Criminal Adaptations
Criminal Adaptations is a True Crime/Movie Review Podcast discussing some of your favorite films, and the true crime stories that inspired them. With hosts Remi, who spent over a decade working in the film and television industry, and Ashley, a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator. They discuss a new movie each week and compare the film to the real life events that the film is based on.
Criminal Adaptations
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
What if an annual movie screening in your town was based on real-life, terrifying events? In this episode of Criminal Adaptations, we offer a deep dive into Charles B. Pierce’s controversial 1976 film, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, exploring its shocking connection to the true story of the Phantom Killer responsible for the Texarkana Moonlight Murders. Join us as we recount the chilling events beginning in February 1946, analyzing how the film's portrayal of these horrific crimes left a lasting impact on both the horror genre and the community of Texarkana.
Primary Source:
Presley, James. The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: The Story of a Town in Terror. Pegasus Books, LLC, 2014.
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Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we take a look at some of your favorite movies and the true crime stories that inspired them. I'm Ashley. I'm a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in the state of Oregon.
Remi:And I'm Remy. I spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California.
Ashley:And welcome back everyone to Criminal Adaptations. Remy, how are you feeling this morning?
Remi:I'm feeling pretty okay. All things considered. It's a new episode, a new day and a new true crime movie for us to go over. How are you doing today, ashley?
Ashley:I'm doing pretty good. We are gearing up to go to Hawaii, so we're trying to bust out several episodes before we go to make sure we stay on track, so there might be a bonus episode coming at some point. We haven't decided yet on what we're going to do or how that's going to look like, but it may be in your future and ours.
Remi:Yes, we have gotten pretty busy. It's that busy time of year for everyone, I think, with the holidays coming up, and we are a bit behind schedule. We're recording this episode, I think, two days before it airs, which is the closest we've ever done one of these. But we are going to get these episodes out to you in a orderly fashion. But we may have to plop in a bonus episode during our Hawaii trip. But don't worry, it will be amazing and it will be a thousand times better than any bonus episode you have ever heard in your entire life, I promise.
Ashley:But today we are not doing a bonus episode, we are doing a regular episode about an older movie. I think it came out what? In early 70s and it is credited as being the first slasher movie Remy. What are we talking about today?
Remi:Today we will be discussing the 1976 film the Town that Dreaded Sundown. There was a sort of remake, meta sequel type thing that came out in 2014 by Ryan Murphy. We are not covering that one. We did watch that one, so we will discuss it. But yes, this is a very old 70s horror slasher film that predates even Halloween by, I believe, two or three years, so this is one of the horror films that started it all. I'm not saying it's one of the best ever, but it is maybe one of the first.
Ashley:Quick correction when we say that it's by Ryan Murphy, he didn't direct it, he didn't write it. He was the executive producer of it and we'll touch on it at the end. But my big question to him was why?
Remi:Ryan Murphy did, I believe, produce the 2014 version. He had nothing to do with the 70s version because he was probably a little child at the time, but do you know anything about this town, that dreaded sundown or this crime? Had you heard anything about it before we decided to do this episode?
Ashley:I had not heard of either of these movies and I had not heard of this case at all. The first time I heard of it was when you told me about it. You learned about it from a coworker, and really the main thing that interests us about it is that there's some sort of like celebration in the town Texarkana every year around the time that some of these murders took place, which just seems so odd to me.
Remi:The 2014 film actually touches on that a lot. It centered around this Texarkana film festival, where they screen the town, that dreaded sundown, which is pretty crazy, because Texarkana is the town where a real killer did terrorize the community for a period of time, and the fact that they made a slasher film about it that they now screen every Halloween is pretty mind-boggling to me. I don't think that there are any other films that do that sort of thing, and after seeing the film, I am even more surprised that it's a tradition that continues on. It's. After seeing the film, I am even more surprised that it's a tradition that continues on. It's not a good movie, people.
Ashley:And hearing about this case like it's horrendous. It's still technically unsolved to this day and the surviving victims of the Phantom Killer which is what the murderer was dubbed by the media many of them never recovered like psychologically or took years to.
Remi:And in the 2014 film, a lot of it centers around how the community is very upset that this tradition is happening every year. It's very disrespectful to the victims and it leads to more bloodshed in the sequel. But enough with the sequel. Should we get into the 1976 version of the Town that Dreaded Sundown?
Ashley:Yes, I'm very interested to see what you dug up on this movie and also just what it was all about, because we did a pretty good job of keeping our lips sealed during the prep work for this one, so I'm proud of us.
Remi:That may partially have to do with the fact that we were both so busy trying to get the episode done, but yeah, I really don't know anything about the true case in this situation, which is pretty rare, but let's get into it. The Town that Dreaded, sundown, is a 1976 horror film directed and produced by Charles B Pierce and written by Earl E Smith. The film stars Ben Johnson, andrew Pryne and Don Wells. Who of that cast is your favorite? Ashley?
Ashley:I can't say any of those names, including the director or the writer, ring any sort of bells.
Remi:The director, writer and cast did not go on to an awful lot after this film. Surprise, surprise. I will touch on that a little at the end. But the most famous person in this cast is Dawn Wells, who played Marianne on Gilligan's Island.
Ashley:Well before my time.
Remi:Yeah, I've never seen Gilligan's Island, but I know that she played Marianne on it, just from my research. I'm going to make a lot of references to old TV shows I haven't seen but still feel comfortable in making the analogy. I haven't seen but still feel comfortable in making the analogy. Director Charles B Pierce began as an art director at KTAL-TV in Shreveport, louisiana, during the mid-1960s before later becoming a weatherman and hosting a children's cartoon show for the channel. In 1969, pierce relocated to Texarkana, texas, bought a 16mm camera and opened an advertising agency. His first big contract was with Ledwell Son Enterprises, a local company specializing in 18-wheel trailers and farming equipment.
Ashley:Gotta get your start somewhere.
Remi:Pierce developed commercials for the company, filming trucks and farming machinery in action, with the ads eventually airing across the southwestern United States. So yeah you gotta begin somewhere, and filming farming equipment is some kind of start. By the early 1970s, pierce made his move into independent filmmaking when he sought out funding for his first feature film, the Legend of Boggy Creek, from LW Ledwell, the owner of Ledwell and Son Enterprises. Though initially skeptical, ledwell agreed to finance $100,000 of the film's $160,000 budget. Even for the time, this is an exceptionally small budget for a film.
Ashley:For 1976, $100,000 for a small independent film, that sounds like a lot.
Remi:I think that Ledwell felt that it was a lot too, but he had by this time established a pretty good working relationship with Pierce, so I guess he was willing to roll the dice on this guy. I have not seen the Legend of Boggy Creek and I don't plan on it either. Of Boggy Creek and I don't plan on it either. The Legend of Boggy Creek hit theaters on August 23rd 1972, and, according to Pierce's daughter, amanda, her father's personal notes suggest that the film made an astonishing $25 million at the box office, which would be over $188 million today if adjusted for inflation. However, this figure has never been verified by anyone and I am extremely pessimistic in its validity. What we do know, however, is that, according to Variety, the film made around $4.8 million in 1975 through theatrical rentals across North America, so it did make some decent money off of that $160,000 budget. Surprisingly, despite Boggy Creek's box office discrepancies, the film was successful enough for Pierce to begin work on his second film, the Town that Dreaded Sundown.
Remi:Pierce would cast himself in the role of a comic relief character named Patrolman AC Sparkplug Benson, and he is by far the worst part of this entire movie, and that is saying a lot. Actor Andrew Pryne, who plays the lead role of Deputy Norman Ramsey, has stated in recent interviews that at the time he was pretty much accepting anything and everything he was being offered and always knew that the film would never win any awards but would still be a fun shoot nevertheless. Pryne also claims to have written the last fifth of the film because it originally had no ending, so it doesn't sound like this movie was very well put together, so to speak, when it began filming. Co-star Ben Johnson, who plays Captain JD Morales in the film, had previously made a career acting, mostly in westerns, as a stuntman and world champion rodeo cowboy, before settling into more mature roles during his later years. Johnson also has a bit of a loose connection to the Killers of the Flower Moon, as he was born on the Osage Indian Reservation in Oklahoma.
Ashley:We like to bring it back to past episodes here. It's fun to see even these small connections.
Remi:A last-minute addition to the film was actress Dawn Wells as Helen Reed, who was contacted by Pierce on July 8th of 1976 to star in his film. After the production had already begun, Wells arrived by plane in Texarkana before noon the following morning, never read the script and completed all of her scenes in just two days. Despite this absurdly quick turnaround, Wells did make an attempt to speak with Katie Starks, the real-life survivor her character is based on, but was ultimately unsuccessful in her effort.
Ashley:I doubt any of the survivors wanted anything to do with this movie.
