Timesuck with Dan Cummins - Short Suck #1 - The Strange Tale of Lobster Boy

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

The first in what will hopefully be many Short Sucks! 45-60 minute stories delivered in a more traditional type of story-telling. No inside jokes and mythology to keep track of. Just some quick extra entertainment! This episode is all about the life of Grady Stiles, Jr. aka Lobster Boy, a "freak show" performer who truly was a monster. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ivyX-o9HbCAFor Merch and more, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Welcome to this first edition of Time Suck Short Sucks, 45 to 60-ish minutes, about one subject I find interesting. A little something extra for Time Suck fans, or something for the person who doesn't have time to listen to a three-hour episode or keep up with inside jokes and characters to go back years now. I'm hoping to release these twice a month, at least most months we'll see. The style of these will be a much more traditional form of storytelling, no announcements, no segments,

no complex show mythology or inside jokes that require you to hear many other episodes to understand them. But don't worry, I will keep that going for our Monday episodes. But for these, just entertaining information, about one subject delivered with some of my reactions to the story as it unfolds.

And today, I'll be sharing the story of Grady's style's junior, better known as lobster boy. Lobster boy proudly worked as a so-called freak for most of his life, presenting his unique physical appearance in front of paying crowd after paying crowd, many of who had bought a ticket hoping to see some sort of real life monster. Little did they know that Grady truly was a monster. Just not for the reasons they thought. Today's story is a tale of a man who would end up being both a murderer and a murder victim.

It's a story full of dysfunctional family drama like something out of a soap opera. Set against a backdrop. It'll be literal freak show full of characters with names such as, Midget Man, the human blockhead, the riddler, the fat man,

and more. Words and ideas can change the world. Hater, but I wanted to love my mother. I have a dream. I'll lead not guilty right now. Your only chance is to leave with us. It's no secret that I like a weird tale. In the very first episode of Time Sucker, I looked into conspiracy theorists, David Ike's belief

that a race of alien reptilian humanoids control the fate of humanity. I think most of us like a strange tale, a stranger the better. As long as it's not happening to us, of course, we're a naturally curious species who love to sit, safe and snug in our homes, and examine some insanity happening out there to the rest of the world. Grateful that our own private lives pale by comparison when it comes to the drama and misfortune of, you know, what we're listening to, who we're listening to. We love true crime, I think largely because it makes us feel better about our own lives. Sure, we have problems, but we didn't just get rape tortured, murdered by some sadistic,

sexual predator of a serial killer, right? Who are they for us? And very much in line with the same way of thinking we humans, team meets act have long been curious about the lives of people born with rare medical conditions that make day-to-day life a little more of a struggle than it is for the rest of us. The story features a cast of characters who had to deal with a level of crime, abuse, and misfortune. Most of us will be fortunate enough to avoid and also deal with physical abnormalities.

Most of us, again, will never have to deal with. We here in 2024 are far from the first people to be morbidly curious about characters like the ones we'll meet today. For roughly a full century, side shows commonly called freak shows were a very popular part of American entertainment and thus American life. According to the Disability Social History Project, the freak show was among America's

most popular entertainment options for 100 years, give or take a few years, from about 1840 to around 1940. By 1940, economic hard times competition from other forms of entertainment, the medicalization and normalization of human differences, and where people feel like it might be a bit cringe to pay to gocket people with crippling medical conditions paraded around in virtual human zoos, resulted in a serious decline in the number and popularity of freak shows. Although they continue to travel around the nation, or be based in one location like

Venice Beach, California, right up until the present. But for over 100 years, they reign supreme, a very common thing to do. Let's take the family out, buy some tickets to see some freaks traveling through town. Hopefully, most of them weren't total assholes and kept their finger pointing and laughing down to a minimum. One of the main people responsible

for arranging and popularizing these shows was someone we've already talked about here on TimeSuck, PT Barnum. In his first foray into show business in 1835, he brought an elderly, frail and blind slave named Joyce Hearth around to town after town claiming that she was around 161 years old and had been George Washington's nurse. He took her on tour and charged a few cents for people to meet her and a lot of people paid, and those pennies added up. And not topsy when she died a year later revealed that the act was a sham. She was likely no older than

80. Barnum didn't care about this revelation. He'd already gotten a lot of people's money and he had plans to get a lot more. In 1884, excuse me, 1844, Barnum got all kinds of media attention when he took the dwarf Charles Sherwood Stratton, aka General Tom Thumb to Buckingham Palace to be presented to Queen Victoria. The Queen loved him. Thumb Thumb had already become one of the most famous entertainers in the world and continue to be for many years, and he made a lot of money. He'd become fabulously wealthy. He'd own a fancy home in New York City and a yacht before he died. And he would help popularize freak shows tremendously. When Barnum went into business with James Bailey in 1881, the greatest show on earth was

born. And the freak show became one of its most iconic elements. These freak shows tended to follow a specific template. There were four types of human abnormalities, usually on display. First up would be so-called natural freaks, like our lobster boy. People born with a physical or mental abnormality, such as dwarfs, pinheads, aka people suffering from microcephaly, bearded ladies, fell into this category as well. Then there were self-made freaks who cultivated Freakdom like heavily tattooed people or people who became incredibly overweight. There were also novelty artists who were considered

freaks for their freakish performances such as snake charmers, mesmerists, hypnotists, swords wallowers and fire eaters. And finally, there was a broad category of non-western freaks who were promoted as exotic curiosities, like so-called savages and cannibals usually promoted as being from deep within the jungles of Africa. How did all these people fall under the freak label for so long? As Robert Bogdann, a professor emeritus of Cultural Foundations of Education and Sociology at Syracuse University who has published and lectured widely on the problems treatment

