VIDEO BREAK: THE LOBSTER BOY SAGA

THE MURDER OF THE LOBSTER BOY

Grady Franklin Stiles Jr. was an American freak show performer whose life ended in murder. He was born with the genetic condition ectrodactyly; his fingers and toes were fused together to form claw-like extremities, earning him the stage name "Lobster Boy."

Stiles was the fourth generation of his family to be born with the malformation. For the Stiles family, this condition spelled opportunity rather than handicap, as they had performed in circuses since the 1800s. Born in Pittsburgh in 1937, Grady joined his father's established "freak show" circuit.

Beyond his circus career, Stiles had a dark side marked by violence and alcoholism. In 1978, he shot and killed his daughter's 19-year-old fiancé, Jack Layne, on the eve of their wedding. Stiles disapproved of the engagement and gunned down Layne on the family's front porch. Despite the cold-blooded nature of the crime, he was convicted only of third-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years probation, as no prison could accommodate his disability.

His violent behaviour continued throughout his life with systematic abuse of his family. Stiles was verbally and physically abusive to everyone in the community and random strangers, constantly hitting, choking, and head-butting people out of anger. He would use his upper body strength to violently throw himself on the floor, then use his claw-like fingers as weapons to choke, beat and slam his wife and children in the face, often targeting their eyes.

When he returned to drinking, all three children and his wife Mary were beaten with belts and threatened with murder, with Stiles telling Mary, "I'm going to kill you but the timing's just not right."

In 1992, Teresa, together with her son from a previous marriage, Harry Glenn Newman Jr., hired a seventeen-year-old sideshow performer named Chris Wyant to kill Stiles for $1,500 (equivalent to $3,361 in 2024). As Stiles smoked a cigarette on the sofa while watching the video Monkey Boy, Wyant entered his home with a semi-automatic pistol and shot him in the head twice, killing him. Stiles was reportedly widely disliked in his community, so much so that only 10 people came to his funeral, and nobody volunteered as a pallbearer to carry his coffin.

Stiles' son, Grady Stiles III, disputes the claim that Mary Teresa had him murdered. According to him, his mother, Mary Teresa, and father were arguing. Mary Teresa had said 'Something needs to be done.' Teresa's son overheard this, and went to a neighbor and repeated those words. Mary Teresa was convicted of manslaughter; Harry Newman Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence, and Wyant was convicted of second-degree murder and received a 27-year sentence....

THE THANKSGIVING BOMBING OF 1985

On the night of November 28th, 1985, several members of the Blount Family had gathered at a family trailer in the Hilltop Mobile Home Park that lay in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas. The gathering consisted of Joe Blount, a skilled mechanic, Joe’s wife Susan, Robert who was Joe and Susan’s teenaged son, Joe’s daughter Angela, Joe’s brother Carl Blount and Carl’s estranged son Michael Columbus.

The family sat down and ate dinner between 4 and 5pm, after dinner was finished, Carl went home. At 9pm that night Susan went for a lie down while Joe drove Angela, Robert and Michael to a local convenience store about half a mile away so the kids could grab ice-creams, and he could pick up some beer.

While the others were out, Susan later said she heard a knock at the door but when she looked outside, she didn’t see anyone and went back to sleep. When the others returned to the trailer around 20 minutes after they had left, they found a tan briefcase sitting at the door. The three teenagers were excited that the briefcase might contain valuables or money and brought it inside. At a minimum, they figured they could find out who it belonged to and return it. Angela immediately set it down in the living room, opened it and the bomb inside detonated.

Joe Blount aged 44, Angela aged 15 and Michael aged 18 were all killed instantly by the blast.

Even though a suspect was tried and convicted, they were eventually cleared of all charges and the case remains unsolved to this day.

Who bombed the Blount family? As of today, the case remains unsolved, though investigators do believe that it was a targeted attack, probably related to drug activity that was happening in the mobile home community, that accidentally landed on the Blount’s porch...

JIMMY CARTER AND HIS UFO STORY

Jimmy Carter, United States president from 1977 until 1981, reported seeing an unidentified flying object while at Leary, Georgia, in 1969. While serving as governor of Georgia, Carter was asked (on September 14, 1973) by the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City to file a report of the sighting, and he filed a statement on September 18, mailed September 20. Since its writing, the report has been discussed several times by both ufologists and by members of the mainstream media.

One evening in 1969, two years before he became Governor of Georgia, Carter was preparing to give a speech at a Lions Club meeting. He reported that at about 7:15 pm, one of the guests called his attention to a strange bright white object, about as bright as the moon, that was about 30 degrees above the horizon to the west of where they were standing. It moved toward their direction, but stopped beyond a stand of pine trees some distance from them. The object then changed color, first to blue, then to red, then back to white, before appearing to recede into the distance.

