of his four children being born with variations of ectrodactyly this is where things get a bit dark you see as i mentioned earlier stiles was known to be an abusive drinker he would often physically and emotionally hurt his family in 1978 in pittsburgh pennsylvania his oldest daughter donna fell in love and became engaged greedy did not support this union by any means and on the night before the wedding he picked up a shotgun and murdered the young groom he was 17 years old he was brought to trial and with absolutely no remorse styles openly confessed to killing the man and was convicted of third degree murder at the time of the conviction prisons were not equipped to take care of an inmate with ectrodactyly so stiles was sentenced to house arrest and 15 years probation following the trial grady would stop drinking and remarry his first wife mary theresa as the years went on sadly grady soon began drinking again and his family claimed that he became even more abusive this would lead to his inevitable end in 1992 for a little background the local community despised greedy he was notoriously verbal and physically abusive to people around town and in november stiles was murdered in his florida home by 17 year old family friend and sideshow performer chris wyant in court it was revealed that wyan had been paid 1500 by stiles's wife mary theresa according to the los angeles times but stiles's son grady styles iii disputes the claim that theresa had him murdered regardless chris wyant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison perry was given life in prison for his role as the mastermind and mary was given 43 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder on the day of style's funeral it was reported only 10 people showed up now let's focus on wes bentley's performance as freak show's mysterious edward mordrick bentley appears in the two-part halloween episode of freak show as the 19th century english nobleman with a second face on the back of his head on the show more drake's front face was all business but the back was a nightmarish party for one and it would whisper depraved thoughts that only mordray could hear no one else could hear what it said but it whispered to edward incessantly of things only spoken often helped the evil second face eventually drove him insane and he was committed to bedlam asylum eventually he escaped the asylum and joined a freak show where he could live a life free from the public eye's hatred unfortunately on halloween night he was driven mad by the evil face and killed his entire fellowship before killing himself on the show the freaks have superstitions that any performance on halloween even trivial ones risks summoning mordrick once he appears the whispers of his second face can be vaguely heard telling him what it desires the life of one of the freaks for their own show note that one now wes bentley's character was based on a popular urban legend but any stories of a real edward moore drake may be nothing more than a tall tale it's fiction we made it up for years people bought into the supernatural story of murdrake before it was discovered to have been a fictional creation of charles loten hildreth who fabricated his story for a sensationalist article in the boston sunday post in 1895. somehow a year later mordrek's tale would end up in a science textbook anomalies and curiosities of medicine in 1896 and the legend was born according to the literature he had an unusual deformity a small face supposedly female on the back of his head the account is filled with heavy melodrama including quotes from a frightened mordrake no imagination can conceive the dreadful temptations it sets before me for some unforgiven wickedness of my forefathers i am knit to this fiend for a fiend it surely is this led to mordrek secluding himself in a room before committing suicide at the age of 23. let's be honest this likely did not happen in fact the origin of the black and white photograph that claims to show more drake and his devil twin in profile which has appeared in internet postings since 2007 is unknown now it has been suggested that mordrach might have suffered from a congenital defect known as diprosopus also known as a cranial facial duplication the exact description of dipersopus refers to a fetus with a single trunk normal limbs and facial features that are duplicated to a certain degree what do you think of all this freaks this one was invented by a writer next let's talk about the conjoined twins bet and dot tattler played by ahs legend sarah paulson the sisters are nearly identical but after a short conversation with them you can definitely tell them apart bed is much more gentle sweet and a bit naive while dot is much more stern and protective she's more cautious and controlling sometimes mean to ensure that the twins don't get taken advantage of they're living with their mother but are basically prisoners in their own home she's downright evil to them and wants to keep them out of the public eye what do you think would become of our lives if people around here learned what lived on this farm what are our lives now one night they have a heated argument and bet stabs her mother with a kitchen knife and later on dot would stab her sister with a pair of scissors after the milkman swings by the twins are discovered and sent off to the hospital for evaluation here's where elsa mars comes into the picture she convinces the twins to break out of the hospital and become the star attraction of her cabinet of curiosities a whirlwind of drama ensues and the twins catch the eyes of some famous and wealthy audience members the motts gloria wants to purchase the twins so that dandy can be more productive with his time elsa and the twins refuse but it wouldn't be long until she shipped