and education of the handicapped notes in his book freak show How we view people who are different has less to do with what they are physiologically Then with who we are culturally Freak is a way of thinking of presenting a set of practices and institution not a characteristic of an individual Bogdan believes that freaks are not born but manufactured by the amusement world, usually with the active participation of the freaks themselves, allowing them to have some modicum of financial independence and personal agency in a world that didn't otherwise make that

available to them. Thus the freak show stands in American culture as a double edged sword. Both something that enabled the freaks to have a place in society, autonomy otherwise out of reach for them and the ability to not just sustain themselves, but in some cases become wealthy and something that also simultaneously othered and ostracized them. Star of today's show would actually benefit greatly from being othered due to his physical limitations and thanks to the life he had led as a so-called freak, both the jury and the justice system that gathered that jury, whatever hard time punishing a man who really was a monster, they would pity him instead of, instead of holding him to the same

standards of justice as the rest of us. Grady Styles Jr. the lobster boy. With pincer-like hands and flipper-like legs, he was quite literally born into the freak show on June 26, 1937. His father had the exact same condition. And by the time of his son's birth, Grady's style senior had been working in the carnival circuit freak shows for years. And now he'd soon be working

with his new co-star, Baby Boy. Ladies and gentlemen, I am Grady Styles, the Lobs for Man. The senior styles would say it shows holding his claws up proudly. I am a product of a genetic condition, which is run in the styles family since 1840. In scientific circles, it is known as Ectrodactally. Ectrodactally is a genetic condition affecting one in 90,000 at birth, a baby is born with the absence of the third digit and the fusing together with the remaining fingers and toes into claws. Sometimes it affects all four limbs, sometimes two.

In my case, as you can see, I have normal legs. Once the gene has latched on to a family every child born has a 50-50 chance of getting the condition, which is also known as lobster claw syndrome. Those 50-50 chances manifested themselves in Grady Jr.'s family. Young Grady's elder sister Margaret would avoid this fate. She was born with conventional hands and feet, but she'd also died a much younger age than her other two siblings. She'd suffer a fatal cerebral brain hemorrhage at the age 18 just weeks before she was supposed to get married. The middle child Sarah, born with lobster claw syndrome, but it only affected one of her hands and one of her feet.

She later had one foot amputated and then would wear an artificial one. Grady Jr. to his father's great delight had the most pronounced version of the syndrome with both legs and both arms severely stunted and deformed. Some people thought that the only reason Grady Senior had three kids was because the first two didn't have the unconventional appendages. He badly wanted to incorporate into a new family freak show act. So a freak exploiting his own genetic lineage so he could work with a related freak.

Grady Junior would spend the first years of his childhood in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, waiting for his dad to feel like he was ready to go out on the road with him. Pittsburgh was the perfect place to grow up for young lobster boy since for well over a century. It had the highest percentage of ugly people in America, judging by any accepted scale of beauty, according to census data, between 65 and 88% of all Pittsburgh residents have been deemed every 10 years as part of the US Census data gathering as either being ugly or fugly going back to 1870. Having been to Pittsburgh a few times over the years now, I can attest to this being true back in 2008, even though I don't have pretty average looks nationally. I was voted as the sixth most attractive person to spend time in Pittsburgh that year. One place ahead of Dustin Diamond, aka Screech from Saved

by the Bell, and one place behind Dennis Haskins, aka Principal Beldy, also from Saved by the Bell. In Pittsburgh, no one's going to care if you have lobster hands or not. I mean, they won't even notice. And of course, I'm being ridiculous. People in Pittsburgh look like people from any worlds. Grady, Jr. Spent a being ridiculous. People in Pittsburgh look like people from anywhere else. Great junior. Spent a part of his childhood in Pittsburgh because he had a lot of family there. Lobster man was always out on the road, which meant that there were a few people

to protect lobster boy when the neighborhood kids jeered and pointed at his deformities. And this would lead to lobster boy learning how to fight, perhaps too well, learning how to be violent. But then his family would move to a carny's paradise gibsonton floor into a gibson ton Florida aka gib town aka carny town when he was six or seven. Small town along the coast in the Tampa Bay area gibsonton had become a winter haven for circus performers. The International Independent Showman's Association had based itself there. By the time

Grady senior and his clan moved there, the town had a thriving population of dwarfs, bearded ladies, human blockheads, magicians, fire eaters, swords, swallow, which clowns, exotic new dancers, and the real backbone of the carnival, the roused abouts. The workers who did everything from setting up to decamping, Gibson Tim was one of the few places in the country with zoning to accommodate keeping circus animals on residential property. The post office there, first in the nation, have a low set counter built specifically

for little people. Real estate was cheap and floored in those days and from his carnival wages, Grady Senior was able to buy a house on Marconi Street in the Paul Metal Beach area across the bay from Gibtown proper, but at that time still very much part of the Carnie town community. It was a place where people were used to much part of the carny town community. It was a place where people were used to seeing others of unusual heights and body types. A place where if you're one of those people,

you could live and blend in and be got dead and mocked far less than anywhere else in the country. 1944 Grady's senior settles his family for good in their new floor to home, and now young Grady, then seven, would spend part of the year there. The rest of the year, he would now be traveling. He is now part of the family business.

