# Gacy was NOT a Killer Clown **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861 "2024-09-06T16:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/61 "2024-09-07T03:47:49Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > > [@Galactus](#): > > > > You really think his dressing up as a clown was completely compartmentalized from his rapey- murderey side? > > I will simply quote myself. Again ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/62 "2024-09-07T03:48:00Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > But, we know how he lured all of them. OK In several instances, including his final victim, there were witnesses who saw the victim talking to Gacy right before they disappeared. We also have his confessions which are quite detailed as to how he got them into his car, how he took them home, and how he tortured and killed them, and none of it involved being dressed as a clown. His victims thought he was looking to pay them $20 for a blowjob or things of that nature. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/63 "2024-09-07T03:55:35Z")
He raped and murdered teenagers and dressed up as a clown, but there could be no correlation? Priests= molesters Clowns= forgetaboutit ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/64 "2024-09-07T04:01:29Z")
Do you have a cite or don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/65 "2024-09-07T04:04:06Z")
A cite for what? What fact did I state? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/66 "2024-09-07T04:04:39Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > He raped and murdered teenagers and dressed up as a clown, but there could be no correlation? There _could_ be, sure, but as several others have noted (and, yes, Gacy’s case has been **extensively** examined over the past 46 years), there’s no evidence that he was using his clown costume, or working at events as a clown, as a tactic to identify and associate with potential victims. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/67 "2024-09-07T04:05:56Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > A cite for what? What fact did I state? This: > [@Galactus](#): > > The only reason he dressed as a clown was to be near children. To find victims. None of his known victims were children – at least, not pre-pubescent children. He clearly did have a thing for teenaged boys, but again, that’s not who you meet when you go work as a clown at children’s birthday parties. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/68 "2024-09-07T04:07:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > no evidence Sure. He just liked dressing like a clown. Let’s go with that. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/69 "2024-09-07T04:09:06Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Sure. He just liked dressing like a clown. Let’s go with that. You seem to really want this to be so. You don’t happen to have a true crime podcast, do you? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/70 "2024-09-07T04:09:24Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > He just liked dressing like a clown. Let’s go with that. He was clearly a mentally disturbed and weird person. Dressing as a clown _might_ have been part of his sexual strangeness. But, **again** : there is no evidence that working at children’s birthday parties was a way that he gained access to any of his victims, and no known evidence that he wore a clown costume during any of the actual murders. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/71 "2024-09-07T04:12:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > there is no evidence that working at children’s birthday parties was a way that he gained access to any of his victims No direct evidence, sure. But… are you FKM. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/72 "2024-09-07T04:18:08Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > But… are you FKM. Listen. Gacy was a fucking monster. He raped and killed at least 33 people, many of them teenagers. I am **not** trying to defend him, in any way, shape, or form. But, you stated, with certainty: > [@Galactus](#): > > Everything he did was designed to get himself access to his victims. Including dressing as a clown. If he had a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children (and he very well might have), it never manifested itself in any of the young men he raped and murdered, the youngest of whom was 14. As far as I know, there is no evidence that he met, or interacted with, any of his victims, at any of the events where he worked as a clown – if you have a cite otherwise, please share it. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/73 "2024-09-07T04:21:07Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > He raped and murdered teenagers and dressed up as a clown, but there could be no correlation? It’s impossible to prove a negative, but no such correlation was ever brought up in his confession, the investigation, or trial. But as long as we’re making baseless correlations, I will point out that Gacy also managed three KFC restaurants, provided free fried chicken at Jaycees events, and asked acquaintances to call him “Colonel”. Do you think any of this has a correlation with his later serial-killer activities? (I don’t.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/74 "2024-09-07T04:21:56Z")
Moderating: > [@Galactus](#): > > > [@Galactus](#): > > > > > [@Galactus](#): > > > > > > You really think his dressing up as a clown was completely compartmentalized from his rapey- murderey side? > > > > I will simply quote myself. > > Again You have made your point. You apparently have nothing to add. You either have convinced people or you haven’t. It’s time to drop this. Now. And to everyone else, please stop replying to @Galactus on this topic. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/75 "2024-09-07T04:29:08Z")
Why… Else…would…that…motherfer…dress…like a…clown? [quote=“kenobi\_65, post:72, topic:1006861”] if you have a cite otherwise, please share it. [/quote]How am I off topic? Is this factual questions? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/76 "2024-09-07T04:48:46Z")
Moderating: > [@Galactus](#): > > Why… Else…would…that…motherfer…dress…like a…clown? > > > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > > if you have a cite otherwise, please share it. > > How am I off topic? Is this factual questions? That’ll be a warning for disobeying moderator instructions. Also, you are banned from this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/77 "2024-09-07T05:03:53Z")
C’mon folks, it’s an XOR. No winners. However… ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/78 "2024-09-07T05:20:53Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Gacy’s known victims (all male) ranged from age 14 to 21, with an average age of approximately 18 years old. They were almost all minors, but not children, Fourteen-year-olds are (mostly) in 8th grade. I’ve taught 14-year-olds. They’re children. I never imagined Gacy dressed like a clown while killing his victims. I thought the creepy part was that a guy who wore a clown costume and entertained children was also a murderer. The two images don’t compute, but when you consider them together, along with the modern aversion to clowns, you can certainly see why people find this creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/79 "2024-09-07T05:27:32Z")
You’d think the fact that Chicago has the largest population of gang members(murder and violent crime rate high too) would be worse on the place than the fact Gacy roamed there. Heck, I couldn’t have told you were exactly he was from before I read it here. I just knew it was a seedy part of a larger city. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861/80 "2024-09-07T05:31:52Z")
I don’t feel like the clowns are scary thing has anything to do with Gacy. I was terrified of clowns as a child and knew nothing of serial killers. I think they’re just creepy. It might have something to do with the fake painted on smile, I don’t know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gacy-was-not-a-killer-clown/1006861.md?page=5)