Carter felt that the object was self-illuminated, and not solid in nature. Carter's report indicates that it was witnessed by about 10 or 12 other people, and was in view for 10 to 12 minutes before it passed out of sight.

In 1973, Carter reiterated:
"There were about twenty of us standing outside of a little restaurant, I believe, a high school lunch room, and a kind of green light appeared in the western sky. This was right after sundown. It got brighter and brighter. And then it eventually disappeared. It didn't have any solid substance to it, it was just a very peculiar-looking light. None of us could understand what it was."

Speaking in a 2005 interview, Carter said:

"All of a sudden, one of the men looked up and said, 'Look, over in the west!' And there was a bright light in the sky. We all saw it. And then the light, it got closer and closer to us. And then it stopped, I don't know how far away, but it stopped beyond the pine trees. And all of a sudden it changed color to blue, and then it changed to red, then back to white. And we were trying to figure out what in the world it could be, and then it receded into the distance."

The exact date on which the sighting occurred has been called into question by investigators. According to the report that he filed with the International UFO Bureau four years after the incident, Carter saw the UFO in October 1969. However, investigators have cited Lions Club records as evidence that it occurred nine months earlier.

According to a meeting report that he filed with the Lions Club, Carter gave his Leary speech on January 6, 1969, not in October. The setting of his January meeting as described in his report to the Lions Club also matches the setting that he would later describe to the media when speaking about his sighting. His report to the Lions Club made no mention of the sighting itself...

MYSTERIOUS CREATURES: PENNSYLVANIA

Monsters. Creatures. Unexplained animals. People report them in the forest all the time. Though they go by several names, the most all-inclusive one is “cryptids.” The field of discovering them is known as cryptozoology. And for anyone interested in cryptozoology, Pennsylvania is an excellent place. Not only are there a lot of sightings but the sheer variety of creatures is impressive.

No matter what area of the state you’re in, there’s some sort of local cryptid to watch for. They range from the popular to the obscure, all of them on a scale of more-or-less likely to exist, though none of them have yet been proven.

BIGFOOT

Arguably the most well-known cryptid is Bigfoot, who clearly loves the attention, and Pennsylvania is no stranger to Bigfoot sightings. One of the likely areas to spot Bigfoot is near the border of Centre and Clinton Counties.

“I saw something in Beech Creek in February of 2023,” said Sonia Rodriguez, of Clinton County. “It was huge, maybe 10 feet tall.”

While Rodriguez was driving home from work, she spotted the shape of what may have been Bigfoot, thrown into relief by the local streetlights. She described it as very clearly defined, not blurry, and of an impressive size.

“I see this dark silhouette,” she said. “It took two steps, and I was shocked. It was huge! I was like, all panicking.”

Bigfoot has repeatedly been spotted in that area, including multiple sightings in Bald Eagle State Park, because Bigfoot enjoys a recreational campout as much as anyone else.

THE SQUONK

The Squonk is a uniquely Pennsylvania cryptid, first appearing in the 1910 book “Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods.” Described as an ugly pig-like creature living in the hemlock forests, the Squonk cries almost continuously. The Squonk was said to have emigrated from a desert area to Pennsylvania, and avoids people, because it knows how ugly it is. If you happen to see a Squonk while hiking, stop and give the poor thing a hug. It needs one.

GIWOGGLE

Clinton County has an official monster, and its name is the Giwoggle. The Giwoggle was from rural legends told by Belle Confer of Keating Township to her grandchildren. One of them, George Rhone, grew up to write these in “Keystone Folklore Quarterly” in 1956.

A werewolf-like creature, the Giwoggle had the hands of a bird and the feet of a horse, confusing anyone attempting to track it. According to the legends, they could be conjured by the local witches and were seen throughout Clinton and Clearfield Counties.

In July of 2011, the Clinton County Commissioners decreed the Giwoggle to be the official monster of the county. Not that there was a whole lot of competition.

                                  

THE JERSEY DEVIL

The Jersey Devil? But this is an article about Pennsylvania cryptids! What’s a creature from New Jersey doing here?

The Jersey Devil, a flying monster sighted in New Jersey, has been known to travel into Pennsylvania occasionally. In 1909, it was reportedly seen in Williamsport and Lock Haven.

On January 28, 1909, the Clinton Democrat reported that the Jersey Devil had been seen in Williamsport. The article said,”The footprints appear in the snow in the rear yard of a West Fourth Street residence, first on one side of the tennis net and then the other. It is reported that the same mysterious tracks were discovered on the golf links north of the city.”