Fortunate his son to quit school before he'd even made it to third grade, Grady senior brought the boy from small town to small town across the continent, where crowds gathered to view his new show, no longer just a lobster man, but the lobster family. Style signed on with the LaRoube brothers, and we're putting a 10-in-one show that featured 10 freecacs under one tent, all for the same price. The lobster family quickly established themselves as the show's star attraction. For nearly half a century going forward, lobster boy would travel from town to town on the Carnival Circuit, hoisting himself atop one cushion platform out for another, often in a swelteringly hot tent to showcase his unique physical appearance to one crowd

after another. Since he couldn't walk, he got around using either a wheelchair or a modified cane, or he would simply drag himself along the floor with the immense upper body strength that had adapted to his condition. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I am the lobster boy. He would announce this condition is not caused by drugs or disease, it runs in the family. Now it's his way of establishing that he was a natural born

freak, consider the most esteemed rather than a made freak like somebody who adorned their body with tattoos. He would display how strong his body became to compensate for his disability, he would crush various items in his quote clause, years of crawling around on these clause, of supporting his entire body weight on these appendages, made them shockingly strong. He'd gradually learn how to use his clause to do nearly everything that anybody else could, with their hands, from simple tasks like washing himself to more complex ones, like writing, and later firing a gun.

Even without a gun, he was powerful enough to inflict a lot of pain. If a drunken spectator, for example, crossed the line at his show once he'd become a grown man and tried to manhandle him, Grady might just slap the agitator and slap him hard, hard enough to knock them to the ground. Some of those hit by one of his claws said it felt like being hit with a board. Before they could stand back up, he'd scuttle over, do something like headbuttum in the stomach, not going to wind out of them. Then, Grady would pounce. He placed his powerful claws around his target's throat as he sat on their chest, squeezed hard enough to make it clear that if they wanted to fuck with somebody, they should fuck with somebody

else. Not going to lie. If I would have bought a ticket to one of his shows, him having to put someone in their place like that, that'd probably be the show I'd want to see. When not touring in the winter, he would return to Gibtown and spend time with his mom and sister, and he'd drink. As he grew into adulthood, he started to drink a lot. He would favor Seagrum Seven. By the 1950s, Grady Senior and his son had grown tired of working for someone else and struck out on their own.

In 1954, at the age of 17, Grady married a young woman named Deborah Brady, a nearby Tampa, Florida. Marriage didn't work out for unknown reasons. And they separated after a year and divorced after that, having no children together. Soon young Grady was back up on the road, on the platform with the carnival. I and more girls looking for another to make his own. And he'd find her. Mary Teresa Herzog born April 23rd 1938, not quite a year younger than Grady. She grew up in a small town of Vermont, what she would remember most from her childhood

later was the cold, both physical and emotional. Her mother Jean and her father Harvey didn't get along and when she was six they divorced. Her mom then married a real piece of work, Frank Tyler. And her new dirt bag stepdad would sexually abuse her for years. For young Mary running off and joining the circus or the carnival, the freak show, became the dream she would return to over and over as she continually fantasized about escaping her miserable life. A little carnival would swing through town once a year and whenever it did. Once she was in her teens, Mary Teresa would help them sell tickets. And then one day, 1956, when she was now 18,

free to legally leave her family, that's what she did. She joined the carnival in abandoned small town knowing the life forever. Sadly, at first, her new life would become even more miserable than her old one. She quickly fell in love and married a carnival with a heavy equipment operator and real dickhead named Jerry Plummer. It would not be a happy marriage. Jerry was no better than her stepdad. It's probably worse. He regularly punched her, punched her so hard he would knock out

some of her teeth. He abused her in other ways as well. One ninety through a pot of hot coffee on her and burned her. When she got pregnant, he threw it down the stairs, and then abandoned her. Mary didn't lose the baby, and she kept working to the carnival, now as a single mom supporting her daughter, Deborah. Then on a warm May day in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1959, she met some new performers from another carnival. And one of them was lobster boy. Gradient as father were now being built as the lobster family fourth and fifth generation of freaks. They worked for Stan Wright and Jimmy Steinmeet's World of Murth Carnival that continually toured the lower 48 states. Mary Teresa was working as a blade box girl when she met lobster boy.

A performer who enters a box that pretends to be stabbed by swords from a multitude of different angles. The two quickly became a couple. Grady made Mary Teresa feel valued, loved, accepted. All the things she had never felt for anyone else before. And soon Mary went to go live with lobster boy down in Gibtown. During the off season, Mary Teresa took a job

at a nearby shrimp factory to help make ends meet. Grady was making money touring and the two were pulling it off. They were happy. And soon they'd start a family and it will quickly lead to tragedy. Their first child is a little girl they named Margaret and sadly little Margaret died after just 26 days. Their second child was a boy, David, didn't fare much better. He died after only 28 days of life.

Around the time of David's death, the family encountered another problem. Grady senior became ill. In 1961, he quit showbiz for good and moved back to Pittsburgh. He'd lived there until he died in 1988 at the age of 76. Theresa would later recall that now Grady junior's drinking started to increase due to the stress of he and his father's touring act coming to an end. The lobster boy was now a solo act. He and Tresa, married Tresa, opened up a single low in Tampa in the off season, single low being Carnival slang for a show featuring just one act, which of course was Grady on the platform. During the season they would travel 1963, their third child Donna Marie would be born and survived.

A healthy little girl who made it out of infancy. She was also born with standard model arms and legs Strangely her being a healthy baby and surviving seemed to upset Grady more than the deaths of his previous two children Seemed like he was mad that she wasn't born with the same physical condition he had Right after Donna's birth Grady's drinking increase in volume and frequency He was drinking whiskey like a lot of men drank beer He'd stay out late at night drinking liquor playing cards with carnival buddies. Sometimes he go on drinking benches and be away from home for several days at a time. When he did come home, he could often be found passed out in the living room floor.

