John Lennon's
murder is certainly one of pop culture's
most shocking deaths. Any mention of the
event is usually followed by the questions, who
shot him and why did he do it? Of course, the death
of a famous musician will always generate questions. But John Lennon's murder
is still as confusing as it is disturbing, mostly
because his murderer was a self-described fan. Today, we're going to explore
some of the more obscure facts about the murder of John
Lennon that you might not know. But before we get
started, take a second to subscribe to the
Weird History channel and let us know in the comments
below what other music stories you would like to hear about. Now, let's go back to New York
City on Monday, December, 8th, 1980, at the Dakota
apartment building. Mark Chapman might
have carried out the assassination of John
Lennon on December 8th, 1980, but it wasn't his first attempt. According to his
wife, Gloria Hiroko, Chapman attempted to take out
Lennon two months earlier. In a 2018 interview, Hiroko
said, "two months earlier, Mark had traveled to New York. He came home scared,
telling me that to make a name for himself,
he had planned to kill Lennon, but he said my love
had saved him." What happened was that
Chapman flew out to New York a couple months
earlier in October, but something changed his mind. He had an introspective moment. Chapman told his
wife that he needed to grow up as an
adult and husband and needed time to
think about his life. So why did Hiroko let Chapman
go back to New York in December, knowing that just two
months earlier, he admitted his previous
plan to murder Lennon? In that same 2018
interview, Hiroko replied, "the only
reason I was OK with Mark making another trip, was
because I had believed him when he said he
needed to grow up as an adult and
husband and needed time to think about his life. He wanted me to sacrifice
being alone for a short time, so that we could have a long,
happy marriage together. He said he threw the gun into
the ocean and I believed him. But he had lied to me." Hiroko later recalls the moment
she discovered Lennon was shot. "I remember it was a Monday. I had come home from
work, fixed dinner, and was watching Little
House on the Prairie. On the show, Mary had just found
out she'd become blind, when, suddenly, words ran across
the bottom of the screen, 'John Lennon has been shot
in New York City by a male Caucasian.' "My life changed
dramatically that night. I was now Mrs.
Mark David Chapman, the wife of a murderer,
and not just any murderer, but one whose victim
was known and loved by millions around the world." Incidentally, Hiroko is
still married to Chapman. She refuses to divorce him. Being a Beatles fan, I mourn
the death of John Lennon and feel great sadness for his
wife Yoko and his son Sean. These days, the couple is
allowed 44 hours a year for conjugal visits. Hiroko claims the two use
their time to make pizzas and have sex. Gloria, do you still love him? Yes. Very much. Chapman was visiting New
York City, in from Hawaii, for several days
before he shot Lennon. On the day before
he shot Lennon, Chapman encountered
another famous musician in a train station, folk
legend James Taylor. At the time, Taylor was living
in a building near the Dakota and recalled hearing the sirens
and commotion down 72nd Avenue. He also remembers his
chance run in with Chapman. "His assassin had buttonholed
me in the tube station. He pinned me to the wall,
glistening with maniacal sweat, and tried to talk
in some freak speech about what he was going to
do, how John was interested and how he was going to get
in touch with John Lennon. It was surreal to actually have
contact with the guy 24 hours before he shot John." Of course, Lennon
wasn't the only person that Chapman
considered shooting. In a three-issue interview
with People magazine in 1987, Chapman admitted he
had an alternate hit list of potential targets in
mind, including Paul McCartney, Johnny Carson, Elizabeth Taylor,
George C. Scott, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ronald Reagan,
and Hawaii's governor George Ariyoshi. But in 2010, Chapman stated that
the only criterion for his list was being famous and
that he chose Lennon out of convenience. When asked to wonder if Lennon's
ease with fame and the access he allowed his fans put
a target on his back. Chapman shooting Lennon wasn't
their first interaction. After two days of stalking
him, Chapman made contact with Lennon as he and
his wife, Yoko Ono, were walking from
the Dakota building to an awaiting limousine, which
was headed to the Record Plant Recording Studio two miles away. Although Lennon was on
his way to the studio to put the final touches
on "Walking on Thin Ice," a song for Ono's next
album, he took the time to sign autographs for
several fans who had made the pilgrimage to the Dakota. One of those fans was Chapman. At approximately 5
PM, Chapman held out a vinyl copy of Lennon's most
recent release, Double Fantasy, and asked the singer
for an autograph. Chapman recalls that
interaction he had with Lennon when they made contact. "He was very kind to me. Ironically, very kind and
was very patient with me. The limousine was waiting
and he took his time with me. And he got the pen going
and he signed my album. He asked me if I
needed anything else. I said, 'no. No, sir.' And he walked away. Very cordial and decent man." He's talking to a nobody, to
sign an album for a nobody, and he's asking me
is that all I want. I mean, he's given
me the autograph. I don't have a camera on me. What could I give him? Approximately 5 hours