Remi:I doubt any of the survivors wanted anything to do with this movie. I totally agree with you. This movie is not respectful and pretty trashy and I would assume any victims or anyone who was affected by the true story would be pretty upset at this film and its portrayal of how everything went down. But I do respect Wells for at least attempting to do some research. For the part, it sounds like she really didn't know what she was getting into and was just called last minute like we need an actress. Can you get here tomorrow? She's like okay and did maybe a tiny bit of research about the true story, but I don't think she necessarily realized what kind of film this was. The Town that Dreaded.
Remi:Sundown marked Don Well's second time working with director Charles Pierce and her fourth feature film after primarily gaining notoriety playing Marianne on the classic sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Remi:Now, surprisingly, there were some successful people that came out of this film, but none of whom you would expect. For example, the killer in the film, aka the Phantom, is played by Bud Davis, who went on to work as a stunt coordinator on such films as Forrest Gump, castaway and Inglourious Bastards. So some pretty legitimate work after this. The film's poster art was also painted by renowned graphic illustrator Ralph McQuarrie, who would go on to paint the movie posters for Close Encounters of the Third Kind Back to the Future and the original Star Wars trilogy, and his art is still referenced a lot today as some of the best movie poster art ever created. Principal photography took place during the hot, hot summer of 1976 in Texarkana and lasted for about four weeks, with many Texarkana locals being cast in both leading roles and as background extras in the film. So with all of that, should we dive right into this 70s slasher film about a town that dreaded sundown?
Ashley:I suppose we should.
Remi:Our story takes place in Texarkana, a small Texas town straddling the border of Arkansas, just eight months after the end of World War II. It is a bright and sunny afternoon, with local residents going about their daily routines. As a documentary-style narration comments on the political climate of the time, as well as the town's adjustments to returning to normalcy post-World War.
Ashley:Oh, so it's the first slasher movie and also the first documentary horror.
Remi:I guess you could say that yeah, because this narrator is going pretty much throughout the entire film checking in and out. So it is kind of a mockumentary, but at the same time it's not. I think that this movie is trying to figure out what it is because the slasher movies hadn't started yet, these mockumentaries hadn't started yet and this film is still feeling it out. And a few years down the road is when other directors and writers seem to have figured out the correct formula of how to do this sort of movie, and Pierce, in my opinion, didn't quite figure out the correct way to bring all of this stuff together.
Ashley:But major props for trying something different.
Remi:Sunday, march 3rd 1946. A late-night movie showing has just ended and as the crowds flood the street, we focus in on an ominous figure wearing work boots whose face is obscured. The man walks amongst a crowd unnoticed as his eyes lock onto a young couple named Sammy Fuller and Linda Mae Jenkins, who are both only 19 years old. The couple get into their car and drive off, heading to a secluded spot in the woods to get frisky with one another. Once the couple arrive at their destination, they park their vehicle and begin listening to some smooth jazz music on the radio. When Linda says that she thinks she hears a faint noise coming from outside, suddenly a figure emerges from the shadows whose face is concealed by a sack with two crude eye holes cut out. The figure, whom I will be referring to as the Phantom from here on out, smashes the car's windshield with a large lead pipe, before dragging Sammy out of the vehicle and through the jagged shards of glass, then returning his attention back to Linda. The opening credits roll as the sun begins to rise the following morning, revealing Linda's bloodied and broken body clinging to life by the side of the road. She is discovered by a passing car that screeches to a halt as the driver rushes to her aid. An ambulance soon arrives on the scene, along with Deputy Norman Ramsey, played by Andrew Pryne, who radios back news to the station, revealing that somehow both Linda and Sammy miraculously survived their attacks. At the hospital we learn that Sammy had been beaten in the head with a lead pipe and Linda's back, stomach and breasts were all heavily bitten during her attack, but they are far too sedated to provide the police with any useful information. With this horrific incident putting the town on edge, sheriff Barker and Deputy Ramsey warned the local teens and college students to avoid parking on any lonely roads or secluded makeout spots.
Remi:Three weeks later, on Saturday March 24th, we watch as 19-year-old Howard W Turner and 17-year-old Emma Lou Cook hurry to their car as a rainstorm begins to pour. Howard is a war veteran and Emma is a recent high school dropout, and the two have been dating for about six weeks now. Unfazed by the earlier attack, the couple park their car on a deserted road, completely oblivious to their own impending doom. Back at the police station, deputy Ramsey has a gut feeling that something isn't right, but shrugs it off and continues with his regular patrol. After hearing a gunshot off in the distance, deputy Ramsey races towards the source while radioing for Becca. And a personal side note here the handling on all of these 1940s cars look absolutely terrible, like they are sliding all over the place like butter on a frying pan whenever they even make the slightest turn. I mean, it's crazy. I don't know how anyone drove like this. It seems really, really unsafe.
Remi:Deputy Ramsey soon comes across an abandoned vehicle but is dismayed to find no one inside. As he searches the car, he hears two more shots ring out in the distance. Ramsey follows the sound deeper into the woods to investigate, until he stumbles upon the lifeless body of Howard Turner lying motionless in the grass. Just a few short meters away, ramsey discovers the corpse of Emma Lou Cook tied to a tree and covered in bite marks. While the deputy is distracted with the victims, the Phantom manages to steal Ramsey's police cruiser and make his getaway.
Remi:And another personal side note here these scenes were all shot using a filmmaking technique called Day for Night, which is a method used to simulate night scenes while filming in daylight. This effect is most commonly achieved by adjusting the exposure, applying color filters or sometimes manipulating post-production color grading. There is a scene in Mad Max Fury Road that does an exemplary job of this by utilizing a blue filter to mimic the appearance of a moonlit evening. The town that dreaded sundown, however, is definitely an example of how not to do this sort of thing correctly, as it is painfully obvious that this entire sequence was filmed during the middle of the day, and the filmmakers just reduced the camera's exposure to make the scene appear darker than it actually was. It really looks awful. He is searching the woods for these bodies and they're like four feet in front of him and he has to pretend he cannot see them. They're just right there and he's looking around like where could they possibly be? It's really really badly done.
Ashley:I'm again going to give this director again props for at least trying this. I imagine this is a really hard thing to do for someone who's not super experienced in filmmaking and it's only their second year.
Remi:I would say this filmmaker falls into the category of someone whose ambition is not quite at the same level of their actual talent. But yes, he did give it a try.
Ashley:Or let's say skill to be nice.
Remi:The Phantom's second attack sends a wave of panic sweeping through the town of Texarkana and within 24 hours nearly every gun store in town has completely sold out, while area locksmiths are overwhelmed with incessant requests for reinforced locks as fear tightens its grip on the town. That dreaded sundown. I'm taking that from the narration. That is literally what the narrator says during this part.
Ashley:It is a good title.
Remi:Yeah, you gotta name. Drop that title this town that dreaded sundown. It is a good title. I will give him that. With still no leads, sheriff Barker calls in a private investigator from the Texas Rangers, known as the Lone Wolf, named Captain JD Morales, played by Ben Johnson, to assist in the investigation.
Ashley:And there was a Lone Wolf in the remake which I appreciated.
Remi:My favorite part of the remake is when someone addresses the Texas Ranger by a different name other than Lone Wolf and he corrects them of please, please, call me Lone Wolf.
Ashley:I can't remember the actor's name who plays Lone Wolf in the remake. He's in a couple of the scary movies and he's pretty funny.
Remi:He's in the show Black-ish. I know that and he was in, I think, scream 3 or 4, one of those. He's been in a lot of stuff. He was in some Michael Bay movies. His name is escaping me, though. Morales, who arrives by train with cigars in hand, is sharp no-nonsense and immediately takes control of the investigation, dubbing the mysterious killer, the Phantom, in the process. Morales' demeanor is a lot like Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard, and even though I've never actually seen an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard, I still feel pretty confident in making that comparison. Ramsay Morales and their driver, patrolman AC Benson, aka Sparkplug, attempt to revisit the crime scenes but are unnecessarily delayed when Sparkplug can't find his keys. I do not understand why this scene is in the movie. It's several minutes of him trying to find his keys. I do not understand why this scene is in the movie. It's several minutes of him trying to find his keys.
Ashley:Comic relief.
Remi:From the director. This spark plug character is the director of the film and definitely the worst part. Morales grows increasingly frustrated as more time passes without an arrest. Despite a town curfew, along with the use of decoy cars and undercover police vehicles, the investigation has continued to reach a dead end, even with the assistance of the FBI and state police. Ramsey theorizes that the killer may strike again 21 days after his last attack, just as he had done before.
Remi:In preparation, decoy cars filled with undercover policemen dressed in drag, wielding massive shotguns are quickly dispatched across Texarkana, setting a devious trap for the Phantom that very evening and I just need to comment that there is a lot of really bad comedy in this film. It is a chore to sit through, to say the least, and this bad comedy takes up a surprising majority of this film. That night, while the police are all busy with their hilarious stakeouts, the Texarkana teens dance the night away to a live orchestra at Arkansas High School's junior and senior prom. The prom concludes at around 1 am with a short prayer from a local reverend, followed by festive balloons being dropped from the ceiling as the band plays Auld Lang Syne for their closing number.
Ashley:I recognize this. Usually it's like Right.