Sometimes he'd even throw up, then sleep in his own vomit. Debra, Mary Teresa's first child in Donna, will later recall having to step over their dads past out body on their way out of the house to head to school. Despite lobster boys behavior, the family would welcome another child, Catherine, who'd become known as Kathy, in 1969. And she was born with the exact same deformity as her father. She would have to grow up with both lobster claws and stunted legs that ended just below the knees. And lobster boy rejoiced. Like his dad before him, he now began to envision a family free

cat somewhere around Kathy's birth, the style's family bought their own place at Giptown at 111-117 Inglewood Drive. Along wide dark brown aluminum trailer set on a concrete slab with a room addition on the east side that opened onto the street. They'll live here for years when they weren't touring, which they did do most of the year because of their atypical life. None of their kids will grow up with a conventional education. Despite now having many of the hallmarks of conventional success, a wife, three kids, a steady career, Grady seemingly full of never ending rage. His hard drinking continued. Most days he's getting up at 11 or noon, starting his day off with what he called the glass of tea,

which was whiskey, straight whiskey. After a few more glasses of tea, he take off in his wheelchair towards Harry's bar, a local watering hole, and that was actually great at his best. At his worst, he was a whirlwind of violence. His claws frequently shooting out to smack his wife and kids. Donna, his quote, normal child, was the kid he beat the most. But no one got beat as often as her mom, Mary Teresa. Grady would use his upper body strength to violently throw himself out of his wheelchair, onto the floor.

Then, like some time out of a horror movie, hit scurry across the floor surprisingly fast, uses claw-like fingers as dangerous weapons to pinch, hit, choke, and slam his wife around. By 1973, Mary Theresa had finally had enough of this shit. Final straw came when Grady sexually assaulted her in a pretty disturbing manner, used one of his claws to grotesquely remove a birth control device from inside of her. They're got. Shortly thereafter, she gathered her kids a few suitcases and then called Midgetman to the rescue. Seriously, that's literally who she called. Harry Glen Newman, aka Midgetman. Before learning more about Midgetman, time for today's midshow sponsor break.

And I'm back. If you don't want to hear ads, you can join our Patreon, become a space lizard, and get the entire catalog including all of these short sucks going forward ad-free. Now back to Media Midjaman, AKA Harry Glenn Newman.

Harry was actually a welder by trade, but due to his height, he stood just a little over three feet tall. Harry stood closer to the material he was working on, than full-size welders, and consequently, he would inhale more of the fine metal filings he would shave off with his blowtorch, and because of that he'd started developing respiratory problems. Rather than keep risking his health, he joined a freak show where he would be billed as the world's smallest man. He'd come to know and admire Mary Teresa,

and they became close friends. And when Mary Teresa called him up about lobster boy's abuse, he gladly gave her a shoulder to cry on and gave her a little bit more. Because now they were romantically involved. Now the entire family, minus of course, lobster boy, would leave for Ohio with Midgetman and moving with Glenn's mother. And for nearly the first time ever, Mary Teresa really experiences some peace. They get a puppy, she and the kids play around with out fear and being abused by some drunken asshole.

You know, life felt nice and light, but lobster boy would make sure to soon ruin all that. Without Mary Teresa's knowledge, Grady had filed for divorce. And since she had not shown up to any of the proceedings, because she didn't know about them, the court awarded him full custody of the kids. Legally, the kids were now forced to move to Pittsburgh to live with their dad, who left Florida to go live by his dad and other family. By the time the kids got there, Grady already had another woman, Barbara Browning-Luceel, living with him in his apartment.

And when his divorce finalized, they married. Debra, the eldest child, and not Grady's biological daughter, didn't stay with Grady long instead moved out on her own. Then Donna, the oldest child, Grady and Mary had together, took over the responsibility of essentially raising her little sister Kathy and also Barbara's daughter, Susie. Soon Barbara was pregnant with another child. Grady's styles the third was born July 26, 1976, and he also had his father's lobster claws and truncated legs.

And again, lobster boy rejoiced. Plans for a family freak act expanded. Meanwhile Mary Teresa continues to live with Midjeman, Harry Glenn Newman. He establishes a tire business and soon they have a child together. Harry Glenn Newman Jr. Who will go by Glynnie? Mary Teresa desperately missed her other children but Grady would not let her speak to them. She keeps calling, and he keeps telling her to go fuck off. But then one year, around Christmas, and either 1976 or 1977, lobster boy surprises Mary Teresa. He seems a lot nicer

all of a sudden, and he invites her to come over and see her kids. Overjoyed, she's soon driving over to Pennsylvania, along with Glenn and and Glenny But then when the three of them get to the Pittsburgh apartment the kids aren't there only lobster boy is And he's holding a loaded gun He pulls out a revolver shortly after they walk in and shut the door and moments after that the back door opens and the fat man walks in Seriously, that was that guy's working name the fat man This roughly 600 pound man's birth name was Paul Fishball and he worked as a freak show Fat Man and was currently one of Grady's employees and the Fat Man is carrying a shotgun. What a fucking scene. In a Pittsburgh apartment, there

was a moment in history where an armed lobster boy and Fat Man are sitting and standing across the living room from an unarmed midget man, his son and lobster boy's ex-wife. Grady now orders Mary Teresa to come sit next to him. Then as her husband and baby son look on, he proceeds to beat the shit out of her. When he's done, literally slapping her around with his fucking claws, he lets her and her family leave with the warning. Quote, don't bother me anymore, or next time I'm gonna kill you Glenn and your son. This guy is deadly starting to seem less like a real living person and more like a comic book villain.