A few days later, the Lock Haven Express reported that the Jersey Devil had been spotted on the roof of a Grove Street house by resident Charles Poorman, who later propped a ladder up and allowed people to see the tracks in the snow on his roof. The Express reported,”Several persons have again come forward with statements that they saw this strange creature, which has sent terror into the hearts of the timid.” And it just goes to show that even the Jersey Devil prefers Pennsylvania to New Jersey sometimes.

THE POTTER

One of the most obscure cryptids was said to inhabit southern Potter County, according to articles in the “Potter Enterprise” in the spring of 1897. Described as a hairy, bipedal creature about six feet tall, it was said to have tusks that measured six or seven inches long.

“It is also reported that a fisherman was run out of Nelson Run by some kind of animal,” reported the Enterprise on April 12. “The animal stood upon its hind feet and struck its breast with its forepaws, causing a noise like a roll of many drums, and screamed like a panther.”

Later, resident William Butler had come forward with information. The newspaper said, “Though under the circumstances his eyes might have magnified a little, he thinks the animal was fully six feet high when standing on its hind legs. It was quite hairy about the head and had tusks from six to seven inches long, which the animal seemed proud to show, and another such mouth was never seen.”

The newspaper gave the creature its name, stating, “Bill looked at the Potter County Nondescript fully a minute or more.”

MORBIT TIDBITS: FAMILY FEUD MURDER

During an episode of Family Feud in 2020, contestant Tim Bliefnick joked that his biggest regret in life was marrying his wife. Three years later, in February of 2023, he sh*t and k*lled her, firing a total of 14 times...

In May, Timothy Bliefnick was convicted of first-degree murder and home invasion in the Feb. 23 attack in Quincy. In August of 2024, Judge Robert Adrian sentenced the defendant to spend his life behind bars, essentially the state's toughest punishment.

“Mr. Bliefnick, you researched this murder, you planned this murder, you practiced this murder," the circuit court judge said. "You broke into her house and you shot her one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 times."

THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THOMAS INCE

The mystery surrounding the death of silent-era film producer Thomas Ince revolves around the conflicting reports and rumors surrounding his death in November 1924, after falling ill on a yacht owned by William Randolph Hearst. While the official cause of death was heart failure, the circumstances, including the presence of Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and Charlie Chaplin, led to speculation that Ince was accidentally shot by a jealous Hearst or died from foul play, though no official charges were ever filed.

Ince revolutionized the motion picture industry by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of filmmaking. He was the first mogul to build his own film studio, dubbed "Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. Ince was also instrumental in developing the role of the producer in motion pictures. Three of his films, The Italian (1915), for which he wrote the screenplay, Hell's Hinges (1916) and Civilization (1916), which he directed, were selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. He later entered into a partnership with D. W. Griffith and Mack Sennett to form the Triangle Motion Picture Company, whose studios are the present-day site of Sony Pictures.

 Ince became ill on November 19, 1924, while aboard Hearst's yacht, the Oneida, during a trip intended to celebrate Ince's 42nd birthday. Guests on the yacht included Hearst's mistress, actress Marion Davies, and her close friend Charlie Chaplin. Ince became violently ill, was taken off the yacht in San Diego, and died three days later. The official report stated Ince died from heart failure, possibly related to acute indigestion. Media reports initially circulated that Ince had been shot.

A prominent theory suggested that a jealous William Randolph Hearst, concerned about his mistress Marion Davies' relationship with Charlie Chaplin, attempted to shoot Chaplin but accidentally shot Ince instead. Confusion surrounding the events and a lack of communication from those on board fueled speculation about a cover-up. The District Attorney of San Diego, Chester C. Kempley, investigated the death and publicly stated that Ince died of heart failure caused by indigestion.  Despite the extensive rumors of murder, no charges were ever filed.

Years later, Hearst spoke to a journalist about the rumor that he had murdered Ince. "Not only am I innocent of this Ince murder," he said, "So is everybody else." Nell herself was increasingly frustrated over the rumors surrounding her husband's death and remarked: "Do you think I would have done nothing if I even suspected that my husband had been victim of foul play on anyone's part?" Still, the myth of Ince's death overshadowed his reputation as a pioneering filmmaker and his role in the growth of the film industry. His studio was sold soon after he died. His final film, Enticement, a romance set in the French Alps, was released posthumously in 1925.

The true story of Ince's final days remains a subject of debate and mystery, inspiring books and films like the 2002 movie The Cat's Meow. Ince's untimely death at the height of his career marked a significant shift in the industry, accelerating the decline of independent producers as the studio system consolidated power...