Remi:Yeah, this is typically a New Year's Eve song. This is not typically a song that you hear played at prom, I would assume, because the lyrics are let all acquaintance be forgot. So you're basically saying let's forget all of these high school friends and move on to better things. It's just a weird song to play at a prom, in my opinion.
Ashley:Also, my prom did not go until 1am. That's crazy, right? My?
Remi:prom was over at like 9 o'clock 1am. That's insane to me. As the students all depart for the evening, we focus in on the orchestra's trombone player, peggy Loomis, and her boyfriend, roy Allen. Peggy and Roy decide to ignore the town's curfew and instead drive out to Lover's Lane, despite knowing full well that a killer is still on the loose, specifically targeting couples that he finds in those exact type of areas.
Remi:By 2am, the police have called off their sting operation, while Peggy and Roy wait like sitting ducks for the killer to strike out in a secluded forest. After realizing how late it's gotten, peggy and Roy begin to drive off before the Phantom reveals himself, dragging Roy from the moving vehicle and causing it to crash into some trees. Peggy then flees into the woods as the Phantom proceeds to bludgeon Roy with a lead pipe. Despite her best efforts, the Phantom still catches Peggy and ties her to a tree as she screams for mercy. After finally finishing off Roy with two shots to the head from a concealed revolver, the Phantom grabs Peggy's trombone, tapes a knife to the end and proceeds to play the instrument, while simultaneously stabbing Peggy to death with it.
Ashley:This is extremely tasteless.
Remi:Yes, this is the standout scene of the film.
Remi:If you've seen this movie, this is the one thing that you would remember, and I do remember in the part where we were watching the remake, the lone wolf is watching the original movie at the sheriff's station and it starts to play this part Like you see the trombone, you see him get the knife, and then it just shows the lone wolf staring at the TV screen with just this look of confusion and fascination, like what is he about to do, and I think that is the most accurate reaction a person could have watching this scene go down Just like what the fuck?
Remi:This third murder brings national news attention to the small town of Texarkana and a reward of $8,000 is now being offered to any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. One evening, ramsey Morales and Sheriff Barker have dinner with a psychiatrist named Dr Kress, who theorizes that the killer is a highly intelligent sadist, around 35 years old, who may be driven by an abnormally strong sex drive. Dr Kress also believes that the Phantom relishes the attention he's been receiving from the police and news stations, which may be why the theatrics of the Phantom's crimes have escalated to using a trombone as a murder weapon. Does that check out in your mind, ashley? Does that seem plausible?
Ashley:I suppose it's a clever way of incorporating that into the movie and noting that it's wild.
Remi:Dr Kress is also highly doubtful that the Phantom will ever be apprehended, and it is implied that the Phantom could even be sitting right next to them enjoying a succulent meal in that exact same restaurant.
Remi:What follows is a series of utterly useless scenes involving the officers investigating a supposed lead from a man claiming to have given the Phantom a lift while he was hitchhiking. Based on the man's information, the police pursue some guy in a green car, leading to another mind-numbingly stupid Dukes of Hazzard-style police chase, culminating in Morales, ramsey and Sparkplug winding up in a lake along with their police cruiser. And then it turns out that this whole thing was because the driver of the car picked up the hitchhiker and the hitchhiker promised he would give him some money for gas, and then the hitchhiker just left without giving him any money. So this guy went to the police to claim that this man was the Phantom in order for him to somehow get his like three dollars in gas.
Ashley:Or at least exact his revenge.
Remi:It's so bad. What are we even doing here? May 3rd 1946. What are we even doing here? May 3rd 1946. The summer has begun and the Phantom follows a woman named Helen Reed, played by Dawn Wells, back to her farmhouse. As Helen's unsuspecting husband Floyd sits comfortably in his lounge chair enjoying the evening paper, he is shot through the neck by the Phantom from just outside the window directly behind him. Helen scrambles to the phone to call the police but is shot twice in the face by the Phantom before she is able. Miraculously, helen is still alive somehow and manages to escape into a nearby cornfield as the Phantom grabs a pickaxe and slowly stalks the trail of blood leaking from Helen's body. Side note here while filming this scene in the cornfield, actress Dawn Wells was almost attacked by a bulldog, but luckily the crew managed to scare the dog off before she was harmed.
Ashley:Well, if that would have happened, the Phantom could have followed a real trail of blood instead of just red dye corn syrup.
Remi:This is not the type of movie that anyone should risk bodily harm for. I hope no one actually got hurt on this set, because this is not top tier filmmaking in my opinion. Against all odds, helen successfully escapes to a neighbor's house and is brought to a local medical facility, where she lingered in critical condition for several weeks before gradually recovering.
Ashley:It always blows my mind when people are shot in the face and live.
Remi:That happens more than once in this movie, where someone is shot through the head and they are not instantly dead. In my mind, if you're shot in the head, you die right away. But although it's uncommon, people can get shot in the face and live a completely normal life afterwards. 50 Cent was shot in the face. Like it's crazy.
Ashley:A long time ago, when I was doing my training, I evaluated someone who, after he had committed his crimes, he tried to commit suicide by putting a gun in his mouth, and he lived, but it like blew his jaw off.
Remi:Something horrible like that is I just can't imagine. I can't imagine. After Helen's attack, nearly 150 police cars from nine different police organizations are brought in to routinely patrol the streets of Texarkana from dusk to dawn every evening. Four months pass without another incident, until one random day when Ramsey and Morales just so happen to stumble upon a car which was apparently at the scene of one of the crimes. The officers follow a trail out into the woods to a sandpit where they coincidentally come across the Phantom, who's just sort of standing there with his gun out, gazing off into the horizon. Morales takes his shot at the Phantom and misses, causing the Phantom to flee with Morales and and Ramsay hot on his heels. The Phantom narrowly avoids capture by jumping in front of a passing train, creating a momentary barrier between him and the pursuing officers. Now, instead of me telling you the fun background fact of this scene, I'm going to let Andrew Pryne discuss what it was like filming this specific scene.
:I wrote the last fifth of the picture because it didn't have an ending. And the train and all of that. I wrote all of that because we had no ending and so I consequently fictionalized the deputy and the sheriff. There was never a chase or any of that, but we had to have some sort of an ending because they never got the guy. We had to have some sort of an ending because they never got the guy. And I particularly remember the train sequence because both Ben and I were so hungover we could hardly turn our heads without fainting, and it actually added to the picture because we were very strained. That was a tough day, that was a bad day. We'd had a wonderful night, I was told.
Ashley:I like this guy. He seems fun.
Remi:He is very brutally honest and I appreciate that. He was a very good interview in all the clips that I watched of him and yeah, he just lays it out Like there was no ending. I had to write it. We got super drunk the night before and filmed the entire ending that I wrote very hungover.
Ashley:Hopefully you got a screenwriter credit.
Remi:I didn't check, but I would hope so too. The Phantom then disappears into a swamp, vanishing without a trace, never to be seen again. Side note the swamp scenes are actually just recycled footage from the Legend of Boggy Creek.
Ashley:That's clever of him.
Remi:You don't want to spend more time in a swamp than you need to, I guess.
Ashley:Especially not when it sounds like he made a whole movie about a swamp, so might as well.
Remi:But whatever happened to the phantom killer no one really knows for sure, but some say he was committed for another crime and may still be serving out his sentence in a Kansas State Penitentiary. Others believe he simply died in the swamp, but according to the film, the Phantom may still be out there walking freely amongst the good people of Texarkana. Through narration we then learn that Captain JD Morales never stopped looking for the phantom killer. He returned to Laredo, texas, in that same year and kept searching and digging for evidence for the next decade in one of America's most baffling cases. Today he is retired and makes his home in Dallas, texas.
Remi:Chief Sullivan was re-elected three more terms, retired and died in 1970. Sheriff Barker also was re-elected for several terms and never stopped working on the case until his death in 1966. Helen Reed recovered and is living a normal life today in Texarkana. Linda Mae Jenkins moved away from Texarkana and at this time her whereabouts are not known. And finally, deputy Sheriff Norman Ramsey served all of his adult life as a fine peace officer of Miller County, arkansas, until he died in 1973. And that was the town that dreaded sundown. Ashley, what do you think of this?
Ashley:So I'm never going to watch this movie ever. I don't have much interest in doing so. But, like I have pointed out, even though it sounds like it wasn't the best, I do respect the director for trying new things that did sound pretty innovative at the time.
Remi:I believe this movie gave a lot of much more talented people inspiration to make more groundbreaking cinema, which I will go into in just a little bit. But a lot of these ideas, if tweaked a little bit, they could have worked. If you take out all the comedy, it could have worked more. If you focused on maybe more mockumentary, it could have worked more. But it was trying to be a mockumentary, a horror slasher and a goofy comedy all at the same time and in my opinion they maybe should have picked one genre instead of trying to cram in a bunch.
Ashley:Yeah, those ridiculous scenes sound like the ones they were trying to throw in for comic relief and in something like this. That's about this true case that was filmed in this town by a resident of this town. It's a surprising spin to try to put on it.