On April 28th, 1978, Donna styles now turns 15 is making a plan to escape her father. And early September, she runs away from home and goes to live with her 18 year old boyfriend, Mr. Potatohead. Mr. Potatohead suffered from a rare genetic condition, thought to only affect around one in over two billion people. It's so rare, they don't even really know how common it is. His body, totally normal. His mind functions normally. But his head was almost 10 times as big as a normal person's head, massive head. It was a normal size brain inside of it,

just a very, very thick skull and a lot of extra fluid. He actually had to wear a neck brace to keep his huge head from snapping his spine. Keeping his balance, as you can and a lot of extra fluid. He actually had to wear a neck brace to keep his huge head from snapping his spine. Keeping his balance, as you can imagine, was a constant problem. So he was always weabling a wobbling all over the place. Mr. Potato had real name Gregory Leno,

rounded up a few of his friends to help Donna leave the house, the human spider and chain mail. The human spider, aka Sheila Jackson, had two extra arms and two extra legs full sized, had adapted to be able to literally crawl around like a fucking spider. Chainmail had a rare skin condition, some amplified version of Ictiosis, or his skin in early adulthood began to harden and turn gray, looking a lot like Chainmail. It was supposedly bulletproof, which is pretty cool because it was, you know, stick and stiff,

and he had trouble moving around, which, you know, was not cool. Anyway, for the carnival act and sometimes in regular life, he would ride the human spider like she was some kind of creepy horse and the two of them together would make for quite an intimidating sight. She could still move very quickly, even when carrying chainmail, who was also known to wield a crossbow

with flaming arrows and then just yell shit from time to time like Behold it is I chain mail riding the top my wall Steve the spider Pray to your god if you must but it will not help you I Fight for the devil himself and all of hell ride close behind me Is everyone now where I took a hard left turn away from the actual facts of the story when I mentioned Mr. Potato Head? Also, I maybe didn't pick the best battle music there. Back in the road of the real story now.

There was no Mr. Potato Head or Chainmail or Spider Person. An early September of 1978, 15-year-old Donna Styles has run away with lobster boys, you know, from lobster boys home. To go live with her 18 year old boyfriend Jack Lane, Jr Not a carny normal size head She met Jack in a public park and Jack now took her to his sister Jenny Lane's house in the Brighton Heights section of Pittsburgh Few days later Donna calls Grady and turns down his furious demands for her to come back home The coke's in and leaving her alone. She told him she was pregnant, which wasn't true. In fact, she was still a virgin.

She just hoped this lie might let her stay with Jack. She begged her dad to let them get married. And then suddenly, after resisting for a while, he act like everything was okay. It seemed really nice. It's all just swing by the house. He'd help the two get married. Does this sound familiar?

Do you trust Lobster Boy? Grady got very quiet on the phone and gently told her, since you've already been with him, I'll sign the papers. Don and I'll set September 28th as her and Jack's wedding date. Nothing fancy, just a few family and friends for a casual celebration. Let her approval from her father, student hand, Don and Jack went to the county clerk's office

where on September 20th, they applied for their marriage license. Right, yay! On the 27th, they applied for their marriage license, right? Yay! On the 27th, they got their blood tests, proven they were not related. Their marriage was official, and they walked over to the barber shop so Jack could get a haircut for a little wedding ceremony they were planning.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Grady is at a local dive bar, throwing back a dozen whiskey doubles in short order, and that's a lot of whiskey. Grady, drunk and angry, leaves the bar in his wheelchair, gets home just as Jack, Donna, Barbara, and Little Grady, the third are about to all head out. So Donna can buy some food for the wedding reception.

By 730, they'd return to home. Donna, Barbara, Jack, Little Grady, go inside, noting the Grady's wheelchair is nowhere to be found. When they ask him about it, Grady says, oh, man, somebody must have stole it. Could they go look around for it? You know, actually, could everyone accept Jack? Look around.

Lobsterboy wanted to have a little, little man-to-man chat with his new son-in-law. Donna and Barbara were halfway down the block when they heard a bang. They turn around and see Jack bolt out of the house, holding his chest, where blood's already starting to stain his shirt. And he gasp, he shot me. Jack is rushed to the hospital where unfortunately he'll die on arrival. As Donna screamed at her father at the hospital, Grady flashed her an evil grin and said,

I told you I would kill him. Lobster boy truly, looking like a comic with villain. Grady's arrested. Quickly will be put on trial. He seems strange. He calm as the officer's process him. Over the next few days of police interrogations, Grady will repeat his story with a flat affect,

not even bothering to deny he'd committed a murder. He never expressed remorse or indeed any emotion for killing Jack. The police also interviewed Mary Teresa, his children, and extended family in an attempt to figure out how this happened. This meant asking Grady about his family life, too. He was predictably still flat. Only when it came to discussing his sex life, his voice take on a new vigor. At one point he said quote, everyone I have sex with wants to have sex with my claws. They love it when I use my claws. I imagine he said that

in a more like this kind of manner Ladies and gentlemen, but actually just ladies come experience the pleasure that only loves to boy can't provide See why everyone I have sex with wants to have sex with my claws See why they say they love it when I use my claws Can your man claw fuck you? Can he flip a fl fucking well? Experience true freakish ecstasy with the lobster boy, the lover! I don't know, okay, anyway. Sorry. Sorry. Can I crack myself with how nonsense could that was?

I picture him ending that little speech with a few aggressive sexual hip thrusts. Also, you're snapping his claws open and shut. Giving a couple of hard like, you feel me, Winks? Similar to investigators that Grady took a lot of pride and being able to have a sexual relationship with a variety of quote, normal women. As you brag about having sex with one of Donas teachers with the officers, the prosecutor, Robert Vincler,

began interviewing Mary Theresa, uncovering years and years of Grady's abuse. When it came time to address the court, there was no doubt in Vincler, began interviewing Mary Teresa, uncovering years and years of Grady's abuse. When it came time to address the court, there was no doubt in Vincler's mind that Grady was a cold-blooded first-degree murderer. But Grady's attorney, Tony DeCelo, spun a tail in which Jack Lane had been a bully to lobster boy. He hadn't been, but that's a lie Tony would tell. He said Jack taunted, threatened lobster boy to the point where he felt he was in grave

danger. And Jack then lured his precious innocent daughter away from him to abuse and corrupt her as well. What was the loving protected disabled father to do? To save his daughter and himself. Grady felt he had no choice. He had to commit murder. Despite Donna's testimony, the gravy had actually threatened her, her mother and Jack was violence over and over again for a long time. The seller was still able to sell this bullshit story to the jury. How? Why would they buy this?

