Hanson did it to Hester

[Cisco]

The following quote is from the Bad Religion song “Don’t Pray On Me”:

Well Hanson Did it to Hester
And Mark David did it to John
And maybe Jack did it to Marilyn
But he did it to South Vietnam

Now obviously he is talking about killing people but, excuse my ignorance here, who are Hanson and Hester? A google search turned up mostly German stuff and nothing else relevant.

[Amok]

I can’t vouch for it’s veracity, but this fan Bad Religion page claims that:

Don’t Prey on me:
The lyrics refer to Mark David Chapman, who shot John Lennon, and to JFK (Jack) who was rumored to have had an affair with Marilyn Monroe. By Hanson and Hester Brett thought he was referring to the main characters from the novel The Scarlet Letter. Later on he was made to realize (by us fans) that their names are not Hanson and Hester at all. He apologized for the mistake/confusion.

[Steve_Wright]

This site says it’s a mistaken reference to The Scarlet Letter, where the writer thought that Hanson was one of the main characters. I also found a refernce to a film version of the book which starred actor Lars Hanson as the Rev. Dimmesdale, which may be where the confusion arose. Or not.

Having muddied the waters, I depart, leaving the pop-culture, English Literature, and film experts to fight it out amongst themselves…