them off to mott manor because they were stealing the spotlight from her fortunately bed and dot get a happy ending in freak show sure they agree to marry dandy but they're secretly working with jimmy and desiree to knock him out during dinner they then get to watch dandy die in houdini's water torture cell some sweet revenge we last see the pregnant twins cuddle up with jimmy as they watch elsa perform on tv we're hoping we'll get to catch up with the growing darling family in a future episode of the series [Music] as for their real life inspiration the twins are most likely inspired by the fame sideshow sisters violet and daisy hilton their tragic story began in england in 1908 where they were born fused at the hip their mother conceived the twins out of wetlock and was convinced that their deformity was a punishment from god she basically sold them off to her midwife mary hilton who saw the commercial potential in the pair the girls were put on display in a british pub for anyone willing to pay an admission fee the girls were kept captive for the majority of their lives and treated as property they were forced to play instruments for hours on end and eventually into the carnival sideshow circuit they were continuously reminded that if they didn't play nice they would be institutionalized remind anyone of elsa mars by the time they were in their 20s the sisters became vaudeville legends and were featured alongside the likes of charlie chaplin and bob hope no surprise here but the twins reaped no rewards for their success they weren't privy to any of the contract details nor able to profit from their popular performances but in 1931 the sisters sued their owners managers and finally gained freedom from their contracts they were also awarded 100 grand which would be worth around 1.7 million today the following year the twins appeared in todd browning's 1932 horror film freaks unfortunately as sideshows became less and less popular so did the twins they tried making a comeback in the burlesque community but they weren't successful the sisters were forced to take a job at a grocery store in north carolina their tragic story came to an end just 4 days into 1969 when they didn't show up at work and their boss called the police authorities searched their home where the sisters were found dead victims of the 1968 flu pandemic finally let's talk about a fan favorite played by the great naomi grossman we first met pepper way back in asylum but it wasn't until freak show that we learned about her life story pepper and her husband salty were part of a double act in elsa's cabinet of curiosities she was born with microcephaly and her family abandoned her at an orphanage because of the disorder when she was 18 years old elsa mars took her in and she would become the first member of her troop when this strange looking little one looked at me it was the first time i had ever felt unconditional love she would soon form a close bond with many others in the group most significantly a loving romance was salty and the two would get married in a mock ceremony the couple would perform in elsa's show as a sort of clown act cheering up the audience throughout the many performances but in early 1953 salty passed away during his sleep after suffering a stroke the horrible stanley convinced elsa to let him take care of the funeral arrangements and you know what happens next stanley sucks after salty's heartbreaking passing pepper was never the same the freak show would soon break up and pepper was forced to live with her sister who pretty much treated her like a slave her brother-in-law was also evil as hell and they actually framed pepper for the murder of their infant son and she was subsequently sent off to briarcliff manor against her will so the story that sister mary eunice tells lana winters at the beginning of asylum she's not harmless she drowned her sister's baby and sliced his ears off it's total bs in one of her greatest moments from asylum pepper is abducted by those mysterious aliens and transformed overnight she was given high intelligence confidence and some spice when dealing with the evil dr arthur arden she puts him in his place and oversees the well-being of grace and her new baby they'll take you open up your head and stir your brain with a fork and when you return you'll experience firsthand how people treat us freaks it turns out that pepper and salty were inspired by slitsy certies also known as slitzy the pinhead he was in early 1900s barnum and bailey's sideshow performer with the same neurodevelopmental disorder that we saw on ahs he had the cognizance of a three-year-old and could only speak in single syllable words slitzy made his film debut in the 1928 circus drama the sideshow but he's best known for his role in freaks which has been noted to be a huge inspiration for the entire season of freak show fortunately the tragic story that we saw unfold in american horror story was a work of fiction hit that like and subscribe button if you enjoyed this video and want to see more ahs true crime i'll be back next week with another season of american horror story thanks for watching what the hell is this wait you didn't hire him

Channel: GameSpot Universe

Views: 470,130

Rating: 4.9369903 out of 5

Keywords: american horror story, american horror story freak show, ahs, true crime, twisty the clown, john wayne gacy, jimmy darling, the lobster man, edward mordrake, dot and bette, violet and daisy hilton, pepper, explained, true story, true events, true facts, real stories, real crimes, real events, real life references, gamespot universe, ahs based on true events, based on a true story, american horror story real stories

Id: Qn5H1z37GzQ

Length: 16min 6sec (966 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021