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Essay / John Wayne Gacy: Becoming a Cold-Hearted Killer
It was a cool December afternoon in Cook County, Illinois, and everything seemed to be going well. The kids were out of school and celebrating the holidays, while the parents were out and getting ready to embark on one last mad dash for Christmas presents. The year was 1978 and everyone in the small town seemed to be in the merry Christmas spirit, except for a man named John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Gacy not only played Ebenezer Scrooge, but he was also a mass serial killer, convicted of murdering thirty-three people between 1972 and 1978. His Christmas celebration was horrible compared to all the nuclear families in town. John was considered an ordinary city dweller who owned a small construction company. But contrary to popular belief, he was a cold-hearted killer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayJohn Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. “Gacy and his siblings grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father.” As a young boy, Gacy was often beaten mercilessly for no apparent reason and several times rendered unconscious by barbaric assaults. He often strove to make his father proud, but rarely received the praise or acceptance he desired and certainly needed. When Gacy was only four years old, his father beat him senseless with a leather belt for accidentally disorganizing the parts of a car engine his father assembled. His mother often tried to protect him from his father, but rarely prevailed. Whenever his mother intervened, he was considered a "sissy." Gacy became a direct product of his terrifying and abusive childhood and was a truly broken individual. His strange addictions stemmed from the pain and horror he endured as a child. When Gacy was just seven years old, he was caught sexually groping a young girl with another boy. When his father learned of this, he brutally whipped Gacy with a leather razor strap. At the age of nine, John was molested by a family friend. This “friend” was a contractor who often took Gacy to job sites and forced him to perform sexual acts. Years passed and he never dared to speak, fearing what his father might do to him. Over the next two years, Gacy was repeatedly caught wearing women's underwear, which was often his mother's. Every time he was caught, his mother made him wear underwear to school. Hoping to embarrass him, she only fueled his fire of deranged fetishes. It was this abusive childhood upbringing that became fertile ground for the deranged serial killer that Gacy would become. During Gacy's senior year, he attended four high schools. In vain, Gacy never really fit in and ultimately did not graduate. In a huge leap of faith, he decided to leave Chicago and travel to Las Vegas to find the acceptance he craved. In Las Vegas, Gacy worked part-time as a janitor at the Palm Mortuary. A few months into his new job, he was caught fondling corpses and his job was terminated. Due to lack of viability, Gacy was forced to return to his hometown in Illinois to live with his parents. It was at this time that he enrolled in business school with a new passion for sales. A few years later, he became the owner of three restaurants, married into a very wealthy family and..