Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Brooksbrae Brick Factory and Mount Misery

by Chris Chaos

It was a nice cool, windy day and after servicing a client we decided to go on a drive to find the abandoned Brooksbrae Brick Factory location. The trip was unplanned so we uncharacteristically headed out unprepared. Normally we come equipped with ample food, drinks, battery power, digital and video camera to properly document our findings. Not to mention usually we properly and extensively research a location so that we can understand it before our arrival. From where we were our way point was 9.8 miles away (Mount Misery). We have been at the MT Misery locations a few times but that was a few years ago, so we decided to go back.

While venturing down Four Mile Road we saw several flashing lights and determined as we approached that they were police and they have the road blocked off. Several cars were pulled off to the side of the road and we assumed either an accident, a tree fell or possible a Pine Barrens fire.


AN ACCIDENT

Apparently a truck carrying what looked like pallets flipped over and a car plowed into them landing on top..also somehow there was an additional truck that was flipped on the side of the road. The police requested that pictures not be taken anymore due to the fact it was a possible crime scene.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Elyse Marie Pahler: Was Slayer or Human Free Will Responsible?

by Chris Chaos

There are volumes upon volumes of books and articles written concerning Free Will [1]. Also there are many branches of philosophy dedicated to the subject. The differences between humans and animals were also taken into account:

Each animal on earth has a particular set of behaviors that it follows throughout its life cycle. For example a bear will suckle the momma bears teat until it is old enough to venture out on its own, in the winter the bear will hibernate and if its own cubs are threatened the mother bear will fearlessly attack whatever intends to harm the offspring.

Caterpillars go into a cocoon and exit as a butterfly, bees are attracted to flowers so they can pollinate....the list goes on. So are the actions and behaviors of animals which can be highly predictable governed by nature, an unseen force or do they have free will? What influences their behaviors?

Many humans consider themselves to be much more advanced and intelligent when compared to the common animal, so of course we as humans MUST have free will...right? Or are we just merely reacting to what our genetic code dictates?


 On a summer night Elyse snuck out of her house without her parents knowledge and was lured to her death by three teenage boys with the promise of drugs and alcohol. She was led to Nipoma Mesa which was thought to be a naturally formed Devil's Altar. The group wanted to sacrifice her in a satanic ritual to get their heavy metal band, Hatred, "the madness to go pro." They believed that by doing this it would be the ultimate crime against God by killing a virgin. The story was the basis and inspiration for the movie

Jennifer's Body, although the girl's and the bands roles were inverted.
Jennifer's Body

Elyse was born on Apr. 24, 1980 in Templeton California and died by murder Jul. 22, 1995 in Arroyo Grande California. When Elyse Marie Pahler was murdered her parents attempted to sue the band Slayer, claiming that their music contributed to their daughter's death.

The four sat at the mesa talking and smoking, Jacob walked behind Elyse, took off his belt and slung it around her neck pulling it tight. Royce held her hands down and she slowly started to pass out. Joseph pulled out a hunting knife and started to stab her over and over in the neck. Passing the knife around each teen took his turn stabbing her. Crying for help the boys kicked her in the back of the neck to finish her. Dragging her by her feet they dumped her at the edge of the grove where she bled to death.

Originally Casey stated that they were going to have sex with the corpse but decided not too (although they admitted to it later on). The police knew better because when her body was found there was evidence of sexual contact.


Jacob Delashmutt (15), Joseph Fiorella (16) and Royce Casey (17) raped and murdered Elyse leaving her body to be found 8 months later in Arroyo Grande, California. Casey confessed to the murder after he converted to Christianity and admitted that the trio returned to her corpse several times to have sex. The location of her body was revealed and after a lengthy case the murderers pleaded no contest to Elyse's murder and are now serving 25 years to life.


Immediately after Elyse went missing it was thought of as a runaway and for several months there was no sign of her.

Three months after the murder Casey wrote in his journal, " I’m fighting on the other side now, Allied with the darkened souls, Satan's arised and shall conquer and reign… In the bible it says that in the end Lucifer will bring out his best in everything, music, love, murder… All the psycho serial killers and rapists don’t know that if they would just build an alter of sacrifice and kill the person on the alter and then have repeated sex with the corpse. Virgin meat is the ultimate sacrifice.”