Remi:Well, the town that dreaded Sundown currently has an approval rating of 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. But Bloody Disgusting, which is a horror-focused news site, gave the film five skulls, praising the film as hugely entertaining and an atmospheric thriller.
Ashley:Five skulls, I'm assuming that's five out of five.
Remi:There was no critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes because there were not enough reviews of this film. I think there were like 12 reviews. The film's official box office numbers were unavailable online, so it's difficult to say just how well the film actually did in theaters. However, due to a limited home video release, along with frequent late-night TV airings during the 80s and 90s, the Town that Dreaded Sundown gradually became a cult classic and by the mid-2000s, a proper widescreen version was aired on cable. Then, finally, in 2013, an official Blu-ray DVD for the film was re-released, putting an end to almost 20 years of limited availability. A follow-up meta-sequel by Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum was later released on October 16th of 2014.
Ashley:What one did you prefer?
Remi:I preferred the 2014 version because it's well-made. I know we were watching it. Within the first couple of minutes you were like, oh, I hope the one you watched is better than this and I just had to sigh and go. No, it really wasn't at all. But the 2014 version at least looks good and the acting is, I'd say, fine. This one, the acting is horrendous and all the scenes look just fucking terrible, like no cinematography, no good lighting. It really is an ugly looking film. The film would also usher in an entirely new generation of horror movie slashers, including Michael Myers in Halloween, which was released just two years after this film, and additionally, the sack that the Phantom wears to conceal his identity also became the inspiration for the look of Jason Voorhees in the second Friday, the 13th film. This was before he got his hockey mask. He had one movie where he just had like a potato sack on his head, which was a lot like the town that dreaded Sundown Phantom.
Ashley:Do you think that this movie inspired? Those directors to make those it feels like it did?
Remi:I absolutely 110% think that this movie inspired these directors to make these other versions. It's very clear as day that the inspiration is there. If you watch this movie and you watch Halloween, you can see the similarities. But Halloween doesn't try to be funny and, as a result, it just works a lot better as a movie.
Ashley:There's a lot of similarities, like this phantom-like character that just kind of appears out of nowhere, kills without rhyme or reason, disappears as quickly as he came, has this kind of slow walking towards his victims. That's what Jason and Michael Myers are.
Remi:Yeah, he has all of those typical signs of a horror movie slasher he's wearing work boots, he doesn't talk, he walks very slowly and somehow always catches up to his victims. And, of course, the ridiculous over-the-top murders that he does as well. Well, specifically the one. But Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees and all of them are pretty much known for their over-the-top creative murders that they do. But at least Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees are not inspired by a real-life crime, so I think that they should be given more leeway to do things like that. But if you're adapting a true crime, maybe steer clear of the comedy and the creative over-the-top murders. Just my opinion.
Ashley:I mean Scream didn't. And look where they are today.
Remi:Well, we'll see how closely this film matches the real story. But this film had a couple of controversies that surrounded it as well. In February of 1977, texarkana city officials voted to file a lawsuit against the film's ad campaign, with Mayor Harvey Nelson stating the ad is too much. There's objection that this whole thing will be spreading fear in the community. There are relatives of victims still living here and this is very unpleasant for them.
Remi:For the film's promotional campaign the advertising department added the provocative tagline In 1946, this man killed five people. Today he still lurks the streets of Texarkana. Understandably, city officials in Texarkana were furious about this line's inclusion, so in response, director Charles B Pierce attempted to have the phrase removed. But despite his best efforts, the still lurking line remained on many of the film's posters. In 1978, mark Melton Moore, the brother of real-life victim Polly Ann Moore, took Pierce to court for $1.3 million for invasion of privacy. Moore claimed that his sister, who was renamed Emma Lou Cook in the film, was inaccurately depicted as a promiscuous high school dropout, when in reality she had actually graduated high school at the age of 16. Moore's claim was denied in 1979, and by 1980, the Sixth Court of Civil Appeals in Texarkana agreed yet again that the film's producers did not invade Moore's privacy and he was not entitled to any financial compensation.
Ashley:Because they changed all the names.
Remi:On March 15, 1978, teenager Gerald Jedramas shot and killed his high school friend, james Grunstra while watching the Town that Dreaded Sundown. In court, gerald stated that the film inspired him to carry out the murder so that he could be an outlaw like his hero, the legendary train robber Jesse James. And finally, in 2003, an annual tradition began during the Movies in the Park Halloween Film Festival in the town of Texarkana. The free event, which is sponsored by the Texarkana Department of Parks and Recreation, occurs at Spring Lake Park each Thursday during May and October, with the Town that Dreaded Sundown being shown to the public every year as the closing film of the festival shown to the public every year as the closing film of the festival.
Ashley:Also as a side note, I didn't have a good place to put this in my part, but not only did they show that movie annually but the City of Commerce for a while gave out free DVDs of the movie to visitors. The Country Club used to hold a phantom ball and the Chamber of Commerce included the phantom story in a brochure about the town. So it's wild that they like sued this production but then like fully embraced it. I think probably the reason is because they're kind of proud that the movie's filmed there. So in the brochure I think what they did is they included stuff about the movie and then they also had like pictures of scenes from the town that showcased like prominent buildings that were shown in the movie. But it's still wild that they were so upset about this movie which I get why they were and then as the years passed it's become like part of the town's identity, I guess yeah, it's almost become like a marketing tactic for the town.
Remi:come see the town that dreaded sundown texarkana. It is wild to me. I don't think that there are any other towns that have done this sort of thing. I could be wrong, but yeah, it is pretty crazy. But this is probably the second worst movie I've ever had to watch for this podcast. The film did have a few entertaining Jason Voorhees Friday the 13th type kills but basically this entire film was just a great big pile of garbage, in my opinion. I also had the misfortune of choosing to watch this 90 minute film on the streaming platform Pluto, which included multiple ads stretching this ungodly film to over two excruciating hours. So fuck you, pluto.
Ashley:I know and you told me you watched it on Pluto over Tubi. I was like no, tubi is the better one. It has way, way less ads. We don't even have Pluto on our TV. I deleted the app because we tried to watch something one time and it's like an ad, like a three minute ad spot, like every 15 minutes.
Remi:It was completely my mistake, but all listeners out there don't make my mistake. Never watch anything on Pluto, but that was the Town that Dreaded Sundown, a awful movie based on a real-life tragedy that has since spawned a weird following and a yearly screening during Halloween. It's a pretty crazy story, but I'm actually even more excited to find out the real version of it because, believe it or not, they didn't really talk about the true crime aspect of this. In a lot of the production stuff I read Surprise, surprise. So, ashley, would you mind telling me about the real town that dreaded sundown?
Ashley:As you mentioned at the beginning, Texarkana is a small town situated on the border of Texas and Arkansas, Similar to Kansas City. Each side has its own mayor, municipal government, police force and fire department. From February to May 1946, both sides of Texarkana were in a perpetual state of fear, thanks to the Phantom Killer, Although many believe they know who the Phantom was, the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, which involved the slaying of five and brutal assault of three, are unsolved to this day. 25-year-old Jimmy Hollis and 19-year-old Mary Leary were in the process of dissolving their marriages when they went on a double date on Friday February 22, 1946.
Remi:In the film. This is Linda Mae Jenkins and Sammy Fuller.
Ashley:After seeing an evening movie, the group had a snack at a local cafe before Jimmy drove everyone home, saving Mary for last. Prior to saying goodnight, the couple pulled into a secluded lover's lane spot to talk a little bit longer. Immediately after Jimmy got out of the car to get a better view of the stars, a man shined a flashlight in his face, brandished a pistol and demanded he remove his pants. Although he complied, the man brutally assaulted Jimmy before turning his sights on Mary. After she told the man she didn't have a purse, she was hit in the head with what felt like a metal pipe. The man instructed her to run and continued his attack on Jimmy before pursuing Mary. When he reached her, he sexually assaulted her with the metal object and left as quickly as he appeared.
Remi:They specifically say in the film that the Phantom did not sexually assault his victim. They make a point in saying that in the film.
Ashley:It's kind of wishy-washy in the book because they didn't have like formal autopsies or like medical forensic medical technicians doing these examinations. But two of the victims were assaulted, but this one with like an object and the other one they sounded like she was but they weren't like absolutely clear just because the medical exam and techniques they had at the time were so crude.
Remi:Well, I will give the film credit for not including that.
Ashley:Miraculously, both victims survived the attack and were rushed to the hospital. Jimmy was in a coma and critical condition for several days, with three skull fractures, but he was stable enough to be released two weeks later. With three skull fractures, but he was stable enough to be released two weeks later, likely because the attack was so sudden and happened in the dead of night. Mary nor Jimmy were able to recall much about their assailant's appearance, and Mary thought he was wearing a mask.
Remi:Was it ever confirmed if he actually was wearing a mask during his attacks?