When everybody else is saying that this is not true. Well, they felt sorry for Grady, who's based on Grady's appearance. Who would believe that a physically disabled man could commit such a crime, would commit such a crime, unless he had been bullied and terrified. A weak, fragile man brought into the courthouse and a van with a hydraulic lift. If Grady drank too much, smoke too much. If he had a pengen for being violent sometimes, well, it was only because the world had been so cruel to this poor freak. The cello even got Barbara's style to testify that Grady had purchased the gun he used to murder Jack at her request. After she began receiving

obscene and threatening phone calls from Jack, more bullshit, bunch of perjury she's lying for him. He also put the fat man on the stand. Paul Fishball, lobster boy, 600 pound henchmen, he testified to Grady's good, upstanding moral character. And then two more, quote unquote freaks would testify on Grady's behalf. Finally, was Grady's turn to take the witness stand, the man who had been performing all his life, put on a show for the ages. He said it a meek defeated timid way. He's not a breath when he gets himself up on the stand.

He acts like every movement to struggle, talk about how Jack had bragged about how he'd gotten Donna and started to approach Grady threateningly because of his disability. Grady said he didn't even see Jack when he pulled the trigger. He just fired the gun to scare away this cruel bully. Please leave me my precious daughter alone. It was an accident.

After hearing all this, the jury would find Grady's style is guilty, but not guilty of first or even second degree murder. They found him guilty of the much lesser charge of third degree murder to find as an intentional killing that lacks a prior intent to kill and is committed in circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become mentally or emotionally disturbed. Only a handful of states even have third degree murder charges anymore. The current equivalent is voluntary manslaughter, which is a type of homicide that involves intentionally killing someone without premeditation, deliberation, or malice afterthought. It's often seen

in cases of heat of passion crimes or imperfect self-defense. So almost justified killing is what he's charged with. Then catched another break, as sentencing approach, Judge Harper received a letter from Western penitentiary that said that they didn't want grady in their system because he would need to guard with him at all times and that would be too costly. Also, it seemed to many to be just too cruel to incarcerate a man who was so handicapped. So lobster boy fooled him.

He was not nearly as handicapped as he let on. So after committing cold blood, it premeditated murder. After killing his daughter's brand spanking new husband, as they're getting married, Grady Styles gets nothing more than 15 years of probation. Didn't even have to pay his defense attorney to sell out his $14,000 of trial fee. Following his travesty of justice,

Grady and Mary Teresa's daughter, Donna and Kathy, will now live with their mom, Mijima and Glenn, and Glenny. Imagine being Donna. Your dad straight up murders your new husband. Almost in front of you. You watch him die, and dad, the same dad who had physically abused you for years, doesn't even spend a night in jail. At the time, Midget Man is working for a man

named Ward Hall. Seriously, there was a famous carnival entrepreneur named Ward Hall. I feel like I might have mentioned him in a previous suck since he has a same name as my grandpa Pop-Award. And he was born just two years earlier than Pop-Award. This Ward Hall was born in Trenton, Nebraska in 1930, known for decades as the King of side shows, considered by some to be a successor to PT Barnum. He died in 2018 at the age of 88. He was known for his world of wonders side show,

where he would pitch magic tricks against oddities or and other oddities, and he let a campaign against an old 1921 floor to statute that banned the exhibition of disfigured humans. At some point in the early 1980s, Glenn's other business his tire company failed. And then one day during a welding job, he did return to do a bit of welding in the off season. He fell 15 feet to the ground and hurt his back. Only job he could do now to pay the bills was to tour. So he signs up with Ward Hall. There's

a hard scrap of life like any seasonal trade. At some point, the family moves to Smock, Pennsylvania, a little census designated place, about an hour's drive from Philly. And here, Midget Man would manage to pay the family's bills but barely. And Mary Theresa not happy. When she's tired of her life, she's tired of everything. She trapped in the same old life she had tried to escape, caring for a disabled man, selling carnival tickets and living on the road most of the year Yes, midjamaan was not abusive, but she also wasn't happy and she starts to think about leaving midjamaan, but where would she go? She starts talking to someone behind her husband's back her daughter Donna is furious

When she learns that her mom is talking again the fucking lobster boy Yeah, I bet she's mad. She's chatting up with a guy who murdered her daughter's husband. Mary Teresa believed the Grady was different now. He was changed. She had said he got in sober and he believed her. He promised to send her money to help with the kids. He made good on that promise and now they start talking more often.

This is a terrible decision. Then in the late 80s, Mary Teresa leaves Midgetman. Family moves again to Okit Chobie in Central Florida. Grady Meanwhile gets divorced from Barbara relocates back to Gibtown, only two and a half hour drive from Okie Chobie. And now with both lobster boy and his wife living in Florida, the two start dating again. What the fuck, Mary Teresa? Her man picker, so broken.

Thanks, deadbeat dad, I'm sexually abusive stepdad. Grady starts showing up at Mary's house now where he's nice to everybody, including Midgetman, son, Glenny, the kid he threatened to kill earlier. He's showering the family with gifts soon, the two are back together full time. The re-Mary, Mary moves back down with the kids to Gibtown, you know, and she and lobster boy are together again. Now Grady hatches a new plan. He wants his reunited family to help put on a one in 10 show 10 freaks for one admission ticket.