Afraid that his urge to kill may come to the surface again, he went to the police and confessed the crime. Also he feared that he might become the next victim of his cohorts. He then led the police to the grove where her body was and the rest is history.

During the court proceedings it was brought to light that the three murderers were all Slayer fans. Throughout the 80's the satanic panic was in full swing and metal music was the common scapegoat and the parents were all afraid of Satan. Fiorella stated that, "Slayer started to influence the way I looked at things.” After hearing this Elyse's parents filed a lawsuit against Slayer for providing the fans for all the information they needed to pull off a satanic murder. David Pahler also stated, “This case isn't about art, It’s about marketing. Slayer and others in the industry have developed sophisticated strategies to sell death metal music to adolescent boys. They don’t care whether the violent, misogynistic message in these lyrics causes children to do harmful things. They couldn't care less what their fans did to our daughter. All they care about is money.”



Despite Elyse sneaking out of the house in the past and trying marijuana on an other occasion her parents spoke of her as a great daughter,  “She was not a problem child. She was an independent girl who wanted to meet and know everyone in school,” said her father, David Pahler. Her classmates stated that she has tried drugs more than one time and back in junior high she was suspend for 5 days for underage drinking and has attended a drug recovery center.

Claiming protection under the First Amendment, Slayer's attorneys stated that their work was protected. “This case has nothing to do with the First Amendment. It’s about protecting children. The Pahler family is not out to censor or to stop Slayer from making this music. They’re simply saying we don’t want them to market this stuff to kids without parents being involved in the decision about the kids getting to hear this stuff. They would like it to be off limits. …Just like a child can’t go to X-rated movies, they don’t want them to be able to buy X-rated music. Kids can’t go watch snuff films, but we’re giving them snuff music. People say not every kid who listens to Slayer turns into a killer. The reality is [that Slayer is] standing up at the top of the Empire State Building throwing golf balls off. They may not kill somebody with the first golf ball. They may not even kill somebody with the second golf ball or the third, but eventually they’re going to hit somebody on the head and kill them.” Said Allen Hutkin, the families attorney.

Some of the lawyers likened the case to the tobacco companies intentionally marketing their products to children through the Joe Camel cartoon character. Including various Slayer lyrics, the claim was 38 pages and lay blame to specifically to the songs “Altar of Sacrifice,” “Kill Again,” “Tormentor” and “Necrophiliac”

Elyse's parents, David and Lisanne Pahler claimed that the Slayer songs "Postmortem" and "Dead Skin Mask"  gave the three killers detailed instructions to "stalk, rape, torture, murder and commit acts of necrophilia" on their daughter.

In 2001, Paul Bostaph, the drummer for Slayer stated, "They’re trying to blame the whole thing on us. That’s such nonsense. If you’re gonna do something stupid like that, you should get in trouble for it.” Paul also noted that the murderers hadn't even done the rituals that were outlined in the songs correctly, anyway. Singer Tom Araya was quoted as saying, “We’re part evil. If we were really evil, we would be doing everything we’re writing about.”


Judge E. Jeffrey Burke noted the band’s lyrics and recordings and dismissed the claim, stating that it infringed on the band’s right to freedom of speech. “There’s not a legal position that could be taken that would make Slayer responsible for the girl’s death. Where do you draw the line? You might as well start looking through the library at every book on the shelf,” he said. He also added that “Slayer lyrics are repulsive and profane. But they do not direct or instruct listeners to commit the acts that resulted in the vicious torture-murder of Elyse Pahler.” The judge stated that the lyrics to the songs appeared to be more descriptive than instructive, as the family of Elyse Pahler had previously claimed. He advised the Pahler family to rework the claim and try submitting it again, which they did, two more times, without success.


The three murderers were all in agreement that Slayer's music was the catalyst that propelled them to commit their crimes. “It was harmless at first. We used to smoke weed, play guitar, kick it. I was just into heavy-metal music.” said Delashmutt. He went on to mention that one day Fiorella asked, “If I’d be down for sacrificing a, whatever, a virgin. I didn’t take it seriously. I said ‘whatever’.”