Ashley:No, because this happened at night, no one could really get a good glimpse of him. So Jimmy thought he was a white guy and Mary thought he was a black guy wearing a mask. And then the other surviving victim, Katie Starks at the end, couldn't see him through the window, so no one knows.
Remi:And it sounds like all of these attacks happened very suddenly and in the middle of the night, so it's not super surprising that these people didn't get a good look at him.
Ashley:Not super surprising that these people didn't get a good look at him. Since the assault seemed personal. Bill Presley, the Bowie County Sheriff assigned to the case, and his team wrongfully assumed the assailant must know one of them. After their estranged spouses were cleared, they suspected Mary knew more than she was letting on. Nonetheless, jimmy and Mary separately fled Texarkana shortly after the assaults and experienced PTSD symptoms for years. To come Around the time of this assault, 29-year-old Richard Griffin began courting 17-year-old Polly Moore.
Remi:Did you say 29? I sure did 1940s man, Different time, I guess.
Ashley:Despite the noticeable age difference, no one really raised any eyebrows about it and the relationship was described as wholesome.
Remi:Like I said, 1940s very, very different time.
Ashley:Richard was a carpenter and cabinetmaker who joined the Navy after he traveled to Hawaii to help repair damage caused by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Once he completed his service, he returned to Texas, spending weekends in Texarkana visiting his mom and five siblings. Polly graduated high school at age 16 and got a job at a defense plant checking ammunition before loading it onto trucks. She met Richard shortly after she moved into her mom's cousin's spare room in Texarkana to be closer to work. On Saturday, march 23rd, richard and Polly went to dinner and a midnight movie. After stopping at a cafe for a quick snack, they pulled into a lover's lane around 2 am. At 9 am the next morning, a passing motorist called the police to report a parked car in the secluded area, since it was unusual for vehicles to be there that time of day. Upon arrival, law enforcement found the bodies of Richard and Polly. Both were shot, but there were no signs of bodily assault.
Remi:That sounds very different than the other attack.
Ashley:Yeah, no one was beat, no one was assaulted, they were just shot in the head.
Remi:Is that something that happens a lot, where a serial killer, or whatever you classify this guy as, will kind of change his MO from crime?
Ashley:to crime. It might have been that he was like learning, I guess, how to be more. This is an awful way to put it, but efficient.
Remi:Okay, I guess, yeah, that does make sense.
Ashley:The area immediately filled with spectators and investigators once the news broke. Law enforcement did not secure the scene and the light morning rain washed away any tracks or potential clues. A bullet was recovered from Richard's body and ballistics determined the murder weapon was a .32 caliber Colt pistol. Sheriff Presley immediately launched an area-wide investigation enlisting the help of law enforcement from both sides of Texarkana, the FBI, texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers. With no suspect or motive, over 50 people were taken into custody and questioned within the first four days. By the beginning of April, 200 false leads had been investigated, but police were no closer to finding their culprit. During an April weekend, exactly three weeks later, 16-year-old James Martin borrowed his brother's truck and drove the 100-plus miles to Texarkana to visit some friends. James' mom moved the family to Kilgore, texas, after her husband unexpectedly died when James was 11 years old. In addition to catching up with his childhood friends, james was excited to go on a date with 15-year-old Betty Booker, a popular beauty queen he had known since elementary school.
Remi:In the film Betty is called Peggy Loomis and another little connection to Halloween the doctor's name in the Halloween film is Dr Loomis, which I do not think is by accident.
Ashley:And who was James Martin?
Remi:James Martin is Roy Allen in the film.
Ashley:On the night of April 12th she performed the saxophone at a show with a band of other high school students.
Remi:This must be the trombone thing.
Ashley:James was waiting for her outside after the four-hour show ended around midnight. The young couple planned to meet up with some friends at a slumber party, but Betty wanted to drop her expensive instrument off at home first. Betty's mom grew concerned when her daughter still wasn't home several hours later While she was calling around to see if any of Betty's friends had seen her. A young couple and their son were driving out of town to visit family for the day when they saw the body of a young man on the side of the road. Police quickly learned the body was that of James Martin.
Ashley:His car was found at Spring Lake Park, which is where this movie is shown several times a year, about a mile and a half away from his body. By the time police arrived at the park sometime after 6 am, hundreds of people were already there, again complicating the investigation. Betty's body was found about a mile and a half in a different direction behind a group of trees. Each died from several gunshot wounds. A physical examination revealed evidence of semen with a saline wash, ruling out that it came from James. The FBI also confirmed the same murder weapon was used in both double homicides 32 caliber Colt pistol. The police also found three sets of fingerprints near both vehicles that did not belong to the owners or the victim.
Remi:Wow, they even got fingerprints for this guy.
Ashley:Well, they don't know if they were the killers, because none of these crime scenes were secured and they were just bombarded with people. So there was no way to know if they were the killer, if they were the police investigating who didn't wear gloves, or if they were the residents that were coming and touching the cars.
Remi:Or even literally someone walking by and just putting their hand on a car for two seconds for no reason.
Ashley:Exactly, and there was no large fingerprint database DNA of people who had been arrested. So there's no way to know where these fingerprints came from, unless, you like, actually directly compared them, like with a microscope.
Remi:In my mind I keep thinking that this occurred in the 70s when the film was released, but it's the 40s. So yeah, technology was pretty crude, I would say, back then, as far as investigating this sort of thing.
Ashley:It is miraculous. They solved any crimes Basically back in the day unless you had like a confession. It was just so much harder to link people to things.
Remi:You had to basically be caught red-handed, it seems, to get any sort of punishment. I really don't know how anyone was ever caught for crimes back in the day.
Ashley:Police agencies used everything in their arsenal at the time, including a private plane, to allow for quicker travel to investigate potential leads. Anyone who could possibly be a potential suspect was arrested and questioned, with all tips within a 100-mile radius being thoroughly investigated and ruled out. Bill Presley, along with Texas Ranger Manuel Lone Wolf Gonzalez, became the official spokesman for the investigation and held regular press conferences While the two agencies worked closely together. The Texas Rangers had a private space in the back of a drugstore where they could talk privately about the case. During one of these meetings, it was suggested traps be set for the Phantom, resulting in men with female mannequin co-pilots posting up in lover's lanes after dark.
Remi:So not the cops dressed in drag.
Ashley:Not the cops dressed in drag, but they did go in cars, took mannequins, put wigs on them and then just sat around at all these lover's lanes for hours waiting for the phantom.
Remi:Interesting. All right, there's more authenticity to that than I would have thought.
Ashley:Lastly, since Betty's saxophone was not in James's car, the serial number was distributed to pawn shops and music stores across several states. This tactic did lead to one arrest, after a suspicious man tried to sell a saxophone at a pawn shop in Corpus Christi, about 450 miles away from Texarkana.
Remi:So the girl was not murdered with the saxophone? No, not surprising.
Ashley:Do you remember who was born and raised in Corpus Christi?
Remi:Not off the top of my head. Who is it?
Ashley:Selena.
Remi:Ah yes, Selena Quintanilla.
Ashley:Police were hopeful they found their culprit when bloody clothing was found in this man's possession, but his alibi and claim of being in a bar fight checked out. The news of a second double murder, exactly three weeks apart from the first, sent Texarkana into a panic. Within a few days, a reward fund for information skyrocketed to $6,425, which is over $108,000 when adjusted for inflation. The media nicknamed the assailant the Phantom Killer, since he was elusive, appeared out of nowhere and left nothing but death in his wake before fading into the darkness in which he emerged.
Ashley:The community also took extra precautions, electing to have a weekend curfew, closing popular teen hangout spots early and canceling midnight movie showings. When people ventured out at night, they were often in groups or armed With no suspects and little evidence left behind at the crime scenes. Everyone was suspicious of everyone and rumors swirled about additional murders committed by a killing sex fiend. Tensions grew as the three-week mark approached, including at the Texarkana Gazette, after they received an eerie hang-up call predicting that the Phantom would soon strike again. Exactly three weeks later, on the evening of May 3, 1946, 37-year-old Virgil and 36-year-old Katie Starks were having a restful night in.
Ashley:The couple had known each other their entire lives recently celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary. I can't imagine being 36 and already have been married for 14 years.
Remi:They got married very young back in the day.
Ashley:And they lived about 10 miles outside of Texarkana. Virgil worked as a welder, primarily operating out of a barn shop near the house. Around 9 that evening two Arkansas State troopers drove their patrol car past the Starks and noticed an old model car parked along a dirt road. While they ordinarily would have stopped to investigate, they were on a tight deadline as expense reports were due at 10. Instead, they made a mental note to check it out on their way back. At the same time, virgil was in his living room reading a newspaper and listening to the radio while Katie was getting ready for bed.
Ashley:Moments after Katie heard a sound in the backyard, virgil was shot twice in the back of the head by an intruder standing outside of the living room window. Katie couldn't see the man and didn't see where the shot came from. She rushed to the phone to call for help, but before she got there she was shot twice in the face. Remarkably, she was still alive and able to run outside. As she heard the killer crawl through the kitchen window, she dashed to the nearest neighbor's house and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The two Arkansas troopers who noticed the suspicious vehicle were the first to arrive to the scene. They assumed the car must have belonged to the killer, since it was nowhere in sight. On their return trip, they were soon joined by every officer who heard the call, with each one leaving their own sets of finger and footprints behind.
