Pogo The Clown, A Self-Portrait By Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy, 1986John Wayne Gacy raped and murdered at least 33 young men.
If any painting were to be haunted by a malevolent spirit, one created by a serial killer would fit the bill. John Wayne Gacy was one of the worst serial killers in American history, known as the “Killer Clown” due to the fact that he performed as “Pogo the Clown” during the day. At night, however, he prowled the streets of Chicago and murdered young men.
John Wayne Gacy’s first kill — which had allegedly been a mistake — gave him a “mind-numbing orgasm” that he described as “the ultimate thrill.” It began a six-year-long killing spree that saw Gacy kill 33 victims, all while he was presenting himself as an upstanding member of society, performing at parties and hospitals as “Pogo the Clown.”
Gacy also created a series of paintings, ranging from images of Walt Disney’s Seven Dwarfs and portraits of Elvis to landscapes and illustrations of Jesus Christ. But none are as eerily terrifying as Gacy’s self-portrait, Pogo the Clown, which depicts him in his daytime clown costume.
The paranormally inclined, of course, believe that the spirits of particularly evil individuals can attach themselves to their belongings. In that case, the Pogo the Clown painting certainly seems to fit the bill for a potentially haunted object.
In 2001, musician Nikki Stone purchased Pogo the Clown for $3,000. Not long after the sale, however, Stone said his dog died and his mother was diagnosed with cancer — events he believed may have been connected to Gacy’s chilling painting.
Hoping to rid himself of the supposedly cursed object, Stone lent the painting to a friend to store it. That friend’s neighbor would be killed in a car crash soon afterward, and a second friend who offered to keep the painting attempted suicide.
“I just want to get rid of it,” Stone said of Pogo the Clown in 2005.
According to a report from Newsweek, the infamous self-portrait now belongs to Ghost Adventures star and paranormal investigator Zak Bagans, who owns and operates his own Haunted Museum. Alongside Gacy’s painting, Bagans owns a number of other items that once belonged to serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer’s glasses, Charles Manson’s hospital gown — and his bones, along with John Wayne Gacy’s brain.
After reading about these haunted paintings and the stories behind them, check out these creepy stories that almost seem too disturbing to be true. Or, explore these nine haunted houses across America and the terrifying legends behind them.