More serious about committing the murder Fiorello stated, “It gets inside your head,” he told a  counselor a year after Pahler’s murder. “It’s almost embarrassing that I was so influenced by the music. The music started to influence the way I looked at things.” Almost as an afterthought in one interview, he added, “of course, I feel bad that she’s dead.” Jacob Delashmutt himself stated in a Washington Post interview that "The music is destructive but that's not why Elyse was murdered. She was murdered because Joe was obsessed with her, and obsessed with killing her."

“There probably was some sort of fantasy about Satan,” said Barry Post, who represents defendant Jacob Delashmutt, 17, “But people seem to forget that these are 15-years-olds growing up in Arroyo Grande. I don’t think there’s even a skating ring there.” By many accounts, the boys – then 15, 16 and 17 – were heavily into drugs, stoners who no longer attended the only public high school in this small agricultural town 15 miles south of San Luis Obispo. Royce Casey, 18 – the oldest of the three and the one who broke the case when he led investigators to Elyse’s skeletal remains – was attending continuation high school. Joseph Fiorella, 16 – thought to be the ringleader – was being taught at home. Delashmutt – the youngest of six children in a well-to-do family – had been expelled twice for possessing drugs and yelling obscenities at a teacher. Attorneys and family members declined to talk in any great detail about the crime because of a gag order. All records have been sealed in the Superior Court case.

There have been several other similar cases were music was blamed for tragedy:

Judas Priest, where teens entered into a suicide pact over the supposed subliminal lyrics of "DO IT". The case was dismissed once the troubled background of the boys came to light as opposed to the music that they listened to leading them to suicide..

Ozzy Osbourne, also was connected to a suicide pact when 3 teens killed themselves and one of the boys shot himself while listening to the song "Suicide Solution with the line thought to have said  “I tell you to end your life” was proven to actually be “I tell you to enjoy life”. Other cases in which suicide was attributed to Ozzy's music his albums were found near the body. The last case had a boy informing his father that Ozzy had "the solution" and then he shot himself.

All of these above mentioned cases were thrown out by the courts in favor of the First Amendment.

Father of slain teen Elyse Pahler takes plea deal in road-rage case
July 14, 2014
Road Rage

For a video concerning the case:
Elyse Pahler Video


If you wish to visit her grave and pay your respect, here is her grave location:
Oak Hill Cemetery in Ballard, California. Plot: Sec: Annex 4 Lot: 83 Sp: N-C


Did the murderers act on Free Will or were they controlled and influenced by the lyrics and music of Slayer? Was Free Will responsible or was Determinism[2]?

[1] Merriam-Webster: Voluntary choice or decision <I do this of my own free will>. Freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention

[2] From Dictionary.com the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Baby Monster

by Chris Chaos

Deep within King County in Washington state there is Saar Pioneer Cemetery which is the home to a highly interesting grave with a rather unique name shrouded in mystery. The final resting places are marked by Baby Monster (1888-1889) and John C. Monster (1851-1890) .


John C. Monster
Birth: Jan. 9, 1851
Death: Apr. 4, 1890

Spouse:
Anna Marie Nelson Monster (1861 - 1920)

Children:
Christina Monster Mallory (1880 - 1903)
Baby Monster (1888 - 1889)


Stumbling across this stone unaware of the history you can only imagine the stories that go through people's heads when they first gain sight of this. Creepy? Yes, but here is some of the associated history concerning the Monster family. This unnamed baby with only a last name was born on October 23, 1888 and died on February 3rd, 1889 in its 3rd month of life. On the rare side these days
due to great strides in medical care, infant mortality was quite common during this time period. Death is greedy and will take anyone regardless of their age. The baby Monster was buried alongside her father John C. Monster who was born in 1851 and died in 1890, a year after Baby Monster passed. John's name is listed directly above baby Monster's name on the stone.


The location of this grave is also kind of odd, it is hugged by the parking lot of a Win Co Foods parking lot.

John was married to Anna Marie Nelson Monster who was born in 1861 and passed in 1920. Some state that she is also buried in the same graveyard, but in an unmarked grave. Anna, like many overs buried in unmarked graves, is honored on a public tombstone within the graveyard. There are two more members of the Monster Family buried in unmarked graves.  One is a female born in January of 1912 without a death date listed.  The other is a male born 9 months later in October of 1912 who died at the age of 2 days old.