Remi:Just contaminating that crime scene left and right.
Ashley:Although the officers took plaster castings of deformed footprints in the mud and removed a piece of the linoleum floor with a bloody shoe print, there was no way to be sure if those tracks were actually left by the killer, Although robbery was the suspected motive. Katie's purse, which was in full view, wasn't touched and nothing was missing from the house. The bullets and casings were collected and determined to likely be from a .22 caliber Colt, but it was unclear if the weapon was a pistol or a rifle. A red flashlight without prints was found in a hedge near the kitchen window, strongly suggesting it belonged to the killer. A few days later, the Texarkana Gazette featured a photo and description of the flashlight, making it the first color photograph ever featured in a United States newspaper.
Remi:That is a very random, interesting fact.
Ashley:I know, that's why I included it. Yeah, it was the first time a full photo in color was ever in print.
Remi:Huh, Go figure.
Ashley:Investigators tracked down the only shop in Texarkana that sold this brand, but the shop owner couldn't remember who brought it. Police dogs tried to follow the scent of the killer, which led them to where the car had been parked and several discarded cigarette butts, but the trail went cold after that.
Remi:So he was just sitting in his car smoking cigarettes, waiting and watching.
Ashley:That's what they suspect, and the fact that that car was gone when the officers came back and it was so close to the Starks' house and the scent followed to that car really makes you think it was the killer.
Remi:That is so creepy.
Ashley:Law enforcement also set up a blockade along the major highway and, even though pretty much every single man within the vicinity and who even knew the Starks was taken into custody, they were all subsequently released. The following Monday, 500 people attended Virgil's memorial service, which is kind of sad because Katie missed it. She was in the hospital. She was interviewed the following day but didn't have any useful information to share. Texarkana was in absolute chaos after the murder of Virgil share. Texarkana was an absolute chaos after the murder of Virgil, especially once reporters from all over the country set up shop in hope of being the first to cover an impending arrest.
Remi:Texarkana is a pretty small town too, right.
Ashley:It is how the book was described is everyone was really on edge. There were all these police officers from all over, and then all these reporters swarmed in, so it was just chaos in this really small town that's not used to this type of attention or crime.
Remi:Yeah, seems like it was a slow, small Texas town until all of this happened.
Ashley:Residents bought out the town's supply of guns, window shades, door hooks and other protective devices. Well-off residents slept at hotels for the night while the less affluent bolted their doors nailed down and covered their windows with quilts, and built makeshift house alarms out of chairs and cookie pots.
Remi:The quilt thing is real. They showed this in the movie and my first thought was what is nailing a quilt over your window going to do to protect you?
Ashley:Well, because Virgil was shot through the window so the killer saw him sitting there. So they're like, if we cover it, they're not going to see who's inside.
Remi:Okay, that does make sense.
Ashley:Virtually no one left their house at night. High school prom attendees had police escorts and the classifieds were filled with people looking to buy or sell guard dogs. Close to 50 officers patrolled the town. At all times. They were bombarded with calls about gunshots or prowlers that turned out to just be backfrying cars or animals getting into garbage cans. Every call was taken seriously, with more than 1,300 suspects being checked out and cleared. Despite their best efforts, there was little to go off of cleared. Despite their best efforts, there was little to go off of.
Ashley:In 1946, law enforcement lacked the investigative tools used today. Dna was decades into the future. There was no computerized fingerprint database, no refined ballistic techniques, no advanced fiber or blood analysis. Heck, there wasn't even standardized crime scene protocols, which is why they were left unprotected from spectators and the elements. Life in Texarkana slowly started to return to normal once the three, then four, then six-week mark passed without incident. One day, trooper Max Tackett was examining car theft files for Texarkana and noticed something odd. The day after each attack, a car was reported stolen, while another, previously missing one, was abandoned. Towards the end of June, he received a phone call from an old farmer who called about a short-term tenant leaving without paying rent. I wonder if this is supposed to be the hitchhiker guy.
Remi:Possibly.
Ashley:This tenant was Yule Sweeney. The farmer had written down Sweeney's license plate number, which turned out to be a vehicle that was reported stolen on March 24th, the weekend of the first double murder of Richard Griffin and Paulie Moore. The car was spotted weeks later by happenstance in an old lot where Sweeney's family said he often parked. Tackett and his partner promptly arrested the woman who approached the car, 21-year-old Texarkana resident Peggy Stevens Sweeney. Just hours before her arrest she married Yule in Shreveport, louisiana, but now had no idea where he was. This was problematic, as the officers had no idea where he was going or what he even looked like. Two weeks later, sweeney approached an oil worker in Atlanta, texas, asking if he was interested in buying his car. This was suspicious for several reasons. First, it was a newer model, so why would someone be interested in selling it? Second, he said he was on his way to Texarkana, a town he would need a vehicle to get to. And third, he didn't have the registration with him. The worker jotted down the license plate and phoned it in, sending Tackett and his partner back to Texarkana.
Ashley:Although they still didn't know what Sweeney looked like, they knew he probably got a glimpse of the officer who arrested Peggy. So a plan emerged. One would go into places they thought Sweeney might be like bars and cafes, while the other watched the crowd's reaction. Once a man at a coffee shop bolted for the door. As soon as they entered the officers knew they had their man. It's a very clever plan. Upon arrest, sweeney who remember was only a suspected car thief made a few odd statements, such as you want me for more than stealing cars. I will spend the rest of my life behind bars this time. What do you think they'll do me for this? Will they give me the chair and do you think I could be lucky enough to get out in 25 years? But he refused to give any more details when asked what he meant.
Remi:I'm sure his lawyer was very glad that he didn't elaborate on any of those statements.
Ashley:Yule Sweeney was 29 years old when he was arrested in July 1946. Born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which it's funny that these towns like to like merge the names of two cities.
Remi:I was going to ask does this border Philadelphia, the border from Texas and Philadelphia?
Ashley:He had four siblings and a rather tumultuous upbringing. His parents owned a farm and grew or raised virtually everything they needed to feed a large family. His father was an alcoholic and treated Sweeney the poorest of all of his children. For example, family members said there were times his father forced his young son to sit outside in the cold and watch through the window while the rest of the family ate dinner and watched through the window while the rest of the family ate dinner. His parents divorced when he was nine years old and they had a weird custody arrangement. Half the children, including Yule, went to Mr Sweeney and the other two stayed with their mother.
Ashley:Sweeney's arrest history started when he was arrested for theft and possession of stolen goods at age 12. Per a newspaper article, he was involved in a racketeering gang, which is their words, not mine, because the other two young children with Sweeney made their candy and cigarette money from reselling stolen goods to pawn shops. I think that is a crazy organization to call racketeering. How organized could this little crime ring of eight to 12 year olds have been?
Remi:Candy. Racketeering is a serious issue, ashley, or at least it was until the police put an end to it.
Ashley:Three years later he was arrested again for breaking into and stealing from a school. He likely spent time in juvenile detention for these charges, but that's not completely confirmed, since arrest records for juveniles are sealed. Sweeney was incarcerated for most of the first decade of his life. Before his last prison release in December 1945, just six months before he was nabbed for suspected car theft and about two months before these attacks started, he spent time in two state and four federal prisons for convictions of possessing counterfeit coins.
Remi:Like he was literally counterfeiting like nickels they were worth more back in the day, but that seems like it would be harder to counterfeit actually.
Ashley:Escape car theft and one armed robbery. So before he is arrested at this time, all of his arrests were mainly for stealing cars and possessing counterfeit coins. There was really only this one violent crime and no one was killed.
Remi:Call me crazy, but I don't think that this guy is the Phantom.
Ashley:It doesn't sound like it would be his MO, but let's opine on this towards the end. The FBI was informed of Sweeney's arrest, given the likelihood that he drove stolen cars across state lines, which would make it a federal crime. Although he spoke sparingly and guardedly in July 1946, he was not hesitant to cop to stealing at least three cars. Cop to stealing at least three cards. He also acknowledged being in Texarkana at the time of each crime but couldn't provide a solid alibi outside of being with Peggy each time. He was now the primary and only suspect for the phantom killings. Towards the end of the month, peggy agreed to talk and gave three formal statements over the course of two days.
Ashley:Peggy met Sweeney in late January or early February while she was in the Texarkana jail for public intoxication, and he was there to bail out another woman real charmer. They went on their first date on Valentine's Day but briefly split around the time of the assault on Jimmy Hollis and Mary Leary. According to Peggy, that weekend she was at a cafe with another man when Sweeney walked in, struck her, dragged her outside and said if he couldn't have her then no one could. According to her statements, the pair spent the next several months driving oil workers or others in need of transportation really all over the United States, and always in stolen cars, using Dallas and Texarkana as hubs. They were in Texarkana most weekends, including during each of the phantom killings, and stayed in hotels or with Peggy's family.
