5 Celebrities With Bizarre Connections to Serial Killers
Arguably, a tolerance for shady characters is a requirement for becoming a celebrity in the first place, so it’s not surprising that many of them have had brushes with serial killers. Some of their connections, however, are a little more unexpected than accepting a ride from a weirdo.
Danny Trejo Was Hypnotized By Charles Manson in Jail
Before Trejo was Machete, he was a real criminal, and before Charles Manson was, you know, Charles Manson, he was a pretty fraudster. That led them to cross paths in county jail in 1961, where Manson sought out Trejo for protection. Instead of the usual offerings of drugs or similar, though, Manson insisted he could hypnotize Trejo into feeling high on heroin, which Trejo reported actually worked. “If that white boy wasn’t a career criminal, he could have been a professional hypnotist, someone who went to high schools and state fairs and got people to come onstage and act like cats and stuff,” he said, but alas, Manson chose the more dignified path.
Richard Ramirez Wanted to Be Inmate Besties With Sean Penn
In 1987, Penn was convicted of reckless driving and assaulting an extra on a movie set — you know, just Sean Penn things — and found himself at the same L.A. jail as the recently captured Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez. This was a real boon to Ramirez, who convinced guards to hound Penn for an autograph and ed him a note that read, “Hey, Sean, stay tough and hit them again — Richard Ramirez, 666,” to which Penn responded scathingly that he hoped “gas descends upon you before sanity does.” You’d think earning a er in the Night Stalker would turn your life around, but Penn’s gotta Penn.
Chris Farley Lived Next Door to Ed Gein
A word of advice: Don’t buy a house within sight of a psychiatric institution for violent offenders in the ‘60s. They were constantly escaping, which terrified a young Chris Farley, who lived near the Mendota Mental Health Institute, where cannibal killer Ed Gein was itted. Whenever the sirens warning of an escape went off, Farley came to his brothers “with his pillow,” demanding to sleep “here in between your beds,” which honestly sounds like a really cute SNL skit.
The Hillside Stranglers Liked Peter Lorre Too Much to Kill His Daughter
In 1977, right at the beginning of the spree of murders soon to be attributed to the “Hillside Strangler,” Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr. approached a young woman they didn’t know was Catherine Lorre, posing as police officers and asking for identification. As she searched her purse, photos of her with the legendary actor fell out, and she explained that he was her father. It turns out Bianchi and Buono were Maltese Falcon fans, and they also didn’t want the publicity associated with the death of a celebrity daughter. Lorre didn’t learn for years how valuable nepo babydom was that night.
Remains of a Possible Serial Killer Victim Turned Up at Taylor Swift’s House
To be fair, we know very little about the human remains that washed up near Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island mansion this year. We don’t even know for sure that a serial killer is responsible for the other 12 bodies discovered around New England in the last few months. But it’s a liiiiittle weird that this victim, if they turn out to be a victim, would be the 13th, a number Swift has long associated with, and she’s sung about dumping a metaphorical body in the ocean. In fact, the way she’s made a career out of leading her fans around with Easter eggs, a turn toward the Zodiac side wouldn’t be all that surprising.
Are we saying Taylor Swift is secretly a serial killer? No. We’re just saying it would be a hell of a twist.