It is unclear if Anna is the biological mother of these children due to the fact that she would have been in her 50's. Records do show that Anna and John did give birth to a child by the name of Christina in 1880, who went on to marry a man by the name of Charles Mallory, but she died in 1903.


Despite all, it is a mystery and something to speculate over as to why this Baby Monster was never given a first name on its tombstone. It is possible that the child was never baptized, or if the stone itself was installed later on well after all people passed that might have known the baby's name.


(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Bunny Man

by Chris Chaos


Recently this photo began circulating around the internet and immediately raised speculation on what it could be. Many state that it was an old photo of The Bunny Man kidnapping a girl and pulling her into his lair. But supposedly it was found in 1982 in a dumpster in Georgia.

THE LEGEND OF THE BUNNY MAN
Comprised of many different versions, the story of The Bunny Man is an urban legend based out of Fairfax County Virginia from 1970. The legend goes that a man will don a bunny suit and attack people with an axe. The Bunny Man supposedly stalks and hunts on Bunny Man Bridge... "Bunny Man Bridge's" real name is Colchester Overpass which is located near Clifton.


Brian Conley, the Fairfax County Public Library Historian-Archivist, has researched the legend of the Bunny man and he discovered two separate incidents, occurring one week a part in 1970, where a man in a bunny costume threatened people. These incidents occurred in Burke, Virginia. October 19th, 1970 an incident was reported by an Air Force Cadet by the name of Bob Bennett. His fiancee and himself were visiting family members in Burke and about midnight they parked their car on Guinea Road. While talking they saw something moving out the back window. A few seconds later the window on the passenger side was smashed in and a mysterious figure, appearing in all white was standing there. As Bob tried to speed off, a man yelled at them: "You're on private property and I have your tag number." As they drove away Bob's fiancee noticed a hatchet on the floor, this is what was  thrown through the window.


Bob drove to the police station so that he could report the incident and gave the description of a man in a bunny suit with long rabbit ears. His fiancee reported a description more along the lines of a man in a Klan suit with the pointy hood. The hatchet was returned to the couple once the report was filed.

On October 29th, 1970 a second incident was reported by a security guard named Paul Phillips. Paul saw  a man standing in front of a house in a construction site and decided to investigate. Paul stated that the man was wearing a bunny suit that was grey, black and white and he appeared to be in his 20's, approx 5 foot 8 inches and 175 pounds. As Paul approached the man in the bunny suit started to swing an axe into a porch and started yelling: "All you people trespass around here. If you don't get out of here, I'm going to bust you on the head."

Short video concerning The Bunny Man by Alana G.

The local police department launched an investigation but there were no leads or additional information so the cases were closed. But...after the two above mentioned incidents over 50 people claimed to have spot The Bunny Man and a few newspapers ran articles on this wascally wabbit:

"Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax" (October 22, 1970)
"The 'Rabbit' Reappears" (October 31, 1970)
"Bunny Man Seen" (November 4, 1970)
"Bunny Reports Are Multiplying" (November 6, 1970)
In 1973, University of Maryland a student named Patricia Johnson submitted a research paper that chronicled precisely 54 variations of these events.


As stated previously there were several other versions to this legend. One even named a suspect Douglas J. Grifon (who was placed in prison for killing his family on Easter Sunday) as the Bunny Man. Legend has it that back in 1904 inmates were being transferred from a shutdown prison asylum to a new building and several escaped during a crash. All prisoners were recovered except for Mr. Grifon. After the crash many locals claimed to have found hundreds of skinned, half-eaten rabbit corpses hanging in the trees. While searching the area, the police found the body of a Marcus Wallster hanging under Bunny Man Bridge.

Supposedly the police located Douglas but as they were trying to arrest him at the overpass, he gets hit by a train. Legend still goes that many years after the Bunny Man's death and around Halloween, you can find dead rabbit bodies hanging from the overpass. Also a man in a bunny suit is seen from time to time.

Brian Conley states that this story is just that due to the fact that there has never been an insane asylum in Fairfax County and that Lorton Prison didn't come into existence until 1910. He also stated that during his research he found that according to court records there never was a Douglas Grifon or a Marcus Wallster.

Due to the popularity of The Bunny Man legend, Colchester Overpass is a popular tourist destination, especially around Halloween, for people involved in the paranormal, explorers and those that like urban legends. The police discourage this due to the fact it is dangerous to wander around on an active intersection of trains and cars.