Ashley:Most of the information during this and her subsequent interrogation focused on the second murder, that of teenagers James Martin and Betty Booker. By the end of her third statement, peggy said she was in the car when Sweeney killed the teens, with robbery being the main identified motive. However, there were also inconsistencies in her statement, like how many times each victim was shot and where supposed clothing was discarded or burned. She also claimed that she was at a hotel alone during the murder of Virgil Starks, but the hotel keeper proved that her and Sweeney arrived together and much later than she alleged. Despite giving these verbal statements, which officers believed were accurate, albeit with her role in the crimes minimized, she refused to sign a written document or testify against her husband.
Ashley:Peggy wasn't the only person who implicated Sweeney as the phantom killer. Several of her family members placed him in Texarkana during the weekends of each attack, with many backing up Peggy's account of where they stayed and went. There were several accounts of Sweeney selling a .22 Colt pistol, but the purchaser was never located. Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence outside of Peggy's statements was a khaki shirt with Stark faintly printed on the collar found in Sweeney's possession.
Remi:I may have to retract my statement. There's looking like he may have been involved after all.
Ashley:Laboratory testing found sand, brown hair and metal matter in the pocket. The sand and metal matter were similar to material found in Virgil Stark's barn, but little could be done about the hair sample since he was long buried and there was no DNA testing available. Although Katie initially identified the shirt, the next day she backtracked and wasn't completely sure if it belonged to her late husband. When asked about this shirt, both Peggy and Sweeney basically said that whenever he did like car sealings he would take clothing, like he just really liked taking people's clothing. So he's like oh, I probably got it from a carjacking and it did say there was like a big deal about how it said Stark instead of Starks, but the Stark was like really thinly, like it was fading, so it could have been the S was faded, so they couldn't say for sure if it belonged to Virgil Stark Starks, sorry, so they couldn't be for sure if it belonged to Virgil Stark Starks, sorry, so they couldn't be for sure if it belonged to Virgil. But Stark and Starksa with an S are basically the same thing.
Remi:They're very similar and it is very easy for one letter to get rubbed off an article of clothing.
Ashley:Especially because it was like a work khaki shirt and he's like a welder, like he probably wears the same types of shirts all the time.
Ashley:Law enforcement also found it highly suspicious that the murders miraculously stopped after Sweeney was apprehended.
Ashley:Since they were convinced they had their killer, the Texas Rangers quietly started withdrawing troops so not to alarm their residents or hint that a suspect was in custody. On November 1st a judge granted a motion to have Sweeney moved to Arkansas State Hospital as his attorneys were considering using a mental health defense for the car theft In their possession. They said they believed he may be not guilty by reason of insanity because he was obsessed with cars. They also cited his family history of mental illness, a spinal injury during adolescence and his dad's opinion that his son was quote not normal as reasons they believed their client was mentally ill. At the hospital, sweeney consented to the use of sodium pentothal, aka truth serum, a drug not yet admissible in court but was gaining popularity as it was believed to relax the inhibition so patients could speak freely. This backfired because he was given so much that he just went into a really deep sleep. Currently, truth serum is classified as abusive and condemned as an interrogation tool as it doesn't prevent lying and increases the risk of false confessions.
Remi:They use it in movies. I'm not going to say all the time, but I see it pop up from time to time where someone will be injected with truth serum and then questioned and they have to say the answer no matter what, and it always seemed a little out there when I saw those types of scenes.
Ashley:It's basically similar to a sedative. You're just like really, really relaxed and have loose lips. But you know what they say loose lips, sink ships.
Remi:I will say the best scene was in True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was given truth serum and he explained how he was going to kill all of the guys who had him captured, one by one, and proceeded to do so.
Ashley:This same month, peggy agreed to give another statement, this time a signed one and with the assistance of a polygraph. In this statement she provided the most extensive account of the murders of James Martin and Betty Booker. She said Sweeney drove to Spring Lake Park with the plan of committing a robbery. Once there, he ordered the teens into his vehicle, drove around for a bit, shot James Martin four times which was accurate this time around took his wallet and tossed some papers from his pocket near a bush. He then drove a little further, ordered Betty out of the car and came back alone 30 minutes later. He supposedly wanted to take the saxophone but discarded it, believing it was too hot to pawn, although law enforcement still thought she was minimizing her role, this statement had a few details that hadn't been released to the public. Specifically, betty's saxophone was found a few weeks earlier near where Peggy said she saw Sweeney toss it. It was only like 150 yards or something away from her body, so I have no idea why it was not found earlier. Also, the papers she said he threw out of James' pocketbook were recovered during the initial investigation, but that was not shared with the public either. Three days later, the couple were both charged with grand larceny related to the theft of the car they were driving when Peggy was arrested.
Ashley:Despite this signed statement, there were several barriers to a successful prosecution. Peggy was unwilling and could not be compelled to testify in court since her and Sweeney were still married. No murder weapons were recovered and all the other evidence against him was circumstantial. As they were not confident in their ability to secure a conviction circumstantial as they were not confident in their ability to secure a conviction, the prosecution decided to rely on the Texas Habitual Offender Law to ensure Sweeney was locked up for as long as possible. This law is essentially like California's three strikes law, in that anyone arrested for a third felony could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ashley:Although there is no evidence of this, the author of the book I read, who just so happens to be the nephew of Bill Presley, the Bowie County Sheriff initially assigned to the case, claims there was proof that Sweeney took a plea deal, agreeing to be sentenced as a habitual offender for the car theft in exchange for not being charged with murder and thus avoiding the possibility of a death penalty. But there's no written document of this deal. Regardless of whether or not a formal deal was made, sweeney represented himself in court on February 11, 1947. He initially tried to plead guilty, but since the Habitual Offender Act required a trial, he was kind of forced to try his hand at navigating the brief proceeding. After an hour of jury deliberation, 37-year-old Sweeney was convicted of car theft and sentenced to life in prison. Mind you, this is a crime that carried a maximum sentence of 10 years and he is now a 37-year-old man going to prison for life for car theft, regardless of if he was this killer or not. That's a crazy sentence for someone for stealing a car.
Remi:Isn't that what the three strikes thing is for Like? If you get arrested and convicted three times the third one, you're basically going in for life.
Ashley:Yes, and I have a lot of thoughts about that law because of cases like this.
Remi:Is it still enacted? Is it still like a thing that occurs today?
Ashley:I know California still has the three strikes law. I don't know if Texas still has this habitual offender act, but I assume they do. But I think maybe there might be some more. Like, you don't have to sentence someone under this habitual offender or three strikes law. You can choose it if you want someone to be locked up, but it's. I don't think it's like an automatic thing. Okay, choose it if you want someone to be locked up, but I don't think it's an automatic thing.
Remi:Okay, so it's at the judge's discretion.
Ashley:Yes, we do not have something like this in Oregon. Also, while three felonies may seem like a lot, it's really not. There's a lot of people that get charged with trumped up crimes, and should someone go to jail for the rest of their life for taking three cars? I don't think so, but maybe I'm just a bleeding heart liberal.
Remi:It does seem excessive life in prison for stealing cars.
Ashley:Over the next several years, law enforcement received at least 10 groundless confessions containing information that didn't mesh with the facts not made public. They remained steadfast in their belief that the actual assailant was behind bars. All bet for a completely different and non-violent crime. Despite his life sentence, sweeney started to file motions in 1967, often citing that he had been in prison for 20 years for a crime with a maximum sentence of 10. When this failed, fellow jailhouse lawyers told him the key to overturning his habitual offender sentence was to attack any of his three previous felony convictions.
Ashley:What followed were several appeals and evidentiary hearings involving his claim that he did not and was not informed of his right to legal representation for his convictions in 1941 and 1947. This tactic eventually proved successful, as the court records for his cases were so poorly kept. Many key players like judges, prosecutors and sheriffs had since died and any living witness to his trial proceedings couldn't remember what happened during them. On October 16, 1973, under an order by the Texas Appellate Court, sweeney was released from prison after 27 years. They basically said that there was reason to doubt whether his constitutional right to counsel was withheld. You would think that this lengthy incarceration and his age of being in about his mid-50s. At this time would have been enough to deter his criminal lifestyle, but it wasn't. Two years later he was arrested again for car theft and counterfeiting coins.
Remi:Ah, Sweeney.
Ashley:He was in and out of jail until he was last paroled in 1989 at the age of 72. He died of lung cancer in a Dallas nursing home on September 15, 1994. He was 77 years old and never admitted to being the Phantom Killer. Since his relatives didn't claim his body, it was donated to the University of Texas Health and Science Center. So what happened to the survivors of the Phantom Killer?