Is that what he was really after when he started to pursue Mary again, right? Just to wait and make more money. His new show will star, of course, him is lobster boy and Grady, the third in Kathy as his lobster kits. Also features his new steps on Gleiny as a human blockhead. A performer whose main gig is to drive nails and ice picks up their nose with a hammer. Sounds fucking terrible. By January of 1989, the show is full of a, you know, the show full of a preposterously

dysfunctional family is up and running. Even Donna and her new husband Joe will be a part of it. They've reconciled. Lobster boy had given Donna her his blessing and a thick water of cash as a wedding present. How the hell are these two even talking again, right? What a weird thing to hear. Here's here's some money for your wedding. I'm not gonna kill your husband this time. I promise. Had a great change with lobster boy no longer a comic book villain. Now, of course, he'd not changed. You know the same. A human lobster never

changes the stripes or claws or whatever. Shortly after this brief honeymoon period, Grady falls back off the wagon. Soon he spent most of his time drinking seagrams and coke in his armchair while the TV buzzes in the background. He's back to beat and the shit out of Mary Teresa again. One night in the summer of 1991, he pulled her hair so hard, she thought he was going to break her neck. Then he pushed her down, pressed one of his claws under her throat, just under her jawbone, kept pressing and pressing, she couldn't breathe, her face grew red, as she struggled, then she started to pass out. And that's when he let go of her. Mary Theresa knew he wanted to kill her. He just hadn't, she reasoned because he'd have a hard time finding somebody else to take care of him. She wants to leave again, but she wonders where will she go? What will she do? She's 53, and she reasoned because he'd have a hard time finding somebody else to take care of him. She wants to leave again, but she wonders, where will she go?

What will she do? She's 53 years old now. Has no real savings, no retirement. I spent most of her life working in side shows, a business that's been dwindling for decades. So she stays. As 1991 passes into 1992, the family plods on in their highly dysfunctional state, Grady doing occasional carnival work to barely pay the bills. In April of 92, Grady, now 54, takes off for the road again with the whole family.

By this time, most of the others who used their physical appearance and either aged out or retired, the few who remained were relabeled physically challenged by reformers who urged the public to stay away from these side shows. They had deemed exploitive. Grady wasn't gonna let that stop him. He kept it all going. He and Donna and Joe, yes, he's working with Donna now. She and her husband are running the gorilla illusion

where a girl seems to mysteriously turn into a gorilla before the audience's eyes. Casting her husband, Tyrell, run an animal audities exhibit, and Grady runs the 10 and one where the lobster boys start attraction. Gleiny advertises the human blockhead all working with lobster boy and also by 1992 they all fucking despise lobster boy. Wall on the road in 92, Kathy and Mary have their first conversation about killing Grady. They've talked about how much money they'll need to save up by skimming

off the top of the family freak shows profits to hire a hitman. They've talked about how much money they'll need to save up by skimming off the top of the family freak shows profits to hire a hitman. They've had enough There's sick of the abuse sick of the touring sick of gradian general That I mentioned a greatie had even beaten his daughter Kathy while she was pregnant Beat her enough to send her into an emergency C-section Yes, that has recently happened lobster boy truly a monster. So who's gonna kill him? Mary Teresa asked her neighbor side show worker named worker named Marco Eno, who helped with the gorilla illusion. He was the gorilla.

But he thought she was kidding. So now she asked her son, Glynnie, to arrange it. And Glynnie has somebody in mind. A 17 year old kid from the area lives just down the block. Chris Wyatt. Though only 5'9", and 135 pounds, and wet. Chris has a long juvenile record and had already been bragging to friends and acquaintances that he killed several people and drive by shootings.

Glynnie and Chris haggle about the price for a while, then Chris decides to do it, he'll kill lobster boy, and how much will he be paid? Would he care to guess? $300. This dude was a lot better at murder, but he was at business. Now, she wasn't very good at murder.

On the night of November 29th, 1992, the side door of the trailer opened, spilling light out onto the ground. Mary Teresa pops out of her home, followed by her teenage son, Glynnie. See in a few minutes, Teresa yells back to Grady and the shadows Chris Wyatt watches them leave. We're in a black leather jacket with a raiders hat turned around backwards. Black Nike tennis shoes, a black and white IOU T-shirt and blue jeans. He waits a few moments and then heads inside. Sneaks past the kitchen, steps into the living room, and then grady spots him. Don't you think you can destroy a lobster boy and him fat man protect all loves to God. Now that doesn't happen. He doesn't say that. But he does yell, you know, throughout the trailer, demanding that Chris get out.

Couple of moments later, Marco Eno, who's lounging in his neighborhood trailer, wearing his fucking gorilla suit for some reason, heard what sounded like four gunshots and rapid succession. The human gorilla, the human gorilla now runs outside to see what's happened. Moment later, young man and dark jacket, who Marco did not recognize, sontered out the side door of lobster boys brown trailer like nothing happened, disappears into the night. Right? Who is that? Let's go on on. Gleny meanwhile, here's the shots, runs out of the, uh, Kathy's trailer in the back of the lot. He immediately runs into Mark Eno as Mary Theresa caught up with him. Kathy, Tiro, follow. Gleini said he'll check it out. He walks into the living room to

see Grady, slumped over in his favorite armchair, dressed in only his underwear, and bleeding copiously from numerous bullet wounds to the top of his bald head. And he smiled. The deed was done. The monster of lobster boy was dead. Soon the trailer park would be a mess of detectives and roving blue and red lights. Whole family is brought in for questioning. Almost immediately, Glenny, human blockhead, confesses. He was a lot better pounding nails into his nose than he was at keeping secrets.

Mary Teresa would almost immediately confirm his story, adding that her husband was terribly abusive of true monster when he drank. Chris Wyatt quickly arrested. Apparently his clothing had been so distinctive that those who saw him leave the trailer park immediately identified him. These guys are real bad if you're getting away with this assassination. November 30th, 1992, Mary Teresa Stiles is charged with first degree murder. A second charge of conspiracy to commit murder was later added.