Now back to the original photo that was mentioned at the beginning of this article....this was simply a screenshot from a 2011 film entitled "Bunny Man".

THE BUNNY MAN MOVIE

Here is the unedited photo


Short Documentary on The Bunny Man
This short documentary by Joshua Vaile that explores the legend of the Clifton Bunny Man and the Bunny Man Bridge.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

The Atco Ghost

By Chris Chaos

Atco New Jersey.  There has been a story circulating in the area for decades, a ghost story, a fable, legend...but is it based in truth? Atco is named after the Atlantic Transport Company. Or was it named from an old Indian word for "Land of Many Deer"?

 The Atco Ghost video (Axis Video)

Legend has it that many years ago, on Christmas night, a young boy was chasing his basketball into the street and was hit by a speeding car, whose driver may have been drunk, killing him instantly. The driver decided to run for fear of what he just did, he had to perform a U-Turn since this road is a dead end. The person in the car had to pass the body of the child that he just hit. Hence why it is part of the legend that you must drive to the gate of the sewer plant and then turn around.

[1]

Alternative stories state that a truck leaving the factory at the end of the road hit the child after he ran into the street chasing his ball he just received on Christmas.

On Burnt Mill Road in Atco they say that under VERY specific circumstances, you can see the ghost of this boy playing in the street. The legend states that if you go to Burnt Mill Road in Atco NJ at midnight and park three telephone poles away from the opening in the fence of the sewer plant (where a crack splits the road from one side of the road to the other) and face the area in front of the house (approx the 500/600 "block") and honk your horn 3 times, blink your headlights 3 times and wait....and IF the conditions are right, you may just see a little ghostly boy run into the road chasing the ball in slow motion. Some say that if you turn off your car and walk about 20 feet away you might see the boy appear and look into the car to see if it was the one that killed him. There supposedly have been many eyewitness accounts attesting to this over the years, but many of the people telling the story state that they have not seen anything but...their cousin, brother, uncle, or whoever has seen the ghost of this boy.

[2]

Burnt Mill Road comes off of the Old White Horse Pike and leads to a sewer plant and then promptly fades into a dirt road (that used to be traveled by horse and wagon) and now only an ATV could traverse, finally ending into Fleming Pike near Sandy Causeway. There are many interesting sounding names in the Pine Barrens, here we have Swamp Road Wild Cat Branch and the Sleeper Branch. If you follow the various soft sanded roads you could find yourself on Rt 206, along the Mullica River or on your way to Batsto.

Google map of Burnt Mill Road, star marks location of The Atco Ghost

Atco, in the middle of the Pine Barrens...Atco Raceway [3]..people like to drive fast. Burnt Mill Road is a long straight road that cars can build speed and maybe inspired by any of the race movies of the time, people were testing their mettle along this road and set the process into motion to create the legend of the Atco Ghost.

Despite all that is contained within the legend of the Atco Ghost, there was never any record of a little boy being hit by a car (or truck) on Burnt Mill Road, and killed.

"The only ghost around here is Holy!" from the sign in front of the Atco Assembly of God [4]

For my personal experience with the Atco Ghost...in the late 90's a friend of mine familiar with the story and with the area took me to Atco one late night so we could try and experience the legend ourselves. We followed the rules and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited....but nothing happened.


Ghsthunter's video on Youtube
Uploaded on Oct 15, 2006

"On Friday the 13th 2006 I went in search of The Atco Ghost on Burnt Mill Rd in Atco NJ. I didnt realize I had caught it on film until I reviewed the tape. The ghost is a little boy that was hit by a car when he was crossing the street chasing after a ball."

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube

 Stills supposedly of The Atco Ghost from Ghsthunter's video on Youtube


In an interesting sidenote..when I was doing research for The Atco Ghost I was using Google Maps to track down the exact location of where you are supposed to perform the tasks to get the little ghost boy to appear....can you guess what the address is for the exact locations? ha



In the coming weeks we plan on going back and investigating further.

REFERENCES:
[1] Artist rendering of Acto Ghost boy
[2] Screenshot of the Atco Ghost location from Google Maps
[3] http://www.atcoraceway.com/
[4] http://www.atcoag.com/


(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)