Ashley:Mary Leary remarried and died of lung cancer in 1965. She was only 38 years old and never psychologically recovered from her assault. James Hollis, her date in February 1946, also remarried, fathered twins, became a civil service employee and briefly worked for NASA. He died unexpectedly while in Oklahoma for his brother's funeral in 1975 at the age of 54. That poor, poor family. Katie Starks, went to business school and lived with her sister and brother-in-law for 10 years. She worked as a secretary and remarried in 1955. She was 84 years old when she died in 1994. She was laid to rest next to Virgil and her second husband was buried on the other side of her when he died in 2009. Although there is a method to clear FBI cold cases when people are long gone that is less stringent than formal trials, the Texarkana Moonlight murders are still formally unsolved, and that is the true story of Charles B Pierce's, the Town that Dreaded Sundown. Before I ask what you think, remy, do you think Sweeney was the phantom killer?
Remi:I'm going to throw out a theory here. I think that the first assault was not committed by the same person that did the following ones, because the MO is so drastically different, in my opinion.
Ashley:So I'll tell you how the officers describe that. That happened the same weekend that Peggy and Sweeney were on a quote unquote break and she was at this bar with another man. So the officers thought he went out looking for them, came across this couple and thought it was them. So he was already like enraged and once he realized it wasn't them, instead of like backing off, he took his rage out on this couple. That was their theory.
Remi:Interesting. All right, I am not sure. I think that there is a lot of stuff that points to him, but again, it does all seem circumstantial and because this was so long ago they really didn't have the means or technology to look into this the way that was needed. So I can't say for sure. I think he very well could have been, but I also have my doubts, so I'm not sure.
Ashley:I know. I feel like the only way they could have linked him is if they were able to save that semen sample from Betty Booker for years and been able to get some sort of DNA sample from him. But I don't know. It sounds like it probably wasn't preserved and they didn't have. Like you know, they wouldn't have known how to preserve it in 1946. So it could have been tested. But I agree, her statement is compelling. But on the other hand, you could say that the reason why she was able to give more and more is that she was being fed some of this information, whether intentionally or not, from law enforcement and that's why her accounts kind of got more detailed and in line with the actual events as time went on. That is certainly not unheard of.
Remi:I was actually going to say the exact same thing Again. It is something that did occur a lot back in the day. Especially, and it is something that still can occur. A person is sort of guided in the direction that the police need them to be for the story to check out.
Ashley:And the other aspect that gives me pause is that it just seems crazy that while, yes, yul Sweeney is a career criminal, he steals cars and makes counterfeit nickels and then all of a sudden, for this five months that he was released, he just turns into this like psychopathic murderer who's just killing anyone for no reason. That just doesn't really seem in line. Well, I'm not going to say it doesn't seem in line. It's not in line with what we kind of know about the trajectory and psychology of serial killers. So that's kind of the big thing. That just seems really really weird and unexplainable to me. But the author of this book is like it was 100% him and I agree. I just don't think there's enough information to conclude that.
Remi:Well, with that, I think we should jump into our new recurring segment that we are doing our objection of the week, your honor, I object. And why is that, mr Reed? Because it's devastating to my case. Overruled. Good call.
Ashley:Remy, I think I know what you are going to say, so why don't you start us off?
Remi:My objection of the week. There's a lot you can pick from here and again, the objection of the week is a change made in the adaptation that is completely unnecessary and doesn't really change the story and is yeah, just why did they make that change? But mine is going to be something that is in the entire movie and doesn't affect anything, and that is the character of Sparkplug, who is played by the director, charles Pierce. He does not affect the plot, but he is in a lot of the movie and he does awful jokes. I believe your objection if it's the one I'm thinking may even include him. And, yeah, every single part that he is in is unnecessary and his character is one of the few that, to my surprise, is not based on anyone. A lot of the characters are actually based on real people, but his is completely fictitious. So Sparkplug is my objection of the week.
Ashley:Well then, I'll say the one I thought you were going to say it's going to be the officers dressing in drag to stake out the Phantom, instead of just putting mannequins in the car with wigs.
Remi:Sparkplug was one of the officers in drag during that scene and the other officer is sort of coming on to him while they're having their stakeout and it's really cringy.
Ashley:Okay, these are both really, really good. I had several other ones that were like smaller, but since mine includes Spark Plug, I'll give it to you this week. Touche, remy.
Remi:Huzzah, all right One for having to sit through Sparkplug, but now let's go to the final portion of our podcast At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will deliver a verdict based on the film's accuracy.
Speaker 4:If the film is an honest portrayal of the events, then it will earn a not guilty verdict. If the adaptation is mostly factual but creative liberties were taken for the sake of entertainment, the film will be declared a mistrial. But if the film ultimately strays too far from the truth, then it will be condemned as guilty and sentenced to a life behind bars.
Ashley:I will start us off here, and I thought for sure I knew what verdict I was gonna go into when we started this, but I've changed my mind. I am shocked to say this, but I'm gonna give this film a mistrial, even though everything about Yul Sweeney is omitted, which it should have been, because it was just about the killings and although the actual scenes depicting these murders were fabricated, made more extreme A lot of the details about these people, the dates, the town's panic around them, the officers' investigative efforts were really in line with the true facts of the story. There is some comedic relief thrown in there. Some things are dramatized to make it funnier or to streamline things a bit, but there was a lot in this movie that actually was in line with the actual Texarkana Moonlight murders and so for these reasons I am shocked to say it gets a mistrial verdict from me. What about you, remy?
Remi:I am shocked to say that I agree with you as well. I went into this positive that this film was going to get a guilty verdict. And yes, there's a lot of liberties taken. The deaths are over the top. The spark plug character is a lot like.
Remi:Gomer Pyle or something like that. It's another show I've never seen, but I feel like I get the reference from old Simpsons episodes. But the framework of the true story, along with a surprising amount of details, is all there. I am very, very, very surprised to say but yeah, I would say, even though a lot of liberties were taken, it still tells the story. It is not completely made up out of the blue as I assumed it would be. So, yeah, mistrial all around.
Ashley:Shocking. This is probably my most shocked I have ever felt at giving a verdict, but I mean, I think it was a pretty easy one to come to.
Remi:I was slowly coming to that realization. As you were going through the true story In my head, I was like shit a lot of this is in the film, and am I going to have to give this a mistrial? I really, really did not see this coming at all. I was positive that they just made up all of this and made it as out there and over the top as possible in every regard. They did do that, but they also kept the facts, too surprisingly.
Ashley:I had the same realization when you were describing the actual movie, like I don't know if you looked over at me, but there was several times like my eyes were like bulging, because I was like, oh my god, this is way more in line than I would have ever suspected.
Remi:We can't go into these things with any preconceived notions. I guess this is a big shocker for me. Actually, this is one of the most surprising verdicts I think we've done. But we have some new material to go over next week that does not involve murder or serial killers or slashers or anything like that, and is actually made by a prestige director, ridley Scott. We will be going over the film All the Money in the World, which has a very interesting production backstory around it. But, ashley, have you seen this movie? Do you know of the true story? It's about the kidnapping of a relative of John Paul Getty. That's what I know off the top of my head.
Ashley:Yes, one of his grandkids were kidnapped. I have not seen this movie. As a little background, john Paul Getty was an oil tycoon and at one point, the richest man in the world, hence why the title is called All the Money in the World. Briefly, his grandson is kidnapped and he refuses to pay the ransom. Even though they do crazy things to this kid, like chop off his ear and mail it to the family, he still is like nope, not giving them a dime. I have not seen this movie, but there was a show on FX called Trust and I believe it was with Donald Sutherland as John Paul Getty. It had Hilary Swank as the grandson who gets kidnapped his wife. I think John Paul Getty's grandson might have been played by the star of Lords of Dogtown with the blonde hair, the long blonde hair. I think I could be wrong, but Brendan Fraser is also in it as a detective and it's a very good show.
Remi:I saw this movie once, I think, with a DVD screener back in LA and I don't think I was paying full attention and I don't really remember much about it. But I know the film has a lot of interesting controversy around it because Kevin Spacey was originally the actor who was going to play John Paul Getty and he was canceled and rightfully so removed from the project just a few weeks before it was going to be released and they brought in Christopher Plummer to record everything in a crazy short amount of time. So interesting backstory and I look forward to discussing it next time.
Ashley:I've already started reading the book that the movie is based on and I'm really excited to talk about it. It's very fascinating how this man accumulated his wealth. If you remember back to our Killers of the Flower Moon episode, the Getty family was one of the people who bought a plot that turned out to be just an oil mine. It was the one that the oil spewed up into the air like a geyser. That was bought by the Getty family. So that's kind of like what started their transcendence into the oil tycoons that they became.
Remi:Well, until then, everyone, if you have enjoyed what you have heard and we hope that you have, because a lot of time and energy goes into it please like, comment, subscribe, tell a friend, tell a relative, tell anyone who has a functioning phone or internet. Five star reviews are awesome and we will read them on the air or on the podcast or whatever the term is. We also have some social media. Ashley, do you want to tell them what that is?
Ashley:Criminal Adaptations at Instagram, where you can see comparisons of the real life people and their movie portrayals, as well as TikTok, also at Criminal Adaptations, and you can also email us at criminaladaptations at gmailcom.
Remi:And until next time everybody court is adjourned.