Galenny will be indicted on the same charges as Chris Wyent will be as well. All of these crimes carried the possibility of the death penalty, but prosecutors decide not to seek it against any of them. The judge will be Judge Barbara Fleischer. Each defendant has separate counsel, although they'll all be tried at the same time. Arnie Levine, a respected criminal defense attorney, will defend Mary Teresa and his defense is simple battered wife syndrome It had never been tried in Florida as a defense any murder for higher plot, but Arnie thought they could pull it off The first trial of all three defendants begins and ends quickly in July of 93 when detective Michael will let inadvertently blurt Sound on the stand that glenny Newman had failed a lie detector test

Judge Fleischer glared at the homicide detective who sat like a deflated balloon in the witness box. Since polygraph results could not be admitted as evidence in court of law, the judge was forced to rule a mistrial. Judge Fleischer subsequently decided that the defendant should be tried separately. And Maria Mary Teresa Styles will be tried first. Her new trial scheduled to begin November 1, 1993. Chris Weinstein's trial begins January 18, 1994.

The trial will be quick, with closing arguments presented the next day at 2 o'clock. The jury will debate until 10.38 pm. They'll find Chris guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, as well as murder in the second degree with the firearm, and he'll be sentenced to 27 years in prison. What about Mary Teresa? By late May of 94, she still didn't have a trial date. She was not tried first, after all, thanks to a bunch of debate between the prosecution

and defense over what should be allowed as evidence in the trial. Sikka Wade-in-Lavine, who without the other side will be forced to let him have an expert on battered wife syndrome testify, puts an emotion out for a speedy trial, and that backfires. Judge Fleischer who had a reputation for being kind to abused women and children had a

full calendar. Now the case will be given to Judge M. William Graybill, nicknamed the Riddler for the complicated way he ran his courtroom. Of course the Riddler will show up in lobster boy's murder trial, right? Waiting for fucking Batman to make a cameo. Making matters worse, historically Graybill and Arnie Levine didn't like each other. Now the Riddler orders that before they could even discuss battered wife syndrome, Mary Trees will have to admit she had arranged his killing. Only after that admission, will they get into mitigating factors. And

this was not what Arnie wanted. And then the very next day, the Riddler announces, never mind. Figured I said yesterday, batter better wife syndrome can't be used as defense. In this case, no matter what Mary admits to, because unless there is imminent danger, that is Mary Teresa fearing being killed that night, it's not going to fly. Well, this is really not good for the defense. First day of the trial, we Monday, July 11th, prosecuted attorney Ron Haynes. Well, now try to show that Mary Teresa had hired divorce attorney several times before even to deal with Grady. So why didn't she just do that again? Why if all the family's vehicles were in her name? Did she think she would be destitute

without Grady? Why would it be hard to leave him? Then there's another complication. Few days into the trial, the riddler gets pneumonia and it's suspected he also has tuberculosis. So now the trial is paused while everyone who had been in the courtroom with the ridler has to get tested. It's fucking wild right. New judge will be William Billy Fente, criminal defense attorney who'd only recently been elected judge. Now the debate about battered wife syndrome starts up again and this time judge Fente won't allow it or excuse me, will allow it. So experts will testify as to how Mary Treason or kids were in a constant state of, you know, fear around Grady felt constantly threatened. But was that an excuse for murder? Not he to the moment murder, but a planned

execution. Closing arguments will begin July 26th and the jury will be released to make its decision. By 5.11 pm, the next day'd made it. Mary, Teresa Stiles, guilty. Of man's thought it was a firearm and conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. She didn't get the lobster boy treatment. The jury just couldn't understand how a woman who spent most of her day out of way from gradey shopping or doing various chores around town could feel in continual imminent danger. August 29th, 1994, treason styles of sentence to 12 years behind bars, followed by five years probation. Then before her steps on Harry Glenn Newman, Jr.

Gleiny comes to trial in late August of 1994. Ron Haynes offers a medial pleaded to the same charges as your mom and you will get the same sense. But he doesn't accept it. And he's found guilty of first degree murder, and on October 14th, 1994, Gelenia sends to life in prison. And that was it. The crazy saga of lobster boy murderer and murdered man is over. And what happened to his killers?

Mary Teresa was released from prison in 2000, went back to live in her true hometown of Karney Town, Gibsonton, Florida. Following her release, she preferred to stay away from the public sphere and her present whereabouts are unknown. I can't find obituary notices. If she's still alive, she's now 85 hit man. Chris Wyatt released in 2009 has since lived under the radar, making it challenging to find out where he is today. Gleaney, according to

Florida prison records died in 2014, while behind bars. Grady Styles III reportedly got married in 2016. There's no note on how Glenny died, what he died of. Grady Styles III has been working as a side show performer and is credited with doing a couple of movies and TV shows about carnivals. While working at the Venice Beach Freak Show in Southern California, he met Jessica Olmsted, a bearded lady. He said, the first time I saw Jessica, I was amazed that she could grow a bigger beard than me. It didn't take long for me to know we were meant for each other. As of 2022, he was living in Gibtown, Florida. Other characters from this tale have all seemed to drift off into anonymity. Let us hope that wherever they are

They're living a lot happier lives than they were when they suffered under the abuse dished out by the villainous claws of the truly monstrous lobster boy And that's it for this edition of time suck short socks. I hope you liked it If you enjoyed this story check out the rest of the bad Magic catalog. Be for your full length episodes of Time, so like every Monday at noon, Pacific time, new episodes of the now long-running paranormal podcast, Care to Death every Tuesday night at midnight Pacific time. Thank you to Olivia Lee for her initial research into this topic. Logan Keith recording uploading today's episode, please go to BadMagicProductions.com for all your Bad Magic needs, including where and have yourself a great weekend. you