and 50 minutes later, Chapman and Lennon would come
in contact with each other one last time. A few hours before Chapman
got Lennon's autograph, the singer curled up nude,
almost in a fetal position, and wrapped himself
around Yoko Ono. The iconic photo was taken
by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz in the couple's
Dakota apartment. Leibovitz was assigned to
take a solo photo of Lennon for the cover of Rolling Stone. But the singer insisted that
Ono was in the shot too. Leibovitz suggested the
couple took off their clothes. But Ono balked at the idea,
first agreeing to go topless, then dismissing the
idea altogether. Instead, Lennon took
everything off, wrapped himself around Ono, and
Leibovitz got her shot. Later, she admitted
Ono being clothed gave the image more weight. When Lennon saw
Leibovitz's test Polaroids, he made her promise
that the session made the magazine's cover. That evening, Lennon
would be gone. Although Leibovitz felt that
publishing the photo right after Lennon's death
was exploitative, Rolling Stone published
Leibovitz's photograph about six weeks later in
its January 22nd issue. The photograph was
later recreated in 2009 with Sean Lennon, posing
with his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl
with the roles reversed. We now know that
Howard Cosell broke the news of Lennon's death
during a live broadcast on Monday Night Football,
but it almost didn't happen. Cosell was initially
uncomfortable with the responsibility. Apparently, Cosell
and Frank Gifford were doing play by play
for a Monday Night Football pairing between the Miami
Dolphins and the New England Patriots. With less than a minute
left in the fourth quarter, the Pats were driving toward
the goal line for the winning score. As the Patriots tried
to put themselves in position for a
field goal, Cosell got a phone call from ABC
News president Roone Arledge. Arledge said his
source confirmed Lennon had been murdered
and that the news should be announced immediately. Cosell was unsure
about the newsbreak, thinking that a
football game wasn't the appropriate forum for
that kind of subject matter. While he wavered, Gifford, his
partner in the broadcasting booth, convinced him
otherwise, stating that the significance
of the event was much greater than
the finish of the game. Moments later, Cosell
made the announcement. Yes, we have to say it. Remember, this is
just a football game. No mater who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy
confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of
his apartment building on the west side of New York
City, the most famous perhaps of all of the Beatles,
shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt
Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the
game after that news flash, which in duty
[INAUDIBLE] we have to take. Frank. So why did Chapman shoot Lennon? For a long time, Chapman
gave investigators his Catcher in the Rye story. Chapman was obsessed
with JD Salinger's book. He was so obsessed
with a story, he saw himself as the living
embodiment of Holden Caulfield, Salinger's angry protagonist. Fueled by the angst
of Catcher in the Rye, Chapman felt that Lennon
had become a phony, a label Holden
Caulfield gave to people he encountered that he thought
were superficial and insincere. Chapman admits he wasn't
seething with rage over how he thought Lennon conformed,
from an outspoken rebel to a mainstream celebrity. Instead, he was very
matter of fact about it. And he calmly and methodically
began to plan Lennon's murder. And I pulled the .38
revolver out of my pocket. I went into what's
called a combat stance. And I fired at his
back five steady shots. Catcher in the Rye
played such a large role in Chapman's initial
excuse for killing Lennon, he even brought along
a copy of the book when he met and
killed the singer. Inside that book, Chapman
wrote, "to Holden Caulfield, from Holden Caulfield. This is my statement." Bought a copy of the
Catcher in the Rye, signed it "to Holden Caulfield,
from Holden Caulfield." And wrote underneath that,
"this is my statement," underlining the word this,
the emphasis on the word this. Initially, Chapman said he
killed Lennon to make a point, to make a statement about
the phonies of the world. But that story changed
on his eighth parole hearing in 2014,
when he said, "I am sorry for being such
an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory. I found my peace in Jesus. I know him. He loves me. He has forgiven me. He has helped in my life
like you wouldn't believe." He went further during his
ninth parole hearing in 2016 when he admitted that his
actions were premeditated, selfish, and evil. Chapman was obsessed with Lennon
and shot him for one reason only. He wanted a shortcut
to fame, correctly assuming that his name
would be remembered forever. Chapman later explained
that he bore no ill will toward the singer. All he wanted was to
be known for something. A parole board member
once asked him, "it wasn't anything personal
against John Lennon? It was just simply about
you and gaining notoriety?" Chapman replied, "absolutely
true, nothing personal." Chapman later made a
statement intended for Ono, but also maybe
for Lennon's fans. "It wasn't anything against
her husband as a person, only as a famous person. If he was less famous than
three or four other people on the list, he
wouldn't have been shot and that's the truth." So what do you think? Why did Chapman kill Lennon? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other music stories from our Weird History.
